The Second World War and the AP Exam

American tanks enter Nürnberg in 1945

With as much time as we dedicate to World War II in our culture (Band of Brothers, Valkyrie, and every second not dedicated to Ice Road Truckers and Pawn Stars on the History Channel), you would think that it would be a bigger part of the AP European History exam. The truth is that it really hasn't ever loomed large as its own subject on the exam. Very few multiple-choice questions are dedicated solely to the war, and absolutely no essay questions have been designed around it. For us, to be honest, the topic might be too easy. After all, this is "our war," the one of which we are proudest, and the one we cannot stop reliving through film, television, and literature. The reality of the situation for a survey course like AP Euro is that the Second World War is the final chapter in a much bigger series of events that serves as the opening act of the twentieth century. UCLA's Eugen Weber referred to this period as a "second Thirty Years' War" that began with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 and ended in 1945 with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Just as the first Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) had its various phases, and the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) was made up a series of wars and relatively peaceful interludes, this second Thirty Year's War was marked by a first phase that finally ended the remaning vestiges of the Ancien Regime, a relatively peaceful interlude that saw Europe try to piece itself together in a new order, and a final catastrophic phase that saw the balance of power obliterated and ended European hegemony in the world.

Many of the causes of the Second World War can be traced back to the settlements made during the Versailles Peace Conference and the economic shockwaves caused by the end of the war in 1918. Many Germans were angry with the conditions of peace imposed upon them at Versailles. The felt that the terms of the treaty were harsh. The forced demilitarization of the Rhineland made many Germans feel vulnerable, at the mercy of a vengeful France. These feelings were amplified by the French occupation of the Ruhr Valley from 1923 to 1925. This occupation was the result of another term of the Versailles Treaty requiring the Germans to accept full responsibility for the Great War and to make full reparations for the damages and loss of life that resulted from the war. These reparations, totaling 132 marks (close to $33 billion in 1921), seemed extremely high and nearly impossible to pay to most Germans. The hyperinflation caused by the Weimar government in response to the French occupation ($1 = 4 trillion DM!) may have allowed German industrialists to wipe clean their foreign debts, but it absolutely destroyed the life savings of the German middle classes. The misery caused by the Great Depression in the years before the rise of the Nazi Party (1929-1932), when unemployment in Germany may have been as high as 35%, compounded the anger of the middle classes toward the democratic Weimar Republic. Adolf Hitler used this middle class anger to drive a wedge between the Weimar government and the middle classes, and to increase his own popularity by promising a recovery under National Socialism. He created a vision in which Germany was a weak, disarmed country surrouned by stronger enemies on every side. In this way, he gained the support of the German people in repudiating the Treaty of Versailles, rebuilding the German armed forces, and forcing territorial concessions from neigboring states (Austria & Czechoslovakia in 1938, Poland in 1939).

These are the kinds of connections that you should be able to make on the AP Exam in May. You should be able to identify the long-term causes of WW II, and the consequences of this new type of warfare that made the civilian populations that supported the armies of the warring nations the targets of aerial bombardments. Take a look at this sample multiple-choice question:

Which of the following resulted from the close relationship between science and government in industrialized nations during the Second World War?

(A) The pace of discovery and invention noticeably slowed.

(B) Specialization decreased.

(C) Much scientific research became financially dependent on military funding.

(D) Fewer students were interested in scientific training.

(E) The benefits of scientific advances were no longer questioned.

Notice this question, like most questions on the AP Exam, is conceptual in nature. It is not asking you to show specific knowledge, like who invented the atomic bomb. It is asking you to show your understanding of the consequences of a change in the role of governments that occured during the Second World War. So, if we think about this relationship between science and government in relation to the greatest scientific project of the war, the Manhattan Project (atomic bomb), we should be able to find the answer. First, let's eliminate the answer choices that we know to be incorrect. Answer choices A and C should be eliminated. After all, World War II came in the middle of the "heroic age of physics," when the pace of scientific education and discovery were on the rise. Answer choice B should also be eliminated. Specialization in industry and in science increased dramatically after the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution (Think of the assembly line). So, that leaves us with answer choices C and E. If we relate answer choice E to the horror and disgust that the world felt in the aftermath of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then we are left with answer choice C. Scientific programs like the Manhattan Project and Hitler's Wunderwaffen (Wonder Weapons) were huge, and secret, military programs that stand as examples of the dependency of scientific research upon military funding during the war.

German V-1 Flying Bomb

Remember, the details make great concrete details in essays, but it's the big-picture ideas that will help you to construct stronger arguments and to understand the multiple-choice questions.

 

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