Name______

World War II Study Guide (p. 924)

Chapter 29, Section 1: From Appeasement to War (pp. 924-929)

  1. What two things did Western democracies desperately try to do after the horrors of World War I?
  1. What happened when dictators took aggressive action against other nations after WWI? How did these dictators view various democracies’ desire for peace?
  1. How did Japan respond to the League of Nations’ condemnation of aggressive military action?
  1. What country did Italy invade under Mussolini in 1935, who was its king, and what did the League of Nations do about it?
  1. What two things had Hitler done by 1936 which broke the Treaty of Versailles?
  1. Define appeasement:
  1. Why did France not challenge the actions of Hitler and why did some even have sympathy for Germany?
  1. What did both Britain and France see Hitler and fascism as a defense against?
  1. Define pacifism:
  1. What were the Neutrality Acts and what was the fundamental goal of American policy?
  1. What alliance was formed between Germany, Italy, and Japan?
  1. What conservative general touched off a bloody civil war in Spain?
  1. How many lives were taken by the bloody struggle in Spain?
  2. How many innocents were killed in the small market town of Guernica and what did it prove to Nazi leaders?
  1. What things did Franco do once he had triumphed in Spain?
  1. What goals did Hitler pursue relating to territory, race, and economic development?
  1. Define Anschluss:
  1. Define Sudetenland:
  1. What did Hitler demand must be done with the Sudetenland?
  1. What did Hitler assure Britain and France of once they had given him the Sudetenland without a fight?
  1. What did Neville Chamberlain claim to have achieved with the Munich Pact?
  1. What did Churchill and Daladier warn about the Munich Pact?
  1. What did Hitler do in March 1939 and what country did democracies finally agree to protect?
  1. What agreement stunned the world in August, 1939 and what was a secret part of the agreement?
  1. What did Hitler want from the agreement? What did Stalin want from it?
  1. What did German forces do one week after the signing of the pact and what did it start?

Chapter 29, Section 2: The Axis Advances (pp. 930-937)

  1. Define blitzkrieg:
  1. Define Luftwaffe:
  1. Explain how and why the blitzkrieg attack was so effective.
  2. What did Britain and France do to save Poland from being conquered by the Soviet and Nazi forces?
  1. What areas did Stalin’s forces conquer or gain cooperation with the following winter?
  1. What was the winter when Britain and France waited for Hitler’s attack on them called?
  1. What countries did Hitler attack first in 1940 and what was the result?
  1. Through what area did Hitler attack France and what fortification did he go around?
  1. How many stranded, retreating British troops were ferried across the channel by all available boats during the German invasion? This is often called “The Miracle of Dunkirk”. Was it a miracle? Explain.
  1. Where did Hitler force France to sign its surrender documents and what was the name of the French “puppet state” set up by Germany?
  1. Who led exiled French officers in the “free French” effort against Germany?
  1. What did Winston Churchill refuse to do and what was the name of the invasion Hitler began planning?
  1. Where did Germany begin bombing in England, how did England respond, and where did Hitler begin bombing later in the war?
  1. How many nights in a row was London bombed and what was this attack called?
  1. How did the British people (including king and queen) respond? Give examples.
  1. What impact did Hitler’s bombing of London ultimately have in Britain?
  1. Who was sent by Germany to North Africa, what was his nickname, and what did he accomplish there?
  1. What four new countries were added to the Axis by invading German and Italians?
  1. What was the most costly of all mistakes made by Hitler in World War II, what was the invasion called, and how many Germans invaded?
  1. How did Stalin and his army slow down invading Germans, and what great obstacle did German forces run into on their way to Moscow and Leningrad?
  1. How many Leningrad residents died during the siege?
  1. What did Hitler set up in Western European countries, what racial characteristics did they have, and how did he respond to resistance movements in these countries?
  1. Define concentration camps, and explain what conditions in them were like for prisoners.
  1. List four groups Hitler target for genocide during the war.
  1. Define ghettos:
  1. What was the “final solution of the Jewish problem” and what were built to achieve it?
  1. What happened to the young, elderly, and sick and how were they killed?
  1. Define Holocaust:
  1. How did some Jews in Warsaw try to fight back against the Germans?
  1. Provide examples of both great bravery and great cowardice in Europe regarding the treatment of Jews during the war.

Chapter 29, Section 3: The Allies Turn the Tide (pp. 939-947)

  1. Define “total war”:
  1. What economic restructuring was necessary in Great Britain and the U.S. to have maximum war production?
  1. What democratic freedoms were limited during World War II?
  1. How did women contribute to the war effort in Europe and America?
  2. What did the “Big Three” agree to focus on before fighting the war in Asia?
  1. What fears did the two sides (Stalin versus Churchill and Roosevelt) at Tehran have about each other?
  1. How did Stalin view the reluctance of Churchill and Roosevelt to open another front in Western Europe?
  1. Who stopped Rommel at El Alamein and who led a joint U.S. and British force in North Africa which forced German surrender there?
  1. Where did Allied forces finally cross into Europe and what did they encounter there?
  1. What new city did Hitler attack because of its oil fields and what was the result of the battles there for Germany?
  1. How did the Allies prepare the way for a second invasion of Western Europe?
  1. What was the invasion called and how many troops were ferried across the Channel?
  1. What general led the way to Paris and how long did it take for France to be freed?
  1. How many people died in the bombing of the German cities of Hamburg and Dresden?
  1. What battle delayed the Allies for six weeks and who tried to kill Hitler?
  1. List four agreements made at the Yalta Conference as the Allies prepared for the end of WWII.

Chapter 29, Section 4—Victory in Europe (read p. 948-951)

  1. What was happening all over Europe by March 1945?
  1. What happened to Mussolini and Hitler and what name is given to the day of surrender?
  1. List 5 major reasons why the Allies were able to eventually defeat Hitler’s army.
  1. How many of each of Filipino soldiers and American soldiers died in the Bataan Death March?
  1. What campaign by the Americans began at Guadalcanal in the Pacific and who led U.S. forces there?
  1. Who led naval forces in the Pacific?
  1. What did the Japanese show they would do at Iwo Jima and Okinawa?
  1. Define kamikaze:
  1. What was the Manhattan Project?
  1. What did Truman warn Japan about at Potsdam and what two cities were bombed?

Chapter 29, Section 5—The End of World War II (pp. 952-953 only!!!)

  1. How many people died around the globe during World War II and how many in Europe?
  1. What country suffered the most casualties?
  1. Describe the impact of World War II on Europe.
  1. What did Allies fully realize only after the war’s end?
  1. For what would Germany be tried, where would it take place and what was the result for many top Nazis?
  1. What kind of new governments would be built in Germany and Japan to help ensure tolerance and peace in the future?
  1. What organization would be created by a charter signed by 50 nations in San Francisco?
  1. Name two UN organizations which would help refugees, improve education and stop the spread of disease.