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Why was France reluctant to become involved in
another war?
How did France plan to handle future German
aggression?
Why was this an unwise plan of defense? Maginot Line
Why did many in Great Britain and the United States
follow pacifist or at least isolationist beliefs?
What was the neutrality legislation brought in by the
United States?
How did these laws actually help aggressor nations?
Why was the Soviet Union unhappy with its position in
Europe in the 1930s?
What actions did the USSR take to achieve some
measure of security?
Why did many countries continue to reject closer ties
with the USSR?
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What were Hitler’s international goals when he
came to power in 1933?
Explain Hitler’s concept of Lebensraum.
In what ways did Hitler begin to rebuild the
German military?
How was he able to openly break the terms of the
Versailles treaty?
What was the result of the Saar plebiscite of
1935? How did it embolden Hitler?
Hitler is quoted as saying that the “48 hours after
the march into the Rhineland were the most
nerve wracking of my life.” Why was he so
anxious?
Why did Hitler place a high priority on Anschluss?
Who acted to prevent German annexation of
Austria following the assassination of Austrian
chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in July 1934?
Which country did Italy invade in 1935? Map
How did the League of Nations respond?
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What happened in Spain in 1931? Homework
What type of reforms did the new republican
government enact?
What happened in the 1936 elections?
Who was General Francisco Franco?
How did the western powers react to the
Spanish Civil War?
How did Germany, Italy, and the U.S.S.R.
actually respond?
What was the Rome-Berlin Axis?
What was the “rape of Nanjing”?
How did the League of Nations respond? The
U.S.?
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How many ethnic Germans lived in
Czechoslovakia in 1938?
What was their general opinion of life in a Slavic
state?
Was Czechoslovakia actually the tough place to
live that many Germans claimed?
Why was Czechoslovakia of strategic importance?
Map of Czechoslovakia
How did the Czech government try to make the
Sudeten Germans happy in the summer of 1938?
Who was Konrad Henlein?
Why did tension continue to increase in
September?
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What happened at Munich in September of 1938?
Why did Britain and France abandon
Czechoslovakia?
In what state was Czechoslovakia afterward?
What were the results of the Munich agreement?
Referencing the sources on page 155 of the
handout, explain the reactions to Munich.
What happened in March 1939?
What evidence was there that Britain was finally
ready to give up on appeasement?
What was unveiled on August 29, 1939?
What were the broader implications of the
arrangement?
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What was Blitzkrieg?
Why was this type of warfare possible in 1939 and not
possible in 1914?
Why did Hitler encourage the development of
Blitzkrieg?
Why was Poland unable to muster much of a defense
against the Wehrmacht?
While Germany was invading Poland what was the
U.S.S.R. up to?
What happened to Finland in November 1939? Why?
Why is the winter of 1939-40 called the “phony war”?
What happened on April 9, 1940?
Why did the British expedition to Norway end in
failure?
What happened on May 10, 1940? Map
Why was the invasion of France so successful?
What happened at Dunkirk? First Hand Accounts
What did France do on June 22, 1940?
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Why was Germany able to defeat France and the
BEF?
What was “Vichy” France?
How did the French people respond to the
occupation and the collaborative government?
What did Italy do in June 1940?
Did many Europeans support Hitler?
What were “Quislings”?
Who was left to oppose Germany in by the end of
June 1940?
How did the U.S. respond to the German triumph
in Western Europe?
How was American neutrality legislation amended
in November 1939?
What did Roosevelt say America’s role would be
at the beginning of the war?
What were the arguments opposing Roosevelt’s
interventionist agenda?
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What were the “four freedoms”?
Explain “Lend-Lease”.
How did the U.S. begin to prepare for military
action?
What was the Battle of Britain?Video
Fighter Command Control Diagram
Why didn’t Hitler invade England in 1940?
What impeded Germany’s ability to cripple
Britain’s will and ability to stay in the war?
