history unit 3 - world war 2

🧁 causes of world war 2 + most significant?

• failure of treaty of versailles

  • germans were angry and wanted more freedom so they could operate as they pleased

• great depression and rise of dictators

  • the depression caused the rise of dictators, and they wanted an objective way to rebuild the economy

  • people felt oppressed

• failure of league of nations - manchuria

  • china asked the LON to help, but the countries were too focused on their own countries with the depression

  • they asked japan to withdraw (they didn’t), then expressed their displeasure (they later left the LON)

  • this showed how powerless they were + they lacked powerful countries now

• faliure of appeasement

  • britain and france spinelessly appeased (gave in) to germany in hopes that hitler would stop (he was not ready to stop taking)

  • western countries did nothing when hitler started taking land in fear of provoking him

• invasion of poland

  • nazi-soviet pact was created between germany and USSR to invade poland and split land in half

  • surprising as USSR and nazi ideologies were different, along with the fact that russia was in an alliance w britain and france

athena?

a german u-boat sunk this ship which had 500 canadians — canada later declared war on september 10th, 1939

atomic bombs + nagasaki (fat man)?

• even after germany surrendered, the war was still ongoing bcs japan was fighting for honour

• the enola gay was the plane that would drop the bombs

• the atomic bomb was created to shorten the war

• second atomic bomb that was dropped on japan after they refused to surrender

• japan finally surrendered after this

canada’s part in atomic bomb?

• they had a hand in developing it, and they supplied many resources

• uranium used it was from port hope, ontario, as well as mines in northwest territories

• canada provided a safe working environment for the scientists working on the bomb

• canadian scientists made discoveries such as finding uranium and helping create the chain reaction with it

• indigenous peoples also helped transport the uranium, but did not know what they were contributing towards , and contaminated their families + many died from cancer

was conscription necessary or avoidable?

• conscription divided canada and ruined king’s mentor’s career

• many canadian lives were lost as defense weakened in 1944

• king sent 16k men for overseas service in europe, and only 2,400 men made it

• they were not needed by the time they got there

overall avoidable as they were not needed

japanese internment?

• considered enemy aliens out of fear that they would be loyal to japan, despite some not even speaking japanese/bearing any relations

• war measures act permitted the government to seize japanese properties

• in 1942, the government imprisoned 22k japanese-canadians in internment camps in british columbia

• since many j-c men were fishermen, the gov sold all their fishing boats, along with homes, businesses, and personal possesions

• families lived in uninsulated shacks with no electricity

Decline — were not given any positions in war and had their property taken from them and auctioned

auschwitz?

largest death camp

what was the holocaust?

• an ethnic cleansing and genocide against Jewish people by nazis (largest in history)

• comes from a biblical term meaning “sacrifice by fire”

• took place between 1933 and 1945 all across europe

• was carried out in stages, from boycotts to laws and eventually death camps

• every person in germany who shared the nazi ideology should bore responsibility (as they still shared hatred against jewish ppl), even “low level” nazis and citizens

  • LLNs were bystanders and citizens had choices on whether to defend jewish ppl or not + they participated in things such as betraying jew neighbours and collaborating w nazis

defense of hong kong?

• britain asked canada to support hong kong (british colony) as it could’ve been attacked by japan

• winnipeg grenadiers were the first canadian unit to fight during ww2

• japan’s attack overwhelmed the allies, and canada suffered many casualties and later surrendered on christmas day

• they were prisoners of war for over 3 ½ years and were liberated in sep 1945 with their lives and health broken

dieppe raid?

• 1942 was a disaster as britain was the only allied left at this point

• operation jubilee was supposed to begin before dawn, but troops were behind schedule + were met with overwhelming fire from the germans

  • tanks had a hard time getting off the beach

  • experienced the heaviest losses— many retreated and remaining canadians were forced to surrender

The lessons learned from this raid were crucial for success in later actions, as improvements for beach landing techniques were made, as well as saving many lives during D-Day

italian campaign?

• also known as operation husky, canadian, british, and american troops invaded italy to create two fronts

• largest seaborne operation in military history

• contributed to the fall of mussolini and the new government surrendered to the allies

• germany was not prepared to lose control of italy

d-day (juno beach)?

• canada was assigned this beacy and the navy and airforce provided cover, bombed German shoreline defenses, and cleared sea mines

• Canadian soldiers later made their way to Caen, an important communications and transport centre

• Only country to achieve their objective that day

liberation of netherlands?