Download World War II

World War II
Study Guide #10
1. What were the causes of World War II?

Political and economic conditions in Europe after World War I.
There was:
a)
Worldwide depression
b)
High German war debt
c)
High inflation
d)
Massive unemployment

These conditions led to the rise of fascism, which threatened peace in Europe and
Asia. It is a political philosophy in which total power is given to a dictator and individual
freedoms are denied. Nationalism and often racism are emphasized.
2. Who were the fascist dictators that later became known as the Axis Powers?
a) Adolf Hitler, Germany
b) Benito Mussolini, Italy
c) Hideki Tojo, Japan
3. Which nations were the Allies?
a) Democratic nations of United States, Great Britain and Canada.
b) The Soviet Union joined the Allies after being invaded by Germany.
4. Who were the Allied leaders?
a) Franklin D. Roosevelt and later Harry S. Truman, United States
b) Winston Churchill, Great Britain
c) Joseph Stalin, Soviet Union
5. As the conflict in Europe and Asia grew, how did America's policy of
neutrality gradually change to one of direct involvement?
a) It began with isolationism because the United States was focused on combating
the Great Depression and because of the legacy of World War I.
b) But Franklin Roosevelt was providing economic aid to Allies in the form of war
supplies and old naval warships in return for the use of military bases in Bermuda
and the Caribbean, known as Lend-Lease.
c) The United States became directly involved in the war after Japan bombed Pearl
Harbor.
6. Who was winning the war at first?

Despite initial Axis success in both Europe and the Pacific, the Allies persevered
and ultimately defeated Germany and Italy.
7. Describe the war in the Pacific.
a) Rising tensions developed between Japan and the United States because of
Japanese aggression in East Asia.
b) On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor without
warning.
c) The United States declared war on Japan.
d) Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
8. What were the major events and turning points of World War II?
a) Germany invaded Poland, setting off the war in Europe. The Soviet Union also
invaded Poland and the Baltic nations.
b) Germany invaded France, capturing Paris.
c) Germany bombed London, beginning the Battle of Britain.
d) The United States gave Great Britain war materiel, in a Lend-Lease program.
e) After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan and
then its allies. "A date which will live in infamy..."
f) Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
g) The United States was victorious over Japan in the Battle of Midway. This
victory was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
h) Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union defeated Germany at
Stalingrad, marking the turning point of the war in Eastern Europe.
i) American and Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on D-Day to begin the
liberation of Western Europe.
j) The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in 1945, forcing Japan to surrender and ending World War II.
9. What was the Holocaust?

It was the systematic attempt to rid Europe of all Jewish people.

Anti-Semitism is an example of prejudice and discrimination taken to the
extreme. Their Anti-Semitism used tactics that included: included boycotting of Jewishowned stores, threats like kristallnacht, segregation into ghettos, and imprisonment and
killing of Jews and others in concentration camps and death camps.
a) The Nazis believed in Aryan supremacy.
b) At the end of the war, the Jewish people and other undesirables were liberated by
the Allied forces from the concentration camps.
10. How did World War II affect Americans at home?

American involvement in World War II brought an end to the Great Depression.
Factories and workers were needed to produce goods to win the war.

The war affected every aspect of American life.

Thousands of American women took jobs in defense plants during the war. Rosie
the Riveter was a symbol of all American women in the war effort at home.

Americans were asked to make sacrifices to support the war by conserving and
rationing resources.

The need for temporary workers broke down some of the racial barriers, like the
hiring in defense plants, although discrimination against African Americans continued.

While many Japanese Americans served in the armed forces, others were treated
with distrust and prejudice, and many were forced into internment camps.