IB History 2: World War 2 Vocabulary

Appeasement

A diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict. This is mainly seen in the foreign policy of Chamberlain towards Germany. His policies of avoiding war have often been blamed for actually causing the war.

Josef Goebbels

A fanatical and devoted follower of Hitler, Goebbels masterminded the propaganda that helped the Nazis win power. He became Reich Minister of Enlightenment. He supported total war and the Holocaust, which was being undertaken with considerable energy in death camps.

Battle of Midway

A battle in 1942 that occurred when the Japanese hoped to lead the US fleet into a trap by attacking the island of Midway in the Pacific. However, US planes operating from aircraft carriers inflicted great damage on the Japanese fleet.

Iwo Jima

A major battle in which the United States armed forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from Japan. This compromised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the war in the Pacific of World War II.

Winter War (1939-40)

A military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939-40. It began with the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II. This caused the League of Nations to expel the Soviet Union from the League.

Atlantic Charter

A pivotal policy statement issued in 1941 that, early in World War II, defined the Allied goals for the post-war world, including no territorial aggrandizement; no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people; restoration of self-government to those deprived of it; reduction of trade restrictions; global cooperation to secure better economic and social conditions for all; freedom from fear and want; freedom of the seas; and abandonment of the use of force, as well as disarmament of aggressor nations. It was drafted by the leaders of the United Kingdom and the US, and was later confirmed at the Yalta Conference of 1945.

Samurai

A special class of warriors in pre-1867 Japan, rather like knights. They were privileged and skilled in martial arts. They had to be respected by ordinary people on pain of death and they fought for feudal lords. The often fought to the death, and this code was revived in Japan in the 20th century.

Pogrom

A term originating in Russia for attacks on Jews. Pogroms were often condoned and even initiated by the Tsarist authorities. Before 1914, Russia had the worst reputation for anti-Semitism, while Germany was not known for violence against Jews.

European Economic Community (European community, EC)

After the war, many European countries had realized the disastrous effects of tariffs on inter-European trade. The US pressed for freer trade, and the EEC worked hard to reduce tariffs between European states.

Grand Alliance

An alliance made during World War II that joined together the US (Roosevelt), the Soviet Union (Stalin), and Great Britain (Churchill). They are often known as "The Big Three," yet differing ideologies made it seem like a strange alliance.

Anti-Comintern Pact

An anti-Communist pact signed between Germany and Japan in 1936, and another signed in 1939 between Germany and Italy, directed against the Third International. In 1939, Germany broke the terms of the pact when it signed a pact with the Soviet Union. However, by 1940, an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union was being planned.

Pre-emptive Strike

An attack to "get in first" and prevent an attack on you by an enemy. The Cuban Missile Crisis caused America to oppose USSR nuclear sites in Cuba. This gave rise to the likelihood of a preemptive strike which might have led to a full-scale nuclear war.

Comecon

An economic organization from 1949-91 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of socialist states. Stalin co-ordinated his Eastern European States by creating Comecon.

Maginot Line

An extensive static defense system built by France after 1931 along its eastern frontier with Germany. Though impressive, it did not extend along the frontier with Belgium, leaving a weak point. It created a false sense of security for France.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Zone

An imperial propaganda concept created for occupied Asian populations in the government and military of Japan. It declared the intention to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by Japanese and free of Western Powers." It was announced in 1940.

Potsdam Conference

At the Potsdam Conference of 1945, and with new leaders present (Clement Attlee for Britain and Harry Truman for the US), there was less warmth and more tension. But, Yalta's decisions were confirmed. It also established the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Yalta Conference

At the Yalta Conference of 1945, the Big Three, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt, agreed to a United Nations organization and to confirm the Atlantic Charter. They also agreed to free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people in liberated countries.

Women's Movement

Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often seen as the trigger for a feminist movement in the US, and subsequently in Britain and Western Europe, for greater awareness of the need for social, economic, political, and sexual equality.

Winston Churchill

Britain's Prime Minister from 1940-45, and then again from 1951-55. He was enthusiastic for war in 1914 and was important during and after World War I. He wanted to cut spending and urged international peace and arms reduction in the 1920's, but wanted rearmament after 1933 to Hitler. He opposed appeasement in the 1930's though he had favored a not-too-harsh attitude.

