Unit 8 WW2 Review- SHEEHAN

What two events (and years) can be considered the beginning of WW2?

o Marco polo bridge incident in 1937 and invasion of Poland 1939

• What year did WW2 end?

o 1945

• Who was in the Axis Powers? Allied Powers?

o Axis: Germany, Italy, Japan

o Allies: UK, France, Soviet Union, USA

• What was China like in the years immediately before the Japanese invasion?

o Politically divided, struggling to modernize, civil war

• Who were the Kuomintang?

o The KMT or “Nationalists,” a party that emerged during the 1911 revolution and who more or less ruled China in 1937

• What was the result of the Japanese Invasion by 1939? Why?

o Invasion eventually halted because Japan didn’t have the strength to conquer all of China.

• What limits had been placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles? How did Hitler interact with those?

o Germany had a limited military, had to pay reparations, had some land taken away, and the Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces. Hitler immediately began trying to get out of these limitations and testing Western resolve to actually stand up to him.

• What was the occupation of the Rhineland? How did the West respond?

o German forces marched into the Rhineland and evicted the Entente occupation. The West did nothing, though they easily could have stopped Germany.

• What was the Anschluss? How did the West respond?

o Germany engineered the annexation of Austria, a country whose population was mostly ethnically German. The West did nothing.

• What was the Munich Conference? How did the West respond to the invasion of Czechoslovakia?

o The Munich Conference was the West’s response to German actions against Czechoslovakia, a western ally. It basically gave Hitler everything he wanted in the hopes that it would make him happy.

• What is Appeasement?

o Appeasement is an effort to make your potential enemies happy by giving them the things they want and trying generally to show them that you aren’t an enemy.

• What was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

o A non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union—who everyone thought would be enemies. Agreed to split up Poland between them.

• What happened during the Invasion of Poland? How did the West react?

o German forces invaded Poland, eventually joined by Soviet forces too. Poland quickly conquered. The West declared war but did very little to actually help Poland. Starts WW2 in Europe.

• What happened during the Invasion of France?

o The French fortifications at the Maginot Line guarded most German paths into France. The best soldiers in the Allied army moved into Belgium to counter German invasion. Between them, the Ardennes Forest was almost unguarded. German tanks punched through the Ardennes, encircled the army in Belgium, and won a stunning victory. France surrendered after just 7 weeks.

• What happened during the Battle of Britain?

o Germany attempted to destroy the British air force in order to allow a German naval invasion of Britain. However, their industry was not able to sustain such a long campaign of aerial attrition and they eventually gave up.

What did Europe look like in 1941 before the invasion of the Soviet Union?

o Only Britain still at war with Germany. Almost all of Europe under Axis control

• Why was it probably a mistake for the Germans to invade the Soviet Union?

o The Soviet Union had a significantly more powerful industry than the Germans and so any German victory would have to come very quickly—a problem when looking at conquering a country 7000 miles from side to side. The Soviet Union also had an enormous population.

• What was Operation Barbarossa? How did it go? Why was it ultimately not successful?

o Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union. It went almost perfectly for Germany and the German army pushed deep into the Soviet Union, and killed or captured millions of Soviet soldiers. Ultimately it was still not enough. Germany ran out of steam and were doomed to a long war.

• What battle ended Barbarossa?

o Moscow

• What happened at the Battle of Stalingrad? Why was Stalingrad such a big deal?

o Germany was trying to capture Soviet oil production. Wanted to take Stalingrad also for prestige reasons—it has Stalin’s name. Bloodiest battle in history. German army eventually surrounded and annihilated in the winter. After Stalingrad, the German army started retreating. The Soviets will never again be on the defensive.

• What happened at the Battle of Kursk?

o Final attempt by Germany to go back on the offensive. Largest battle in history. Miserable failure. Germany loses so much that their defeat becomes inevitable.

• How was Germany taken out of the war?

o Conquered by the Soviets and western allies.

• What was the Attack on Pearl Harbor? Which country did it bring into the war?

o Japanese sneak attack on American fleet. America enters war.

• What happened at the Battle of Midway? Why was it such a big deal?

o Japan tried to ambush America but America cracked the radio codes and knew of the trap. Huge battle results in sinking of all Japanese aircraft carriers. America has the initiative for the rest of the war.

• How was Japan taken out of the war?

o Fleet annihilated, army on the retreat in China, and then the nuclear bombs are dropped, forcing Japan to surrender.

• What is a genocide?

o A genocide is when one group of people is targeted for either elimination or reduction through methods including killing, sterilization, or starvation.

• How many people were killed in the Asian Genocides under Japan? How did Japanese beliefs cause their genocidal actions?

o Anywhere between 3-30 million. 10+ million is probably accurate. Japanese beliefs of racial superiority and bushido caused Japanese soldiers and officers to have very little regard for human life and to have contempt for civilians and surrendered soldiers alike.

• Who were the Comfort Girls?

o Victims of the Japanese systemic rape system who were kept as sex slaves for the Japanese army.

• What sort of experiments did the Japanese do on humans?

o Extremely cruel and unethical experiments—most had little real scientific value. Unit 731, the program responsible for most of this, killed around 300,000 people by what can best be described as medical torture.

• How did the Japanese treat civilians? How did they treat Prisoners of War?

o Civilians were murdered and raped in very large numbers by the Japanese soldiers. They were also treated like slaves—valuable only for the service they could perform for the Japanese army. Prisoners were treated with unusual contempt and often subject to torture and murder.

• What is “Lebensraum?” How did the Nazis plan to get more of it?

o Living Space. The Nazis planned to get more land for the German people by emptying the lands to their east of all the inhabitants.

• What is antisemitism?

o Prejudice or discrimination against Jews.

• What is Aktion T4? How did it serve as a prelude to the coming Holocaust?

o Aktion T4 was the murder of people with disabilities. It was before the Holocaust and pioneered many of its methods, including poison gas.

• How many people were murdered at the hands of the Nazis? How many Jews?

o 16-22 million total people. 6 million Jews.

• Which other groups of people were murdered?

o Slavs, Poles, Roma, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and transgender women

• Who were the SS and Einsatzgruppen? What was their role in the Holocaust?

o The SS or Schutzstaffel was a German paramilitary that carried out most of the actual killing in the Holocaust. The Einsatzgruppen or Task Forces were SS units that served as mobile death squads.

• How did the extermination camps work?

o People were loaded into trains and shipped to one of six extermination camps, which were basically death factories. They would then be tricked into a gas chamber and murdered. Then they were be stripped, looted, and either buried in mass graves or loaded into huge crematoriums.

• Why did the Holocaust end?

o It ended when the Nazis lost WW2

• What is strategic bombing?

o Bombing of civilians and infrastructure

• What two cities were the only cities to ever be bombed by nuclear weapons?

o Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Who was tried at Nuremberg?

o About 24 prominent Nazis (and another several hundred in the subsequent trials)

• Why wasn’t Hitler, Himmler, or Goebbels tried at Nuremberg?

o They were already dead by suicide

• What crimes were people accused of? How many were executed for those crimes?

o War Crime &, Crimes Against Humanity. 12 of the original Nuremberg defendants executed and another 200 or so in subsequent trials.

• How were the Tokyo Trials different?

o Most charges dropped. Only 7 executed. However, one of them was Tojo, the most important Japanese leader.

• What is the United Nations? What is its purpose?

o The UN is an international body of almost every country on earth. Its purpose is to coordinate international actions and prevent war and genocide.