Study sheet: World War II and Environmental Change

📋 Course Outline

1. Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
2. The Invasion of Poland
3. Longer Growing Seasons
4. Climate Threats to Species
5. Agriculture and Environmental Change

📅 Key Dates

1. August 1939Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after their foreign ministers
2. 1 September 1939Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began
3. 29 September 1939Warsaw surrendered to Germany as the last Polish city to surrender

📖 1. Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

★ Must-know

• The Soviet sphere included:

  • Finland
  • the Baltic states
  • eastern Poland
  • Bessarabia

• The pact gave Stalin security guarantees and time to prepare for war, while Hitler secured his eastern flank in case Germany went to war with the Western powers over Poland.

Further detail

• In France, the public announcement of the pact led to the banning of the Communist Party and the imprisonment of its members of parliament, while some communists left the party.

💡 Memory Hook

Stalin gains security and preparation time, while Hitler secures his eastern flank.

📖 2. The Invasion of Poland

📝 Essential Points

• After Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany because they had committed themselves in the spring to defending Polish independence, but they did not yet begin military operations.

• Poland rapidly collapsed under German military pressure, after which the Soviet Union also invaded Poland and occupied the territories assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

💡 Memory Hook

Pact, invasion, declarations of war, partition of Poland.

📖 3. Longer Growing Seasons

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Growing season : the period during which the daily average temperature remains permanently above 5 degrees

📝 Essential Points

• In Finland, the growing season has lengthened by about 10 days per century and may lengthen by up to two months during this century depending on emissions.

• Earlier warming causes plant leaves to emerge earlier in spring, insect flight seasons to become longer, and many migratory birds to arrive and begin nesting weeks earlier than at present.

💡 Memory Hook

Warming causes longer growing seasons and earlier seasonal biological activity.

📖 4. Climate Threats to Species

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Ecological niche : formed by the living and non-living environmental factors to which a species has adapted

★ Must-know

• If a species’ environment changes too quickly, its structure and life functions cannot adapt to the altered conditions, so the species either disappears completely or moves to new areas.

• In Finland, tundra species such as the snowy owl and arctic fox are especially affected because they cannot move farther north beyond the Arctic Ocean and are already extremely endangered.

Further detail

• Climate warming affects:

  • precipitation
  • winds
  • sea level
  • snow and ice cover
  • ocean acidity

• Many Baltic Sea species, including eelgrass and bladderwrack, face challenges because climate change has made the water warmer and less saline, and these species are key species of the Baltic Sea.

💡 Memory Hook

Rapid environmental change prevents adaptation, causing species decline or relocation.

📖 5. Agriculture and Environmental Change

★ Must-know

• After the last Ice Age, hunter-gatherers began cultivating land and raising livestock, which increased human modification and transformation of habitats.

• Early agriculture developed especially on fertile floodplains in the lower courses of large rivers, including the Nile, Indus, Ganges, and Yellow River.

• Intensive agriculture uses:

  • machines
  • insecticides
  • herbicides
  • highly bred varieties

Further detail

• Even in agricultural societies, humans remained dependent on the surrounding non-living and living nature.

💡 Memory Hook

Hunting and gathering, cultivation and livestock, intensive agriculture.