World War II Quest Study Guide
1. Who was Adolf Hitler? How did he come to power? What was Mein Kampf? What did he believe
in? What type of government did he put in place?
2. What is fascism? What is communism? What are the main characteristics of these forms of
government? How are these forms of governments similar and different?
3. Who was Benito Mussolini? How did he come to power? What type of government did he put in
place? How is Ethiopia related to him?
4. What is Lebensraum?
5. What is the Sudetenland?
6. What was the non-aggression pact? Who signed it?
7. What is Blitzkrieg?
8. What is Island Hopping? Who developed this strategy?
9. What was the phony war? What is another name for it?
10. What is Anschluss?
11. What was the Atlantic Charter?
12. What is appeasement?
13. What is isolationism? Why did the United States want to remain as isolationists in the lead up to
World War II? How did the US move away from this? In what ways?
14. What is Cash and Carry? What is the Lend-Lease Act?
15. What happened at Pearl Harbor? When did this event occur?
16. What was Japan doing during the lead up to WWII? What were the goals of the Japanese?
Where were some places that the Japanese invaded?
17. Who was Hideki Tojo? Who was Emperor Hirohito? Who was Isoroku Yamamoto?
18. What was going on back on the home front of many countries during WWII? What contributions
did the home front make to the war effort?
19. What was Operation Barbarossa?
20. Understand the battles of the Pacific campaign that were discussed in class. What happened at
each battle? Where was each battle held? Who were the well-known people involved?
21. Understand the battles in Europe and North Africa that were discussed in class. What happened
at each battle? Where was each battle held? Who were the well-known people involved?
22. Why did the League of Nations not work? What are examples of its weaknesses?
23. How did the Treaty of Versailles contribute to the start of WWII?
24. Who was Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
25. Who was Winston Churchill?
26. What happened to France after it surrendered to Germany? Who was Charles De Gaulle? Who
was Philippe Petain?
27. What happened at Dunkirk?
28. What is a puppet government? What are examples of puppet governments found during WWII?
29. How did WWII end in Europe? How did WWII end in the Pacific? Where did the major events
that led to the end of the war on each front occur?
Essay Questions: Two out of the following three essay questions will be on the Quest.
1. Define and explain the concept of Lebensraum. List two examples of events during the lead
up to World War II that Lebensraum was used as a justification for. For each event, explain
the event and the outcome of the event.
2. Define and explain the concept of appeasement. List two events from the lead up to World
War II that are examples of appeasement. For each event, explain why it is a good example
of appeasement.
3. Choose two principles from the Atlantic Charter. Define and explain each principle. Then for
each principle, explain why that principle would be necessary for peace.