Monday, December 7, 2009

HW #11

A.
1.
a) The white cliffs probably represent the Fjords of Norway when the Bismarck destroyed the HMS Hood, a devastating blow to Britain.
b) The sinking boat represents Britain's loss of naval power.
c) The lion holding the boat is the weakened Britain (and its power as a nation) going down with the ship of its naval power.
d) The captain of the boat represents Churchill.
e) The sharks are the German U-Boats (and German power).

2. The sharks are eating the lion alive, the symbolism of which is pretty obvious: Germany is feeding off of Britain's weakening strength and emerging the victor.

3. I think the point that the cartoonist is trying to make is that Britain's day is over, and it is clinging desperately to the last vestiges of its power but ultimately the Germans are always waiting for the chance to strike.

4. Based on what I've read in this chapter, I think that the cartoonist's viewpoint is a little overzealous,but partly accurate. It is definitely true that Germany was rising as a power on the seas -- the U Boats managed to sink many British naval ships, enough that Britain felt threatened enough to declare a "Battle of the Atlantic", as well as the other victories such as the Bismarck blowing up the Hood and other major naval wins. However, by 1943 new technology such as the Huff-Duff that allowed radio signals from U Boats to be detected for aerial strikes. Consequently, the advantage of the u-boat was eliminated by new technology. However, the allies were still losing the battle

B)
Nazi-Soviet Pact: A pact between the USSR and Germany that they would not attack each other, and that they would secretly conquer Poland and divide it between themselves.

Operation Barbarossa: Germany's 1941 invasion of Russia; supposed to be the final assault on the USSR, but ended very badly for Germany due to under-preparation and underestimation of the USSR's ability to use guerilla tactics.

Scorched Earth Policy: Stalin's policy of ruining the German attack -- anything that was not absolutely necessary that the Germans could use was destroyed (any extra food, clothes, equipment), and factories were moved beyond the Ural Mountains where Germany couldn't reach them.

Neutrality: The policy of not taking a side, not helping either or getting involved in conflicts before; for example, Switzerland was proclaimedly neutral to the conflict, although it has been argued that they were helpful to the Nazis with money.

Lend-Lease aid: Program under which the United States supplied the UK, USSR, France, and other Allied nations with vast amounts of supplies between 1941-45 in the war against the Axis.

Tripartite Axis Pact: Established who the Axis Powers in the war were (1941). The pact was signed by representatives of Germany, Italy and Japan.

United Nations: The "revamped" League of Nations, started in 1945 to maintain international peace and cooperation in solving international economic, social and humanitarian problems rather than resorting to war.

Global War: A war heavily involving the major nations of the world; WWI and WWII were the first global wars, because it was the first time that so many prominent (and small as well) nations were involved in one war.

U-Boats: "Underseeboten", the submarines used for ambushing Germany's naval enemies.

Convoys: Used to protect boats from the U-Boats, a pack of ships that would accompany merchant or war ships for security.

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