Great Depression and WWII Study Guide
Causes of the Great Depression
● Economics 101
○ Law of Supply and Demand
○ The Business Cycle
○ The Stock Market (what it is and how it works)
● Mentality of the 1920s
● Buying on a Margin
● The Crash
○ Date/nickname
○ What happened
● Why it happened
○ Farming situation
○ Nature of the business cycle
● Role of the Federal Reserve
● Bank runs
Hoover’s Recovery Plan
● Role of volunteers
● Perspective on the government’s role
● Laissez Faire economics
Life in the Great Depression
● Hoovervilles
● Effects on American Families
FDR and the New Deal
● The Bonus Army
● Famous Inaugural Quote
● The First Hundred days
○ Banking Holiday
○ Fireside chats
● Alphabet Soup Agencies
○ AAA
○ TVA
○ CCC
○ Social Security
● The Dust Bowl
○ Location/Cause
○ What was happening
○ How people were handling it
Minorities in the Great Depression and the Decline of the New Deal
● Court Packing Scheme
● Legacy of the New Deal
● African Americans and work programs/AAA
● Mexican Americans and deportation
● Native Americans and the Indian New Deal
Interwar Period
● Isolationism
● US perspective on further conflict
● Rise of the 3rd Reich
○ Hitler in WWI
○ Mein Kampf
○ Nazi Party promises/beliefs
● Hitler youth
● Kristallnacht
● Italy
○ Leader
○ Imperialist actions
● Fascism
● Socialism
○ Relationship between these 2 groups
Outbreak of WWII
● Rhineland and Sudetenland
● The Anschluss
● British and French Reactions to Hitler’s early actions
● Joseph Stalin
● German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
● Date of Hitler’s invasion of Poland
● Blitzkrieg
● Maginot Line
● Escape at Dunkirk
● Battle of Britain and the role of the RAF
● Hitler’s invasion of the USSR
● US position
○ Cash and Carry
○ Lend Lease
● US-Japan relations leading to Pearl Harbor
● Attack on Pearl Harbor
○ Date
○ Japanese reasoning
○ Nature of the attack
○ Result
War in the Pacific
● Axis and Allies members
● Japanese Actions after Pearl Harbor
● US Strategies
WWII and the Homefront
● How WWII ended the Great Depression
● Rationing
● Women and WWII- new opportunities and Rosie the Riveter
● Sports and entertainment
Minorities and WWII
● African Americans○ Tuskegee Airmen
● Mexican Americans
○ Bracero Program
○ Zoot Suit Riot
● Native Americans
○ Navajo Code Talkers
● Japanese Americans
○ Internment Camps- War Relocation Authority
■ Reason and conditions
The Holocaust
● Dachau and Auschwitz
● The Final Solution
● Ghettos
● Totals
European Theater and D Day
● Stalingrad
● Operation Overlord/DDay
○ What it was
○ What it accomplished
● VE day
Victory in the Pacific and the Atomic bomb
● The Manhattan Project
● Decision to drop the bomb
● Result of the A bomb- short term and long term
Essay Questions: You will receive 1 of the 2 following essay questions
1. Explain why the Great Depression had such an extensive impact on America. List at
least 2 specific factors that contributed to its severity.
2. Explain how World War II was different from the majority of conflicts that have taken
place up until this point in US and World History. Give at least 2 specific examples.