WWII

What was Hitler’s motivation for invading the Soviet Union and more specifically Stalingrad?

Soviet Union— expand territory (lebensraum) and gain more power stalingrad— movie Germany towards oil fields in the Caucasus mountains while also destroying the city named after Stalin

What is appeasement and how was it used in Europe by the British and French?

Appeasement was the policy employed by Britain and france to ensure peace in Europe during the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, they gave in to the fascist leaders demands to maintain peace so they could focus on economic recovery

What is the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact? What happened in regards to this pact in 1941? What is Poland’s role in the Non-Aggression Pact?

The pact agreed between Germany and SU that they would attack each other, but also included terms that outlined which territories would be attacked by each and who would annex certain territories

Poland was the first target after the pact was signed and kicked out of WWII by the German invasion. The SUN would invade Poland from the east.

What is Blitzkrieg? How was this used in WWII?

German military strategy included quick strikes against the enemy from the air and the ground using tanks and armored vehicles. Germany used blitzkid in the invasion of Poland, France, and parts of the soviet union.

Describe the events of the Battle of Britain

The Blitz

Describe the events of the Battle of Stalingrad

Hitler sent his sixth army, commanded by General Friedrich Paulus, to capture Stalingrad

Started in August of 1942

Luftwaffe conducted nightly bombing raids -- sending the city ablaze

Stalin did not want to retreat as long as the city was still named after him

Soviet troops launched a counterattack

Isolated Stalingrad -- confined Germans in the city

Cut off their access to supplies

Paulus, desperate, asked Hitler to retreat

Hitler refused

Ended with 900 thousand people with frostbites

Half were starved

Describe the major events of the Battle of North Africa (ie. Tobruk, El Alamein, etc)

Tobruk was the epicenter of fighting in North Africa as the Allies were first able to push the Italians past the fortified city. Later, the German Afrika Korps were able to take the city from the Allies as they pushed toward the Egyptian city of El Alamein

El Alamein was important in North Africa aiding the Allies win the battle and was able to stop the Axis advance toward the Suez Canal and ensuring that the waterway stayed under Allied control

What was the Lend-Lease Act?

Program in which the US would lend or lease weapons or supplies to their allies or any country deemed necessary for the defense of 9or to protect) the US. This allows the US to supply mostly the British prior to the US joining the war

Which countries made up the Axis Powers? Which countries made up the Allies?

Germany, Italy, Japan

Britain (and its commonwealth nations and colonies- Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa) US, the soviet union, and kind of france

Describe the events that occurred at Dunkirk

German troops trapped Allied forces on the beaches

A rescue operation was launched (using the military and civilians to evacuate the soldiers)

What groups of people were targeted by the Nazis as part of the Holocaust?

Roma (Gypsies), Poles, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, and the incurably ill, Jews, and other racial minorities

Approximately how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust?

About 6 million Jews

What are some of the details of Hitler’s “Final Solution”

After Hitler's initial plan to force Jews to emigrate out of Germany and control the area, Hitler expanded the plan of his final solution to include moving Jews to prison camps and concentration camps. In these camps, those who were deemed unfit to work were killed in gas chambers.

A genocide

Hitler believed it was necessary to eliminate certain groups of people to protect the purity of the Aryan Race

What happened in Kristallnacht? What is this event also referred to as?

Why it happened: Jewish guy Herschel Grynszpan from Germany went to Paris and received a postcard saying his father was deported to Poland, he then shot a German diplomat living in Paris as a way to avenge his father. After the nazi leaders heard this they used it to launch a violent attack on the Jewish community

Nazi troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues

Known as the Night of Broken Glass

What was life like during WWII for Japanese Americans? What are internment camps?

Not on the test!

What was life like for those in a Nazi concentration camp

The prisoners worked 7 days a week as slaves for the SS, the guards beat/killed their prisoners for not working fast enough. Their meals consisted of thin soup, a scrap of bread, and potato peelings.

What was Japan’s motivation in the attack at Pearl Harbor?

