HW 10

A. 1. The Soviet citizens are smiling and giving their invaders the Nazi salute.
A. 2. The Soviet citizens were probably treated very poorly by Stalin's communist regime. They may have seen Nazism as an appealing alternative.
A. 3. The people were losing land, property and lives to the Nazis, who they soon discovered to be no less ruthless than Stalin.

B. 1. Stalin was telling his people to destroy their own things, such as livestock, crops, and railway engines so that the Nazis couldn't take them.
B. 2. He probably thought that the Nazis would have been able to use the Soviet Union's own things against it.
B. 3. Soviet citizens would probably have very little left to live off of. The Nazis would probably be forced into a similar situation, running out of supplies more quickly.

C. Method of Attack

• Similar: Blitzkrieg tactics
• Different: The eastern invasion was much larger than the western invasion

Length of Campaign

• Similar:
  
• Different: Eastern campaign was much longer, lasted until the end of Germany's involvement in the war.
  

Effects on Civilians

• Similar: People in the both invasions were forced under Nazi rule
  
• Different: People in the east suffered significantly more
  

Result of Campaign

• Similar: Expanded the scale of the conflict.
  
• Different: In the west, Germany took control of France and was at a standstill with Britain. In the east, Germany was unable to take control of Russia, which pushed the Nazis back and eventually invaded Germany.

A. 1. Japan's oil supplies were under American, British and Dutch control.
A. 2. The countries are portrayed as a chain because of the fact that controlling Japan's oil meant they also had some control over Japan itself.
A. 3. The picture represents how Japan tried to break out of its dependence on the other countries and fight for its own resources.
A. 4. This may have been done to emphasize the point that Japan was breaking free from the West.

B. 1. Three long term causes are Japan's lack of raw materials and oil, Japan's position as the dominant power in the Far East, and the collapse of British colonial power. The most important of these was probably Japan's lack of raw materials and oil, which made Japan desperate to find other ways of getting resources.
B. 2. Three consequences are the Tripartite Axis Pact, the United States' ban on oil trade with Japan, and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The first is the most important of these, as it connected the conflict in the East to the conflict in Europe.
B. 3.

• Japan became the dominant power in the Far East
• United States ban on oil supplies to Japan
• Japan's lack of raw materials and oil
• Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor
• Collapse of British colonial power
• Tripartite Axis Pact
  
• Creation of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
• Formation of the United Nations
  

Class Notes 11/30

1. Munich Agreement- 1938
2. Nazi-Soviet Pact- 1939
3. Invasion of Poland- 1939
4. Invasion of France- 1940
5. Battle of Britain- 1940-1941
6. London Blitz- 1940-1941
7. Operation Barbarossa- 1941
8. Pearl Harbor- 1941

Class Notes 11/24

Air- Radar, Long Range Bombers, Fighters, Atomic Bomb, Paratroopers

Land- Panzer Tanks (40 mph), Explosive Armor in Tanks, Blitzkrieg

Sea- Capturing Ports, Artificial Harbors, U Boats, Depth Charges, Aircraft Carriers, Offshore Shelling

HW 9

1. Germany used the Luftwaffe to bomb Britain, targeting residential and industrial areas. This practice was probably meant to decrease the effectiveness of British communications and to fill British civilians with fear.
2. The use of massive numbers of tanks seemed to become a popular practice in land warfare. This may have been most notable in the war in North Africa between Britain and Germany and in Germany's invasion of Russia in 1941.
3.

Chapters 3 + 4

Chapter 3
A.1. The Luftwaffe was probably trying to damage Britain's economy and ability to move resources by destroying docks and railways.
A.2. Residential areas were being bombed, which was likely to result in civilian casualties.
A.3. Civilians were probably going to be the most common casualties in this attack. People in their houses or working on docks or railways were likely to be killed.
B.1. The bombing seems to have caused the streets to collapse, and the bus driver was may have panicked and driven into a hole in the road, or he may have been on that part of the road when it collapsed.
B.2. The people in the surrounding area may have moved into sheltered buildings to protect themselves. They must have been terrified by the attack, and they were probably cut off from supplies.

Chapter 4
A.1. The Italians would have struggled with the mountainous terrain and poor leadership while fighting Greek soldiers who were more prepared for the situation.
A.2. The Greeks knew the mountains and were equipped and prepared to fight in them. They must have also been very determined to defend their country, while the Italians were probably suffering from poor morale as a result of poor leadership.
B.

