HL: WORLD WAR II AND THE AMERICAS ESSAY QUESTIONS

Once you have planned (see website for Dead Fish Frame) or written each essay you can scroll to the bottom of the document to see the comments from the IB marks scheme. Remember, these are only a selection of past paper questions, use your textbook and other materials to ensure that you have questions for all syllabus points.

PAST ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Examine the social impact of the Second World War on minorities in one country in the Americas up to 1945.
2. “The economic and diplomatic effects of the Second World War were of limited significance.” Discuss with reference to one country in the Americas up to 1945.
3. “The Second World War served as a catalyst for great social change in the Americas.”
With reference to women and minorities, to what extent do you agree with this statement?
4. Examine the significance of the diplomatic or military role of two countries in the Americas during the Second World War.
5. To what extent was the use of the atomic bomb in the Second World War a political rather than a military decision?
6. To what extent could the United States be considered neutral from 1935 to 7 December 1941?
7. Examine the economic effects of the Second World War on one country of the Americas
until 1945
8. Assess the social impact of the Second World War on women and ethnic minorities in any one country of the region.
9. “The Second World War greatly transformed inter-American diplomacy and economic
interaction in the years 1939–1945.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
MARK SCHEMES
1. Examine the social impact of the Second World War on minorities in one country in the Americas up to 1945.
Candidates must examine how minorities were affected socially by the Second World War, up to
1945, in any one country of the region. While they may generalize as to how minorities were
affected, specific examples should be applied as evidence to support the generalizations.
Indicative content
• The Second World War contributed to economic growth, due mostly to defence-related job
creation. Minorities often found greater opportunity for social mobility as they acquired positions that provided higher wages, more secure employment and advanced social standing.
• Economic opportunity created by the war led to changes in both the pace and pattern of
migration by minorities, especially rural to urban migration. The interaction of minorities in an
urban culture established opportunities for cultural borrowing and intermarriage, among other
effects. However, clashes among competing minorities or conflict with the dominant cultural
group also occurred.
• Immigration patterns were also affected by the Second World War. In some cases, immigration
of minorities was expanded to meet the needs of agriculture and industry, replacing native-born
individuals that had entered the military. In other cases, immigration rates declined due to risks
associated with wartime travel or due to restrictions tightened for reasons of national security.
• New opportunities were opened for minorities to enter the armed forces within those nations of the region that declared war. In general, minorities achieved more, but less than full, equality in their respective branches of service as compared to their pre-war position. Minorities often
gained respect and some advancement of status due to their service, which was less restricted
to menial labour than in the First World War. There were some minority groups that had
distinguished combat records.
• In some countries of the region, minorities were isolated to internment camps, based on either
their nationality or concern in regard to their loyalty. Internment generally caused long-term
social stigma and loss of civil liberty as well as economic hardship.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
2. “The economic and diplomatic effects of the Second World War were of limited significance.” Discuss with reference to one country in the Americas up to 1945.
Candidates must offer a considered and balanced review of the influence of the Second World War on the economy of the selected country and on its diplomatic relations with others. Answers will depend on the country chosen and it must be noted that the question stops in 1945.
Indicative content
Economic effects:
• These may include its contribution to the end of the Depression, conversion from a peacetime to
a wartime economy, increase in the demand of goods and employment opportunities (including
women and minorities), government control (resources, production, wages and prices), inflation,
rationing and changes in trade relations.
Diplomatic effects:
• These may include the early stages of the war and neutrality, relations with the belligerent
nations before and after US entry in 1941, US pressure on countries to declare war on the Axis
powers, and economic and political agreements up to 1945.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
3. “The Second World War served as a catalyst for great social change in the Americas.”
With reference to women and minorities, to what extent do you agree with this statement?
Responses to the statement should reference both groups suggested in the stimulus question and
they could refer to any countries of the Americas; as such answers are expected to vary
significantly. There is no prescribed number of countries for candidates to assess. Candidates
might choose to discuss one country in depth or several countries in less depth in more of a
regional approach. Other factors that may have occasioned social change in the Americas may be
considered; however there needs to be an analysis of the significance of the Second World War
and a reasoned conclusion should be expected.
Note: Candidates may assess changes that occurred either during the Second World War and/or
immediately after it concluded.
Indicative content
• Any country within the region is acceptable, though most are likely to choose the United States
or Canada.
• Regardless of which country is chosen, candidates must address specific changes occurring for
women and minorities.
• These could include changes in the workplace and involvement in the Armed Forces during the
war.
• Post-war, changes could be increased consciousness of inequality for women and minority
groups.
• Formation of civil rights groups for various minorities and the feminist movement may be
addressed.
