World War II Test

Kristallnacht

"Night of Broken Glass" - the night of November 9, 1938, on which Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues throughout Germany

Spanish Civil War

(1936-1939) revolt by Spanish military officers that is driven into mainland Spain

Treaty of Versailles

(World War I) The peace agreement (1919) signed in Paris that ended the war between Germany and the victorious Allied Powers.

Austrian Anschluss

Adolf Hitler announced an "Anschluss" between Austria and Germany, annexing the smaller nation into a greater Germany

Wannsee Conference

High ranking Nazi officers and German government officials met in the suburb of Wannsee to discuss the "Final Solution" of Jews

Final Solution

Hitler's program of systematically killing the entire Jewish people

Battle of Britain

July 10th-October 31st 1940: The Battle of Britain was basically the first battle to be fought enttirely by Air Forces during World War II. The countries competing were Germany and The United Kindgom mainly, with Canada and Italy making some damage. Winston Churchill and Adolph Hitler had a major role in the start of the battle, with many famous exerpts from their own speeches about the battle itself. The Battle of Britain took place in the skies of the United Kingdom, with bombings flying everywhere, coming down from major aircrafts. With the British victory, this saved their Air Force system, without the German forces overtaking it. This battle improved both countries forces, even though Germany was quite advanced. Germany wasted most of their time just waiting for the United Kingdom to fall down into pieces. This battle boosted the British's confidence in their advanced aircraft and forces, while it almost damaged Hitler and Germany.

Douglas MacArthur

An American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II.

Third Reich

Another name for the German empire under the Fascists was the:

Beer Hall Putsch

From November 8 to November 9, 1923, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and his followers staged this in Munich, a failed takeover of the government in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany.

Appeasement

Giving to an aggressor in order to keep the peace is called:

Manhattan Project

1939-1946: The Manhattan Project was created to experiment with the creation of an atomic weapon using the newly discovered information on nuclear fission. Nuclear fission allowed bombs to be made that were stronger than any that existed. A Hugarian-born physicist were(?) concerned Adolf Hitler would try to buld a nuclear bomb, so they persuaded Albert Einstein to appeal to Franklin D. Roosevelt to allow experimentation with these new weapons. Most of the research done for this project was done in New York, and that is how it got the name Manhattan Project. There were several test sites around the US, but most of the tests were conducted in New Mexico. The Manhattan Project was the most expensive military-led reasearch project ever conducted. The war could be ended by whoever mastered the nuclear bomb first. Some scientists thought this new technology would cause an arms race, so they were not sure if it should be used in warfare. However, the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki which ended World War ll.

Blitzkrieg (and "Sitzkrieg")

A German term for "lightning war," blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery.

Isoruku Yamamoto

A Japanese Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until his death.

Weimar Republic

A name given by historians to the federal republic and semi-presidential representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government.

Fall of Berlin

April 16, 1945: In the last remaining stretch of World War II, the Allies began to have more success in battle, including during the Battle of Berlin. The Allies increased their aerial attacks on Germany, targeting the city of Dresden five times between February 1945 and April 1945. However, these attacks were not effective as intended and Hitler was still plotting to throw off the path of advancing American and USSR troops. Hitler became especially nervous about troops advancing into Berlin, but at the same time had to deal with advancing troops in the east, which is where he place two of his dwindling armies. This would turn out to be a big mistake. Hitler was forced into using an "obstruction by self destruction" method, wherein he decided that he put the priorities of fighting an inevitable battle with the Soviets over the safety of German citizens, and now began to fully anticipate a direct attack at the capital. Just as predicted, the Soviets began to close in on Germany, and eventually completely invaded Berlin on April 16, 1945. The Soviets advanced rapidly and violently, and by April 29th Hitler signed a surrender agreement and then next day committed suicide. The war was over May 4th. The Battle of Berlin and the ultimate "Fall of Berlin" essentially ended World War II. The war's biggest threats, Germany and Hitler, had been defeated and the 6 years of turmoil were finally over.

VJ Day

August 15th, 1945: A day in which Japan surrendered to the Allies. This in effect, ended World War 2 and named the Allies the Victors. Japan originally surrendered on August 15th but because of time zone differences, VJ Day was on August 14th in Japan. On September 2nd, 1945 a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleship USS Missouri. The Allied side was made up of the U.S Great Britain, France. While the Axis Powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan. This day is significant because it marks the offical end of World War 2 and claims another Worl War victory for the Allies and another loss for the Axis and Central Powers. This is day a day of celebration for the U.S, Great Britain and France.

