World History Homework Twelve - Model

1\. World War II: when, where, who and why? Explain.

World War II was a world-wide conflict taking place mainly in Europe in which many countries used advanced technology in their war fare. The two opposing alliances were the Allies (British Empire, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (after they broke their alliance with Germany), and the United States and the Axis (Germany, Italy, and Japan). The Second World War began in 1939 and ended in 1945 after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. This immense war began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, which seemed at that time of little threat, until Germany stared conquering more land, breaking agreements, and inhumanely killing Jews and other innocent people. People were afraid that the Nazis in Germany would go to any extent to take control of the world. (Veronika)

2\. Compare and contrast communism and fascism, with at least two examples of how they are similar and two examples of how they differ.

The greatest difference between communism and fascism is that communism is international while fascism is extreme nationalism. Also, communism does not focus on national identity but on equality among classes and all people. Fascism sees its nation as being above other nations, its people as above other people, and it encourages or at least does not interfere with class differences. But perhaps what unites them is greater than what divides them! Both stress the collective and squash individual freedom, both encourage some form of government control over the economy, both display a disdain for human rights, and both command complete allegiance to a dictator. (Addison)

Communism  |  Fascism

|

sought a worldwide revolution to

abolish national identity; equality

|  sought to advance their country

above the others; to be the most powerful

did not like wealth  |  encouraged wealth to make the nation stronger
opposed social classes  |  encouraged social classes
believed complete equality  |  thought their nation was superior

Though communism and fascism are very different, there are also many likenesses between them.

\- both used a dictator

\- did not encourage individual freedom and human rights

\- both stressed the collective (Anna)

3\. Why do you think Hitler and his supporters killed so many people? Explain.

Hitler was a very evil man who craved power. In 1934 Hitler began killing hundreds of Germans who had opposed him, and he was completely against the Jews, blaming them for all of Germany’s problems. In 1938 the Nazis conducted a massive pogrom in a thousand German towns that attacked Jewish people in their homes and destroyed their businesses. Hitler was so eager to have power that he destroyed anything that got in his way. (Amanda)

4\. Discuss the effect of communism spreading to China.

The effects of Communism spreading to China were devastating. Communistic ruler Mao seized property and distributed it to peasants, and made a policy of forcing peasants to work on collective farms from 1952 to 1957. Women were treated like men. He established large collective farms composed of 25,000 people working on thousands of acres per farm, which prohibited private possessions with everyone lived in communal housing. Because of this, people worked less with no incentive because private property was not allowed, and thus a great famine resulted and nearly 30 million Chinese died. Then Mao implemented the Cultural Revolution, where everyone intelligent or artistic was imprisoned or killed, and schools and universities were closed. Mao’s had “Red Guards" who were high school and college students who were militant communists that enforced the Cultural Revolution. China was in ruins because of communism. (Deborah)

During rule under Chairman Mao, communism spread rapidly. Mao implemented his “Great Leap Forward” which established large collective farms with about 25,000 people working on thousands of acres per farm. It prohibited private possessions and everyone lived in communal housing. Even before that he had enforced his “Agrarian land Reform Law of 1950,” when he seized property and distributed it to the peasants. He forced them to work in the collective farms. Women were treated like men (not chivalrous!!). (Kara)

5\. Describe any aspect of the Cold War or the Korean War or the Spanish Civil War (with reference to Orwell, if you like).

The Cold War began almost as soon as World War II ended. It started because of the Atomic Bomb. The U.S.S.R. had a scheduled date to start an invasion on Japan on approximately August 6, 1945. The United States asked the U.S.S.R. to postpone that date till August 15, 1945, and the U.S.S.R. agreed. Little did the U.S.S.R. know that the United States had developed an atomic weapon and as soon as the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the U.S.S.R. realized they had been deceived. Three days later on August 9, 1945, the U.S.S.R. started their invasion on Japan, but it was too late, Japan had already surrendered to the United States. Fearing for their lives, the U.S.S.R. started to build up a nuclear arsenal. The United States also built up their nuclear arsenal. None of the nuclear weapons that were produced were used on each other. Each side knew what a nuclear weapon could do to humanity because of the two atomic bombs that had been dropped on Japan. Another reason neither side launched their nuclear missiles against each other was because of a theory called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). This theory stated that if the U.S.S.R., or the United States, launched their missiles at the other side, the other side would realize they were going to die and so they would launch all of their missiles. All of the missiles would and approximately the same time killing just about everyone on each side. (Nate)

