World History Homework Twelve - Model

1. World War II: when, where, who and why? Explain.

2. Compare and contrast communism and fascism, with at least two examples of how they are similar and two examples of how they differ.

The greatest difference between communism and fascism is that communism is international while fascism is extreme nationalism. Also, communism does not focus on national identity but on equality among classes and all people. Fascism sees its nation as being above other nations, its people as above other people, and it encourages or at least does not interfere with class differences. But perhaps what unites them is greater than what divides them! Both stress the collective and squash individual freedom, both encourage some form of government control over the economy, both display a disdain for human rights, and both command complete allegiance to a dictator. (Addison)

Communism	Fascism
sought a worldwide revolution to abolish national identity; equality	sought to advance their country above the others; to be the most powerful
did not like wealth	encouraged wealth to make the nation stronger
opposed social classes	encouraged social classes
believed complete equality	thought their nation was superior

Though communism and fascism are very different, there are also many likenesses between them.

- both used a dictator

- did not encourage individual freedom and human rights

- both stressed the collective (Anna)

3. Why do you think Hitler and his supporters killed so many people? Explain.

Hitler was a very evil man who craved power. In 1934 Hitler began killing hundreds of Germans who had opposed him, and he was completely against the Jews, blaming them for all of Germany’s problems. In 1938 the Nazis conducted a massive pogrom in a thousand German towns that attacked Jewish people in their homes and destroyed their businesses. Hitler was so eager to have power that he destroyed anything that got in his way. (Amanda)

4. Discuss the effect of communism spreading to China.

The effects of Communism spreading to China were devastating. Communistic ruler Mao seized property and distributed it to peasants, and made a policy of forcing peasants to work on collective farms from 1952 to 1957. Women were treated like men. He established large collective farms composed of 25,000 people working on thousands of acres per farm, which prohibited private possessions with everyone lived in communal housing. Because of this, people worked less with no incentive because private property was not allowed, and thus a great famine resulted and nearly 30 million Chinese died. Then Mao implemented the Cultural Revolution, where everyone intelligent or artistic was imprisoned or killed, and schools and universities were closed. Mao’s had “Red Guards" who were high school and college students who were militant communists that enforced the Cultural Revolution. China was in ruins because of communism. (Deborah)

5. Describe any aspect of the Cold War or the Korean War or the Spanish Civil War (with reference to Orwell, if you like).

The Cold War began almost as soon as World War II ended. It started because of the Atomic Bomb. The U.S.S.R. had a scheduled date to start an invasion on Japan on approximately August 6, 1945. The United States asked the U.S.S.R. to postpone that date till August 15, 1945, and the U.S.S.R. agreed. Little did the U.S.S.R. know that the United States had developed an atomic weapon and as soon as the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the U.S.S.R. realized they had been deceived. Three days later on August 9, 1945, the U.S.S.R. started their invasion on Japan, but it was too late, Japan had already surrendered to the United States. Fearing for their lives, the U.S.S.R. started to build up a nuclear arsenal. The United States also built up their nuclear arsenal. None of the nuclear weapons that were produced were used on each other. Each side knew what a nuclear weapon could do to humanity because of the two atomic bombs that had been dropped on Japan. Another reason neither side launched their nuclear missiles against each other was because of a theory called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). This theory stated that if the U.S.S.R., or the United States, launched their missiles at the other side, the other side would realize they were going to die and so they would launch all of their missiles. All of the missiles would and approximately the same time killing just about everyone on each side. (Nate)

6. How did technological advances or insights help the Allied forces? Be specific.

Technological advances helped the Allies win the war. General George Patton was incredible at maneuvering tanks at lightening speed. With out his technological talent, the Allies may have never won the war. (Jenna N.)

7. Should the United States have entered World War II in Europe? Discuss.

H1. Why did genocide tragically kill so many more people in the 20th century than in the rest of world history combined?

First of all, while the number of people killed in 20th century genocides was greater than in the past, I wonder how much bigger the percentage killed is than in the past. But the reason genocide exploded in the 20th century was because of the spellbinding power of the fascist dictators, the communists’ fear of subversion leading to the purges, and the pseudo-scientific Social Darwinism movement. Also, the decline of Christianity played a part. Looking back, it seems like people were completely blind to the killing. This can only happen when 1) God is taken away, 2), replaced with something else (a dictator), and 3) an apparently logical or scientific system (Social Darwinism) dictates murder and cruelty. (Addison)

There are two reasons why the 1900’s claimed so many more genocide victims than any other time in world history: technology and teaching. The evolutionary material taught by most schools in Europe was racist and immoral, advocating “survival of the fittest” and “look out for number one” viewpoints; no one mattered but you and what you wanted to do. Besides, in earlier centuries, people did not really have the technology to kill millions of people and dispose of their bodies, as the Germans did during the Holocaust. Inventions such as poison gas, barbed wire, machine guns, and mass crematoriums enabled the Germans to kill thousands of people per day. (Duncan)

H2. The "Enigma". Explain and comment.

The German enigma was a machine that created coded messages that the Germans thought was unbreakable. They were wrong because shortly after the allies found out it was Broken. i think the enigma was an amazing machine to be able to scramble the messages in to an almost unbreakable form. (Aran)

H3. Was it right for Churchill not to warn a town about a German bombing if he knew the town would be bombed?

I think Churchill chose the right decision to not warn a town that they were going to be bombed, which they discovered when the German code for the enigma was broken. The Germans were not stupid and if they saw that the town that they were going to bomb was all prepared for the invasion, they would become suspicious that someone had broken their code. Churchill knew that the broken code could help the Allied forces to win the war even though many lives would be sacrificed for it. He understood that he had to use this advantage for a greater cause in a more skillful way without causing any suspicion. If he let this one go, he could use this precious information from the broken code to help them win a great victory that would make a greater difference. War is about the decisions that leaders make, whether right or wrong. (Veronika)

H3. The Korean War was the first example of an American war where the military was hampered by the government placing regulations on what they could or could not do, which MacArthur, who was noted for not going by the book, disliked immensely. Air Force pilots were not allowed to pursue MiG-15 fighters past the Yalu River, as that was Chinese territory, or attack Chinese convoys, , and American troops could not actively attack Chinese positions. Both sides were wrong: Truman should not have attempted to micromanage the war from Washington, and MacArthur should not have subordinated his commander-in-chief. (Duncan)

H4. History does "repeat itself." Give an example based on the lecture.

H5. Your view of the United Nations, please?

H6. Was General MacArthur right or wrong in the Korean War?

H7. (counts as two answers) Explain the mathematics of how the Enigma was broken (decoded) including (if you like) some words about the field of cryptology today.

H8. Write about any aspect of the lecture.