WWII: The Axis Powers

Question 1

Who were the Axis Powers?

Answer 1

Germany, Italy, and Japan

Question 2

When does totalitarianism develop? Describe totalitarianism

Answer 2

1920sthe state was everything, Individuals have nor rights; all power was in the hands of one leader (dictator)

Question 3

Dictator in USSR who wanted to spread communism around the world

Answer 3

Joseph Stalin

Question 4

Dictator of Spain in 1939 after bloody civil war

Answer 4

General Francisco Franco

Question 5

Describe Fascism in Italy

Answer 5

Benito Mussolini names it; seized power in 1922; name came from Ancient symbol of authority, the fasces, a bundle of rods tied tightly around an ax; rods and ax represent the power of the state; binding them closely together represents national unity

Question 6

Describe Italian Aggression

Answer 6

Mussolini; turned Mediterranean into Italian Lake; revived the glories of the Roman Empire; 1936: Italy annexed Ethiopia and invades it

Question 7

Describe Hitler’s book Mein Kampf

Answer 7

Called My Struggle; said Germans were part of a master race that was destined to rule the world; other races such as Jews, Slavs, and non whites were inferior races that contaminated society; these inferior people were only good to serve the superior race or be exterminated (Holocaust)

Question 8

Describe the Nazis

Answer 8

National Socialists; drew on bitterness of the German people over the Versailles Treaty; came to power through democratic elections in 1933

Question 9

Describe the rise of Hitler

Answer 9

strongly anticommunist; intensely militaristic; had 2 private armies (SA: brown shirted storm troopers, SS: black shirted); party symbol: hooked black cross called the swastika

Question 10

Describe Hitler taking office

Answer 10

Suspends the German constitution; parades, shout slogans; beat up those who opposed them; targeted union leaders, communists, and Jews; motto: “One state! One people! One leader!”

Question 11

German Aggression Timeline:1936

Answer 11

Germans move into the Rhineland

Question 12

German Aggression Timeline:March 1938

Answer 12

Hitler moves into Austria (Anschluss) - Arian race (part of German people)

Question 13

German Aggression Timeline:September 1938

Answer 13

Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia (Lebensraum) - give more room for the Arian people

Question 14

German Aggression Timeline:Response to September 1938 event

Answer 14

Neville Chamberlain “Peace in Our time”: says let Hitler have the land

Question 15

German Aggression Timeline:March 1939

Answer 15

Hitler violates Munich accords and takes over all of Czechoslovakia; Britain assures Poland of their assistance should Poland be attacked

Question 16

German Aggression Timeline:August 1939

Answer 16

Non-aggression pact with Stalin: agree Germany will get most people of Poland and Stalin will get most of the land

Question 17

German Aggression Timeline:September 1, 1939

Answer 17

Germany invades Poland from west (start of WWII); Britain and France declare war on Germany

Question 18

German Aggression Timeline:September 17, 1939

Answer 18

USSR invades Poland from the East

Question 19

German Aggression Timeline:1939-1940

Answer 19

Soviets invade Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania

Question 20

German Aggression Timeline:Spring 1940

Answer 20

Germany invades Denmark and Norway; Blitzkrieg (lightning war) in Netherlands and Belgium

Question 21

German Aggression Timeline:June 1940

Answer 21

Germans march into Paris; Germans occupy France and develop Vichy France (sympathtic to Nazi gov’t); British rescued from Dunkirk

Question 22

German Aggression Timeline:August-October 1940

Answer 22

Battle of Britain: air force bombs everything at night (Luftwaffe)