A Brief Analysis of the Second World War Essay

1. What do sources 1 and 2 reveal about some reasons why civilians made up so many of the causalities of World War II? * In urban areas. Aerial bombing. People put themselves in danger to try and help others. Â  In source 1, the nurses are risking their lives try to find any survivors after the bombing. In source 2, the women are risking their lives to help defenders by taking supplies. 2. A. Why were the men in Tom Uren’s unit eager to fight the Japanese? * The men were told about what Japanese were doing in the countries they had overrun such as China. They were told that Japanese people were raping women and bayoneting children B. When and where did they fight? * Koepang, on the western of Timor. * 19 January 1942 C. What was Tom Uren’s view of the way this part of the war was fought? * He wanted to make the right things by stopping the terrible things that Japanese were doing to women and children heartlessly. 3. A. Why was it though necessary for the Allies to destroy this historic monastery? * The Germans had used the monastery as a position for firing down upon advancing Allied soldiers. B. What are the advantages of aerial photographs as sources? * Aerial photographs provide a real image of the ground surface. * Broader spectral sensitivity than the human eye and much broader field of view. 4. Describe the details in source 5 and explain how this artwork conveys the horror of the Nazi’s persecution of their victims during World War II? * The bodies, lots of people and no landscape and the painting itself is a horrifying. 5. Using all of the sources in this unit as your evidence, write a short account of reasons why such large numbers of people suffered and died in World War II. * It was not safe for people to move and they still went and risked their lives to try to help others. 1. Create a timeline of events from 1919 to 1934 that contributed to Germany’s becoming a Nazi dictatorship. * 1921 – Hitler becomes first president of Nazi party * 1924 – Dawes Plan Germany given loans to help economy * 1925 – Lorcano Treaty, Germany accepts borders set by Treaty of Versailles * 1926 – Hitler youth founded * 1929 – Great depression begins * 1930 – Nazi party votes climbed up * 1932 – Nazi party gains votes * 19933 – Hitler get invited by Hindenburg to become chancellor 2. Explain the meaning of the following terms and concepts: * A. Weimar Republic – the democratic system of government in Germany from 1919 to early 1933, so called because its constitution was written in the city of Weimar. * B. Paramilitary – armed forces outside the official military * C. Reichstag – the German parliament * D. FÃ ¼hrer- absolute ruler * E. Concentration camp – prison camps where people were beaten, tortured, starved and used as slave labor. 3. How did each of the following factors help the rise of the Nazis? * A. Resentment against the conditions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles – deep anger about World War I and treaty of Versailles created an underlying bitterness to which Hitler’s viciousness and expansionism appealed, people gave him support. * B. The myth of the ‘stab in the back’ * C. The great depression – The economic depression had hit Germany, and millions of people were out of work. Germany’s humiliating defeat fifteen years of earlier during WW1 and Germans lacked confidence in their week government. These conditions provided the chance for the rise of a new leader. 4. What role did President Hindenburg play in Hitler’s rise to power? * After the depression hit, Germany had a coalition government headed by the Social Democratic Party. They wanted to raise taxes on the rich to maintain payments to the unemployed. The no- socialist parties split. So President Hindenburg used the crisis to appoint an authoritarian Centre Party government that lacked support in the Reichstag (the German parliament). When elections were held in 1930, moderate parties lost ground. The communist party increased its percentage of votes from 10.6 to 13.1 but the Nazi party climbed from just 2.6 to 18.3 per cent. 5. Why was Hitler willing to murder members of his own party? * To prepare for war, Hitler needed the support of the army leaders so he eliminated Ernst RÃ ¶hm and other SA leaders. They were people who wanted the regular army to be amalgamated with the SA under SA leadership. 6. What measures did the Nazis adopt to crush their opponents between 1933 and 1934? * Nazi courts were established to try policy criminals. * Anti-Nazis and Jews forced out of jobs in the civil service * Un-German books were publicly burned