Hiroshima (date):

August 6th, 1945

Hiroshima*/Nagasaki*

August 6th, 1945 (Hiroshima): Four years after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan these bombs we dropped. On August sixth 1945 the first atomic was dropped on Hiroshima Japan. The bomb wiped out at least 80,000 people instantly. Three days later another bomb would be dropped over the Japanese city Nagasaki killing 40000 instantly, both of these bombs would later kill thousands more from radiation poisoning. For it was Japan which triggered the U.S to join the war on the allied powers. President Truman said that sending troops into Japan would create a huge number of casualties, dropping the bomb would help the war end quicker. The significance behind the bombs was that it was the final step into making Japan drop out of the War. Which in turn affected the axis powers, because Japan was a key role. This, and the death count of the bombs is why this is significant. Many argue that it was not necessary for the U.S to drop the bombs, saying their was and easier solution to the war. Many things could have changed though if they hadn't dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Guadalcanal

August 7, 1942 - February 9, 1943: This was the first US offensive attack of WWII that resulted in a Allied win of (over?) the Empire of Japan. It wasn't just a single, but a series of battles, on land and major ones at sea lasting 6 + months. Early in the War the US had to get back in the fight, ad so they picked what was then called the 'Solomon Islands'. Guadalcanal was the central and biggest of the chain of islands, heavily garrisoned by the Japanese. The Americans invaded. They were not yet built up militarily for the War (like they would be soon later) and so fought a 'battle of attrition' which is a warfare strategy in which aggressive attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel. Eventually the US would win this battle. After losing some aircraft carriers at the battle of Midway, the Japanese decided to build a strategic airbase in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific; the island of Guadalcanal was chosen as the site as it was the largest. And so, the US wanted to prevent the Japanese from completing this strategic airbase, and also to use the island itself as a base and springboard for an island hopping campaign across the Pacific to recapture Japanese conquests from earlier in the war.

Nagasaki (date):

August 9th, 1945

Pearl Harbor (date):

December 7th, 1941

Pearl Harbor*

December 7th, 1941: Around 8 AM on December 7th, 1941, many Japanese fighter planes attacked this American naval base in Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed about thirty American naval ships and almost 200 planes. Around 3,00 soldiers died or were wounded in the surprise attack. The day following the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The bombing was extremely important in the history of World War II. This extreme attack led to the United States declaring war on Japan. The attack was definitely a surprise, but the two countries had been edging towards war for years.

Japan Takes Philippines

December 8, 1941-45: At the beginning of the battle, the Americans were forced to withdraw due to an airctaft attack on December 12th. 76,000 Filipino and American defenders were wounded on Bataan surrendered on April 9, 1942. The remaining soldier and citizens had to undergo the Bataan death march. 7000 to 1000 people were killed. Japan occupied Philippines for 3 years until they finally surrendered. The Filipine geurilla resistance campaign controlled 60% of the islands. General Macaurthor supplied the Filipino armies by submarine. The Philipines remained faithful to US, throughout this time. 1,000,000 to 500,000 filipinos died over the course of the occupation.It took place on the Philippine islands.The main contributors were Japan, US, and the Philipines. Many Americans were killed. This is what started the main conflicts between the US and Japan.

Iwo Jima

Feb 19- March 26 1945: The battle of Iwo Jima took place between the United States and Japan. Was a naval and land invasion on the island of Iwo Jima. The goal in the involvment of this battle was mainly to gain control of airstrips for U.S. crippled bombers returning from bombing Japan. This battle was sparked by the invasion of the U.S. which is consided to be an offensive battle. The forces that made up the invasion was naval and marines. The shift that took place during the war opened the eyes of the Americans for them to realize the pride the Japanese took in their homeland. Americans won, but at a high cost. This battle took place at the South Eastern tip of the Japanese homeland, and was also located in the Pacific Ocean. This battle for shadowed the attitude in what the Ameriicans felt in what they had to do to win the war. For example the number of causalities on both sides, but mainly the U.S.. This also shows a significence how we prosecuted the end of the war with the Japanese.

