Routledge

Chapter Resources

Chapter 8: The Second World War 1940–45

Debates

Debating why the Allies won the Second World War

Maps

German expansion in Europe, 1939–40

Japanese expansion in Asia, 1940–42

Discussion Questions

  1. Why did a conflict in Europe over Poland in 1939 escalate into a global war by 1941?
  2. Why was the ‘Phoney War’ phoney?
  3. Why did France collapse so quickly in the summer of 1940?
  4. Why did Britain and the Soviet Union recover from their initial defeats?
  5. Did economics determine the outcome of the Second World War?
  6. At what point did the Axis lose the war?
  7. What role did intelligence play in the outcome of the Second World War?
  8. How important were ideas and ideals to the outcome of the Second World War?
  9. Did the Allies win the war simply because they fought it together?
  10. Why did the Grand Alliance collapse?

Weblinks

Pearl Harbor attack hearings
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/

Intelligence during the Second World War
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/

The Holocaust History Project
http://www.holocaust-history.org/