In 1953 Joseph Stalin died which ended the Korean War stalemate that had started in 1952 and forced the Communists to sign an armistice. The Korean War was the first limited war for the U.S. (Unsigned homework)

The Spanish civil war, beginning in 1936 and ending in 1939, was fought by fascists trying to overthrow the government, communists opposing the fascists, and the republican government trying to retain control. The fascists, under General Francisco Franco, were helped by Germany and Italy. After this the only democracy left [in continental Europe] was Czechoslovakia. (Cole)

6\. How did technological advances or insights help the Allied forces? Be specific.

Technological advances helped the Allies win the war. General George Patton was incredible at maneuvering tanks at lightening speed. With out his technological talent, the Allies may have never won the war. (Jenna N.)

Radar saved many English lives during the bombing of Great Britain. By knowing when the German bombers were coming the British could warn its people before it was too late. Also the invention of the “Ultra” enabled the Allies to crack the enemy’s codes and therefore let them know when the enemies were going to strike and how they were going to do it. If it were not for this technology the war’s outcome may have been much different. (Sean)

7\. Should the United States have entered World War II in Europe? Discuss.

Yes, we were right to enter The War. If we didn’t our allies would have most definitely been overrun by the powerful German war machine, and who’s to say that they would stop after Europe. So in defense of ourselves and our allies, I think the United States entered the war at the perfect time. (Will)

## Honors Questions (answer any 3 in addition to the above questions)[edit]

H1. Why did genocide tragically kill so many more people in the 20th century than in the rest of world history combined?

First of all, while the number of people killed in 20th century genocides was greater than in the past, I wonder how much bigger the percentage killed is than in the past. But the reason genocide exploded in the 20th century was because of the spellbinding power of the fascist dictators, the communists’ fear of subversion leading to the purges, and the pseudo-scientific Social Darwinism movement. Also, the decline of Christianity played a part. Looking back, it seems like people were completely blind to the killing. This can only happen when 1) God is taken away, 2), replaced with something else (a dictator), and 3) an apparently logical or scientific system (Social Darwinism) dictates murder and cruelty. (Addison)

There are two reasons why the 1900’s claimed so many more genocide victims than any other time in world history: technology and teaching. The evolutionary material taught by most schools in Europe was racist and immoral, advocating “survival of the fittest” and “look out for number one” viewpoints; no one mattered but you and what you wanted to do. Besides, in earlier centuries, people did not really have the technology to kill millions of people and dispose of their bodies, as the Germans did during the Holocaust. Inventions such as poison gas, barbed wire, machine guns, and mass crematoriums enabled the Germans to kill thousands of people per day. (Duncan)

Partially because of the rise of nationalism, and the belief that their country and race were better than everyone else. It was also partially due to the acceptance of the "theory" of evolution, and the rejection of Christian values and belief in God. There was less concern for others, more about themselves, and what was best for them. The thought was that if getting rid of everyone from another race, so be it. It probably would have been better if the world had not rejected chivalry as well. (Michelle)

H2. The "Enigma". Explain and comment.

The German enigma was a machine that created coded messages that the Germans thought was unbreakable. They were wrong because shortly after the allies found out it was Broken. i think the enigma was an amazing machine to be able to scramble the messages in to an almost unbreakable form. (Aran)

H3. Was it right for Churchill not to warn a town about a German bombing if he knew the town would be bombed?

