WWII Study Guide
Ch. 26 American History
Name______________________
Period_________
The following questions will be answered with a partner and/or individually. Use your textbook and answer each question on a separate piece of paper remembering to put the question in the answer. YOU MUST ALSO CITE THE PAGE THAT YOU FOUND YOUR ANSWER. For each question, you include the key words and highlight them in your answer. All answers should be explained
thoroughly. Discuss the answers with each other to insure accuracy and understanding.
Section 1: Steps to War (pages 807- 811)
1.
Explain what brought dictators to power before WWII.
WWI treaties, Great Depression, Benito Mussolini, fascist, Adolf Hitler, Nazi Party, Joseph
Stalin, Hideki Tojo
2.
How did the dictators actions demonstrate aggression during the 1930’s and threaten peace?
Axis Alliance, Austria, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Neville Chamberlain, Adolf Hitler,
Munich Agreement, appeasement
3.
Describe the events that led to the outbreak of WWII in Europe.
Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Britain and France, blitzkrieg, British Royal
Air Force (RAF), German Luftwaffe
4.
Explain the events that led the U.S. to enter WWII.
Lend-lease Act, Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt, infamy
Section 2: The Home Front (pages 813- 817)
5.
Describe the social changes brought about by the war.
War Production Board, Gross National Product (GNP), ration, war bonds, A. Phillip
Randolph, braceros, race riots, Tuskegee Airmen, Rosie the Riveter
6.
Explain what happened to the Japanese-American after Pearl Harbor.
Japanese American Internment, Nisei

Section 3: War in Africa and Europe (pages 819- 825)
7.
Describe how the Allies turned the tide of the war in North Africa and Europe.
North Africa, Mediterranean, General Erwin Rommel, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sicily,
Italy, Mussolini
*Why was the defeat of Italy significant to the Allies’ war effort?
8.
Identify the key events that put Germany on the defensive.
Stalingrad, turning point, Operation Overlord, Normandy, D-Day, land-sea-air operation,
Battle of the Bulge, human toll
9.
Describe the crimes the Allies discovered as they marched toward Berlin to end the war.
Holocaust, Jews, gypsies, Russians, Poles, political prisoners, homosexuals, anti-Semitism,
Final Solution
10.
Explain the results of the Yalta Conference.
Yalta Conference, “Big Three”, Harry S. Truman,
*Summarize the plans they made
11.
How did the War in Europe end?
Hitler, V-E Day
Section 4: War in the Pacific (pages 827- 831)
12.
Explain how the Allies stopped the Japanese advance in 1942.
Pearl Harbor, Philippines, Manila, General Douglas MacArthur, James Doolittle, morale,
Battle of Coral Sea, The Battle of Midway, turning point
13.
Describe the events that allowed the U.S. to make progress fighting in the Pacific.
Island hopping, Guadalcanal, Code Talkers, Philippines, kamikaze, Iwo Jima, Okinawa
14.
Explain why the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities.
Manhattan Project, Harry Truman, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, US Battleship Missouri
Section 5: The Legacy of World War II (pages 833- 837)
15.
Explain the costs of World War II.
Soldiers, civilian casualties, refugees, economy, Marshall Plan
16.
Describe what nations did to protect world peace.
Potsdam Conference, Nuremberg Trials, League of Nations, United Nations
17.
Explain what changes were brought about by the war.
Communism, GI Bill of Rights, ghettos, prejudice, Israel, Soviet Union, United States