WBBSE Class 9 Fundamentals Of History Chapter 6 The Second World War And Its Aftermath SAQs

WBBSE Class 9 Fundamentals Of History Chapter 6 The Second World War And Its Aftermath Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Who were the two powers who fought against each other in the Second World War?
Answer: The Second World War began on 1″ September 1939 and ended on 2r’d September 1945.

The two powers who fought against each other in this war were the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. England, France, USSR, USA and China formed the Allied Powers and Italy, Germany and Japan formed the Axis Powers.

Question 2. What do you understand by the term Democracy?
Answer:

Democracy

Read And Learn More WBBSE Class 9 Fundamentals Of History Short Answer Questions

The word Democracy has its origin in the Greek words demos and kratia. The Greek word ‘ demos’ means a population and ‘kratia’ means rule.

Hence the term Democracy refers to a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Question 3. Why was democracy under severe strain around the 20s of the twentieth century?
Answer: Almost all of Europe (except Russia) was under democratic rule in the 1920s but by the time the Second World War broke out in 1939 most of Europe was under a dictatorship.

In the 20″’ Century there were instances of transition to democracy, challenges to democracy and military coups.

The political, economic, social, and racial crises along with the absence of able and charismatic democratic leaders during this period caused strain to democracy during this period.

Question 4. What do you understand by the term nationalism?
Answer:

Nationalism

1. The term nationalism refers to the common spirit, loyalty and patriotism of a nation. It involves a feeling of pride in one’s country.
2. It is a sentiment formed on a common cultural basis which binds the people of a nation together and sometimes it results in the emergence of national independence or separatism.

WBBSE History Chapter 6 SAQs Solutions Aggressive Nationalism

Question 5. What is aggressive nationalism?
Answer:

1. Fascism and Nazism that developed in Europe in the 1930s gave rise to the concept of aggressive nationalism. It stands for one’s love and feeling of superiority towards one’s own country and hatred towards other countries.
2. The rise of aggressive nationalism in Fascist Italy of Mussolini and Nazi Germany of Adolf Hitler was one of the factors that contributed to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Question 6. What were the aims of the Fascist Party in Italy?
Answer:

The aims of the Fascist Party in Italy

1. Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party in Italy in 1919 and in 1922 this Party came to power.
2. The Fascists believed in the theory that ‘everything in the State, nothing outside the State and nothing against the State’ and as such they aimed to increase the power, glory and authority or control of the State.
3. They adopted a strict foreign policy to re-establish the lost glory of Italy, took measures to keep the country away from the influence of the communists and safeguarded personal property.

Question 7. Why did Mussolini annex Abyssinia?
Answer: Italy had plans for conquering Abyssinia since 1896 but failed and this together with her feeling of disappointment with the share of territories after the First World War gave her the cause to invade Abyssinia.

This helped Mussolini to build an Italian empire and solve problems related to the living space of the surplus population and also provided raw materials and markets for Italian goods.

Mussolini also invaded Abyssinia as a result of the Walwal Incident of 1934 and finally annexed Abyssinia in 1936.

Second World War And Its Aftermath Class 9 SAQs PDF Walwal Incident

Question 8. What was the Walwal Incident?
Answer:

Walwal is situated on the Italian-Ethiopian frontier and on 5th December 1934 a skirmish took place between the Italian troops and the Ethiopian troops at the Walwal oasis in which more than 150 soldiers were killed.

The Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie refused to accept the demands of Italy (remuneration and apology) after this incident and wanted help from the League of Nations which reached a stalemate in negotiations. Finally in 1936 based on this Walwal Incident Mussolini annexed Abyssinia.

Question 9. Why did Italy leave the League of Nations?
Answer: Italy was one of the founding members of the League of Nations. When Italy launched an attack on another member nation of the League Abyssinia, the League imposed economic sanctions on Italy.

Infuriated by this, Italy under its Fascist ruler Benito Mussolini withdrew from the League of Nations in 1937.

Question 10. Why was the Pact of Steel signed?
Answer: The Pact of Steel was signed between Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy on 22nd May 1939.

Also known as a Friendship Alliance it was a military and political alliance between Germany and Italy.