I think Churchill chose the right decision to not warn a town that they were going to be bombed, which they discovered when the German code for the enigma was broken. The Germans were not stupid and if they saw that the town that they were going to bomb was all prepared for the invasion, they would become suspicious that someone had broken their code. Churchill knew that the broken code could help the Allied forces to win the war even though many lives would be sacrificed for it. He understood that he had to use this advantage for a greater cause in a more skillful way without causing any suspicion. If he let this one go, he could use this precious information from the broken code to help them win a great victory that would make a greater difference. War is about the decisions that leaders make, whether right or wrong. (Veronika)

The Korean War was the first example of an American war where the military was hampered by the government placing regulations on what they could or could not do, which MacArthur, who was noted for not going by the book, disliked immensely. Air Force pilots were not allowed to pursue MiG-15 fighters past the Yalu River, as that was Chinese territory, or attack Chinese convoys, , and American troops could not actively attack Chinese positions. Both sides were wrong: Truman should not have attempted to micromanage the war from Washington, and MacArthur should not have subordinated his commander-in-chief. (Duncan)

Churchill sacrificed the lives of civilians to preserve the possibility of saving soldiers, in case of the chance that the Axis would figure out that their code had been cracked. De was waiting for the right time time to use the information learned from the intercepted messages. If you go through life waiting for the right,or perfect time to do things, those things might just not get done. Often, there are no right or perfect times, just some that happen to be better than others. One of the duties of the government is to keep the people safe. I don't agree with the choice he made, as there were other options available. (Michelle)

H4. History does "repeat itself." Give an example based on the lecture.

I have two examples. Germany attempted to conquer Europe in World War I and failed; later she did the same thing. Also, Napoleon could not conquer Russia; his men did not do well in the Russian winter and at that point, the tables turned against him. Hitler did the exact same thing. If he only knew his history .... (Tom)

History has always repeated itself because we are too lazy to learn from the mistakes of our ancestors. Staring in ancient times, Rome fell because they had abortion, they [Romans] degraded the family, and they tossed their morals out the window. Other nations around the world have fallen into socialism, communism, and fascism because they allowed evil men to take over their governments, hmmmm sound familiar? (Jenna S.)

H5. Your view of the United Nations, please?

... I believe the UN is a terrible waste of space. It does not ever achieve anything it starts, as in the war against poverty, the war against wars, and the war against global warming. At times, it just makes things worse. It puts government programs in place and prolongs wars. It is run by pro-socialists and anti-Americans. ... (Tom)

H6. Was General MacArthur right or wrong in the Korean War?

I think that General MacArthur was right to cut off the North Korean supplies lines but was wrong in thinking he could defeat China’s army. He should have deferred to President Truman’s efforts for a diplomatic resolution. The Chinese army was thousands strong and geographically easy to rearm troops. (Sandro)

General Douglas MacArthur was right in disobeying the orders not to do the daring flanking maneuver. Even though he probably knew he would get in trouble with the President, he rather would have saved soldiers lives and won the war. (Benjamin H.)

Churchill had broken the enigma and the Germans did not know it. But had Churchill warned the village that there was going to be a bombing the Germans would have known that Churchill had cracked the code and all of the hard work put into cracking the code would be obsolete as the Germans would have just picked a new code, perhaps one that would have been harder to break. In the future our knowledge of the enigma helped save many lives in World War II, more lives than in the village. (Joey M.)

H7. (counts as two answers) Explain the mathematics of how the Enigma was broken (decoded) including (if you like) some words about the field of cryptology today.

The actual code of the Enigma is very hard to write about and understand in any meaningful way, so I will try to make as much of it as possible comprehensible. When you press a letter (e.g. L), the machine alters it up to nine times (with a minimum of seven) using a set of wheels with the alphabet on them that move much like a standard car odometer (with every 26 letters typed, the next wheel moves to the next spot.). And it must be remembered that the moving of at least one wheel, for every new letter typed, introduced a new set of circuits for each new letter. In addition, if you pressed one key over and over, you would get a different letter each time, but if you hit that same key 16,900 (26 x 25 x 26) times, the pattern would repeat. Cryptologists use a method of code breaking that uses common letter patterns to their advantage: letter and pattern frequency, where the cryptologist would give an educated guess as to what common letter a repeated character is. Also, some letters will appear frequently alongside each other. The most obvious example in the English language is TH as in 'the' or 'that'. By combining these two weapons, the code breaker could make a reasonable guess that where a single letter appeared repeatedly after the T which he had already recovered from letter frequency, the unknown letter was probably H, particularly if the next letter that had already been recovered was an E. (Jonathan R.)

H8. Write about any aspect of the lecture.

As in the First World War, a lack of a strong navy cost Germany the war because they couldn’t prevent the invasion of Sicily or D-Day. (Unsigned homework)