Download U.S. Research: World War II European/African Theater Directions

U.S. Research: World War II European/African Theater
Directions: Use 3-5 minutes to double check this subject’s Power School for your class grade and work listings verifying
that all work is caught up. Read and heed embedded messages. Next, research your part of the following topics and figure
out answers to the questions. Write your questions and detailed answers on lined paper or your notebook paper. These
questions and related answers are required to be handed in, once the class discussion is completed. You are expected to
use the time completely, be through and become knowledgeable. Write down any puzzles you have related to the
material on your paper and bring them up during the class discussion. Warning: If you are found to be using your
research time for other things, it will hurt your learning and grade. If you think or claim to be done, you are not! Once
your assigned part is ready, then help others on your team or study the test resources from Mr. Spitzer’s web page for the
upcoming test. No games, non-topic talk or other activities allowed during research time. The class will research as
much as time allows before team sharing and whole class discussion. Since there is always more to learn, Mr. Spitzer
encourages you to look into this topic more on your own time. Your class work grade includes: 1. Entire use of time while
researching. 2. Answer questions & pay attention during team sharing. 3. Paying attention & participate during class
discussion. 4. Turning in your readable questions & notes. Team members who do not do their share, provide hasty
sloppy answers, disrupt others and use time ineffectively in the four grade aspects will be removed from the
team and required to write out and turn in all answers on their own for the grade.
Topics to Research
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
German Invasion of Poland and Soviet Annexations
Phony War
April 1941 Scandinavia Invasions
May 10th Churchill become PM and Germany’s Invasion of Low Countries & France
Battle of Britain
Tripartite Pact
U.S. Neutrality and amendments
Battle of the Atlantic
Mediterranean and North African warfare + Nazi assistance to Italy
Conquest of Southern Europe
Operation Barbarossa and Atlantic Charter
Fighting in USSR in 1941
Declaration by United Nations and their Grand Strategy
Axis Advance Stalls and Casablanca Conference
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Leningrad
Battle of El Alamein
Combined Bomber Offensive
Driving Axis out of North Africa
1943 Fighting in USSR and Battle of Kursk
Invasion of Sicily and Italy
Tehran Conference
Invasions of France
Operation Bagration and other Soviet Offenses on Eastern Front
Operation Market Garden
Battle of the Bulge
Yalta Conference
The Fatherland is overrun by the Allies in 1945
Suicide of Hitler, other deaths and Ending of European War
Questions to be able to discuss
1. What are the provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Nazi-Soviet Pact)signed in
August 1939? What were the secret protocols? How did this Pact assure Hitler he
could avoid a two-front war, like during World War I, once he defeated Poland?
2. What accusations and demands did Hitler make of Poland in late August 1939? How
supportive were Britain and France of Poland’s refusal to comply with Adolf Hitler’s
demands?
3. What did the Nazi’s do September 1, 1939 related to Poland and what was their
immediate excuse for doing so? What were the responses from France, Britain and
it’s Common Wealth? When did the Soviets take their part of Poland and why did
they delay? How quickly was Poland overrun and what did surviving Polish do
next?
4. What was the German-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation?
What next did the Soviet’s impose on their Baltic neighbors Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania? What was Finland’s response to similar Soviet demands and results?
What other lands did the Soviets annex in 1940?
5. What was the Phoney War and when was this? What were the World War II
belligerents really doing during this time period?
6. When and why did Hitler invade Denmark and Norway? Describe this warfare.
How did the British react to this failure in the North on May 10, 1940?
7. Describe the invasion of France by Germany? How did Hitler catch France by
surprise and what happened to the Low Countries? Describe the conquest of France
and defeat of the French and British armies. What miracle did the British achieve at
Dunkirk? What was the cost? What was Vichy France?
8. What did Hitler offer Britain on July 19, 1940? How did the British respond? What
did the Nazi’s do next? Describe the Battle of Britain including the Nazi plans,
British responses and actual phases of the battle. How did the British manage to
hold up under the Blitz?
9. What was the Tripartite Pact? What was it’s real purpose?
10. What happened to U.S. neutrality when the law was amended to allow “cash and
carry,” “destroyers for bases” and Lend-Lease? Explain how each of these helped
the Allies in the war.
11. What was the Battle of the Atlantic? Describe the phases of this warfare, types of
actions and how the Allies in the end succeeded.