Battle of the Bulge

In December 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered a massive surprise counter offensive in Northwestern Europe. German high command planned to divide and conquer the allied forces by quickly splitting their ranks and pushing forward until reaching the English Channel. This major offensive attack came when the Allies believed Germany was a defeated nation, Germany quickly proved them wrong. The Allies were caught completely by surprise and if it had not been for German tanks and trucks running out of gas the Nazi's may have triumphed and successfully pushed the allies all the way back to England. On a snowy day in December four battle weary divisions of American troops were suddenly woken up by a massive artillery bombardment that lasted from two to twenty four hours. When the artillery stopped nearly 200,000 German troops and over 1,000 German tanks flooded the battlefield overwhelming the allied forces. Germany had also sent paratroopers behind enemy lines that pretended to be American and successfully carried out sabotage missions. When many thought the Germans might actually push the allies back, General Patton rushed his troops to the front lines and brilliantly managed to hold the line. As German vehicles ran out of fuel and supplies dwindled, the Germans were forced to retreat. This battle is so significant because it was Germany's last counteroffensive and the last real chance Hitler had of winning the war. It was also very significant because it has been called America's greatest battle. This battle could have easily gone either way but it was because of General Eisenhower, General Patton, and the thousands of courageous Americans who died trying desperately to hold the line that the allies prevailed. If Germany had won this battle they could have pushed the Allies back to England and used its newly freed forces to become victorious on the Eastern Front. This battle could have changed the tide of war, but luckily it did not. This was known as the last nail in the coffin for Germany. Its days of triumph were gone. This was a devastating battle for the US, England, and Germany. The US suffered 89,000 casualties, Germany suffered 67,000-100,000 casualties, and England suffered 1,400 casualties.

Fall of France, Charles DeGaulle

In May of 1940, Hilter decided to make a massive invassion in France. The germans went through the Ardennes Forest which would get them to main French lands. France's allies were not able to stop the Germans. This was the first real time the French had come in contact with war, before then it was named the phony war. Once Hitler and his troops reached paris war went on for a few days. At the time the French government was not as strong as it should've been during a war. It cracked under the pressure and was no longer to able to fight against the Germans, Paris fell. The Italians soon came into paris to take over. This boosted the axis confidence making them even more power hungry. It threatened England due to Frances location. Hitlers plan to invade France was shot down by their allies and commanders. Hitler ignored what was said and sent in troops, conquering France. Hitler becomes more powerful. it deprived the allies, France was a major part in the war, it left Britian alone to fight the axis until the US comes in to help. The fall of France also led to the fight of the French government to Bordeaux.

Stalingrad

July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943: Stalingrad was a single battle that consisted of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Nazi's were making moves through Russia and had their eyes set on the vital city of Stalingrad so they could control its port on the Volga river. Once Germany had almost overrun the city the Soviet Union surrounded them and cut off all of their supplies. The Soviet Union ended up winning the battle after the German's surrendered because of shortage of food and ammunition. The battle took place in the Soviet city Stalingrad. Which was named after Stalin. This battle was signifigant because it was the turning point of the fighting on the eastern side and the turning point of the war. The city was also very signifigant to Stalin because it was named after him so both Hitler and Stalin wanted control of the city. Stalingrad is known as one of the most deadly battles of the war and of all time. The victory of the Soviet Union led to a new offensive of the Allies.

D-Day

June 6, 1944: On this day in 1944 more than 160,000 allie troops invaded the heavily fortified Nazi beaches of French Normandy. The leader of the allied forces was General Dwight Eisenhower, and he didn't accept anything but total victory on D-Day for the allies. The allies were victorious on D-Day, and they gained a foothold in continental Europe, and it was a large blow to Nazi fortifications. This day was when the allies gained any ground on European soil, and could start the charge across Europe to Nazi Germany. Many view this day as the start of the allied victory because it was the first time they gained ground on German forces and could start to fight them on their own homefront.

Normandy (date):

June 6th, 1944

Normandy*

June-August 1944: Resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Benito Mussolini

Leader of the Fascist Party in Italy

Adolf Hitler

Leader of the Nazi Party

Josef Stalin

Leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920's until his death in 1953

VE Day

May 8th, 1945: On this day in 1945, German troops occupying France laid down their weapons and arms and surrendered. The surrendering of German troops occurred throughout Europe in France, Prague, Copenhagen, northern Latvia and the Channel Island of Sark. Germany participated by surrendering to elude the grasp of Soviet leaders and forces. This was an extremely significant day and event in World War II because it marks the day of the surrender of Germany and a day that both Great Britain and our country, the United States, celebrate as a victory to rejoice the defeat of the Nazis and mark the formal acceptance of Germany's surrender by the Allies. This event marked the end of World War II.

Battle of Midway

Midway Island, which is located west of Hawaii, was targeted by Japan in 1942. Allied code breakers knew that the Japanese were heading towards Midway. On June 4th, 1942, Japanese planes began to be present surrounding the island. Little did the Japanese know that the Allied forces were ready for attack. American planes were able to swoop in and destroy Japanese planes and ships. This battle lasted three days and turned the tide of war in the Pacific. The Battle of Midway played a huge role in World War II, because it was a major win for the Allied forces, including the United States. This win showed the Japanese that they need to watch out, because they are not the only powerful nation fighting in this war.

