CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX


STUDY QUESTIONS
  1. What were the similarities in causes and characteristics between the First and Second World Wars? What were the outstanding differences?
  2. What were the chief causes of the breakdown of the peace of 1919-1920?
  3. The European system of alliances was a factor leading to the First World War. To what extent was this system revived between the two world wars?
  4. What attempts at disarmament were made between the two world wars and why were they not more successful?
  5. How did the Great Depression help to bring on the Second World War?
  6. Show to what extent each of the following was a good example of appeasement as that term is used in this chapter: Japanese invasion of Manchuria; German remilitarization of the Rhineland; German and Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War.
  7. What were the consequences of the Munich Agreement of 1938? How do you account for the concessions made by Chamberlain and Daladier at Munich?
  8. What events of 1942 and 1943 marked a turning point in the war?
  9. What were some of the ways in which Resistance movements attempted to assist the Allies in their battle against the Axis powers?
  10. How did the Second World War differ from all previous conflicts, including the First World War, in its effect upon civilian populations? How do you account for its new level of inhumanity?
  11. What were the basic difficulties in the way of planning a peace settlement?
  12. What program was formulated at the Yalta Conference of 1945?
  13. Why was the Potsdam Conference unable to resolve tensions among the wartime allies? What postwar European problems did the Conference foreshadow?
  14. Summarize the provisions of the treaty with Japan immediately following the war.
  15. Describe the structure and function of the United Nations Security Council. What is its great weakness?
  16. In what fields has the United Nations been most successful? In what respect has it largely failed?
PROBLEMS
  1. Investigate any of the following:
      a. The Spanish Civil War and the coming of the Second World War.
      b. The genesis of the Munich Agreement of 1938.
      c. The Battle of Britain.
      d. The American defeat at Pearl Harbor.
      e. D-Day: June 6, 1944.
      f. The work of any of the specialized agencies of the U.N.: UNESCO, WHO, or FAO.
  2. Summarize the attempts to maintain peace between the two world wars. Suggest reasons why these attempts met with such limited success.
  3. Attack or defend the proposition that the Great Depression was more responsible than the Versailles Treaty for the breakdown of world peace.
  4. Write an essay on how you think the Second World War might have been avoided.
  5. Compare the Charter of the United Nations with the Covenant of the League of Nations. In what ways, if any, is the U.N. an improvement over the League?
  6. Study the arguments for and against the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. Try to determine the reasons for the decision to use the bomb.


ResourceResearchReference


W.W. Norton
REVIEW: World Civilizations
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