§-Quick questions
NSWModern HistorySection IV (Peace and Conflict): Conflict in Europe 1935-1945
Quick questions on Impact of the war on civilians: HSC Modern History Peace and Conflict
6short 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 are total civilian deaths?Show answer
The European war was the deadliest in modern history for civilians. Estimates of civilian deaths in the European theatre:
What is strategic bombing?Show answer
The German bombing of British cities (the Blitz) began on 7 September 1940 and continued in major form to May 1941. Coventry was severely bombed on 14 November 1940 (around 600 dead, the cathedral destroyed). London was hit on around 71 nights of major bombing. Total British civilian dead from bombing: around 43,000 (Blitz) and 9,000 (V-1 and V-2 attacks of 1944 to 1945).
What are occupation regimes?Show answer
Around 250 million Europeans came under German or Italian occupation between 1939 and 1944. Occupation regimes varied by Nazi racial valuation of the population:
What is nazi colonial planning in the East?Show answer
Generalplan Ost (drafts from 1940; major version 1942) was the SS plan for the colonisation of Eastern Europe. It envisaged:
What is resistance?Show answer
Resistance movements operated across occupied Europe with varying scale, ideology, and effectiveness:
What is children?Show answer
Children experienced the war as bombing victims, evacuees, deportees, Holocaust victims, and Hitler Youth or Komsomol participants. Around 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust. The British evacuation moved 1.5 million children to safer rural areas in 1939 (most returned within months when the bombing did not yet come). Soviet children were often raised by grandparents while parents worked; many were orphaned.
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