ww2 study guide official

Leadup to ww2

How did hitler violate the treaty of versiallesi n the 1930s

  • Rebuilt the german miltiary, influcding luftwaffe, violating disarmament terms

  • Reoccupied rhineland, 

  • Annexed austria(anschulluss and sudentendland without consequences

What was the purpose the munich conference

  • Prevent war by appeasing hitler

  • Britain and france allowed hitler to take sudetenland from czechoslovakia

  • Aimed to maintain peacei n europe

Arguments for chamberlain making an agreement with hitler:

  • Britain was miiltarylily unprepared for war

  • Public opinion favored peace

  • Memorues of WWI was still fresh

Arguments for chamberlain threatening war:

  • Hitler mightve backed down under real pressure

  • Appeasement encouraged more aggression

  • Czscheoslocwakia was a democracy worth protecting(resources, tanks military)

Reasons chamberlain shouldn’t have truster hitler:

  • Hitler already broke multiple promises

  • Nazi ideology promoted expansion and militariskm

  • Hitlers previous aggression showed clear patterns



1939-1941

What steps did hitler take in expanding german territory

  • Anenxed austria nad the sudentenland

  • Took over all of czechoslovakia in march 1939

  • Invaded poland in 1939, starts wwii

Early events of wwii

  • German soviet noggresion pact allowed join invasion of poland

  • F and B declared war after polands invcasion

  • German used blitzkrieg to quickly defeat enemies


Czchoslovakia appeasement: 

  • Failed effort to avoid war

Spanish civil war: 

  • Pre ww2 conflict, gernab italy supported franco

Nonaggression pact: 

  • Germany and ussr agreed not to fight each other

Battle of britain

  • Failed german air campaign against the uk

Invasion of france:

  • Rapid german conquest in 1940

Invasion of the ussr

  • Operation barbarossa began in 1941


Just War Theory(wwii application)

  1.  Just cause/right intention: A just war must be fought only for purposes of self-defense

against armed attack or to right a serious wrong.

2. Proper authority: A war is just only if waged by a legitimate authority.

3. Last resort: A just war must be the last resort; all peaceful options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.

4. Probability of success: There must be a reasonable chance of success; deaths and injury that result from a hopeless cause cannot be morally justified.

5. Beneficial outcome: The outcome of the war must be better than the situation that would exist had the war not taken place.


OCcupied and vichy france

Ways vichy govenrment collaborated with nazis

  • Deported jews to nazi camps

  • Passed anti-semitic laws

  • Shared intelligencee and resources with germany

Ways ppl resisted

  • Underground resistance movements

  • Charles de gaulles free french forces

  • Printing anti-nazi propaganda and helped jews esacpe

Ideology of petains government

  • Empahsized traditionalism, catholic values and nationalism

  • Opposed liberal democracy and blamed frances fall on moral decay

  • French state led by marshal petain 

Use of patriotism by both sides:

  • Supporters: claimed collaboration preserved france and prevented worse suffering

  • Opponents: claimed true patriotism meant resisting foreign occupation

Why ppl resisted collaborated or stayed neutral

  • Ideological beliefs, fear, survival, ecnoomci incentives, confusion

  • Local experiences and nazi treatment varied widely

Historilac turning points increasing resistance

  • Harsh german crackdowns and deportations

  • Allied success(dday ) gave hope

  • Atrocities revealed over time galvanized support


German invasion of the soviet union

What was operation barbarossa

  • Germanys surprise invasion of the soviet union in june 1941

  • Largest land invasion in history

Why did germany invade the ussr?

  • Ideological war against communism

  • Desire for lebensraum(living space).

  • Contorl for natural resources and weaken britains last ally

Why did they want the caucasus region and stalingrad

  • Caucasus: vital for military with oil fields

  • Stalingrad: controlle d access to oil and was symbolizsm of soviet strength

Why the soviets won the battle of stalingrad

  • Brutal soviet resistance and winter conditions

  • Overextension of german supply lines

  • Soviet encirclement(operation uranus)

Why it was a turning point:

  • First major defeat for the german army

  • Boosted soviet morale and military confdience

  • Germany began a defensive war afterward


Holocaust:

Why said to begin in 1941:

  • Mass kililngs by einsatzgruppen in eastern europe ater invasion of ussr

  • Shift from persecution to systematic extermination.

Areas with most victims:

  • Poland, ukraine, baltic states

  • Ghettos and camps were mostly in poland

Ways jews were mistreated

  • Stripped of citienship(nuremberg laws)

  • Forced into ghettos and concentration camps

  • Mass executions and exterminatino via gas chambers

Why the holocaust was a process

  • Escalated stepby step from discrimination to genocide

  • Each stage normalied further violence

Role of blind obedience

  • Many officials and soldeirs followed orders without question

  • Bureaucratic systems enabled mass killing with littel personal accountability


Nuremberg laws

  • Stripped jews of citizenship

Kristallnacht: 

  • Night of broken glass- violent anti-jewis  massecre

Ghettos

  • Segregated overcrowded urban areas

Wansee conference

  • Nazi leaders planned the final solution


Japan and WW2

Motive for japanese expansion

  • Need for natural resources

  • Nationalist and imperialist ambitions

  • Belif in japanese superiority

Japanese strategy vs us:

  • Rapid territorial expansion to secure resources

  • Destroy us pacific fleet(pearl harbor) to prevent interference

  • Defend captured terrroitory with fierce reisstance

Geographic expansion

  • Korea manchuria china

  • Southeast asia(vientame phillipiione indonesia

  • Pacific islands(guam wake etc

Threat to eurepans 

  • Undermined colonial rule in asia

  • Attacked british dutch french and american territories

Phases of war in pacific:

  1. Japense  expansion 1941-42

  2. Allied defnesive battles(coral sea, midaway

  3. Allied offensive(island hopping)

  4. Atomic bomb and japan surrender

Importance of coral sea and midway

  • Midway: turning point, US destroyed 4 japanese carriers

  • Coral sea: first battle where japanese advance was stopped 

Why us fought defensively first

  • Surprise attack at pearl harbor weakened fleet

  • Needed time to rebuild naval and air power

leapfrogging/island-hopping:

  • Skipping heavily defended islands

  • Capturing strategic isalnds to get closer to japan

What ended the war:

  • Atomcis bombs on hiroshima nad nagasaki

  • Soviet invasion of manchuria

  • Japans unconditional surrender