It was also aimed at securing living space and peace for the people of both Italy and Germany and further, this pact was also motivated by Hitler’s fear of an upcoming confrontation with Anglo-French powers.

Chapter 6 History Short Questions For Class 9 WBBSE Battle Of Wheat

Question 11. What was the ‘Battle of Wheat’?
Answer:

• Benito Mussolini launched the ‘Battle of Wheat’ in Italy in 1925. It was undertaken to increase the production of food and achieve economic solvency.
• By 1935, Italy was largely successful in the production of wheat but this success was achieved at the cost of dairy and arable farming.

Question 12. What was the ‘Polish Corridor’?
Answer:

Polish Corridor

• Polish Corridor was the strip of land covering 240×40 square miles area near the mouth of the Vistula River. Earlier it separated Germany from East Prussia.
• The Treaty of Versailles(1919) allowed Poland to have this region under its control so that it could have easy access to the Baltic Sea.

WBBSE History Chapter 6 Important SAQs For Exams Corfu Incident

Question 13. What was the Corfu incident?
Answer:

• In 1923, a military and diplomatic crisis took place between Greece and Italy.
• It intensified when an Italian general heading a commission to settle a border dispute between Albania and Greece was murdered in a Greek territory along with members of his staff. This was the Corfu incident.

Question 14. Why did Hitler sign the Munich Pact?
Answer: On 29th September 1938, the Munich Pact was signed by Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany.

This pact gave Germany the power to occupy the four border territories of Czechoslovakia and also permitted Germany’s annexation of Sudetenland.

Great Britain and France to maintain peace in Europe unwisely signed the Agreement to appease Hitler.

Question 15. Why did Hitler leave the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations?
Answer: Soon after Hitler assumed power in Germany in 1933, the League of Nations convened the Disarmament Conference in Geneva. The question of German equality became the predominant focus of the conference.

When the Western powers refused to meet Hitler’s demand for equality he announced his withdrawal from both the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations.

Question 16. Why was the Anglo-German Naval Agreement important?
Answer: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed on 18th June 1935. It was a bilateral concord which limited the size of the German navy to 35% of the size of the British navy.

It was an appeasement policy that was followed by Britain giving Germany the scope to violate the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and successfully creating a rift between England and France.

Anti-Comintern Pact The Second World War And Its Aftermath SAQs WBBSE

Question 17. What was the Anti-Comintern Pact?
Answer:

• The Anti-Comintern Pact was signed between Japan and Germany on 25th November 1936.
• It was an agreement signed against Communist International or in other words, it was an agreement against Russia or Communism. In 1937, Italy also signed this pact.

Question 18. When was the Russo-German Non-Aggression Pact signed and for how many years?
Answer: The Russo-German Non-Aggression Pact ( also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ) was signed between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany on 23rd August 1939.

This Pact took the whole world by surprise. By the terms of this pact, the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next ten years.

Question 19. What were the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?
Answer:

The terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

• The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or the Russo-German Non-Aggression Pact was signed on 23rd August 1939.
• The Pact was signed in Moscow and it allowed both the powers to partition Poland between them.

By the terms of the Pact, it was decided

1. Both countries would not take any military action against each other for the next ten years
2. In case of an attack by a third party on them, neither Germany nor the Soviet Union would help the third party
3. Both countries would peacefully settle all their disputes.

Question 20. When and by whom was the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis formed?
Answer:

1. On 25th November 1936 Germany and Japan made a bilateral agreement and signed the Anti-Comintern Pact.
2. In 1937, on 6th November, Italy joined Germany and Japan and thus the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis was formed.
3. The Axis powers decided to help each other in case they were challenged by a fourth power.

Question 21. What was the significance of the Polish-German Non-Aggression Pact?
Answer:

The Significance of the Polish-German Non-Aggression Pact

1. The Polish-German Non-Aggression Pact was signed on 26th January 1934. The Pact was made between Nazi Germany and the Second Polish Republic.
2. By the terms of this Pact, both countries promised to resolve their problems through negotiations and avoid any armed conflict for a period often years.

WBBSE Class 9 History Chapter 6 Key Points And SAQs Appeasement Policy

Question 22. What do you understand by the term, Appeasement Policy?
Answer:

The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the French Prime Minister Daladier adopted a policy of Appeasement and fanned the imperialist desires of the Axis Powers, especially Hitler.

