WW2 SPECIFIC Flashcards

Honors American Cultures II

When did WWII officially begin?

Sept. 1 1939, Germany invades Poland

Who declared war on Germany after the invasion of Poland?

Britain and France

What was secretly agreed in the Nazi - Soviet Non Aggression Pact?

To divide Poland ( Germany 1/3, USSR 2/3 )

Which country did the soviets invade while the world was focused on Poland?

Finland

What does Blitzkrieg mean and what did it involve?

Lightning War, tanks, planes, infantry all attacking at once to overwhelm

Who used dive bombers ( Stukas ) and Panzers in coordinated attacks?

Germany

What was the Phony War?

3 - month lull after Poland fell; France / Britain did little while Germany moved west

Why did Hitler invade Denmark and Norway?

To control bases near Britain, ports, and surrounding water. ==

What was the Maginot Line and how did Germany bypass it?

A $7 billion French defense line; bypassed through Belgium

What happened at Dunkirk?

338,000 troops evacuated to Britain, left because they knew Hitler was there

Why was Dunkirk important?

Saved Allied Army, allowed Britain to stay in war

How quickly did France fall to Germany?

2 weeks, Paris captured

What was Vichy France

Southern puppet government under German control

Who fought in the Battle of Britain?

R. A. F. v. Luftwaffe

What gave Britain an edge in the Battle of Britain?

Motivated pilots, radar, enigma code breaking, better planes

What was the turning point of the Battle of Britain?

Germany cancels Operation Sea Lion

What was the Tripartie Pact?

1940 alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan

What was the Blitz in London?

Nightly bombing raids by Germany 

What were wolf packs?

Groups of German U-Boats attacking Allied Ships

What was Operation Barbarossa?

German invasion of the USSR in 1941

What tactic did the USSR use against Germany?

Scorched Earth, destroying everything useful, stretching Germany’s supplies

Key Soviet cities in Barbarossa

Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad

What was the Destroyers for Bases deal?

U.S. gave 50 destroyers to Britain in exchange for base rights

What was the Lend - Lease Act?

U.S. sent weapond/supplies to Atlantic

What was the Atlantic Charter?

U.S. and Britain plan for postwar peace and cooperation

Why did the U.S. want to stay neutral before WWII?

Great Depression focus, thought WWII involvement was a mistake, America First Committee influence, cultural heritage ties to Europe

I sit in one of the dives

On Fifty-Second Street

Uncertain and afraid 

As the clever hopes expire

Of a low dishonest decade

Waves of anger and fear

Circulate over the bright 

And darkened lands of the earth 

Obsessing our private lives;

The unmentionable odor of death

Offends the September night 

• ( dark, dreary, bar )

• ( City, N.Y. Chicago ) 

• ( failed plans ) 

• ( Great Depression, 30s ) 

• ( Back to fear )

• ( Fear of going back to war ) 

What was the America First Committee?

Group pushing for neutrality, included figures like Herbert Hoover, Charles Lindbergh, Walt Disney, Frank Llyod Wright

What did rejecting the League of Nations show?

Fear that joining would surrender U.S. sovereignty

What was the Kellogg - Briand Pact? 

62 nations agreed to outlaw war as a national policy, encourage peaceful resoultion

What was the Johnson Debt Default Act?

Cancelled foreign debt that they had, simply writing if off

What did the Neutrality Acts Do?

Forbade sale of weapons to nations at war, Created a cash and carry policy for non war goods, discouraged Americans from traveling abroad

What was Roosevelts dilemma before WWII?

He knew that U.S. involvement could change the course of the war, but citizens wanted to stay out 

How did Roosevelt respond to the situation?

Propaganda, recognized Soviet union, built military, passed selective service act, pursued Good neighbor policy, destroyers for base deal, lend lease act, aided china, deployed fleet to pearl harbor, signed Atlantic charter

Accurate scholarship can 

Unearth the whole offense

From Luther until now 

That has driven a culture mad 

Find what occurred at Linz 

What huge imago made

A psychopathic god;

I and the public know

What all schoolchildren learn, 

Those to whom evil is done

Do evil in return

• Importance of studying

• Martin Luther

• Taking away G.R. culture

• Where Hitler was born

• Hurt people hurt people

Exiled Thucydides knew 

All that a speech can say

About Democracy 

And what dictators do

The elderly rubbish they talk 

Analysed all in his book

 The enlightenment driven away 

The habit forming pain 

Mismanagement and grief

We must suffer them all again

• Ancient lessons still remain

• Extreme conservatism 

• Mein Kampf

• Supposed to be answers

• Historical mistakes are repeated

Into this neutral air 

Their full height to proclaim 

The strength of Collective Man 

Each language pours its vain 

Competitive excuse 

But who can live for long

In an euphoric dream

Out of the mirror they stare

Imperialism’s face 

And the international wrong 

• Start of war ( 1941 )

• Different languages coming together

• Not our war, leave it

• They’re coming

Faces along the bar

Cling to their average day

The lights must never go out   

The music must always play 

All the conventions conspire

To make this fort assume       

The furniture of home

Lest we should see where we are

Lost in a haunted wood

Children afraid of the night

Who have never been happy or good

The windiest militant trash

• Ignore war leave it

• Take comfort inside

• Scared of whats happening

Important Persons shout

Is not so crude as our wish

What mad Nijinsky wrote,

About Diaghilev

Is true of the normal heart

For the error bred in the bone

Of each woman and each man

Craves what it cannot have

Not universal love

But to be loved alone

• Hitler / Mussolini 

• Composer 

• People want what they cannot have

• Wants to be loved and not focus on war

From the conservative dark

Into the ethical life 

The dense commuters come

Repeating their morning vow

I will be true to the wife

I’ll concentrate more on my work

And helpless governors wake

To resume their compulsory game

Who can release them now

Who can reach the deaf

Who can speak for the dumb?

• Routines

• Coming into work

• Maintain marriage

• Head down, focus on work

• Who will fight for people if they cannot fight for themselves?

All I have is a voice, 

To undo the folded lie

The romantic lie in the brain

Of the sensual man-in-the-street

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope in the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police

We must love one another or die 

• Importance of poet’s words

• Average person

• Skyscrapers

• Everyone’s fates are connected

• All in this together 

Defenceless under the night, showing vulnerability,

Our world in stupor lies

Yet dotted everywhere

Ironic points of light

Flash out whenever the Just

Exchange their messages, May I, composed like them

Of Eros and of Dust

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and Despair

Show an affirming flame

• Global crisis 

• Everyone is scared, yet small acts of courage are still happening

• Power to make an impact

• Love / passion

• Moral, courage