impact of ww2

Question 1

when did germany attack the ussr/russia?

Answer 1

1941

Question 2

what happened when germany attacked the ussr?

Answer 2

• did well at first
• freezing winter forced them to stop, guns wouldn’t fire, poorly clothed
• huge russian army began to push them back to germany
• battle at stalingrad,defeats elsewhere too, then america joined on britain & russias side

Question 3

how many people died/surrendered at the battle in stalingrad?

Answer 3

over 80,000 germans died, 90,000 surrendered

Question 4

why was rationing introduced?

Answer 4

• supplies were needed for the soldiers
• severe food shortages

Question 5

when was rationing introduced for clothing and food?

Answer 5

by november 1939

Question 6

examples of things that were rationed?

Answer 6

• people had one egg per week
• soap & toilet paper in very short supply - suggested that soggy, stewed pine needles could be used instead of soap
• hot water two days a week

Question 7

how did the nazis respond to the hardships of rationing?

Answer 7

by asking the german people to completely commit themselves to winning the war

Question 8

when was it clear that germany was doomed to lose the war?

Answer 8

by the beginning of 1944, after america joined on britain and russias side, and battle in stalingrad/defeats elsewhere

Question 9

who was made armaments minister in 1943 and what was he told?

Answer 9

albert speer - told to organise country for total war

Question 10

what does total war mean?

Answer 10

everything entirely focused on making weapons and growing food for soldiers; anything that didn’t contribute to war stopped

Question 11

what things were closed to prepare for total war?

Answer 11

beer houses, dance halls, even sweet shops, letterboxes boarded up, factories forced to stay open longer though

Question 12

what did the nazis do to deal with the loss of male factory workers/severe labour shortages?

Answer 12

• great numbers of women drafted in to work in them
• by 1944 around 7 million foreign workers brought in from countries Germany had conquered to work as slave labour in factories

Question 13

when did britain and america begin dropping bombs on german cities?

Answer 13

from 1942

Question 14

what was the impact of the allied bombings?

Answer 14

• no electricity, water, transport
• people left homes to look for refuge (as refugees) in safer places
• thousands of deaths & injuries, people had to be retrieved from homes by medical services
• medical services at full stretch
• bombing caused flooding & gas explosions
• constant danger of unexploded bombs
• support for nazis began to weaken

Question 15

why were people opposed to hitler & the nazis?

Answer 15

• uncomfortable with concentration camps & dreaded gestapo
• shocked at treatment of jews or physically/mentally disabled
• hated restrictions & limits put on their lives

Question 16

what is an example of a low level form of resistance/opposition to the nazis?

Answer 16

moaning/grumbling about nazis - telling an anti-hitler joke or complaining about way jewish friends being treated; usually done in their own homes

Question 17

what is passive resistance?

Answer 17

when germans publicly showed they didn’t support nazis, by refusing to do exactly as they were told

Question 18

what’s an example of passive resistance?

Answer 18

• refusing to give heil hitler salute
• refusing to give money to hitler youth members (they went from house to house collecting funds)

Question 19

what did the white rose group do?

Answer 19

urged germans to get rid of hitler by:
- handing out anti-nazi leaflets
- putting up posters
- writing graffiti on walls

Question 20

who were the leaders of the white rose group?

Answer 20

brother & sister hans and sophie scholl; munich university students

Question 21

what happened to hans & sophie scholl?

Answer 21

caught in 1943, beheaded for their ‘crimes’

Question 22

what did the edelweiss pirates and navajos do?

Answer 22

• they were banned youth groups
• beat up nazi officials
• helped army deserters

Question 23

why did people try to assassinate hitler, and how many attempts were there?

Answer 23

• around 50 attempts
• hitler/nazis couldn’t be voted out, only way to get rid of them to assassinate hitler

Question 24

who was in the kreisau circle?

Answer 24

army officers, university professors, aristocrats who were shocked by hitlers plans for war & brutality of nazi regime

Question 25

what did the kreisau circle do?

Answer 25

discussed assassinating hitler & getting rid of nazis but didn’t actually do anything

Question 26

who was the beck-goerdeler group led by?

Answer 26

former army general ludwig beck and nazi official karl goerdeler

Question 27

what did the beck-goerdeler group do?

Answer 27

• contacted british about possibility of removing hitler, nothing agreed though
• made attempts on hitlers life march & november 1943
• behind july bomb plot - 1944

Question 28

who agreed to be part of the july bomb plot and why?

Answer 28

a disillusioned army officer, colonel claus von stauffenberg, because the war was going very badly at this stage

Question 29

what happened in the july bomb plot?

Answer 29

• bomb would be detonated in room where hitler meeting other nazi leaders
• then beck-goerdeler group would take over, end war, change germany for better
• killed 4 men, burnt hitlers hair, burst his eardrums, blew some of his clothes off but didn’t kill hitler

Question 30

what happened after the july bomb plot?

Answer 30

• stauffenberg and goerdeler executed
• beck committed suicide
• about 5000 others executed in revenge for the attack

Question 31

when had the germany army been pushed out of the soviet union?

Answer 31

by the end of 1944

Question 32

what did the soviet army do during 1945?

Answer 32

• continued to advance and liberate countries Germany had once occupied e.g. hungary & austria
• 16th april 1945 - began to attack berlin with around 1.5 million soldiers
• by april 24th - berlin surrounded, only people left to defend it were about 100,000 men who were members of Volkssturm or hitler youth

Question 33

month that berlin was surrounded?

Answer 33

april

Question 34

when did hitler commit suicide?

Answer 34

30th april in his bunker, after killing wife eva braun & his dog

Question 35

when did germany surrender?

Answer 35

8th may