When Germany, Italy and Japan the Axis Powers violated the Treaty of Versailles and made preparations for the Second World War, Britain and France took no measures to thwart them.

Britain and France thought that the ambitions of Hitler were limited in Europe and by following the Appeasement Policy they wanted to avert another war.

Question 23. Why did Japan withdraw her membership from the League of Nations?
Answer: In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and China reported this incident to the League of Nations.

Accordingly, the League appointed a commission to investigate the matter and on the basis of the report blamed Japan for the events in Manchuria.

This infuriated Japan and defying the world opinion she withdrew herself from the League of Nations on 24th February 1933.

Question 24. What was the impact of the Anglo-French policy of Appeasement?
Answer:

The impact of the Anglo-French policy of Appeasement

The Anglo-French policy of appeasement had often been considered one of the primary causes that was responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War.

As a result of this policy Hitler carried out his militarization and annexed Rhineland, Austria, Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, Mussolini annexed Abyssinia and Japan occupied Manchuria.

In short, this was an act of cowardice on the part of Britain and France and had they challenged Mussolini and Hitler from the beginning then the situation would have been different.

Question 25. When did Hitler seize Rhineland and by violating which treaties?
Answer: The Anglo-French policy of appeasement, strengthened Hitler who carried out his acts of militarization and seized the Rhineland. Rhineland was seized by Hitler in 1936.

In carrying out this militarization Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the Locarno Pact in 1925.

Question 26. Why did Hitler annex Czechoslovakia?
Answer: Immediately after coming to power in 1933, the Nazis in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler wanted the return of the ethnic German population of Czechoslovakia together with the land where they dwelt, to the Reich.

By 1938, Hitler dared to threaten the world with a European war unless Sudetenland was ceded to Germany.

He also had desires to gain control of Skoda of Czechoslovakia which was the centre for the world’s largest manufacturer of munitions; Hitler wanted to occupy the whole of Czechoslovakia to fulfil his aspirations of expansion in Eastern Europe.

Question 27. When and why did Japan occupy Manchuria?
Answer: Japan occupied the Chinese territory of Manchuria in 1931. Japan which was an industrially developed nation had a scarcity of natural resources.

It wanted to occupy Manchuria to acquire natural resources like oil, rubber and lumber.

Question 28. Why was the Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations?
Answer: Soviet Union became a member of the League of Nations in 1934 but she was expelled from the League for occupying Finland in 1939.

With the fall of Poland, the Russians feared a possible German attack and earned the right to build naval and air forces in the Baltic regions (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and when Finland protested against this Russia occupied Finland. ( 30th November 1939).

The expulsion of Russia from the League because of this act was one of the final decisions taken by the League of Nations before it ceased to function due to the Second World War.

Question 29. Why did Germany invade the Soviet Union?
Answer: Germany and the Soviet Union signed a Non¬Aggression Pact in August 1939, for a period of ten years, yet Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on 22nd June 1941.

This invasion which was code-named Operation Barbarossa was an attempt on the part of Germany to get hold of the resources of the Soviet Union and also fulfil the Nazi ideological goal of conquering the western part of the Soviet Union and repopulating it with the Germans.

By this invasion, Hitler also wanted to undermine the desire of the Western Democratic Powers to crush the Nazis.

Question 30. What was the immediate cause of the Second World War?
Answer:

The immediate cause of the Second World War

On 1st September 1939, the German troops attacked Poland and thus initiated the commencement of the Second World War.

Two days after this incident, Britain and France joined the war on the side of Poland. This was the immediate cause of the Second World War.

Question 31. What do you know about the Battle of Leningrad?
Answer:

Battle of Leningrad

• The Battle of Leningrad or the Seize of Leningrad (1941 to 1944) continued for 872 days and was regarded to be one of the most destructive and prolonged sieges in the history of the world.
• The German army launched the operation from the Eastern front and the Nazis who encircled Leningrad from all directions to destroy it were initially successful.
• But the Red Army of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Martial Voroshilov offered stiff resistance and ultimately the able leadership of the Russian generals and the heroism of the Russian people brought about the collapse of the siege.

