a. What were the causes of WWII?

There were two in particular that have been written about in the books. There were probably more, but the following are the 2 that were considered the most important. 1) After WWI, the countries that opposed Germany in that war claimed huge tracts of Germany’s land for themselves and imposed impossible economic penalties on its people. Under the restrictions imposed on them, the Germans could not rebuild their country and recover from the war. Things got worse and worse. The economy collapsed with extremely high inflation. The German Mark became useless, with very little value. People were using wheelbarrows to haul in currency to buy basic needs like groceries. This caused most German people to rise up in anger to protest. When a chrisamatic leader came along, in the persona of Hitler, promising better times, the German people fell for the rhetoric. As a whole, they believed what he said. Including “revenging” their hurts in the form of starting another war with their “enemies,” or scapegoats. 2) There was an assassination of a Prussian Kaiser that set the country on a rampage. That was the spark that ignited the war drums.

b. What were the alliances involved? What were the countries that composed them?

There were 2 alliances, the Axis and Allies. The Allies were us, England, France, and Russia. The Axis were Germany, Italy, and Japan.

c. How did WWII start?

Germany invaded Poland.

d. What were the weapons used during that time?

1) The Gatlin gun, a large bazooka-looking automatic rifle set up on a tripod. Very heavy. It had a long belt of ammo which was fed into the gun as it was fired. This allowed an unbroken stream of bullets to be fired without having to stop and reload. 2) Another weapon, if you can call it that, was the airplane. Airplanes were already in the sky, but they were much faster and maneuvered much easier, lighter, and had better fuel economy. They also became larger to carry bigger bombs and more cargo. 3) The Sherman tank. A much heavier, armored, faster, and easier to maneuver vehicle than earlier tanks. Also had a bigger gun attached to the turret.

Besides these breakthroughs, the basic soldier’s rifle was the M14. A newer version, the M16 is standard issue today. They also used handguns, grenades, Claymore mines, bayonets, tear gas, bombs, and various-sized heavy artillery.

e. What were the good and bad results of the war?

Some still say there were no good results of the war, but, if you look hard enough, one can find some things that were good that came out the horror of that war. In my opinion, these would be the positive results:

1) We learned never to start a war again on a global scale. Nuclear war was really the ultimate question during the later part of the war. We saw first-hand what nuclear war could do to a people. Because we were the first people to actually use nuclear bombs on an enemy, we learned how to employ diplomatic alternatives with more passion. 2) We learned our lesson on how to treat enemy combatant countries after a war. This time, Germany was able to start over and remake itself as a viable country. They are a very proud people and the war taught them that they can survive anything. They also learned not ever to fall for insanity like Hitler again. As it is now, a Hitler would find it extremely difficult, if not impossible to set up shop in Berlin and be taken seriously. 3) There were seriously good economic, scientific, and medical strides made during the rush to gear up for global combat. 4) Japan learned to be an economically strong country – without a military force for once. 5) Russia became stronger as a country as well. 6) England learned how tough its people actually were. We became closer in relations with them. 7) The Geneva Conventions were created. 8) The plight of the Jews was brought out into the light of the day. Discrimination eased somewhat. That’s all I can think of now.

f. Why was the US late in joining the war?

The Senate refused to ok the call to war. Before Bush became king, the Senate was required to sign off on the President’s request to go to war. During WWII, Roosevelt followed the rules. Also, we were hesitant to join a fight we were not personally involved in, yet. We had not been attacked on our shores until Dec 1944 at Pearl Harbor. After that, we jumped in and never looked back.

Some say that we didn’t join because we basically agreed with Hitler and his Nazi Party in their treatment of the Jews. That we were Anti-Semitic. You can believe that if you want. I don’t. Some also say that we didn’t join because we were cheap – didn’t want to spend the money to fight. That certainly was not true once we got into it. That seems a bit flimsy. Others say we were isolationists. Not interested in anything outside of our borders. If you read the books about WWII, you will learn how involved diplomatically and economically we were before we ever declared war officially.

We may have been late to the party, but it couldn’t have been a success without us.

Hope that helps.

b. Axis- Germany, Japan, Italy V.S. Allies- USA, England, France, Russia

c. Nazi Germany invading Poland

d. machine guns, jet bombers, more heavy artillary

e. (I Dont know the exact answer)

f. they were already having problems with its economy (from great depression) and said the war hasnt reached the western hemsphiere