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US History II
Chapter 16: World War Looms (1931-1941)
Study Questions
Section 1: Dictators Threaten World Peace
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7.
How did World War I and the Versailles Treaty sow the seeds of World War II?
What were Stalin's goals? What steps did he take to achieve them?
List the characteristics of a totalitarian state.
What were the basic beliefs of fascism? of Nazism?
How did fascism differ from communism?
Why did the Japanese invade Manchuria in 1931?
Why were Americans supporting a neutral position in the 1930s regarding the growing political and
military tensions in Europe?
8. How did some Americans become involved in the fight against totalitarianism in the 1930s?
9. Why did FDR take a strong stand against isolationism in the late 1930s?
Section 2: War in Europe
10. What was lebensraum? What moves did Hitler make to support this Germany policy?
11. Why did Neville Chamberlain believe that he had accomplished "Peace in our times" after he returned
from Munich in 1938? Why was he wrong in this assessment?
12. Why did Stalin and Hitler become allies in the summer of 1939?
13. How was blitzkrieg an effective military weapon for the Germans?
14. Why was the period between the winter of 1939 and the spring of 1940 called the "Phony War?"
15. How did the situtations of France and Britain differ by the fall of 1940?
16. Why did Prime Minister Churchill say of the RAF?: Never have so many owed so much to so few?
Section 3: The Holocaust
17. What were the basic principles of Hitler's racial theories?
18. What groups did the Nazis feel were unfit to belong to the Aryan "master race?"
19. Why were Jews scapegoated?
20. What problems did German Jews face in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s?
21. What were the goals of the Nazis' "Final Solution?"
22. Why was the Nazi program of systematic genocide so brutally effective?
23. How did the Europeans show their resistance to the Nazi persecution of the Jews?
Section 4: America Moves Toward War
24. Why did some Americans object to President Roosevelt's "cash-and-carry" policy? Many Americans felt
that the cash and carry policy was a step towards entering war. After WWI, there is a clear example that
supporting the Allies with weapons could result in being pulled into a war.
25. What was the shape of our military readiness at the outbreak of war in Europe at the end of 1939? Our
military was very weak. America had the 8th-9th largest military in the world (big decline since WWI).
Our navy and air force were lackluster. To build up the military, Congress passes the Selective Service
Act, starting the first peace time draft in U.S. history. 1 million troops were quickly recruited to prepare
for the possibility of war.
26. How did the Lend-Lease program work? Once the cash and carry program could not continue, due to
lack of money of the Allies, FDR proposed the Lend-Lease Act. Under this act, the United States would
lend and lease military supplies to Allies (any countries that would support democracy and protect US
interests). The program accumulated $50 billion in aid to Allied nations. This further showed our
support for the Allies and made another step towards entering the war. Also another aspect was that
American ships started transporting the equipment, resulting in several ships being sunk and loss of
American lives.
27. Create a CHART and list the arguments taken by the isolationists and the interventionists regarding
America's responsibilities to the rest of the world at the outbreak of war in late 1939. : We did this in
class!!! – Isolationists – believe that America needs to take care of itself. That we are still trying to get
out of the Great Depression, and have many problems at home that need to fixed. Interventionists –
believe that America needed to enter into the war in order to protect the world from Hitler and the Nazi
ideas. Also that in order to protect democracy and US interests abroad, we needed to enter the war as
soon as possible.
28. Why was the Atlantic Charter important? The Atlantic Charter was important because it set the terms
for the war. FDR and Churchill determined what the outcomes would be after the war as well. The
basis for the United Nations would come out of this meeting. Among their goals were collective
security, disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation and freedom of the seas
29. How did the U.S. enter into an undeclared shooting war with Germany in the fall of 1941? Merchant
and Naval ships that had been transporting military supplies to the Allies under the Lend-Lease Act, and
had been fired upon by German ships and U-boats. FDR gave the order to allow them to engage the
Germans in order to protect themselves. FDR had hoped that these interactions would be enough to
push public support towards entering the war.
30. Why was oil a major source of conflict between the US and Japan in the early 1940s? What other areas
of disagreement existed between the two nations in the fall of 1941? Oil was the lifeblood for the
Japanese. They had limited resources given their lack of land, so their military required more resources
than they had. Oil was being exported primarily by the United States, and given our unhappiness with
Japanese aggression, FDR cut off all supplies of Oil to Japan in an attempt to stop their military actions.
Japanese expansion was the other source of disagreement between the two nations.
31. What problems did the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor solve for FDR? What new problems did this
event create? The attack on Pearl Harbor solved the support issue FDR had for entering the war. Now
every American was ready to enter the war, even the most die-hard isolationists were prepared to go to
war. America would now have to fight a two front war in the Pacific and the Atlantic.
Chapter 16: World War Looms (1931-1941)
Identifications
Section 1: Dictators Threaten World Peace
1. Nationalism *
2. Totalitarianism *
3. Fascism *
4. “Black Shirts”
5. Nazism *
6. “Storm Troopers”
7. Third Reich
8. Francisco Franco
9. Neutrality Acts
Section 2: War in Europe
1. Edouard Daladier
2. Neville Chamberlain
3. Winston Churchill
4. appeasement
5. Luftwaffe
6. blitzkrieg
7. Maginot Line
8. Charles de Gaulle
Section 3: The Holocaust
1. Schutzstaffel
2. Anti-Semitism
3. Nuremberg Laws
4. genocide
5. crematorium
Section 4: America Moves Towards War
1. Tripartite Pact – Japan, Germany and Italy signed a mutual defense treaty known as the Tripartite Pact.
They would become known as the Axis powers.
2. Wendell Willkie - Republican candidate in the 1940 elections. He had many similar stances as FDR,
and lacked the support of the nation. FDR wins his third term as president easily.
3. Lend Lease Act – 1941 law that allowed the United States to ship arms and other supplies without
immediate payment, to nations fighting the Axis powers.
4. Wolf Pack – German U-boats that were roaming the waters of the Atlantic looking to destroy all
merchant and military vessels that were supporting the Allies.
5. Hideki Tojo – Military leader of Japan. Became the nation’s Prime Minister in 1941. Advised Emperor
Hirohito that he would avoid war, but ultimately plans the attack on Pearl Harbor.
6. Hirohito - Emperor of Japan.