Unit 13 vocabulary: World War II
Rationing
A restriction on people's right to buy unlimited amounts of particular foods and other goods, often implemented during wartime.
Neutrality Acts
A series of laws enacted in 1935 &1936 to prevent US arms sales and loans to nations at war.
World War 2
A war fought from 1939 to 1945 between the Axis powers — Germany, Italy, and Japan — and the Allies, including France and Britain, and later the Soviet Union and the United States.
Nisei Regiments
Composed of Japanese Americans (50,000 served).
Nonaggression Pact
An agreement in which two nations promise not to go to war with each other.
Kristallnacht (1938)
"Night of Broken Glass," a name given to the night of November 9, 1938 when gangs of Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues in Germany.
Tuskegee Airmen
Group of African American military pilots who fought in WW2.
Auschwitz
Largest of the concentration camps.
"Defeat Hitler First" Strategy
Most US military resources were targeted for Europe to defeat Hitler.
Island Hopping Strategy
Seizing islands closer and closer to Japan and using them as bases for air attacks on Japan.
Hitler's Invasion of Poland (1939)
Signified the beginning of WW2.
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Supreme court decision that stated the governments use of internment camps was justified on the basis of "military necessity."
Selective Service Act
1917-A law that required men to register for military service.
Lend-Lease Act
1941, a law that allowed the US to ship arms and other supplies, without immediate payment, to nations fighting the axis powers.
Atomic Bombs/ Hiroshima and Nagasaki
200,000 people were killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing Japan to surrender and ending WW2.
Normandy Landings (D-Day)
3 million American, British, and Canadian troops under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower landed in German-occupied France at Normandy.
Battle of the Bulge
A month-long battle of WW2 in which the allies succeeded in turning back the last major German offensive of the war.
V-E Day
A name given to May 8, 1945, "Victory in Europe Day" on which General Eisenhower's accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany at the end of WW2 in Europe.
Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941-Japan carried out an air attack on US naval base in Hawaii.
Adolf Hitler/ Hideki Tojo/ Benito Mussolini
Dictatorial leaders of Germany, Japan, and Italy respectivelly during WW2.
"Cash and Carry" Policy
FDR's plan in 1939 to provide military aid to Great Britain as long as Britain paid in cash and transported supplies in their own ships.
Internment Camps/ Executive Order 9066
February 19, 1942 FDR signed executive order 9066 that called for the internment (confinement) of all Japanese citizens. 110,000 Japanese Americans were moved to internment camps in the west.
Blitzkrieg
From the German word meaning "Lightning War." A sudden, massive attack with combined air and ground forces, intended to achieve a quick victory.
Battle of Britain
German air war against the British.
Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943)
German forces besieged Stalingrad but were eventually surrounded and surrendered to Soviet forces.
Battle of El Alamein (1943)
German forces under Erwin Rommel that threatened to seize Egypt and the Suez Canal were defeated by the British.
Allied Powers
In WW2, the group of nations-including Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the US-that opposed the Axis Powers.
Bataan Death March
In the Philippines, American POWs that surrendered to the Japanese suffered from brutal treatment.
Battles of Iwo Jima & Okinawa
Marines attacked and defeated heavily entrenched Japanese forces, but suffered heavy casualties.
Rosie the Riveter
Propaganda image of women at work.
Manhattan Project/ Robert J. Oppenheimer
The US program, led by Oppenheimer, to develop an atomic bomb for use in WW2.
Nuremburg Trials
The court proceedings held in Nuremberg, Germany, after WW2, in which Nazi leaders were tried for war crimes.
Hitler's "Final Solution"
The decision to exterminate all Jews based on the idea that Aryans were a superior people.
Genocide
The deliberate and systematic extermination of a particular racial, national, or religious group.
Appeasement
The granting of concessions to a hostile power in order to keep the peace.
Axis Powers
The group of nations-including Germany, Italy, and Japan-that opposed the Allies in WW2.
The Holocaust
The systematic murder (genocide) of Jews and other groups in Europe by the Nazis before and during WW2.
Geneva Convention
Treatment of prisoners (POWs) in the pacific theater of WW2 often reflected the savagery of the fighting there.
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
US army unit created during WW2 to enable women to serve in noncombat positions.
Destroyers for Bases Deal
US gave Great Britain old naval warships in return for US access to British military bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean.
Navajo "Code Talkers"
Used communication codes based on Navajo language that the Japanese were never able to break.
Battle of Midway
WW2 battle that took place in early June, 1942. The allies decimated the Japanese fleet at midway, an island NW of Hawaii.
War Bonds & Income Tax
each contributed 50% of the money needed to fight the war.
