Sample Exam Answers

Sample IDs that got full credit

    Marshall Plan: Program initiated by US after WW II to provide money to rebuild Europe so that it wouldn’t fall under Communist control. Helped keep Europe in American camp during Cold War.

    Cuban Missile Crisis: Kennedy administration threatened war unless Russia stopped plans to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba. Example of Cold War tensions

Poor IDs that got no credit or partial credit (either because they were wrong or incomplete)

    Marshall Plan: US plan to look after foreign affairs of allies

    Cuban Missile crisis: Castro threatened US with Kennedy as President, first time of missile terror

        There are several possible starting dates for WW II. What are they and which nations were involved at that time? Explain the rationale behind selecting these dates and why the nations involved began fighting each other. How did regional conflicts eventually merge into a world war?

Sample Answer 1

Grade: F

    I believe the exact WW II starting date was 1929. The various possible dates cold be October 14, 1929 or fall of 1927. The nations that were involved were: Germany against Russia and Britain; Britain against Germany and Italy, Japan allies with Germany. The US eventually came in just to bomb the Japanese. At the beginning of WW II Germany had started paying back the other countries from causing the previous war. But soon found themselves in debt and unable to repay their debt. Germany then took Austria and united both countries. Meanwhile the rest of Europe was irritated that Germany refused to acknowledge its guilt in WW I. Hitler needed land so he invaded Russia.

    Then the Japanese invaded China and bombed Pearl Harbor. This brought the US into the war and led to worldwide fighting.

Sample Answer 2

Grade: F

    The possible starting dates for WW II could be as soon as Hitler became leader of Germany in 1933 because at that time many changes were occurring in Europe. Other possible dates could be the start of the Great Depression (1929).

    There were many nations involved in WW II, including Germany, France, china, Russia, the US, etc. Germany declared war in order to spread Nazism and take over land. The US got involved because it saw this as a threat to its allies. Russia was forced into war when Hitler invaded in order to stamp out Communism and gain land.

    These conflicts became a world war because the US couldn’t stand by and let

Sample Answer 3

Grade: A -

    The actual starting date for WW II depends on your point of view. Possible dates include 1931, 1937, 1939 and 1941. The first of these concerns Japan and China. After years of struggle with colonial areas, Japan had finally gained a sphere of influence in Manchuria. The problem was that the Japanese wanted to obtain a more formal hold over the region and transform it into a colony in order to ensure that Japan would always have access to its resources and markets. Every other time that Japan had tried to get colonies, however, it was thwarted by western powers who ganged up and made the Japanese return lands that they had conquered. For example, after the 1895 Sino-Japanese War, Japan had hoped to turn Korea into a colony. Western pressure, however, forced them to back down. Similarly, after the Japanese victory in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War Japan was once again forced to relinquish territorial claims to Manchuria. Consequently, by 1931 Japan had a chip on its shoulder. Given that the Depression was also affecting their economy the Japanese felt they needed colonies more than ever if they were going to survive. At the same time Japan worried about world reaction if it acted in an openly aggressive manner in China. The Japanese solution was to engineer the "Manchurian Incident" in which Japanese soldiers were dressed in Chinese uniforms and then filmed faking an attack on a Japanese owned railroad in Manchuria. This was carefully caught on film and used as justification for declaring war on China.

    Fighting broke out in China in 1931. Japan quickly won and took control of large portions of China, causing Chang Kai-shek and the Chinese nationalists to negotiate a temporary truce. Chang and his forces then retreated into the interior. Chang was hoping that other countries would eventually enter the war on his side. By retreating inland he was simply hoping to live and fight another day. Meanwhile, however, the Japanese began making ever increasing demands of China in the form of ongoing border disputes, reparations, and labor quotas. By 1937 Chang finally had enough of these demands and refused to cooperate any longer with the Japanese. This caused hostilities to reignite. This time, however, Chang created an alliance with his former Communist enemies under Mao Tse-Tung and dedicated himself to defeating the Japanese.

