Why did the fall of France shock the world? What were the implications?
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What were the outlook, goals, and military accomplishments of Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s?
They decided to secure natural resources that it needed for its rapidly developing industrial capability by taking over China's resource rich land of Manchuria. They rampaged Nanjing conquering most of eastern China —> declaring "New Order in East Asia". They took over Indochina because French were no longer occupying in 1941. They took a gamble to takeover the western Pacific leaving Americans unwilling to fight back, because couldn't defeat US militarily. So, they led surprise assault on US Pacific Fleet a Pearl Harbor, killing 3000+ Americans, sinking all 8 battleships and took over Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Malaya, Philippines December 7-8 1941.
Why did Hitler declare war on the USA? What were the consequences of that action?
-He declared war on the USA hoping to encourage the Japanese to engage the US in a long war that would distract America for years. He thought America's war effort would make little impact on war in Europe until after Germany defeated Soviet Russia. He thought that it would further heighten the morale of the Japanese even though his declaration of war was with no practical effect. -The consequences were that Germany didn't defeat Russia, Roosevelt, Churchill and their military advisors agreed to pursue feating Germany first making Japan war second, and Japanese didn't need German help.
Why did Nazi Germany use aerial bombardment against the Allies during the early years of World War II?
They used aerial bombardment against the Allies during the early years of World War II because it had smashed Polish resistance before.
What was the purpose of the Allied campaign of strategic bombing?
They were worried that the Axis powers might prevail and they wanted to cripple war industries and force the Nazis to concentrate on defending their homeland.
What was the "firestorm formula" and what effect did it have on the German cities of Hamburg and Dresden?
-The "firestorm formula" was a precise formula made by British Bomber Command to carry out raids on German cities that one ton of high explosives was necessary for every 800 inhabitants. -It overwhelmed the capacity of the Hamburg's fire-fighting and communication system and then ultimately the third night 45,000+ Germans mostly civilians died in the fire. -In Dresden the bombing continued until the axis powers ultimately had to surrender.
How were civilians impacted by WWII?
-They were impacted by the war because millions had to labor six or seven days a week in defense plants-women worked on farms and in factories as men got drafted-aerial bombing like in Britain, Germany, Japan, Poland and Russia destroyed homes and even entire cities. -People had to huddle in dark rooms or in underground shelters to make themselves less visible to the bombers. But, in Hamburg, Dresden and Tokyo there was no escape because of firestorms.-ground warfare in Russia by Germans destroyed 19,000+ villages and took the lives of those living there. In brief, many civilians in war zones didn't survive.
What steps did the Nazis take to implement their "Final Solution"?
-made gas chambers at extermination sites. - forced labor where many died of malnutrition. -"death marches" later where German led tens of thousands and they died from maltreatment and cold, and then also the survivors were imprisoned in camps.
Who were the targets of the Holocaust?
-exterminate the Jews because Hitler wanted racial purity for the Master Race and other people like mentally ill, disabled, terminally ill, or the slavs were also killed. Specifically-the Nazi Regime targeted all those it considered unproductive or inferior September 1939.
The text asks, "Could anyone have done anything to prevent these horrors?" (795) What answers does the reading provide? What are your thoughts?
-The reading says that the Pope should have spoken out against Nazi crimes in 1958, but there isn't reason to think that German Catholics would have refused to cooperate with their government even if the Pope was asking.- Others thought that the Allies should have bombed the camps but when the first Allied planes reached the camps in Auschwitz it was 1944 and most of the Jews had already died. -Also if they had bombed the Nazis would have made another plan so Roosevelt's decision seemed the most practical by winning the war and destroying the Nazi regime.-I think that something had to have been done much earlier between the Allied powers across the globe. -I think at the turning point of the Nazi Regime in 1938 when Kristallnacht happened, the United States, France and Britain should have stepped in and stopped Hitler's movement right at the start of the horrors. -I think it is terrible that no country went in early and decided to put an end to it before the Nazi regime got bigger.
What factors contributed to the ferocity of Japanese resistance to American forces on Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa?
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Why did American casualties keep rising as U.S. forces moved closer to Japan?
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What difficulties did Americans face in the war against Japan?
-Amphibious assaults deadly -> unmapped Pacific in 1940s -> generals coordinating landings with tidal variations had to rely on guesswork provided by Pacific Islanders-On land ground forces faced well-established, skillful Japanese infantry with extreme dedication to their cause and willing to follow the ancient samurai code by dying to the last man-Poisonous insects and reptiles, stifling heat and drenching rains, and tropical fevers and diseases added to the burden of fighting (also had to fight in the jungles of Burma and New Guinea)
How and why did the U.S. develop the atomic bomb?
-They developed the atomic bomb because of the bitter struggle of WWII . -Scientists in Europe and the US worked on the question of nuclear energy - learned how to trigger a nuclear chain reaction and experiments were done with uranium to show that fission was possible using an isotope.
What were the six factors in U.S. decision-making regarding the atomic bomb?
1. American military casualties2. The policy of unconditional surrender3. Emerging problems with Soviet Union4. The destructive power of the atomic bomb5. Preservation of American values6. Possibility of Japanese surrender
What were the different viewpoints immediately following the use of atomic weapons?
The White house saw it as success - called the atomic bomb "the greatest achievement of organized science in history".General Groves told Oppenheimer the bomb had work and he was very proud....
Would Japan have surrendered without the use of atomic weapons? What evidence is there?
-No they would not have because they were given an ultimatum demanding that they surrender unconditionally and the Japanese didn't agree to it and thought that Japan would inflict so many casualties on Americans that the US would want to negotiate an end to the war. -Also Japan didn't even surrender after the first bomb was dropped so they definitely would not have surrendered before the use of atomic weapons.-Samurai beliefs
After reading this section, what do you think of the U.S. decision to use the atomic bombs? Does the information from this reading change your thinking in any way?
I think that the United States had to use the atomic bomb because the Japanese were not willing to agree to the ultimatum and they even did not surrender after the first atomic bomb was dropped and 100,000 people died. This reading does change my thinking because before I thought that it was terrible and that the Japanese probably would have surrendered if we told them we had an atomic weapon but this was clearly wrong seeing how they responded to the bomb on Hiroshima.