Germany

• Successes: Yugoslavia, Greece, North Africa
  
• Defeats:
  

Italy

• Successes:
• Defeats: Greece/Mediterranean, North Africa
  

Britain

• Successes: North Africa against Italy, Taranto bombing
  
• Defeats: North Africa against Germany, Greece

By mid-1941, it seemed that Germany would most likely win the war.

C.
War: A conflict between different groups or countries
Blitzkrieg: A German strategy involving the use of tanks and aircraft to quickly eliminate a target
Phoney War: The first months of the war between Britain and Germany, in which no actual fighting took place
Luftwaffe: The German airforce
Battle of Britain: Battle in the skies of Britain between the RAF and the invading Luftwaffe
Blitz: The use of blitzkrieg tactics
ARP: Air Raid Precautions
Axis: The alliance between Germany, Italy, and the Balkan states

HW 8

A. 1. Polish civilians were forced to face brutal conditions as a result of the German invasion. Women and children were killed, homes were burned down, and people suffered from starvation.
2. a. The sources may be anonymous because the people did not want Nazi supporters to find out who they were. This slightly affects the value of the evidence, as we have to have faith in the writer of the Polish Black Book that the sources are actually from survivors of the invasion of Poland
b. Source D provides a visual image of the damage described in Sources A-C.
c. Britain probably wanted to expose the evil actions of the Nazis so that people would be convinced that they were right to go to war.
d. The Polish Black Book seems like a valuable source, judging from the sources provided. The descriptions in the sources are compatible with what I already know about Germany's tactics in WWII, and they help readers gain a better understanding of the effects of these tactics.

B. 1. Sources A-D suggest that "humane" warfare would involve respecting the lives and property of civilians, and taking prisoners rather than leaving everybody to die.
2. The sources mention that people are starving to death and that corpses are left out in the streets, and that people are being killed indiscriminately.
3. Sources A-D show the inhumane effects of the methods used by the Germans, suggesting that those methods are themselves inhumane.

C. 1. People were forced into small areas oh the house because of the war. However, they were still divided into the same groups based on wealth and social standing.
2. Source F suggests that people were constantly worried about German attacks, causing them to be very cautious.
3. They called it the Phoney War because there was no actual fighting, but people were preparing for an attack at any moment.
4. A historian could see some of the practices of war that were expected from Germany in WWII. The gas-masks suggest that people expected the use of chemical weapons, while the arrangements of the "big house" suggest that people feared German bombings from the air.

A. 1. Churchill is offering war in Source A. The only other alternative, judging by the tone of his speech, would be to submit to Germany's aggression.
2. The British people who heard the speech probably found hope in Churchill's words. They were convinced that, if they fought long and hard enough, they would be successful in the end.

B. 1. An armada is a large, organized group of ships. The newspaper probably used this word to convey the great size of the fleet that rescued the soldiers from Dunkirk.
2. British newspapers wrote the story in a way that made Britain sound victorious in the battle, saying that its soldiers were "unbeatable." Germany, on the other hand, may have written that it was a defeat for Britain, which was forced to retreat from Dunkirk.

League of Nations Paper 2

"Failures of the League of Nations and attempts at collective security were in fact the main cause of World War II." To what extent do you agree with this claim.

This statement is almost entirely false. The failures of the League of Nations and the international community were largely irrelevant to the actual causes of World War II. The actions of the League did very little towards actually starting the war, but simply failed in its purpose of preventing a war from happening. In fact, the main cause of the Second World War was the rise of militarism, which had become increasingly popular throughout the early 20th century, particularly as a means of dealing with issues of economic and nationalistic importance. This could be seen in various international incidents which are often viewed as the failures of the League of Nations that caused World War II. However, upon closer inspection it is clear that these events were actually examples of militarism that the League of Nations was powerless to stop.

One of these events was the Japanese invasion of the Chinese territory of Manchuria in 1931. This invasion was carried out for what seemed to be mostly economic reasons. Manchuria contained a large amount of natural resources, and offered many opportunities for trade and employment. In addition to this, Manchuria was three times the size of Japan, but at the same time it was the home of a third of the number of people who lived in the Japanese empire. Because of this, Japan adopted a militaristic policy similar to Hitler's idea of gaining "lebensraum," or living space, for Germany. Japan decided that it should take what it wanted from China through the use of force. Meanwhile, China and Japan were both members of the League of Nations, with Japan being one of the leading members of the organization. As such, it was the League's responsibility to maintain collective security by punishing Japan. The League had planned resolve such situations by issuing sanctions against the country that committed the violation. However, using sanctions meant ending trade with that country, and this was not something that any nation was ready to do. Stopping trade with Japan would have been damaging to the global economy, which was already ruined by the Great Depression, and it was also likely to cause a war, which was exactly what the League had hoped to prevent. The League tried to compromise with Japan, suggesting that Japan remove its military from China and that Manchuria become a semi-independent nation. Japan reacted to this by withdrawing from the League of Nations and continuing to invade Chinese provinces such as Jehol.