Question 32. Who was the Premier of the Soviet Union and who was the President of the USA during the outbreak of the Second World War?
Answer: The Second World War broke out on 1st September 1939. The Premier of the Soviet Union was Joseph Stalin during that time. The President of the USA was Franklin D. Roosevelt during the time of the Second World War.

Question 33. Why is the Battle of Stalingrad famous in history?
Answer: The Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943) was fought between Russia and Germany and is regarded as one of the longest and bloodiest wars in the world.

The battle was hard fought with house-to-house fighting and the battle hung in the balance for quite some time until Marshal Zhukov launched Operation Uranus and surrounded the German forces forcing them to surrender in the end.

This Battle of Stalingrad was a significant event in the history of the Second World War as it marked the ‘beginning of the end’ for the Nazi Party of Germany.

Question 34. Why did the USA join the Second World War?
Answer: The USA maintained a neutral position for a long time during the Second World War but the sudden attack of Japan on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour on 7th December 1941 forced the USA to join the Second World War on the side of the Allied Powers.

Apart from this immediate cause of the USA’s entry into the war, the other reasons were a) Japan’s control over Asia and especially China b) German aggression and the sinking of the U.S.

Vessels and uncontrolled submarine wars together with the fear of German invasion and expansion. Finally, the USA also tried to save democracy from the threat of Fascism.

Question 35. Why did Prof. W. Knapp remark it was ‘a day of supreme folly for Japan’?
Answer: On 7th December 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii islands with dive bombers and torpedo bombers killing 2,355 Americans and destroying 4 Battleships along with 188 aircraft.

The destruction at Pearl Harbour infuriated the USA who declared war against Japan on the following day on 8th December 1941.

This prompted Prof. Wilfred Knapp to remark it was ‘a day of supreme folly for Japan’ and President Roosevelt called this day ‘a date which will live in infamy.

WBBSE History Chapter 6 Important SAQs For Exams Pearl Harbour Incident

Question 36. What do you know about the Pearl Harbour Incident?
Answer:

Pearl Harbour was a major U. S. naval base situated on Hawaii Island.

On 7th December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour with dive bombers, torpedo bombers and fighters launched from six aircraft carriers in an attempt to destroy the US naval forces stationed there.

This incident which is known as the Pearl Harbour incident was the idea of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Question 37. Name two American and two British Generals who fought in the Second World War.
Answer: The Second World War was fought between the years 1939 to 1945.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Five Star General in the US Army and General George S. Patton Jr. was another famous General of the US Army.

Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery nicknamed “Monty” was a senior British Army officer and Louis Mountbatten was another famous British Army general who fought the Burma War and was thereafter appointed the Viceroy of India.

Question 38. Name some of the important battles of the Second World War.
Answer: The Second World War was fought between the years 1939 to 1945. Some of the famous battles fought in the war were the Battle of El-Alamein Battle of Stalingrad Invasion of Normandy Battle of the Bulge Battle of Berlin

Question 39. Name some of the weapons used in the Second World War.
Answer: The Second World War was fought between the years 1939 to 1945. Some of the weapons used in the war were Lancaster Bombers De Havilland Mosquito Bombers V1 and V2 Rockets.

ME-262 Bombers (the world’s first Jet Fighter) The Tiger Tank and the Panther Tanks The Atom Bomb.

Question 40. State any two causes for the outbreak of the Second World War.
Answer: The Second World War was fought between the years 1939 to 1945.

There were numerous causes of the Second World War –

• The policy of appeasement that was followed by Britain and France towards Germany was one of the major causes behind the outbreak of the Second World War.
• The Treaty of Versailles 1919 was extremely humiliating for Germany and the German desire to take revenge was another important cause of the outbreak of the Second World War.

Question 41. Name some of the important Allied leaders and Axis leaders during the Second World War.
Answer: The Second World War was fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers in the years between 1939 to 1945.

Some of the main leaders of the Allied Powers were—Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek. Some of the Axis leaders were Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito.

Question 42. What was the Vichy Government?
Answer:

Vichy Government

In 1920, after France surrendered to Germany she had to give away large tracts of northern France and the ports in the western shores to the Germans.

Thus occupying nearly a fifth of France, German domination over there was established. A puppet French Government was formed under Marshal Petain with its capital at Vichy and so the Government was known as the Vichy Government.

