Download File









Causes of WWII
Explain the concept of collective security.
How was collective security designed to work
within the framework of the League of Nations?
What were the main objectives of the League of
Nations?
How were member states supposed to bring
disputes to the League?
Why were economic sanctions the League’s
primary tool for bringing wayward states into
line?
Why was military action a last, and highly
problematic, option?
Describe the main bodies of the League and
their purpose.







How did the absence of the United States affect
the League?
Why was the USSR excluded from membership
before 1934?
Why was Germany excluded from the League
until 1926?
What was the impact of these countries’
absence?
How successful was the League in resolving
disputes based in Europe during the early
1920s?
Why does P.M.H. Bell argue that the League
was cause for optimism by the late 1920s?
Why did France push for the adoption of the
Treaty of Mutual Assistance and why did Britain
reject it?







How did France’s occupation of the Ruhr
undermine the League?
How did it contribute to a decline in
international goodwill?
How did the depression weaken the practical
implementation of collective security?
What was the League’s response to the
Japanese invasion of Manchuria?
How did Japan react to the League’s
disapproval?
Why did the League fail to resolve the
Manchurian Crisis?
How did the sense that Japan had “gotten away
with it” impact the League?





Why did Mussolini begin planning for the
annexation of Abyssinia?
Why were Britain and France willing to let Italy
take control of Abyssinia before the Italian
invasion began?
How did the League of Nations respond to the
invasion which began on 3 October 1935?
Why did the sanctions fail to impede the Italian
seizure of Abyssinia?
Why is the Abyssinian crisis viewed as the
“final nail in the coffin” for the League?







What was the purpose of the Washington
Conference in 1921-22?
What were the terms of the Five Power Treaty
that came out of the negotiations?
What loophole was left open regarding
tonnage and type of ships allowed?
What was the main outcome of the Four Power
Treaty between Britain, the United States,
Japan and France?
Why was the conference viewed as a success?
In what ways was the conference a failure?
What changes to the Five Power Treaty did the
London Naval Conference of 1930 bring about?



Why was the London Naval Treaty of 1936
made irrelevant by world events?
What was Hitler’s views of the League of
Nations’ attempts at bringing about
widespread disarmament?
Explain the League’s failure to gain support for
disarmament.









Why was France reluctant to become involved in
another war?
How did France plan to handle future German
aggression?
Why was this an unwise plan of defense? Maginot Line
Maginot Line Video
Why did many in Great Britain and the United States
follow pacifist or at least isolationist beliefs?
What was the neutrality legislation brought in by the
United States?
How did these laws actually help aggressor nations?
Why was the Soviet Union unhappy with its position in
Europe in the 1930s?
What actions did the USSR take to achieve some
measure of security?
Why did many countries continue to reject closer ties
with the USSR?











What were Hitler’s international goals when he came
to power in 1933?
Explain Hitler’s concept of Lebensraum.
In what ways did Hitler begin to rebuild the German
military?
How was he able to openly break the terms of the
Versailles treaty?
What was the benefit to Germany of the ‘NonAggression Pact’ with Poland?
What was the result of the Saar plebiscite of 1935?
How did it embolden Hitler?
Hitler is quoted as saying that the “48 hours after the
march into the Rhineland were the most nerve
wracking of my life.” Why was he so anxious?
Why did Hitler place a high priority on Anschluss?
Who acted to prevent German annexation of Austria
following the assassination of Austrian chancellor
Engelbert Dollfuss in July 1934?
Which country did Italy invade in 1935? Map
How did the League of Nations respond?










What was the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of
1935 and why was it important?
What happened in Spain in 1931? Homework
What type of reforms did the new republican
government enact?
What happened in the 1936 elections?
Who was General Francisco Franco?
How did the western powers react to the Spanish
Civil War?
How did Germany, Italy, and the U.S.S.R. actually
respond?
What was the Rome-Berlin Axis?
What was the “rape of Nanjing”?
How did the League of Nations respond? The U.S.?










What was the Hossbach Memorandum of November
5, 1937?
On what pretext did Hitler send troops into Austria
in March 1938?
How had conditions changed since 1934 that made
Anschluss possible?
How many ethnic Germans lived in Czechoslovakia
in 1938?
What was their general opinion of life in a Slavic
state?
Was Czechoslovakia actually the tough place to live
that many Germans claimed?
Why was Czechoslovakia of strategic importance?
Map of Czechoslovakia
How did the Czech government try to make the
Sudeten Germans happy in the summer of 1938?
Who was Konrad Henlein?
Why did tension continue to increase in September?