Tariffs

Custom duties imposed on imported goods. Growth in world trade also helped economic recovery. After the war, many European countries had realized the disastrous effects of tariffs on inter-European trade. The US pressed for freer trade.

Bernard Montgomery

He was Britain's most colorful war leader. The son of a bishop, he was an excellent communicator, and led the successful attack at El Alamein that drove the Germans out of North Africa. He also helped plan the D-Day invasion of France in 1944.

Neville Chamberlain

He was Prime Minister of Britain from 1937-40. He was a clear and logical thinker who argued that Britain did not have the resources for war and needed to make concessions while building up defenses. But after 1940, this failed to prevent war and was seen as unrealistic.

Edouard Daladier

He was Prime Minister of France between 1938 and 1940. He was a moderate reforming politician of the Radical Party. He clearly saw the danger Germany posed. He found little support for war in France, so he accepted the process of making concessions in which he did not really believe.

Georgy Zhukov

He was Russia's leading general. He masterminded the defenses of Moscow and Stalingrad, and was behind the successful attacks on Berlin in 1945. Stalin was jealous of his popularity and his influence in Russia later declined.

Heinz Guderian

He was a German general during WWII and the major military theorist of his generation, who advocated armored thrusts to break enemy lines. He saw the potential of the tank as the key weapon of war. This appeared right, but when there were many tanks, the shock value was lost.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

He was commander of European theater, and led the US invasion of North Africa and the Allied landings in Sicily and Italy. He was commander of Operation Overland and the subsequent campaign that led to Allied victory.

Ideology

Hitler believed the German race to be natural masters, whose destiny was to dominate Europe. He supported the idea of Lebensraum at the expense of inferior races. He wanted to eliminate impure races like the Jews, but other European statesmen did not realize the intensity of his ideologies.

Judeo-Communism

In Nazi propaganda, Jews and Communists were linked. The Jews were blamed for the Russian Revolution and Communism was portrayed as a Jewish conspiracy to control the world. There were even Jews among the leading Bolshevik party members.

Sobibor

It was a World War II Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the village of Sobibor in occupied Poland within the semi-colonial territory of general government. It was a part of the deadliest phase of the Holocaust in Poland.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

It was signed in August 1939, and the USSR and Germany agreed not to fight each other and, in secret, to divide Poland between them. This allowed Hitler to invade Poland without fear of Russia, and for Stalin to gain lands, but the invasion occurred faster than Stalin had expected.

Einsatzgruppen

It was the SS paramilitary death squads for Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass killings, primarily by shootings, during World War II. Almost all that they killed were civilians, and it focused on Polish and Russian groups.

Kamikaze

Japanese resistance was strong even when defeat seemed certain. The use of kamikaze, or suicide planes, by Japan at the Battle of Okinawa, and the mass suicide of civilians on captured lands, also demonstrated the extent of Japanese resistance.

Erwin Rommel

Known as the "Desert Fox," he was the leader of the German Afrika Korps, which inflicted major defeats on British forces in North Africa from 1941-42. A lack of resources and the dogged tactics of Montgomery led to his defeat at El Alamein.

Encirclement

Many in Germany saw the alliance between France and Russia in the 1890's and the colonial agreements between Britain and France (1904) and Britain and Russia (1907) as resulting in Germany being surrounded, or encircled, by enemies.

Auschwitz

One of the death camps that was used in the killing of millions of Jews and other enemies of the Third Reich. This was a part of the Holocaust, which involved the genocide of European Jews and was the only war aim that was succeeding.

Stalingrad

One of the most significant turning points of the war. Great sieges took place in Moscow and Leningrad between German and Russian forces. The Russians faced huge casualties, but they worked from home bases and forced the Germans to surrender in 1943.

Iron Curtain

Stalin co-ordinated his Eastern European States by creating Comecon and Cominform. The phrase "Iron Curtain," used by Churchill in a speech delivered in the US in 1946, came to be seen as reality, as Western and Eastern Europe became more divided.

Cold War

Tensions between the Soviet Union and the west did not lead to a military conflict but instead to a long period of mutual hostility and a build-up of arms on both sides. It was a war of ideas, words, threats, spying, and mistrust, but no actual fighting.

Operation Barbarossa

The German invasion of Soviet Union in 1941. This was named after a medieval German crusading emperor and was the biggest invasion in the history of warfare. It was the culmination of Germany's military preparations since 1933. Four and a half million troops invaded across 2900 km (1800 miles).

