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World War II Webquest
World War II Webquest
World War II Webquest
World War II
Webquest
The following webquest encompasses several important aspects of the
Second World War. From here on in, all QUESTIONS will be in bold font,
while all the answers will be in regular font.
1. Read about the after-effects of World War I and the Treaty
of Versailles
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_versailles.htm
How many people were killed and wounded in total? Who were
the Big Three? What were the four areas of the Treaty? What
was Germany’s reaction to the Treaty of Versailles? What two
choices was Germany given in relation to the Treaty of
Versailles?
1. In total, 8.5 million were
killed between all nations, in
addition to 21 million being
wounded.
2. The Big Three, composed by
David George Lloyd of
Britain, Clemenceau of
France, and Woodrow Wilson.
The Big Three were the ones
in charge of deciding what
the Versailles treaty would Figure 1 The Treaty of Versailles was signed
at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of
contain, and what Germany’s Versailles.
treatment should be after the
war.
3. The treaty contained the following sections: territorial,
financial, general, and military. In the territorial section,
certain pieces of land were taken away from Germany and
given to countries such as Denmark and Belgium; in the
military section, Germany’s army was minimized; in the
financial section, it was severely industrially punished; and in
the general section, Germany assumed responsibility for the
war and the League of Nations was created.
4. The Armistice formally ended the First World War, and the
Germans agreed to it in November of 1918. Following this, the
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm
#stpaul
D... Look at the bottom of the article, when did this book
become hugely popular? To answer this, you have to read the
article, and then go back to the timeline to find out when
Hitler became Chancellor.
4. Despite poor initial sales, after Hitler became Chancellor of
Germany (Jan. 30, 1933), Mein Kampf sold like hotcakes –
millions of copies were sold. Such a book would become
proper to give to newlyweds or high school graduates, even if
few Germans ever read it cover to cover.
E. What year did the Nazis hold a book burning? List some
authors whose works were destroyed.
5. The Nazis held a book burning on May 10th, 1933. They
burned books that expressed ideas contrary to the Nazi’s –
“unGerman ideas” – written by people such as Sigmund
Freud, Thomas Mann, Jack London, Albert Einstein, H.G. Wells,
etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
4. Go to http://www.bartleby.com/65/to/totalita.html
and find the definition for “totalitarianism”
1. Totalitarianism is a “modern autocratic government in which
the state involves itself in all facets of society, including the
daily life of its citizens.”
5. Now go to http://www.besthistorysites.net/WWII.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_Szabo
What was her name at birth? Where was
she born? How old was she when she died?
She was an SOE. What do the initials stand
for? What was her code name? Why were
her wireless reports to SOE headquarters so
important?
1. Violette Szabo, an Allied WWII secret spy
was born Violette Bushell in the city of
Paris, France. She died at the age of 23,
after having been captured by enemy
forces. An SOE (Special Operations
Executive) agent, her code name was
Louise. When she embarked on a mission Figure 4 Violette Szabo.
near Cherbourg, France, and reorganized a French resistance
network there, the wireless reports she sent to the SOE were
so important because they included information on the local
factories producing wartime products for the Germans
allowed the establishment of critical Allied bombing targets.
A. http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blmap.htm
This site has a map of all the concentration and extermination
camps. What was the camp to the furthest point north? Which
was the closest extermination camp to the city of Warsaw,
Poland? What was the name of the concentration camp in
France?
1. Kaiswerwald, located near Riga in Latvia, was the
concentration camp farthest north in Europe.
2. Treblinka was the closest extermination camp to the Polish
capital Warsaw.
3. Natweiler was the sole concentration camp in France.
11. D-Day
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/world/d-
day_/newsid_3754000/3754731.stm Use the 5 main links to
answer the following questions:
G. Click on What was D-Day? to the left of the map. Read the
last paragraph. How long did D-Day last and what was its final
outcome?
9. Operation Overlord (D-Day was the one day that the invasion
began), otherwise the Invasion of Normandy, lasted for eleven
months. It allowed the Allies to enter the Fatherland –
Germany – and go all the way to its capital, Berlin; all the way
to “the bunker that was Adolf Hitler’s headquarters”.
http://ice.mm.com/user/jpk/battle.htm
Click on the link and scroll through the site to get an idea of
how immense it was. Go to Battle Facts. How many soldiers
fought and for which country? How many casualties were
there for each country? Go to Battle Action Credits and read
the first paragraph. Why was the Battle of the Bulge so
devastating for the Germans?
1. In total, over a million men fought – 500,000 German soldiers,
600,000 American soldiers, and 55,000 British soldiers. 3
German armies and 10 German corps; 3 American armies and
6 American corps.
2. As far as casualties,: 100,000 German casualties (killed,
wounded or captured); 81,000 American casualties (incl.
23,554 captured and 19,000 killed); and 1,400 British
casualties, 200 killed.
3. Recall that the Germans fought a “lightning war” style kind of
battle – they went in fast, shot quickly, escaped quicker. The
Go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_nor
th_africa_campaign.shtml
A. Go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Philippines_(1942)
15. Midway
Go to
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552739/Battle_of_Mid
way.html
Figure 10 The most famous photograph of the way – US soldiers raise the American flag at Iwo
jJima.
17. Okinawa
Go to
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Japan/04/vaughn/vaug
hn.htm
Go to http://www.waszak.com/japanww2.htm
Go to
http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=mf1_atomicb
ombings_63
A. Go to
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=226140
and read the section “Costs of the War”. Then answer the
following questions: How many countries participated in
World War II? Which country spent the most money on the
war? Which country suffered the most casualties (dead and
wounded)? How many? How many total Allied human losses
were there, both military and civilian? How many total Axis
human losses?
1. All in all 61 countries and 1.6 billion people participated in the
war, with the United States spending the most money on the
conflict (about $341 billion).
2. The largest toll was taken on the USSR, whose military and
civilian deaths amount to more than 20 million killed.
3. The Allies sustained 44 million military and civilian deaths; the
Axis, 11 million.
Figure 12 Following the war, a bitter space and arms race began between the world’s two new
superpowers: the US and the Soviet Union. Ever since then, more conflicts have come to the
world - the Korean War, Vietnam, the current War in Iraq, etc. Perhaps the sole possibility of
peace may be found somewhere out in the universe. At the current rate of development of
space technology, living in space may soon be a reality. Perhaps there we will begin a new
race, one that does not see death and war.. But, for now, we must cope with the evils of the
world and try to find happiness in other things, smaller things perhaps. Love, success, and
welfare are three things one ought to be proud to have – for nothing is better in this world than
to be alive to experience it all.