Question 43. State two reasons for Hitler’s failure in the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Answer: Hitler invaded Soviet Union in 1941 but his attempt failed due to certain factors.  First of all the strategy that Hitler adopted was not appropriate, it was a misguided strategy. (Example: sending tanks to the south, away from Moscow, to save the southern pincer)

The Germans also underestimated the military strength of the Soviet Union and the severe Russian winter dealt a blow to the Nazi forces.

Question 44. Who was Friedrich Paulus?
Answer:

Friedrich Paulus

Friedrich Paulus was the German Field Marshal during the Second World War who commanded the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad.

This German Commander gave a brave resistance against the Russian Red Army headed by Marshal Zhukov. However, in January 1943, he had to surrender before the Red Army.

Question 45. What do you understand by the term, Operation Overlord?
Answer:

Operation Overlord

• On 6th June 1944, the Allied powers like the USA, Britain and Canadian forces made a simultaneous landing on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France.
• Around 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6th June and by the end of August, there were more than two million Allied troops in France.
• This Battle of Normandy was also called the Operation Overlord in which the Allied made a successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during the Second World War and the 6th of June 1944 was regarded as D-Day.

Question 46. What was the Atlantic Charter?
Answer:

Atlantic Charter

The President of the USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had a meeting at Newfoundland on 14th August 1941.

Following this meeting, the two heads of government of the USA and Great Britain released a joint declaration which was known as the Atlantic Charter.

The Atlantic Charter set out the American and British aims for the world( Example: peace, self – self-determination of nations) after the Second World War.

Question 47. What was known as the ‘Cash and Carry’ policy?
Answer:

‘Cash and Carry’ policy

The United States of America adopted a neutral position in world politics after the Second World War but President Franklin D. Roosevelt who wanted to play an important role in world politics wanted to give up this policy of neutrality.

On 21st September 1939, at a joint session of the United States Congress, he announced the ‘Cash and Carry’ policy.

Being sympathetic to the Allied democratic states USA decided to sell weapons and other military equipment to them; this ‘Cash and Carry’ policy helped the Allied Powers greatly.

Question 48. What was known as the ‘Lend-Lease Act’?
Answer:

Lend-Lease Act

The United States of America which came to be known as the ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ provided the Soviet Union with a large amount of military supplies under the ‘Lend-Lease Act’ that was passed by the U.S. Senate on October 23rd, 1941.

Initially created to help Great Britain, soon the Lend-Lease program was expanded to include China and the Soviet Union.

This Act gave President Roosevelt virtually unlimited authority to provide material aid such as ammunition, tanks, aeroplanes, trucks and food to the war effort in Europe without disturbing the nation’s official position of neutrality.

Question 49. When and how did Hitler die?
Answer: On 29th April 1945, Adolf Hitler the leader of the Nazi Party of Germany married Eva Braun in his bunker under Reich Chancellery headquarters; when the Russian Red Army reached Berlin, he became sure of Germany’s defeat in the war.

Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945 by shooting himself with a pistol, as his concept of the ‘1000-year’ Reich collapsed above him.

Question 50. Name the countries which saw the spread of Socialism after the Second World War.
Answer: The Second World War which broke out in 1939 lasted till 1945.

This war led to an uneasy alliance between communists and socialists – and between liberals and conservatives – in their fight against the common opposition namely Fascism.

However, after the end of the Second World War, Socialist ideologies or Socialism spread over the countries like Russia, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, East Germany, Romania and Albania.

Question 51. What was known as the V. E. Day?
Answer:

V. E. Day

Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party shot himself and died on 30th April 1945. On 7th May 1945, Germany officially surrendered to the Allied Powers.

The following day i.e. 8th May 1945 was known as the Victory in Europe Day that celebrated the formal acceptance by the Allied Powers of the Second World War, the unconditional surrender of Germany and marked the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Question 52. How did Italy, Germany and Japan collapse in the Second World War?
Answer: The Second World War (1939 to 1945) was fought between the Allied Powers comprised of England, France, USSR and the USA and the Axis Powers comprised of Italy, Germany and Japan.

In 1943, Rome in Italy was occupied by the Allied forces. In 1945, when the Red Army of the Soviet Union occupied Berlin, Germany surrendered before the Allied Powers.