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Democratic President of the US from 1933-1945. He was responsible for the New Deal, which mitigated the problems of the Great Depression. He followed an isolationist foreign policy, but showed sympathy for European democracies. He provided Britain with credit and war supplies in 1940-41.

Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attacked the major US naval base in Hawaii in December 1941. Many ships were destroyed and 1177 sailors were killed. Not all fuel installations or US aircraft carriers were destroyed. Roosevelt called it "infamy," and it provoked a demonstration of support among American people for total victory.

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal was the major route from the Mediterranean to the British possessions in India and the Far East. It was considered vital that Germany should not capture the canal and be in a position to stop oil supplies reaching Britain.

Cominform

The common name for what was officially known as the IBCWP. It was the first official forum of the international communist movement since the dissolution of the Comintern. Stalin co-ordinated his Eastern European States by creating Cominform.

Holocaust

The genocide of European Jews and others during World War II by the Nazis. The German populace was under pressure from bombing and the only war aim that seemed likely to succeed was the Holocaust, which was being undertaken with considerable energy in death camps.

Genocide

The killing of people from different racial or national groups, often with a view to eliminating them as a perceived threat. Young boys were often recruited for Hitler youth, and children were also victims of genocide.

Polish Corridor

The land dividing East Prussia from the rest of Germany was given to Poland in 1919. This was a major grievance. It did not stop a similar situation being created in 1945, with West Berlin being cut off from the western part of Germany by territory dominated by the USSR.

Axis

The name given to the German, Italian, and Japanese forces from the Rome-Berlin Axis agreement of 1936. It became the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis in September 1940. The forces were able to quickly conquer the Balkans.

Manchuria

The name given to the large geographic region in Northeast Asia. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and its occupation lasted until the end of World War II. This area served as a key source of tension Japan, China, and the Soviet Union.

Ultra

The was the biggest secret of the war. British code-breakers at Bletchley Park in Britain had used a captured German coding device, the Enigma Machine, to break a complex German code, allowing Allied commanders to read German military and naval signals.

Warsaw Ghetto

There was a rebellion in the concentration camp in Sobibor in 1943, and also in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, where thousands of Jews were confined in terrible conditions. These doomed risings were suppressed with great violence.

Civil Rights

They were defined by the US as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They have come to include justice in law, protection from discrimination, individual political freedom-including the rights of individuals and the right to participate in civil society and politics.

Conventional warfare

This is non-nuclear war between established armed forces of different countries. This is in comparison with, for example, guerilla wars fought by states against "rebel" organizations within a state. This was used in WWII, but not much afterwards.

Isolationism

This is the term used to describe a belief that a country should not involve itself in binding agreements with other countries or in any foreign policy that does not touch its own interests directly. this was the US foreign policy after 1920.

Island Hopping

This name was given to the series of seaborn attacks on Japanese-held Pacific islands by the US. The name suggests an easy and playful process, but in fact resistance was strong, and casualties were high on both sides.

Blitzkrieg

This phrase means "lightning war." It refers to the initial phase of World War II which included rapid attacks that were far more successful than those in WWI. It allowed the Axis forces to advance and conquer the Balkans.

Truman Doctrine

This refers to the United States policy to stop Soviet expansion during the Cold War. The US developed a policy of containment, pledging to oppose the further spread of communism in the Truman Doctrine of 1947.

Marshall Aid (Plan)

This was an aid program proposed by the US secretary of state George Marshall in 1947 and launched in 1948. Half went to Britain, France, and west Germany, and it was administered by the organization for European Economic Cooperation. The US insisted on Capitalist economic policies.

International Monetary Fund

This was set up in 1944 with 45 members. It now has over 180. To stabilize exchange rates, countries contributed to a fund, out of which money could be lent to countries in order to protect their currencies in difficult times. It was an important financial legacy of the war.

El Alamein

This was the first major British victory of the war. Under General Montgomery, the British defeated the German Afrika Korps under Rommel, which ended the threat to Egypt and subsequently pushed German forces out of North Africa. It showed that the German army could be defeated.

D-Day

This was the invasion of Normandy by British and US forces in 1944. It opened up the long-awaited second front in Europe. It was the greatest amphibious operation of the war, and enabled allied forces to pour into Northern France.