    While the Asian conflicts were breaking out, Europe also saw rising international tensions. In Germany, Hitler began rearming Germany and promised his people that he would undo their loss in WW I and overturn the humiliating Treaty of Versailles. The rest of Europe met these statements with the policy of Appeasement. This policy was based on the assumption that the allied treatment of Germany after WW I had been too harsh and that Hitler’s campaign to rebuild and rearm Germany were only natural. Moreover, given the casualty figures of WW I, no one wanted to risk another war over what was seen as a few minor issues. Finally, European leaders reasoned that since WW I could have been avoided by compromise, then the best course of action was to compromise with Hitler’s demands. Many also secretly liked the idea of a stronger Germany that could serve as a buffer state between them and Communist Russia. Sentiments such as these convinced Britain and France to take part in the Munich Crisis to resolve Hitler’s demands for portions of Czech territory. Shortly thereafter Hitler signed a treaty with Russia promising they would each remain neutral in the event of war in Europe. Although they were natural enemies, this treaty made sense for both nations. Germany ensured that it would not have to face another 2 front war and bought itself time to defeat the west. Russia on the other hand got extra time to modernize and rebuild its armies from the purges.

    In 1939 Hitler finally felt ready to take on Europe and decided to attack Poland in order to obtain retake lands lost in WW I and gain long promised "living space" for the German people. In order to do so he manufactured his own version of the "Manchurian Incident:" German soldiers were dressed in Polish uniforms and filmed "attacking" the German border. Since Britain and France had promised to protect Poland, they responded to Hitler’s aggression by declaring war. Appeasement, however, meant that they were unprepared for war and both nations spent the next 6 months mobilizing troops and war materials. This included goods and materials from their colonial empires (ie soldiers and goods from Africa, India, Australia etc). In the meantime, the Germans completed their conquest of Poland and moved on to Scandinavia. By the Spring of 1940 Hitler was ready for the next stage in his plan and attacked France. The idea was to defeat the west quickly before turning on the Russians. While France fell quickly, Hitler’s plans were thwarted by the evacuation of the British and French armies at Dunkirk and the failure of the German air force to win the Battle of Britain.

    The final phase of the war came with the entry of the US in 1941. During the preceding years the US had become unofficially involved in the war through the Lend-Lease program which allowed the US to supply Britain and France with arms while at the same time preserving US neutrality. In the Pacific theater, the US was watching Japanese expansion with growing worry. As a German ally, when the war in Europe erupted Japan not only took the opportunity to increase its military operations in China, it also invaded British and French colonial possessions in Asia. This began threatening American interests, hence the US government imposed an economic embargo on Japan and demanded that Japan withdraw from its new conquests. As far as the Japanese were concerned this was an unacceptable repeat of the west denying them colonies which they deserved and needed for survival. To make matters worse, the US trade embargo cut Japan off from its supplies of steel and oil. Without new supplies the Japanese war effort and domestic economy faced collapse inside of 6 weeks. When negotiations failed to lift the embargo, Japan felt that it had no choice but to attack the US fleet in Pearl Harbor. The idea was to prevent the Americans from getting into the war until after Japan had finished its conquest of the Pacific. The attack on Pearl Harbor finally pulled the US out of its isolationism and led to a declaration of war on Japan. Days later Hitler made good on his alliance with Japan and declared war on the US.

    By 1941 these skirmishes had become an all out world War. A majority of European nations were directly involved in fighting as Germany invaded country after country. In order to fight the war, the French and British also called on their colonies for assistance, bringing portions of Africa and Asia into the conflict. Asia was also directly involved due to Japan’s conquest of the pacific, attempted takeover of China and attack on Pearl Harbor. Finally, after December 1941 the US was formally at war with both Japan and Germany.

This essay is missing discussion of the Russian involvement in the war.  Please note that this example predates the requirement of including assigned readings if you want to score better than a B; as a result, were I to receive this essay today it would  earn only a B-.