Japan believed that the US Pacific fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor was a threat to Japan and believed that the US was the aggressor because of the naval fleet stationed here

“A dagger pointed at the throat of Japan”

What were some of the considered alternatives to the US dropping the Atomic Bombs in Japan?

The US could stage an invasion of mainland Japan with the consequences of likely losing 500,000 troops

The US was also in the process of a continuous firebombing and conventional bombing campaign against the Japanese that was proving successful– the ongoing bombing raids, especially in Tokyo, had been more deadly to civilians to that point than what the civilian casualties would be from the atomic bombs.

The Us could demonstrate the power of the atomic bomb on an uninhabited island in the pacific

The us could demonstrate the power of the atomic bomb and area of japan that was uninhabited or less inhibited than Hiroshima or Nagasaki

What happened at Iwo Jima and Okinawa? What did this foreshadow for the US military?

US and Japanese forces fought deadly battles on these islands as the Us approached Japan using their island-hopping strategy

The fact that despite all the odds being stacked against the Japanese in these battles they would not give in or surrender demonstrated to the US that the Japanese would put up more of a fight to defend their homeland if attacked and that was important for Truman and his decisions to end the war.

What is kamikaze? What are some battles in which this strategy was used?

Kamikaze were suicide fighter pilots who would engage in air battles with allies forces but would also load up their planes with bombs and fly their planes into US ships and other infrastructure to impose significant damage

What was “island hopping” and why did the Allies use this as a strategy in the Pacific? What battles were important for the strategy of “island hopping”?

The strategy of island hopping included US troops taking smaller, weaker-defended islands across the Pacific to interrupt supply chains for the Japanese and would lead to the invasion of larger, better-defended islands later on. It was more a less of a strategy of attribution involving islands in the Pacific

Important battles include Midway, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Iwo Jima

Following the attack at Pearl Harbor, how did the US government respond in regards to Japanese people living in America?

Japanese people in America (citizens or not) were interned in camps across the US but specifically in places away from the West Coast which the US government believed the Japanese might invade. Japanese Americans were considered the enemy during this time and were held in camps that did not always provide for the well-being of the prisoners

What happened in the Battle of Midway and why was it significant for the war in the Pacific?

Our forces were aware of a pending attack by the Japanese, so they staged their naval forces far enough away that the Japanese couldn't see them. When the Japanese began their attack on Midway, an important base for the US in the middle of the Pacific, the US fleet began attacking the Japanese fleet in a surprise attack. US naval forces were able to take out several Japanese naval vessels and hundreds of Japanese planes, while defense forces on the island minimized the Japanese attack,

Midway was considered a turning point in the ear as the US forces were able to now be on the offensive with Japan being pushed back with considerable losses

What happened in the battles in the Philippines? What is the Bataan Death March?

Japanese forces invaded the Philippines and forced thousands of US and Filipino troops to surrender. The Japanese then marched the POWs on a 50-mile trek in brutal conditions including torture to a prison camp where the POWs were subjugated to even more horrible conditions and torture

What is the story behind the development of the Atomic Bomb? What is the Manhattan Project?

The Manhattan Project was led by General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers and by J, Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist

The Manhattan Project developed the atomic bomb that was used on Japan to end the war and had been developed secretly for years

What did the US do in Japan to end the war? What decision was President Truman forced to make regarding ending the war with Japan?

The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing thousands of people and forcing Japan to surrender

Truman was forced to make a decision regarding the end of the war which included the use of atomic bombs on Japanese tagetes, demonstrating the power of the bong or mountain a land invasion of Japan which would cost the US 500000 lives

What were some of the events and details of the D-Day invasion? What happened following the invasion?

Allied troops invaded france at Normandy from the English Channel, landing on the beaches of Normandy, or paratroopers landing further inland, the troops fought for days to make progress and to beat the Germans along the beachheads, which the Germans at this point had heavily for fires

The Allies were able to push the Germans out of the region and would soon liberate Paris and all of france from German occupation

What was the reaction of American troops when they entered Germany and began to liberate the Nazi death camps?

The US troops were astonished and surprised by the Nai death camps as they began to liberate the camps as they entered Germany. The troops were not aware that this was happening in nazi areas and were shocked by what they saw and experienced.