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Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919-1946
Quick questions on Conduct of WWII and the post-war settlement: HSC Modern History Core Study
10short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is axis ascendancy?Show answer
Germany overran Poland (Sept 1939), Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, and France by June 1940. The Battle of Britain (July to October 1940) was the first German setback. Operation Barbarossa (22 June 1941) opened the Eastern Front with 3.8 million Axis troops.
What is global war?Show answer
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941). Germany declared war on the United States (11 December 1941). By mid-1942, Axis forces held continental Europe, North Africa, and much of South-East Asia.
What is allied advance?Show answer
The invasion of Italy (September 1943) toppled Mussolini. D-Day (6 June 1944) opened the Western Front with 156,000 Allied troops. The Soviet Operation Bagration (June to August 1944) destroyed German Army Group Centre.
What is yalta?Show answer
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed on the division of Germany into occupation zones, free elections in liberated Europe (in practice, ignored by the USSR), Soviet entry into the war against Japan, and the establishment of the United Nations.
What is potsdam?Show answer
Truman, Churchill (then Attlee), and Stalin agreed on de-Nazification, demilitarisation, and reparations from Germany. Disagreements over Poland and Eastern Europe foreshadowed the Cold War.
What are the United Nations?Show answer
The UN Charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 and entered into force on 24 October 1945. Five permanent Security Council members (US, USSR, UK, France, China) had veto power.
What are the Nuremberg Trials?Show answer
The International Military Tribunal prosecuted 24 senior Nazis on four charges, including the new category of crimes against humanity. 12 were sentenced to death. The principles were codified by the UN in 1946 and informed the 1948 Genocide Convention.
What is q1?Show answer
Source A is the Potsdam communique of 2 August 1945, paragraph III: the principle of "complete disarmament and demilitarisation of Germany." Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain the post-war settlement for Germany. [5 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Evaluate the extent to which the use of the atomic bombs in August 1945 was justified by military necessity. [25 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Compare the views of John Lewis Gaddis and Vladislav Zubok on Soviet aims at Yalta and Potsdam. [10 marks]