World War II Causes and Alliances Analysis

Fascist Aims and Early Aggression

1) In your notebook, answer the following questions:

• a) What was the aim of the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany?: Italy and Germany developed expansionist policies that aspired to expand their territorial boundaries.
• b) Which countries were invaded in the 1930s?: In the 1930s, Japan invaded China (Manchuria), and Germany invaded Ethiopia, Albania, and Poland.
• c) What alliances were formed in the second half of the 1930s?: The Pact of Steel, the Anti-Comintern Pact, and the Germany-Soviet Pact were formed.
• d) What territories did Hitler annex in the second half of the 1930s?: Many territories in Central and Eastern Europe.
• e) Which specific act of aggression began the Second World War?: The invasion of Poland by Germany and the USSR began the Second World War.

3) In your notebook, copy and match the pacts to their corresponding countries:

1. Anti-Comintern Pact: Germany and Japan
2. Pact of Steel: Italy and Germany
3. Nazi-Soviet Pact: Soviet Union and Germany

Correcting Statements on World War II

1.1) Correct the following sentences:

• a) The Second World War took place on five continents and involved around fifty million soldiers among the main armies alone, and almost 100 million if including all types of troops, police, and military personnel, etc.
• b) Developments in weapons technology led to major changes in the organization of production and huge increases in scale.

Territorial Occupation Analysis (Map Reference)

1.2) Look at the map on page 111 and answer the following questions:

• b) Which territories did the Third Reich occupy in Europe?: Norway, France, Luxembourg, Bohemia, etc.
• c) Which countries or areas remained outside its control?: Soviet Union, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Italy, the United Kingdom, and French North Africa.

Political Divisions Post-War

1.3) Look and answer the questions:

• a) Communist representation: France, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Italy.
• b) Communist controlled: USSR, Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland.
• c) They were divided by a boundary west of the advance of the Soviet army in 1945; the two big cities had a quadripartite occupation.

Video Summary Points

Key events summarized from the video:

1. A gentleman by the name of Adolf Hitler rose to power.
2. Hitler did not want to abide by the Versailles Treaty.
3. Hitler formed an alliance with Italy and Japan.
4. Great Britain and France declared war against Germany.
5. This occurred because Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.
6. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
7. The Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy.