Chapter 4

Assignment: 2. The Outbreak of War:

Name Alejandro Hurtado Latorre

SS.11.1.2 Understands and distinguishes cause, effect, and correlation in key events including long and short-term causal relations.

The two opposing lines on the Western Front at the start of the war were the German (1) Siegfreid and
the French (2) Maginot Lines.

The Second World War was a war of mobility marked by (3) blitzkrieg-lightning tactics.

Poland was defeated by the combined forces of Germany and (4) Soviet Union.

After the collapse of Poland, the war in the west became a (5) phony war or sitzkrieg with very little
fighting.

After Poland, the next victims of Nazi aggression were (6) Norway and (7) Denmark.

The (8) Ardennes was the weakest part of the Allied defenses in the west.

The British forces were saved by an event called the Miracle of (9) Dunkirk.

France capitulated on (10) Germany, 1940.

The German invasion plan for Great Britain was code-named (11) Operation Sea Lion.

The German air force was called the (12) Luftwaffe while the British air force was referred to as the (13)
Royal Air Force.

After the fall of France, the war entered a phase referred to as the (14) Britain alone.

The night time bombing of Britain was referred to as the (15) Blitz and lasted until May of 1941.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union was code-named (16) Operation Barbarossa.

The two major Soviet victories in 1943 occurred at (17) Stalingrad and (18) Leningrad.

The ‘Big Three’ of the Second World War were (19) the United States, (20) Great Britain, and (21)
Soviet Union.

The arrangement of post-war Europe was achieved at the (22) Yalta Conference.

Allied war aims were outlined in the (23) Allied conferences.

The Allied liberation of France began with the (24) D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944.

The atomic bomb was invented as a result of the work of the (25) Manhattan Project.
 True or False
1. 🔾 🔾 Air warfare played only a minor role in the Second World War.
2. 🔾 🔾 Denmark and Norway offered little or no resistance to the invading
Germans.
3. 🔾 🔾 The beginning of the German air attacks on Britain was the 25th anniversary
of the sinking of the Lusitania.
4. 🔾 🔾 British losses in the Battle of Britain were far less than those of the
Luftwaffe.
5. 🔾 🔾 The major ally of the Soviet Union in 1941 was the weather.
6. 🔾 🔾 Moscow was not a major objective of the German invasion of the Soviet
Union.
7. 🔾 🔾 The Allies demanded the unconditional surrender of the Axis forces.
8. 🔾 🔾 Roosevelt died while attending the Tehran Conference.
9. 🔾 🔾 Both Roosevelt and Hitler died in the same month of the same year.
10. 🔾 🔾 The first jet plane was produced by Germany.
11. 🔾 🔾 Early German rockets were called buzz-bombs.
12. 🔾 🔾 German rocket-technology has virtually no impact on the war.
13. 🔾 🔾 Quinine is the cure for hepatitis.
14. 🔾 🔾 Germany was the first country to develop workable radar.
15. 🔾 🔾 The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in history.

SS.11.2.1 Assesses primary and secondary sources to determine credibility and draw sound conclusions.

1. Why was Germany doomed to defeat in the Second World War?

Germany had four key fatal weaknesses in the Second World War. These were: the lack of productivity of
its war economy, the weak supply lines, the start of a war on two fronts, and the lack of strong leadership.
Following the invasion of the Soviet Union, using the Blitzkrieg tactic, the German Army marched far into
Russia. However, they did so on very slow, overextended, supply lines. These supply lines hindered the
German advance, and eventually led to a huge lack of supplies on the front line. This, alongside key Soviet
advances, contributed to the German retreat. Aside from the weak supply lines, Germany's war economy
was unable to sustain the volume of supplies needed for the numerous invasions during WWII. By 1944,
Germany had committed 75 percent of its GDP to the war effort, compared to 60 percent in the Soviet
Union and 55 percent in the United Kingdom. Germany was in dire need of fuel, coal, and food during the
war. After Albert Speer was appointed Minister of Armaments and War Production in 1942, Germany began
to move toward a complete mobilization of the economy for war, though with mixed results. The economy
reached its peak in mid-1944. This was too late for Nazi Germany, which was retreating and fighting a
defensive war on two fronts. In addition to the above, Nazi Germany lacked good leadership in the final
stages of the war. Hitler had lost the German people's confidence, so he was barely seen in public and
confined to his bunker beneath the Reichskanzlei in Berlin. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. For
those who saw Nazism and Hitler as one individual, Hitler's death signaled the end of Nazi Germany.
SS.11.2.2 Communicates effectively using audience appropriate platforms.

2. What was the significance of the Allied policy of meeting during the war?

The Allies' policy of meeting after the war resulted in conferences in which the three leaders devised
their military plan against Germany and Japan, as well as making decisions about postwar life. The
Conference's emphasis on the next phases of the war against the Axis powers in Europe and Asia was one
of the Conference's major achievements. The three major leaders, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, met to
negotiate the terms of the British-American agreement to begin Operation Overlord, an invasion of
northern France in May 1944. The Soviets proposed that the Allies open a second front, and the Allies
eventually decided to begin a new offensive on the Eastern Front to divert German troops away from
northern France. Stalin also said that after the Allies defeated Germany, the Soviet Union would wage war
on Japan, and Roosevelt agreed to Stalin's demands for the Kuril Islands, the southern half of Sakhalin,
and access to the ice-free ports of Dairen and Port Arthur, both located on the Liaodong Peninsula in
northern China. With the Yalta Conference in 1945, these agreements were confirmed.