This event was a definite failure for the League of Nations, showing the League's complete inability to react to certain threats to international peace. Nevertheless, the League of Nations did nothing to actually provoke the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. The true reason for the invasion, and thus in this case the true cause of World War II, was Japan's militaristic ideology, with which the military was convinced that it could resolve its nation's economic problems by taking foreign lands. Japan's economy was impacted greatly in 1929 by the Great Depression, so Japanese army officers believed that gaining the economic benefits of territories like Manchuria would help restore their country's former success.

A similar incident occurred when Italy invaded the African country of Ethiopia in 1935. Italy did this because it had been relatively unsuccessful during the European "scramble for Africa" in the 19th century (Stopped here in class), gaining only three colonies at that time. Another reason for the invasion was the fact that Italy's military had been disgraced by its defeat at the hands of Ethiopia at the Battle of Adowa in 1896. It is likely that the fascist Italian dictator Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in order to restore some of this lost dignity, in addition to gaining territory in Africa and the trade and resources it would bring. Like the incident with Japan and China, this was a conflict between two members of the League of Nations. This time, however, the League was able to impose sanctions on Italy. Unfortunately, the League had never tried this before, and so it did not know how ineffective it would be. The sanctions were delayed for six weeks, and even after that delay some nations refused to stop trading with their ally, Italy. The sanctions that did take effect proved to be a hindrance for Italy, but they were not particularly devastating, as there was no sanction on oil, which would have been the only thing that could have stopped Italy's aggression. Because of this failure, the League tried to negotiate with Mussolini with the Hoare-Laval Plan, which offered a large portion of Ethiopia to Italy in return for the end of the invasion. Mussolini agreed, but many people protested, saying that Ethiopia was being betrayed. As a result, the plan was never carried out, and the invasion was not stopped.

It would be difficult to argue that this was not a terrible failure on the League of Nations' part, but that does not mean that this situation was an example of the League causing World War II. This crisis was started by Italy's belief that its superior military strength was the best tool it could use to restore its national pride and to improve its economy. Mussolini knew that Ethiopia had a poorly equipped army, and that his military could easily crush it. It was Italy's decision to use this type of force rather than peaceful negotiation that made this event a cause of the Second World War.

One of the most common accusations against the League of Nations is that its policy of appeasement in regards to Germany's aggressive actions in the 1930's and 1940's. Germany showed several signs suggesting that it was likely to start a conflict, but these were largely ignored by the League of Nations. Hitler's foreign and domestic policies deliberately disregarded the conditions set by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 after the end of World War I. For example, although the Treaty of Versailles had forbidden Germany from having an army larger than 100,000 troops, Hitler increased the size of his military to about 550,000 soldiers by 1935. The rest of Europe may have been worried by this, but no action was taken against Germany. In 1936, only a year later, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, which had been occupied by France after World War I. France could have easily put an end to this remilitarization by reacting with its own military, but instead it did not react at all. Then, in 1938, Hitler formed an Anschluss, or union, with Austria, although the Treaty of Versailles had stated that Germany could not make such alliances. The League of Nations' unwillingness to react to these things may have been caused by an international feeling of sympathy toward Germany, with Britain and France thinking that they might have been too strict with their punishments in the Treaty of Versailles.

The League of Nations was not truly to blame in this situation, either. As seen in the Ethiopia and Manchuria crises, the League was probably powerless as an organization to do anything to stop Hitler, even if it tried. If anyone was to blame, apart from Germany, it would have been Britain and France. These nations were the leaders of the League, but they could have also taken action on their own, responding to Germany's violations of the Treaty of Versailles with force. Still, Nazi Germany's militaristic policies are the most notable causes of World War II in this example. Hitler clearly focused on building a large military force, and he attempted to use this military to eliminate anything that he thought may be a threat to his power in Europe.

In conclusion, the statement that "failures of the League of Nations and attempts at collective security were in fact the main cause of World War II" is, to a great extent, incorrect. It is true that the League was for the most part unable to prevent a war from happening, but its failures were not a cause of World War II in the way that the international rise of militarism at the time was. The League only failed in its mission to establish and maintain collective security; it did not actually do much that could be seen as having provoked World War II.