Q1)
(a) On December 7, 1941, a date that President Franklin D. Roosevelt
claimed would “live in infamy,” the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a
surprise aerial assault on Pearl Harbour. This unprovoked attack
brought the United States into World War II, as it immediately declared
war on Japan. Pearl Harbour is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii,
that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces
on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning,
hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where
they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels,
including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400
Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000
people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
(b) Territories within the Soviet Union were crucial to Nazi plans to
acquire Lebensraum, or prime “living space” for “Aryan”
Germans. With continental western Europe firmly under German
control, Hitler was ready for war with the Soviets in the summer of
1941. For Hitler, according to historian Wendy Lower, “the
ultimate aim of this Vernichtungskrieg (war of destruction)
against the Soviet Union was to make a ‘Garden of Eden’ out of the
newly won territories in the East.”
Germany planned to colonize western parts of the Soviet Union,
especially the
resource-rich lands of the Ukraine, as it had colonized the
Warthegau in Poland. This would involve expelling the supposedly
inferior “races” of Slavs and Jews who lived there and settling
ethnic Germans in their place.
Q2)
(b) This cartoon by the British cartoonist David Low appeared in the
Evening Standard on 20 September 1939. The title of the
cartoon is ‘Rendezvous’.
Hitler and Stalin meet in the rubble of the war to destroy
Poland. Hitler says: ‘The scum of the earth I believe’ and Stalin
replies: ‘The bloody assassin of the workers, I presume?’
They are both smiling broadly. Both are unpleasant, greedy,
deceitful characters. It is a smug, greedy, evil, pleased-withthemselves smile. They stand over the body of a dead Polish
soldier.
Hitler and Stalin have formed an alliance of convenience, in
order to invade, destroy and divide Poland between them.
Both men are armed. All around is the rubble of their successful
war against Poland. Guns on their sides depict militarism,
violence, murder, conquest.
Hitler and Stalin, having invaded Poland from west and east,
now meet in the middle, having defeated Poland.
Hitler and Stalin greet each other with exaggerated politeness
and smiles. Such actions usually are done by friends, but in this
case they are obviously pretending. They are only pretending to
like each other. Despite the exaggerated greetings, they are
saying nasty things to each other under their breath. Scum’
reflects Hitler’s racism. ‘Assassin of the workers’ reflects Stalin’s
communism. They hate each other on principle, and have only
united to divide Poland.
Stalin invaded Poland on 17th September 1939 and this cartoon
by David Low appeared on 20 September 1939, three days after
the Russians had invaded Poland to meet German forces
invading eastwards.
David Low is showing the successful conquest of Poland by the
Nazi-Soviet Pact. Low hated Hitler, and believed that he wanted
to take over the world. Low is giving vent to all his loathing and
disgust at Hitler and Stalin by showing the true nature of their
alliance.