Human Cost of World War 2 Webquest

Human Impact of World War 2:  Civilian and Military

WEBQUEST

1) Battle of Britain:

The Battle of Britain was 10 months of constant bombing on British civilians between 1940 and 1941.  First go to this link to listen to Winston Churchill rally the British to withstand the bombs.  It is one of the best speeches ever.

“The battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned upon us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.

If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

While you listen, check out Bomb Sight.  

 This site shows you every bomb that was recorded.  Every red dot is a bomb that went off in London during the blitz.

If you go to this link, you can explore what happened at Southwark Street,  Click on the pictures. Click on at least one of the stories attached.

Why would the Germans conduct such an attack on London?  What was their goal?
Give three details that you remember that show the struggle of the British citizens.

2) Leningrad:

Look at this on this link and click on Europe and then the USSR Symbol and then on Leningrad to read about the Siege of Leningrad.
What is most important about the graph?
What is one striking detail about the human cost of this siege that you remember.

3) Bombing of Civilians

Go to this website and scroll down to the section on Precision vs. Area Bombing.
1.  What does it mean that the British want to "dehouse" the German people?
2.  What is the effect of using that word?  What are they really doing?
3.  How many British civilians died in the German bombing of the Battle of Britain?
How many German dies in Hamburg in 1943? in the Dresden bombings?
How many Japanese died in the Tokyo firebombings in March of 1945?
Why did the military leaders make the choice to bomb civilians?  How might they justify its morality?

4) Holocaust

Look at this chart.
Which five countries lost the most Jewish citizens in terms of percentage of the Jewish population?
Which five countries lost the the most Jewish citizens by total number?
List all the countries which had either death camps, concentration camps, or transit camps. (Scroll to the bottom for this.)

FYI:  Here is a map of where most of the camps were.

5) Impact in China 

First, go to this chart.  How many Chinese civilians died during World War 2?
Read this article and determine why China lost so many people.

6) TOTAL IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 2 

Now, go to this amazing interactive video at minute 12:00 - 14:00
Keep looking at the interactive video from http://www.fallen.io/ww2/.

What was the total number of deaths from World War 2?
Looking at the list of major world atrocities in the video, what about time is most significant about the deaths in World War 2?

If you have time, play around on this video some more.

7) If you have Time:  Collaboration and Resistance

Go to this article.
What is a collaborator?  Give an example.
Give an example of armed resistance to the Nazis.
Give an example of resistance WITHIN Nazi Germany.
How did the Nazis manage to deal with resistance? Give an example.