12. Where, in 1940, did the Italians attack the British in Africa and the Mediterranean?
How successful was Italy? Why and where did the Germans get involved? Who was
Erwin Rommel and what did he do in Africa? Describe the back and forth desert
warfare between the British and Germans.
13. When, where and how did the Nazi’s conquer Southern Europe? Describe the
partisan warfare in Yugoslavia for the rest of the war.
14. What was the plan for Operation Barbarossa? When did the invasion start and why
so late? Describe the 1941 warfare in the Soviet Union. Show on the wall map the
Nazi Soviet holdings by December 1941. What did the Soviets do in December
1941? Why did they use their troops from East Asia to help?
15. What was the purpose of the Atlantic Charter in August 1941? What were the goals
set by this agreement?
16. Describe the purpose and goals of the January 1942 Declaration by United Nations.
What was the Grand Strategy of the Allies in World War II?
17. What was the agreement made at the Casablanca Conference in early 1943?
18. Locate on the map Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Describe the Battle of Stalingrad
including Nazi purposes, Soviet response, the warfare itself, phases of the battle and
the eventual outcome.
19. Locate on the map Leningrad in the Soviet Union. Describe the Battle of Leningrad
including Nazi purposes, Soviet response, the warfare itself, phases of the battle and
the eventual outcome.
20. Locate on the map El Alamein in the North Africa. Describe the Battle of El Alamein
including Nazi purposes, Allied response, weapons, the warfare itself, phases of the
battle and the eventual outcome. Describe the Allied advance afterwards across
North Africa from both top ends of the continent. Describe the ending of the
warfare in North Africa. What was Rommel ordered to do?
21. Why were the Allies unable to invade France in 1943? Describe the Dieppe Raid
including goals, objectives, failures and lesson learned.
22. What was the 1943 Combined Bomber Offensive by the British and Americans in
1943? Give the purposes, strategy, and hazards of the raids over the continent.
Describe what happened to Hamburg, Germany from British bombing in July 1943.
23. What happened in the fighting around the Kursk Bulge in 1943? Why did the Nazi’s
fail? What happened in Eastern Europe because of this failure? Where was the
Soviet advance in May 1944?
24. Describe the invasion of Sicily in 1943. What was the role of U.S. general Patton?
How were the Allies successful? What was the Armistice of Cassibile?
25. Why was Italy invaded in September 1943? Who carried the fight in Italy and how
did German special forces rescue Mussolini? Describe the warfare in Italy during
the slow grind up the peninsula, including the attacks on the line at Monte Casssino
and the landings at Anzio.
26. When was the Tehran Conference, who attended and what was decided?
27. Describe the build up and then D-Day June 6, 1944. Describe the fight in France
from the landings to the liberation of Paris. What was the role of the Free French
Forces and who was their leader?
28. What was Operation Bagration and other Soviet offenses in the summer of 1944?
What did the Germans do to Warsaw after the uprisings there and in Poland?
29. Why did the Soviets and Finnish resistance sign an armistice in 1944?
30. Describe Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1944. What were the goals?
Describe what really happened.
31. Describe the Battle of the Bulge including Hitler’s plans, the phases of the battle and
eventual outcome. Why were the Nazi’s successful at first but then they lost?
32. What agreement did the Allies arrive at, during Yalta Conference? Describe the
various aspects and implications of this agreement.
33. Describe the rest of the overrunning of Germany from the east and west in 1945.
Where did the U.S. and Soviet forces met?
34. Describe the dates, circumstances and deaths of Franklin Roosevelt, Benito
Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
35. Describe Germany’s surrender and the ending of the war. What were the costs of
the war? Detail overall figures then break them down and give the figures for the
major war participants.
Critical Thinking
36. Why was Allied cooperation so decisive a factor in winning the war? Support with
examples.
37. Why was it vital for the Allies to win the Battle of the Atlantic? Justify your answer.
38. What were Hitler and Mussolini’s mistakes during the World War II. How did the
Allies take advantage of these mistakes and eventually win?
39. What were the most important reasons for the Allied victory in Europe?
40. Could the Soviets have won in Europe without U.S. help? Justify your answer and
the timeframe you imagine.
41. Evaluate current American efforts to prevent international conflicts. Do you believe
America’s foreign policy has overcommitted the nation? Is the U.S. too isolationist?
Explain.
42. What would the world be like in the years following, IF the Nazi’s had won World
War II?