Navi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact

Nazi Representatives from Germany and the Soviet Union met and signed this which guaranteed neither nations would attack each other.

Rhineland Remilitarization

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany.

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II

Invasion of Poland

One of Adolf Hitler's first major foreign policy initiatives after coming to power was to sign a nonaggression pact with Poland in January 1934. This move was not popular with many Germans who supported Hitler but resented the fact that Poland had received the former German provinces of West Prussia, Poznan, and Upper Silesia under the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. However, Hitler sought the nonaggression pact in order to neutralize the possibility of a French-Polish military alliance against Germany before Germany had a chance to rearm.

Nuremberg Laws

Passed in 1935; deprived Jews of their rights to German citizenship and forbade marriages between Jews & Non-Jews

Erwin Rommel

Popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. He earned the respect of both his own troops and his enemies.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander.

Tehran

The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was held in the Soviet Union's embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first of the World War II conferences of the "Big Three" Allied leaders (the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom).

Saar Plebiscite

The Territory of the Saar Basin, also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate.

Yalta

The Yalta Conference was the major World War II conference that occurred on February 4th through the 11th of 1945. It happened at Yalta in Crimea, where the three leaders from the Allies, President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and Premier Joseph Stalin from the Soviet Union, met to plan the final defeat of the Nazis in Germany. The Allies decided to divide Germany into zones that would be managed by U.S., British, French, and Soviet forces. They made the decision that German military industry would be eliminated and that major war criminals would be tried before and International court rather than just a local court. Because Britain and the US supported Polish government-in-exile in London, and the Soviets supported a communist-dominated Polish committee of national liberation in Lublin, the agreement reached was that interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population was needed. Also, they decided that they needed the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments. Poland's future frontiers were conversed about but not decided on. There was a secret agreement saying that because Soviet Union is going to war with Japan, the USSR would secure the Kuril islands from Japan and the territory lost in the Russo-Japanese War. Stalin ended up signing a pact of alliance and friendship with China. The protocols made at Yalta went public in 1946 and were looked down upon by a lot of US citizens because Stalin did not keep his promise of free elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. The main significance of this conference was that in the end, the Soviet Union was the military occupier of eastern Europe, so the Western democracies could not do very much to try to enforce the promises Stalin made at the conference. Roosevelt and Churchill did not think Stalin intended all the popular from governments in Europe would be taken over by communists. They even thought that they needed Stalin and the soviets to defeat Japan. In totality the Yalta Conference did not complete it's intentions to the fullest.

Axis Powers

The alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan came to be called:

Isolationism

The belief that political ties to other countries should be avoided is called:

Munich Conference

a 1938 meeting of representatives from Britain, France, Italy and Germany at which Britain and France agreed to allow Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia in return for Adolf Hitler's pledge to respect Czechoslovakia's new borders

Mein Kampf

a book written by Hitler while he was in jail that set forth his beliefs and goals for Germany

Nazism

a group that called themselves the National Socialist German Workers' Party (called Nazi for short), their policies formed this German brand of fascism

Great Depression

a long business slump; due to the fall of the stock market, thousands of businesses failing and loss of factory production

Holocaust

a mass slaughter of Jews and other civilians, carried out by the Nazi government of Germany before and during World War II

Nuremberg Trials

a series of court proceedings held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II, in which Nazi leaders were tried for aggression, violations of the rules of war and crimes against humanity

Lebensraum

a term created by Hitler that means "living space"

Capitalism

an economic system based on private ownership and on the investment of money in business ventures in order to make a profit

Communism

an economic system in which all means of production - land, mines, factories, railroads, and businesses are owned by the people, private property does NOT exist and all goods & services are shared equally

League of Nations

an international association formed after World War I with the goal of keeping peace among nations

United Nations

an international peacekeeping organization founded in 1945 to provide security to the nations of the world

Kamikaze

during World War II, Japanese suicide pilots trained to sink Allied ships by crashing bomb-filled planes into them

Franklin Roosevelt

first President to be elected after the Great Depression in 1932, created the New Deal (a reform to give the unemployed jobs) to help the economy and government

Totalitarianism

government control over every aspect of public and private life

Fascism

militant political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader

Anti-Semitism

prejudice against Jews

Ghetto

set up across Nazi-occupied Europe by the Nazi regime in order to confine and segregate Jews

Rescuer/Resister/Bystander

someone who stands up for what is right and resists what is wrong

Liberation

the act of setting someone free

Genocide

the systematic killing of an entire people

Demilitarization/Democratization

to forbid or remove military troops from an area/transition to a more democratic political set-up

Aryans

to the Nazis, the Germanic people who formed a "master race"