What happened at Munich in September of 1938?
Why did Britain and France abandon
Czechoslovakia?
In what state was Czechoslovakia afterward?
What were the results of the Munich agreement?
What was the purpose of the Anglo-German
Declaration?
Referencing the sources on page 155 of the
handout, explain the reactions to Munich.
What happened in March 1939?
What evidence was there that Britain was finally
ready to give up on appeasement?
What was unveiled on August 29, 1939?
What were the broader implications of the
arrangement?
Was appeasement the wrong strategy and did it
contribute to the outbreak of war?







Why had Japan followed an isolationist
approach to dealing with Western powers prior
to Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853?
What did the Americans want from Japan and
did they get it?
What reforms did Japan undergo in the late
1800s?
Whom did the Japanese emulate in rebuilding
their military?
What evidence is there that the rebuilding and
reforms were successful?
What were the effects of the Russo-Japanese
war on Japan and Eastern Asia?
How had Japan used WWI as an opportunity to
continue its expansion in Asia?








What economic problems did Japan experience in
the years after WWI?
How did Japan embrace Western culture in the
1920s?
How did Prime Minister Kato’s government try to
walk the line between left and right?
What evidence is there that as the 1920s passed,
the Japanese military began to take control of
Japan’s foreign policy and government?
What was the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
sphere and what was its purpose?
How did the invasion of China draw Japan toward
greater conflict with the U.S.?
What was the Western response to Japan’s
occupation of southern Indochina?
How did the embargo affect vital strategic interests
for Japan?







Who became Japan’s Prime Minister in October
of 1941?
Why did Japan launch co-ordinated attacks on
various Western possessions, including Pearl
Harbour, on December 7, 1941?
How important was Japan’s relationship with
Germany?
What impact did the USSR have on Japanese
planning and strategic thinking?
Why was the April 1941Neutrality Pact with the
USSR important for Japan?
Why have some historians blamed the United
States for the outbreak of fighting in the
Pacific?
What are the counter-arguments?


According to historian David Bergamini, is the
portrayal of the Emperor as being a hostage of
militarists within his government accurate?
What were the main causes of the war in the
Pacific?













What was Blitzkrieg?
Why was this type of warfare possible in 1939 and not
possible in 1914?
Why did Hitler encourage the development of
Blitzkrieg?
Why was Poland unable to muster much of a defense
against the Wehrmacht?
While Germany was invading Poland what was the
U.S.S.R. up to?
What happened to Finland in November 1939? Why?
Why is the winter of 1939-40 called the “phony war”?
What happened on April 9, 1940?
Why did the British expedition to Norway end in
failure?
What happened on May 10, 1940? Map
Why was the invasion of France so successful?
What happened at Dunkirk? First Hand Accounts
What did France do on June 22, 1940?











Why was Germany able to defeat France and the
BEF?
What was “Vichy” France?
How did the French people respond to the
occupation and the collaborative government?
What did Italy do in June 1940?
Did many Europeans support Hitler?
What were “Quislings”?
Who was left to oppose Germany in by the end of
June 1940?
How did the U.S. respond to the German triumph
in Western Europe?
How was American neutrality legislation amended
in November 1939?
What did Roosevelt say America’s role would be
at the beginning of the war?
What were the arguments opposing Roosevelt’s
interventionist agenda?











What were the “four freedoms”?
Explain “Lend-Lease”.
How did the U.S. begin to prepare for military
action?
What was the Battle of Britain? Video
Fighter Command Control Diagram
Why didn’t Hitler invade England in 1940?
What impeded Germany’s ability to cripple
Britain’s will and ability to stay in the war?
What were the losses for each country during the
Battle of Britain?
Churchill Speeches
What was the “the blitz”?
How effective was Germany’s bombing campaign
against Britain?







What was the U.S.S.R.’s interest in the Baltic
and Balkan states?
What was Germany’s view of Soviet
expansionist actions?
What actions did Germany take to improve its
position in Eastern Europe and the Balkans?
What happened on June 22, 1941?
Why did Hitler invade Russia and what was his
plan of attack?
How did that plan work out? Operation
Barbarossa
Why did the German offensive fail to capture
Moscow or deal a decisive blow to the Soviet
Union’s ability to stay in the war?






