World+War+2+Question+Set

Nik Jameson AP World History 4/27/09

__World War II Questions__

A number of the policies of the leading world's nations helped to encourage the aggression of states such as Germany, Italy, and Japan. One policy that enraged Germany, which helped fuel their aggression against the rest of Europe was the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles basically blamed WWI on the Germans, and made them pay for it. Obviously this didn't sit well with the Germans, so they broke the treaty, rebuilt their military, and annexed Austria. Although many policies encouraged aggression, there were a few policies that encouraged peace. The appeasement was a policy that aimed at controlling Hitler and Germany. The problem was that Hitler didn't want to be controlled. The Munich agreement also sought to keep Hitler under control, but still, within one year he was back to his aggressive ways. He was taking over Czechoslovakia in less than one year.

In the Great War the armies tried to battle it out in the trenches. But due to the fact that the Second World War was a larger war, with more “participants” the battle was more spread out. In World War II numerous new technologies made armies able to take different approaches to the war. Two major new technologies that completely changed the strategy of the war were the newer explosives and aircrafts. Both of these technologies existed in World War I, but they were modified and enhanced greatly by the time of the Second World War. In the First World War airplanes were mainly used for reconnaissance because they were not large enough to carry weapons. But in the Second World War bombing became more often used technique. The new technologies along with the new idea of total war entirely changed the techniques used by World War II armies. With total war armies not only went for opposing troops, but they went for those nations civilians. Being able to use the bomb helped total war, because it was a simple task to bomb an enemies civilians. Basically many new techniques were used in WWII, such as total war (attacking the civilians). The new technologies, such as enhanced aircraft and explosives (atom bomb), greatly helped the shift from a mobile war to a total war.

The Second World War completely and utterly changed the role of civilians in every theater of conflict. World War II's introduction of total war made civilians targets of enemies, which helped to mark the new role of civilians in times of war. During World War II there was no safe area for civilians due to the widespread bombings and brutal occupation forces. The bombings, which were strategically done by enemy forces, killed many more civilian men, women, and children than it did soldiers. Bombings in the Second World War, for the first time, made civilians the target of attacks. The occupation forces, just like the bombings, also played a major role in changing the role of civilians in warfare. But instead of making the civilians the targets of attacks, the occupation forces forced civilians to hard labor, often times even death, working in extermination and work camps. Often times these camps were even worse than the bombings. For example, the Holocaust was the slaughter of all Jews and other undesirables and was just as horrific as any bombing. In the end, the newly introduced total war resulted in civilian death tolls much larger than the military casualties. In Auschwitz, one singe Internment camp, one millions civilian Jews were killed.

After the conclusion of the Second World War there were many attempts made at peace. Obviously some of these attempts were successful, but there were also many issues that were left unresolved. After the war a number of treaties were made including NATO and the Warsaw-Pact. NATO was a military alliance against soviet aggression, and the Warsaw-Pact was launched by the Soviets in response to NATO. Along with the treaties formed after World War II, the United Nations was also created. The United Nations was dedicated to maintaining international peace and promoting friendly relations between the nations of the world. The final version of the United Nations was formed by delegates from fifty different Nations, in San Francisco, in 1945. Although many attempts at peace were made, the postwar era was dominated by the Cold War. Basically the time after the Second World War was known as a time of neither peace nor war. Although the Cold War was called the Cold War, it was not technically a war, so the postwar era was not a time of war, and yet because of the Cold War it was not a time of piece either. The Cold War between the two postwar powers- United States and Soviet Union- was a long drawn-out conflict that divided global populations. All in all there were attempts made to make peace after the war, but the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States still seemed to elude even the United Nations.

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The Second World War **
 * AP World History **
 * Mr. Sontheimer **

After the horrors of the “War to End All Wars” many of the world’s citizens felt that the era of war was at an end. Sadly, the failure of the Treaty of Versailles and the emerging doctrines of totalitarianism on the right and the left ends of the political spectrum meant that conflict was inevitable. Unlike World War I the Second World War will be a mobile and fluid conflict taking advantage of the many rudimentary technologies conceived during the earlier conflict.

(Overview: From Traditions and Encounters Website) Appeasement. The causes of the war are complex but must include the failure of western democracies to take seriously the threat of fascism. When Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, when Italy seized Ethiopia in 1935, when Germany claimed first the Sudetenland and then all of Czechoslovakia in 1938: at every turn, world leaders decided to appease the aggressor rather than risk a war. Isolationism. Sunk in the depression, Britain, France, and the United States erected walls of tariffs against imports, which only deepened the global depression. Disillusioned with the outcome of World War I, the western democracies did not maintain their military strength. When the next war came, they were ill prepared. Total war. Like the First World War, the second involved whole populations on an unprecedented scale. Women on both sides performed industrial work and joined auxiliary forces. Civilians were targets of war through aerial attacks, blockades, rape, and internment. Civilian casualties were in the tens of millions. Genocide. Certainly the most horrifying aspect of the war was the Nazi attempt to methodically exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe, along with other "undesirable" populations. Nearly six million Jews were killed in the death camps. An uneasy alliance. Capitalist and communist states found common cause in the battle against fascism. By keeping up the pressure on two fronts, the Allies eventually crushed the Axis empire. However, by the end of the war, the alliance between Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union was frayed and unstable. Postwar uncertainties. At the Yalta conference of 1945, the Allies agreed that the Soviets could establish temporary governments in eastern Europe and eastern Germany in exchange for Stalin's pledge to help the United States defeat Japan. These puppet states were supposed to be temporary but instead became permanent dependents of the Soviet Union. The postwar conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was already apparent. 1.) Compare and contrast the aggressions of the Japanese in Asia with that of the German aggression in Europe in the years before the Second World War. 2.) Evaluate how the policies of the many of the world’s leading nations encourage the aggression of the various totalitarian states. 3.) How do the techniques of the armies of World War II differ from those of WWI? What role does technology play in the shift? 4.) How did the Second World War mark a new role for civilians in every theater of the conflict? (hint: Manufacturing/Genocide/Targets etc.) 5.) What were some of the successful aspects of the peace made at the end of the Second World War? What were some of the unresolved issues? [|Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, Volume One-A Reckoning] What is Hitler’s reasoning about race and superiority? What evidence does he offer to support his claims? [|What is Fascism?, Benito Mussolini] How does Benito Mussolini position Facism as a political theory? Why would this appeal to Italians in the early 20th century? [|Hermann Friedrich Graebe: Account of Holocaust Mass Shooting, 1942] How would this account have sounded to people to who were not witnesses to such horror? What steps must have been taken to make the SS soldiers act as mass murderers
 * Chapter Questions- Please Answer with depth and detail. **
 * Primary Source Readings: Short Interpretations due with questions **