Download Chapter 37 Reading Questions

Chapter 37 Reading Questions
My name is:
1. Choose a position and defend it with evidence on this question.
Did World War II begin with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, or did World War II begin
in 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland?
2. How did the Rape of Nanjing set a precedent for treatment of civilians in World War II? Which
countries (in your book) chose not to follow this precedent?
3. Describe the ways Germany ‘systematically dismantled the treaty of Versailles’.
4. Compare Hitler’s acquisition of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to Putin’s current actions in the
Ukraine. What is similar? What is different?
5. Compare Chamberlain’s reactions to Hitler’s acquisitions and rhetoric to Obama’s reactions to Putin’s
acquisitions and rhetoric. What is similar? What is different?
6. What was the Battle of Britain designed to do?
7. Explain how the Soviet’s decision to pursue a ‘scorched earth’ policy after the June 1941 invasion by
German troops may have saved the nation.
8. What was the purpose of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?
9. What factors contributed to 1942 being a turning point for the Allies in the fight against the Axis
powers?
10. Was it moral to drop the atomic bombs?
11. Compare and contrast exploitation by Axis powers and European imperialism.
12. Did most people collaborate or resist Axis occupation? Why?
13. Why were people of the Jewish faith singled out for the holocaust?
14. What does Himmler’s speech tell us about German army participation in the Holocaust?
15. Explain the purpose and scope of both concentration camps and extermination camps in the
Holocaust.
16. How did women participate in World War II differently than they had in previous wars?
17. In what ways did the ending of World War II lay the foundations for the Cold War?
18. What policy did the Truman Doctrine articulate?
19. In what ways did the reconstruction of Europe under the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the Warsaw Pact
contribute to the Cold War?
20. In what ways was the United Nations different from and similar to the League of Nations?