How did Hitler respond to the army’s failure
to knock the USSR out of the war in the
autumn of 1941?
What were the larger implications of
Germany’s failure to completely defeat
Russia?
Who was Albert Speer?
How did the Soviet Union adapt to the
German occupation of valuable territories?
Why did Churchill send troops to North Africa
in 1940? Map
How did the tides of war shift from side to
side in North Africa? Interactive Map







What was the “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity
Sphere”?
Why did the U.S. cut off shipments of oil to Japan
in July 1941?
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor and other
European possessions in Asia? Pearl Harbor
Photos Attack
How successful were Japan’s opening moves of
the war?
As 1942 came to an end, what was the overall
state of the conflict?
What term did F.D.R. give to the Grand Alliance of
26 nations opposed to the Axis countries?
How did American and British co-operation differ
from German and Japanese co-operation?








Why did Stalin call for an Allied invasion of
mainland Europe in 1942?
Why didn’t one occur?
How did the United States mobilize for war?
What impact did this mobilization have on the
American people?
What was “area bombing”? Bomber Campaign
Resources
What was the purpose of the strategic bomber
offensive against Germany? B17 B24 Pictures
British Bombers Hamburg
Detail the events in North Africa from late 1942
through May 1943.
Why did the battle of Stalingrad mark a turning
point in the course of the war?







What happened to Mussolini’s government after
the invasion and capture of Sicily by Allied forces
in mid 1943?
Why did the Italian campaign become a
“frustrating stalemate”? Invasion of Italy
How large was the force assembled for the Allied
invasion of “Fortress Europe”? Operation Overlord
How did the Allied offensive in the west
progress?
What was the Battle of the Bulge? Map
What were the important implications of the
Battle of the Bulge?
Why did the Soviet Union refuse to help the Poles
who participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944?









Why did Eisenhower stop the Allied push into
Germany at the Elbe?
When did the war in Europe officially come to an
end?
Why was the Battle of Midway a turning point in the
Pacific campaign? Midway
What was the American strategy for defeating the
Japanese? Pacific Campaign
What happened on August 6, 1945? Hiroshima
Little Boy Design Manhattan Project
What happened on August 9, 1945? Fat Man
Design Oppenheimer
Why did the United States use atomic weapons
against Japan?
What was the result of the bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki?
What was the Atlantic Charter?








What did Roosevelt and Churchill decide at
Casablanca in January of 1943?
What did the “Big Three” decide on in Tehran in
December of 1943?Big Three
What were the geopolitical implications of the
decision to open the second front in France?
Why did Roosevelt not support Churchill’s idea of
clearly outlined spheres or influence for the Soviet
Union and the western powers?
In broad terms what did the U.K., the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R. decide with regard to postwar Eastern Europe
at Yalta in February of 1945?
What would the new United Nations look like and
what would be its purpose?
How was the Potsdam Conference of July 1945
different than previous conferences?
How were Germany’s borders altered? Map of Europe









When were treaties signed with Germany’s
satellite states?
When did the western allies sign a peace treaty
with Japan? When did the Soviet Union?
Why were the Allies able to defeat Germany?
How did fighting on the ground in WWII differ
from that of WWI? Why?
In what ways did communications and
mechanization affect the battlefield in WWII?
Describe the Battle of the Atlantic.
What was Germany’s goal during this naval
struggle?
How did the Allies respond to German tactics?
Why did Germany lose the Battle of the
Atlantic?







How significant a role did the war at sea play in
determining the outcome of the war?
What roles did aircraft play during the war?
How did the use and capabilities of aircraft
change from WWI to WWII?
What are the criticisms of the strategic
bombing campaigns? Are they justified?
How successful was Albert Speer in
reorganizing Germany’s economy for a total
war effort?
What obstacles stood in his path?
How did the totalitarian nature of Stalin’s Soviet
Union make it easier for the economy of the
USSR to survive the German invasion?





What sorts of measures did the Soviet Union
take to ensure increased industrial output?
How large was the contribution of America’s
economy to Allied victory?
Why was the U.S. able to out produce all the
Axis countries combined?
Contrast the method in which women were
employed in Allied and Axis nations.
Examine the role that leadership played in the
affecting the course of the war.










The Holocaust
What is genocide?
What did the Nazis mean by the term
“Untermenschen”?
What were the Einsatzgrupen that accompanied the
German army in the East?
What was their grand plan for the peoples of Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union?
How did Nazi Germany bring the industrial capabilities
of a modern nation to the work of killing millions of
people? Map
Why have some people said the events of the
Holocaust demonstrate both the best and worst of
humanity?
Who is to blame for the Holocaust?
What does Primo Levi mean when he writes that the
most dangerous people are the ordinary people who
follow monsters, “ready to believe and to act without
asking questions.”
How did the Second World War change the world?