WW2 Test

Blitzkrieg

"Lighning War" ; type of fast moving warfare used by German forces against Poland in 1939

Harry S. Truman

33rd president of US, responsible for order to drop bombs on Japan after Pearl Harbor

Island Hopping

A WW2 strategy of conquering only certain Pacific Islands that were important to the Allied advance toward Japan

Adolf Hitler

A evil German Dictator who blamed communists, intellectuals and Jews for Germany's defeat in WW1, head of the Third Reich and Socialist Party

Non-Aggression Pact

An agreement between nations not to attack one another, Hitler broke this when he invaded the Soviet Union

Allied Powers 1939

An alliance formed between Britain and France

Iwo Jima / Okinawa

Battle that lasted from April to June 1945. Kamakazes were first used in this battle. Allied forces took on high casualities as they fought to take these islands from Japan

Battle of El Alamein

British victory in WW2 over Axis powers forces in North Africa

Nazi Death camps

Camps were Jews were sent to work as slave labor in their camp factories or sent to gas chambers designed to kill great numbers of people

Battle of Stalingrad

Critical victory by the Soviet Union against the German Forces during WW2

Sept. 1st, 1939

Date WW2 began, when German forces invaded Poland

Sept. 2nd, 1945

Day that Japan formally surrendered to the Allied forces, less than a month after the US dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki

Afrika Korps (German)

Defeated by the Allies who launched an offensive in Italy, during 2 years of fighting General Rommel became known as "The Desert Fox"

Maginot line

Fortified wall / line that France built along its border with Germany after WW1

Hideki Tojo

He was a Japanese general

Joseph Stalin

He was a Russian leader who was part of the Axis powers, Hitler secretly negotiated a Non-aggression pact with him. He was one of 3 leaders to go to the Yalta conference

Bataan Death March

Hundreds of US prisoners and thousands of filipino prisoners died at the hands of these Japanese during this event

Internment camps

Japanese Americans were imprisoned and placed into camps located in the western US

Nagasaki / Hiroshima

Japanese cities bombed by a US atomic weapon in August 1945

Axis Powers

Military alliance between Germany and Italy formed in 1936

African American Role

Of the 16 million people who served in the armed forces during WW2, 1 million were African American

War in Europe

Roosevelt and Churchill decided to focus on the war in Europe 2 weeks after the invasion of Pearl Harbor rather than going after Japan right away

Focus on Europe not Japan

Roosevelt and Churchill got together 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor. They decided to concentrate on defeating Germany than attacking Japan after that

Poland

The Germans and the Soviet Union invaded and divided up Poland

Holocaust

The attempt by Hitler and the Nazis to murder the Jews in Europe, Nazis murdered 6 million Jews in Europe and 3 million others

Genoside

The deliberate murder of an entire people

Manhattan Project

The project in which the US created the Atomic Bomb before the Germans could

Battle of Stalingrad

Turning point of the war, critical victory by the Soviet Union against German forces

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. General that had soldiers in the Phillipines. Had to retreat after Manilla was captured

Dwight D. Eisenhower

US General in charge of British and American forces, a master of organization and planning

Ghettos

Urban areas in Poland where the Jews were forced to live, dirty and cramped, Jews lost their human rights

Taxes / U.S. Bonds

Used to support the war effort. Taxes greatly increased for low and middle class. Taxes only paid for 40% of the war. They sold billions in war bonds to cover the rest of the costs

May 8th, 1945

V-E Day or Victory in Europe Day

War Production Board

WW2 agency that oversaw the conversion of factories to war production

Battle of Midway

WW2 battle in which U.S. war planes crippled Japans Navy, Japan took defensive actions rather than offensive actions following this

Battle of Coral Sea

WW2 battle in which the allies first stopped the Japanese advance in the Pacific

Kamikaze

WW2 tactic used by Japanese pilots of crashing planes filled with explosives into Allied ships ( Suicide missions )

Women in the War

Women replaced men in factories and business offices. Some 300,000 women worked in the armed forces

Atomic Bomb

a weapon that produced great detructive power by splitting atoms, offered and used as an alternative to a full out attack on Japan, Developed by Robert Openheimer

Benito Mussolini

in 1922 this Italian leader and his followers marched on Rome and took over the city. He started a government based on Fascism

Battle of Britain

1940-1941 Battle fought between British and German Air Forces for control of the skies over Great Britain

D-Day ( Operation Overlord )

Allied Soldiers finally landed in Normandy. This day was the largest sea and land invasion in history. Its purpose was to launch an Allied invasion of German occupied France on June 6th, 1944