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Difficulty: HardConducting World War II

Read the passage below and answer the following question:

"We had to move the tank factory from Kharkov to the Urals. The evacuation started in September 1941. In less than a fortnight, thousands of machines and workers were loaded onto flatcars. When we arrived at the new site in the Urals, there were no walls, only the frozen ground. We set up the machines under the open sky, lit fires to keep the oil from freezing, and started production while the factory walls were still being built around us. Women and teenagers made up over sixty percent of our workforce, working fifteen-hour days. It was a race against time to supply the front."
— Memoir of a Soviet factory manager, Chelyabinsk, 1942

Which of the following developments in the conduct of World War II is best illustrated by the passage?

  1. A
    The realization of orthodox Marxist principles through the establishment of worker-directed factories and decentralized economic planning
  2. B
    The extension of economic imperialism through the annexation of new resource-rich colonies in the Ural Mountains
  3. The unprecedented level of government control over the domestic economy and civilian workforce to sustain a total war effortAnswer
  4. D
    The initial transition of agrarian states to steam-powered industrialization during the first phase of the Industrial Revolution

Answer

The unprecedented level of government control over the domestic economy and civilian workforce to sustain a total war effort
The mobilization and relocation of the factory to the Urals shows how governments in World War II exercised unprecedented central authority over their economies and citizens to wage total war, mobilizing women, teenagers, and industrial infrastructure to sustain military production under extreme conditions.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document for key themes regarding wartime actions.
The memoir describes a massive, rapid relocation of an industrial tank factory and its workforce from Kharkov to the Urals, utilizing women and youth working long hours under state orders.
Identifying the central action of the Soviet government helps place it within the context of total war.
2
Connect the document's themes to WWII historical developments.
The relocation and total mobilization of human resources (women and teenagers) and industries represent 'total war' strategies, where states took direct control of all national resources.
This links the specific events in the memoir to the broader AP World History learning objective of how WWII was conducted.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that accurately describes this process.
The option describing unprecedented state control over the economy and civilian workforce to sustain total war directly matches the evidence in the text.
Selecting the option that best explains the total war concept tests historical analysis and interpretation.

Key Concept

Total War and State Mobilization in World War II
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Topics

Conducting World War II

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