What were the losses for each country during the
Battle of Britain?
Churchill Speeches
What was the “the blitz”?
How effective was Germany’s bombing campaign
against Britain?
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What was the U.S.S.R.’s interest in the Baltic
and Balkan states?
What was Germany’s view of Soviet
expansionist actions?
What actions did Germany take to improve its
position in Eastern Europe and the Balkans?
What happened on June 22, 1941?
Why did Hitler invade Russia and what was his
plan of attack?
How did that plan work out? Operation
Barbarossa
Why did the German offensive fail to capture
Moscow or deal a decisive blow to the Soviet
Union’s ability to stay in the war?
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How did Hitler respond to the army’s failure
to knock the USSR out of the war in the
autumn of 1941?
What were the larger implications of
Germany’s failure to completely defeat
Russia?
Who was Albert Speer?
How did the Soviet Union adapt to the
German occupation of valuable territories?
Why did Churchill send troops to North Africa
in 1940? Map
How did the tides of war shift from side to
side in North Africa? Interactive Map
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What was the “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity
Sphere”?
Why did the U.S. cut off shipments of oil to Japan
in July 1941?
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor and other
European possessions in Asia? Pearl Harbor
Photos Attack
How successful were Japan’s opening moves of
the war?
As 1942 came to an end, what was the overall
state of the conflict?
What term did F.D.R. give to the Grand Alliance of
26 nations opposed to the Axis countries?
How did American and British co-operation differ
from German and Japanese co-operation?
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Why did Stalin call for an Allied invasion of
mainland Europe in 1942?
Why didn’t one occur?
How did the United States mobilize for war?
What impact did this mobilization have on the
American people?
What was “area bombing”? Bomber Campaign
Resources
What was the purpose of the strategic bomber
offensive against Germany? B17 B24 Pictures
British Bombers Hamburg
Detail the events in North Africa from late 1942
through May 1943.
Why did the battle of Stalingrad mark a turning
point in the course of the war?
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What happened to Mussolini’s government after
the invasion and capture of Sicily by Allied forces
in mid 1943?
Why did the Italian campaign become a
“frustrating stalemate”? Invasion of Italy
How large was the force assembled for the Allied
invasion of “Fortress Europe”? Operation Overlord
How did the Allied offensive in the west
progress?
What was the Battle of the Bulge? Map
What were the important implications of the
Battle of the Bulge?
Why did the Soviet Union refuse to help the Poles
who participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944?
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Why did Eisenhower stop the Allied push into
Germany at the Elbe?
When did the war in Europe officially come to an
end?
What was the American strategy for defeating the
Japanese? Pacific Campaign
What happened on August 6, 1945? Hiroshima
Little Boy Design Manhattan Project
What happened on August 9, 1945? Fat Man
Design Oppenheimer
Why did the United States use atomic weapons
against Japan?
What was the result of the bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki?
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What did Roosevelt and Churchill decide at
Casablanca in January of 1943?
What did the “Big Three” decide on in Tehran in
December of 1943?Big Three
What were the geopolitical implications of the
decision to open the second front in France?
Why did Roosevelt not support Churchill’s idea of
clearly outlined spheres or influence for the Soviet
Union and the western powers?
In broad terms what did the U.K., the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R. decide with regard to postwar Eastern Europe
at Yalta in February of 1945?
What would the new United Nations look like and
what would be its purpose?
How was the Potsdam Conference of July 1945
different than previous conferences?
How were Germany’s borders altered? Map of Europe
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When were treaties signed with Germany’s
satellite states?
When did the western allies sign a peace treaty
with Japan? When did the Soviet Union?
The Holocaust
How did Nazi Germany bring the industrial
capabilities of modern nation to the work of
killing millions of people?
Why have some people said the events of the
Holocaust demonstrate both the best and worst
of humanity?
Who is to blame for the Holocaust?
How did the Second World War change the world?