Ap Euro Chapter 27

How was World War II made possible by Britain and France?

Failure to strongly oppose German violations of the Versailles Treaty

Lebensraum and Hitler's racist belief

Hitler settled on acquiring German lebensraum because of his racist belief that the Slavs were an "inferior" people now governed by impotent Jews among Bolsheviks and worthy of enslavement

What did "appeasement" mean to the British?

Belief it would maintain peace and stability in Europe avoiding another catastrophic conflict like WWI

Hitler's first act of aggression in 1936

Germans occupied The Rhineland

Munich Conference in 1938

Criticized by Winston Churchill as a tragic outcome of appeasement

Czechslovakia after Munich conference

Hitler quickly systematically took the rest of it

Several things occurred after hitlers unilateral 1935 announcement of German rearmament

British accepted Germany's right to rearm= Anglo German Naval Pact

Policy of appeasement= European states satisfied reasonable demands of dissatisfied powers-> stability and power would be achieved in Europe

Blitzkrieg

German attack to take over Poland

France and Britain reaction and activity after hitler invaded Poland

Declared war

What countries were captured by nazi German between April and June 1940

Denmark Norway Netherlands Belgium France

What happened to France following the allied evacuation at Dunkirk France

Soon surrendered and the Vichy government set up as a German puppet state

New prime minister of Great Britain in 1940

Winston Churchill

What did hitlers plan for defeating Britain rely on?

Germany's Luftwaffe gaining control of the skies

The Japanese empire by 1933 included what countries and territories?

Korea Taiwan Manchuria Marshall Caroline and Mariana islands

Nationalist leader of china in 1930s

Chiang Kai-Shek

What were the chief reasons for Japanese expansion in the 1930s

Expanding population Severe lack of natural resources on the island nation

The grand alliance included what countries

Britain United States and Soviet Union

What was the main priority of the us after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Defeating Germany first and then turning it's great naval war machine against japan

What key decision early in the world by Adolf hitler made the defeat of Germany inevitable

Immediately declaring war on the us after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

What was the turning point on the North African campaign

El Alamein- British stopped Rommel in the summer of 1942

Significance of the battle of midway

Turning point of the war and established us naval supremacy in area

Why did war break out between Russia and Germany in 1941

Hitler broke Nazi-Soviet Pact (secret agreement between Germans and Russians 1939 said would not attack each other)

At what battle did hitler realize he couldn't defeat the Soviet Union

Battle of Stalingrad

Why did the allies invade Normandy in June 1944

To open up a "second front" in Western Europe

Where did major source of resistance to the nazis come from

Communists throughout Europe

Unconditional surrender

What Grand Alliance demanded of it's opponents when pursuing war against axis powers

Why did Truman and his advisers choose to use atomic bombs against japan

Became convinced that American troops might suffer heavy casualties in invasion of Japanese homeland

What did Germans claim concerning the nazi empire

"Equal chances" for all nations and an integrated economic community

The nazi rule of Europe was most ruthless where and why

Eastern Europe because Slavs were considered racially inferior

Where was the greatest tank battle of all time

Kursk

Hitlers "final solution" to the Jewish problem

Called for extermination of all european Jews

The nazi einsatzgruppen

Special strike force used in Eastern Europe that proceed to round up and kill Jewish men women and children

Besides the Jews what other group was singled out by the nazis for extermination

Gypsies

What was the only country to use women as combatants in WWII?

Soviet Union

How did domestic circumstances in the us differ significantly from situations in the Soviet Union and Great Britain

Faced no threat of war in it's own territory

How many people were employed by the manhattan project

130,000

Civilian bombings were mainly done for what reason

To break the will of a people to resist

How did the Americans participate in the allied bombing strategy in Europe

Primarily in daytime precision bombing of German strategic targets

What was the response from German civilians of allied bombings raids made against them

Contrary to expectations produced a stubborn resistance from the German people

Official reason for dropping atomic bombs on japan

To save hundreds of thousands lives it was calculated that a us led invasion of japan would cost

Nation that experienced the greatest losses in WWII

Soviet Union

By the end of 1945 how many of hiroshimas residents had died

140,000

What was an important issue at the Tehran Yalta and potsdam conferences

Determining spheres of influence for the individual allied powers in post war Europe

Occupation zones for Germany after WWII

4 zones under us British French and Russian administration

Chief argument between Truman and Stalin at Potsdam in July of 1945

Over free elections in Eastern Europe