World War 2

Question 1

What was the Nazi Soviet Pact of 1939?

Answer 1

• Non-aggression pact between Russia and Germany. -Germany signed so that they could focus on invading the west.
• Russia signed because they were concerned that their allies France and Britain were not strong enough to fight Germany and they wanted to avoid being attacked on 2 fronts as already being attacked by Japan.

Question 2

When did Operation Barbarossa begin and end?

Answer 2

June 1941-December 1941

Question 3

What was Operation Barbarossa?

Answer 3

Germanys attack on Russia

Question 4

What was the outcome of Operation Barbarossa?

Answer 4

Monumental initial success for Germany-
-in just 3 weeks, more than 70 divisions had lost 50% of their men
-less than 3 weeks, Russia had lost 300,000 men and important supplies and equipment e.g. tanks
-Moreover, Russia had lost a considerable amount of army generals and military because of the terror and were not prepared for war!
BUT
Once the winter came, Germany were forced to retreat

Question 5

What significance did the league of nations play?

Answer 5

Russia was left out of it meaning they had no allies however, by this point it was almost nonsensical. Their failure to prevent Hitler from attacking the Rhineland could be seen as one of the causes for WW2.

Question 6

When was the siege of Leningrad?

Answer 6

1941-1944

Question 7

What was the siege of Leningrad?

Answer 7

• Germany`s attack on Leningrad
• Soviet victory but took an embarrassingly long time- Russia was cumbersome-827 days long
• 330,000 Red Army deaths
• 1,000,000 civilian deaths
• Zhdanov to the people of Leningrad-“The moment has come to put your Bolshevik qualities to work and defend Leningrad”

Question 8

When was the battle of Moscow?

Answer 8

1941-1942

-success for Russia-vital-they begin to turn things around

Question 9

How did Russia succeed in the Battle of Stalingrad from 1942-1943?

Answer 9

-Impact from American supplies
-Russia targeted Germany`s 6th front-Italians and Romanians
-500 tonnes of food supplies needed to be lifted in-German air force could only manage 100 tonnes
Russians shot down 1 in every 3 German supply planes which carried out the wounded

Question 10

Why was it called the Great Patriotic War?

Answer 10

• Morale was kept high within Russia throughout-patriotic spirit
• Some religion was allowed back into the country to give people faith again- churches reached 25,000
• scorched earth policy

Question 11

What was the Scorched Earth Policy?

Answer 11

Russians agreed that if a city was captured, they would personally burn in down in order to ensure that Germany would not reap the benefits of it

Question 12

What was the significance of the 3rd FYP during WW2?

Answer 12

1938-1941- focused on re-armament

Question 13

Battle of Kursk?

Answer 13

1943- Russian victory as they were very well prepared–had almost double the amount of supplies of Germany including 1,000 more tanks

Question 14

What was lend lease?

Answer 14

The American supplies sent over to Russia to help them win the war- 16,000,000 tonnes of Lend Lease supplies
-America also set up a new trading route

Question 15

What support did Russia receive from Britain?

Answer 15

• British supply tanks made up 40% of entire heavy and medium tank strength of heavy forces.
• By 1941, Britain had delivered 466 tanks out of the 750 they promised
• Britain could offer intelligence- they had solved enigma and had the drafts for nuclear weapons

Question 16

How was the Red Army developed in order to help Russia win?

Answer 16

• Reverted back to an almost Tsarist regime in which army generals were superior
• An example of a successful army general is Zhvkou who had a hand in every Soviet victory
• Important to not that once the war was over, these very army general who had helped to win the war were purged so that they didn’t interfere with Stalin`s power