• Candidates might argue that while the Second World War created the possibility for change, the
real changes didn’t occur until over a decade later.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
4. Examine the significance of the diplomatic or military role of two countries in the Americas during the Second World War.
Discussion of either the diplomatic or military role requires that candidates consider the nature of both countries’ diplomatic or military participation, and make an assessment of the significance of their contribution. Much depends upon the particular countries chosen. Popular choices might be the US, Canada and Brazil; however accept any choice of countries selected by the candidates provided the focus remains on their role.
Diplomatic issues may include: agreements by which the US provided economic and industrial
assistance in exchange for naval bases and a secure flow of war materials; decisions related to
concerns over Axis-nation residents in Latin America and their possible confinement or deportation to the US; agreements reached at the meetings of foreign ministers (for example Panama, 1939;
Havana, 1940; and Rio, 1942).
Military issues may include: the provision and the use of naval and air bases; the contribution
regarding strategies or tactics; intelligence gathering; contribution with troops and their participation in the different theatres of war; the production of war supplies; the patrolling of the seas and other actions against German U-boats; the protection of the Panama Canal zone.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
5. To what extent was the use of the atomic bomb in the Second World War a political rather than a military decision?
The decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan has been extensively researched and yet
remains controversial. Reward responses that thoroughly evaluate the political and military
considerations which led to the decision and assess the extent to which the decision was political.
Military considerations: advisors to President Truman disagreed as to how close Japan was to
ending the war, with Secretary of State Byrnes, Secretary of War Stimson and the Joint Chiefs of
Staff advocating the necessity of the bomb to achieve Japan’s surrender; several Cabinet
members, scientific groups and senior military advisors (including General Eisenhower) maintained that Japan was nearly at the point of surrender without the use of the atomic bomb; US intelligence Sources estimated that Japan had two million soldiers ready to defend the islands and that tactics similar to those used at Okinawa would be employed; various estimates of US casualties (dead and wounded) have been made, ranging from sixty-six thousand to one million; estimates are speculative and depend upon various assumptions having to do with Japanese military capacity, time span necessary to defeat Japan, actions Japan may have taken against Allied prisoners of war, and numerous other factors; questions have emerged as to the changing nature of the estimates, which were often increased after the war, and whether this reflected an attempt to justify the use of the atomic bomb; projections less frequently address the estimates as to Japanese civilian or military casualties; also less considered is the question of how the war’s continuation might have impacted Allied casualties in other areas of the Pacific theatre of war.
Political considerations: difficult to quantify, but subject to speculation, is the American desire for
revenge against Japan over the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; the US public might raise
criticism of the expenditure of over two billion dollars, (Manhattan Project), to develop the bomb if there was no use of the device; high casualties from a conventional invasion of Japan could not be justified to the American public if they knew that a weapon was available to end the war (the
political effect could cause Truman and the Democratic party to lose power); use of the bomb
might end the war before the USSR could broaden its expansion into East Asia, particularly
Manchuria; the Soviet Union might be intimidated by the new weapon and its implications as to US military superiority, thus limiting Soviet expansion in Europe; the moral issue of civilian casualties in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was made politically acceptable by the wartime promotion of the Japanese as immoral for their commission of atrocities.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
6. To what extent could the United States be considered neutral from 1935 to 7 December 1941?
The question allows the candidate to determine how neutral the US was in the years leading up to its declaration of war in the Second World War. Candidates are likely to discuss the official
position of neutrality as indicated by the passage of the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936 and 1937 and the growth of the America First Committee and its Fortress America philosophy. At the same time, candidates should recognize the less than neutral actions of the Neutrality Act of 1939, the
destroyers for bases trade with Britain, the patrolling of the western Atlantic by the US, the Lend– Lease Act of 1941, the Atlantic Charter, as well as economic sanctions the US imposed against Japan.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, it is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.
7. Examine the economic effects of the Second World War on one country of the Americas
until 1945.
Answers will vary depending upon which nation’s economic effects are selected for assessment.
Depending on the country chosen possible issues which could be discussed include: the ending of
the Great Depression; conversion from a peacetime to wartime economy; employment growth with opportunities for women and minorities; stabilization policies; price and wage controls;
government control of the allocation of resources and production; increased revenues to fund the
war effort; and an expanded export market in resources needed for the war effort.
In the United States examples of programmes that might be mentioned include the War Production Board, War Manpower Commission, Office of Economic Stabilization and the Office of Price Administration.
While in Canada the National War Labour Order, the Wartime Prices and Trade Board and the
Department of Munitions and Supply are examples of programmes that indicate the economic
impact of the war on the nation. Economic effects of the Second World War in Latin America