In August 1945, when the USA dropped the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan also surrendered.

Question 53. How did the Second World War come to an end?
Answer: The Second World War ended on 2nd September 1945.

The invasion of Germany by the Western Allies, the capture of Berlin by the Soviet Red Army, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the unconditional surrender of Germany before the Allied Powers concluded the war in Europe.

In Asia, the dropping of atom bombs by the USA on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on 6th August and Nagasaki on 9th August 1945 left Japan with no option and had to make an unconditional surrender on 14th August 1945 —with this ending the Second World War.

Question 54. What was Hitler’s Blitzkrieg?
Answer:

Hitler’s Blitzkrieg

The word Blitzkrieg means ‘Lightning War’ and this method of warfare was responsible for the success of the German military forces during the early years of the Second World War.

“Blitzkrieg” is a method of warfare where the attacker breaks through the opponent by using a force concentration of armoured, mechanized or motorized infantry formations supported by close air support and gains complete surprise in the process.

This method of warfare was followed by Hitler in the Russian Campaign in the year 1941.

Question 55. What was known as the Cold War?
Answer:

Cold War

• “Cold War” is referred to as the period of ideological tension from 1947 to 1991 based on the influence of capitalism and communism.
• The period is characterized by the division of the world into two fronts-the Western and Eastern.
• The Western or Capitalist Bloc was represented by the USA and supported by Britain, France and West Germany, while the Eastern or Communist Bloc was represented by the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Question 56. What was known as the Phoney War?
Answer:

Phoney War

The eight months between the commencement of the Second World War in 1939 and the German onslaught towards the West in 1940 was known as the Phoney War.

There was a limited military operation on the Western Front by the Allies which gave rise to the concept of Sitzkrieg or sitting war. It ended with the German invasion of France and the low countries on 10th May 1940.

Question 57. When was the Potsdam Conference held and who attended it?
Answer: Between 16 July and 2 August 1945, after the surrender of Germany the Potsdam Conference was held in the German city of Potsdam near Berlin.

It was the last of the Big Three meetings during the Second World War. The meeting was attended by Joseph Stalin the Premier of the Soviet Union, the American President Harry S. Truman and Clement Att lee the British Prime Minister.

Question 58. What was known as the Truman Doctrine?
Answer:

Truman Doctrine

American President Harry S. Truman announced on 12th March 1947, to Congress, the Truman Doctrine—a foreign policy that aimed to contain Soviet geopolitical expansion after the Second World War.

By this Doctrine, it was declared that-

• The USA would protect the freedom and territorial integrity of the independent democratic nations from communist aggression
• The USA also wanted to protect Turkey and Greece from anticipated Communist aggression.

For this Harry S. Truman proposed a grant of 400 million dollars to those countries. On 22nd May the American Congress approved it which is known as the Truman Doctrine.

Generally speaking, the Truman Doctrine meant support of America to those nations who faced threats from Soviet Communism.

Question 59. What was known as the Marshall Plan?
Answer:

Marshall Plan

• The American Foreign Secretary, George Marshall formulated a finance programme which would enable the war-ravaged Western Europe ( countries like Britain, France, West Germany, Italy and others) to recover from poverty, hunger and lawlessness.
• The Plan was enacted in 1948 and it provided more than 15 billion pounds to the Continent to help in the ‘ return of the normal economic health in the world’. The Marshall Plan is also known as the European Recovery Program.

Question 60. What is internationalism?
Answer:

Internationalism

• The concept of internationalism emerged as a phenomenon opposed to aggressive nationalism and it recognizes the right of all nations to national sovereignty, security and self-determination.
• It promotes political and economic cooperation among the nations advocates cultural peace and the right to defend the borders of a country against external aggression.
• Though the concept of internationalism which bloomed at present believed in settling disputes through understanding and negotiations it also suffered from the threat of international terrorism.

Question 61. Why was the United Nations Organization formed?
Answer: The United Nations Organization was formed on 24th October 1945 primarily by the initiatives of the USA, USSR and Great Britain.

The leaders of the world formed this organization to solve global problems through peaceful talks and negotiations. The headquarters of the United Nations Organization are located in New York.