U.S. History: World War II

Blitzkrieg

"Lighting war" -- a typed of fast-moving warfare used by German forces to take control of Poland and other European countries in 1939.

Mein Kampf

"My Struggle"-a book written by Adolf Hitler during his imprisonment in 1923-1924, in which he documented his beliefs and his goals for Germany

Kristallnacht

"Night of the Broken Glass" --German mobs and the state police throughout destroyed Jewish property, burned synagogues, and terrorized Jews on November 9, 1938.

V-E day

"Victory in Europe Day" celebrated the official defeat of the Nazis and end of WWII in Europe on May 8th, 1945.

V-J Day

"Victory over Japan Day" was the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which was initially announced on August 15, 1945

Benito Mussolini

(1883-1945) Italian leader. He founded the Italian Fascist Party, and sided with Hitler and Germany in World War II. In 1945 he was overthrown and assassinated by the Italian Resistance.

Nuremberg trials

(1945) A series of court proceedings held in Germany after World War II in which Nazi leaders were tried for aggression, violations of the rules of war, and crimes against humanity. Many were convicted and received the death penalty.

Yalta

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for a post-war world

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd US President - He implemented the New Deal programs to help the nation out of the Great Depression, and he was the nation's leader during most of WWII

fascism

A form of government in which individual freedoms are denied and complete power is given to the government.

dictator

A leader who has gyduityujsrt6uhjsr6jhfgncomplete control over a country's government

Ghetto

A poor, densely populated city district occupied by Jews linked together by economic hardship and social restrictions

Rosie the Riveter

Advertising campaign character during WWII to encourage women to take factory jobs

Battle of Britain

An aerial battle fought in WW II in 1940 between the German Luftwaffe (Air Force) and the British Royal Air Force. The Germans carried out extensive bombing raids against Britain, which offered successful resistance.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Atomic bombs were dropped on these Japanese cities during WWII

Harry S. Truman

Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb.

Death Camps

Camps used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany for the purpose of killing prisoners immediately.

Manhattan Project

Code name for the U.S. effort during World War II to produce the atomic bomb.

Joseph Stalin

Communist dictator of the Soviet Union and successor to Lenin as head of the USSR; strongly nationalist view of Communism

Internment camps

Detention centers where more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated during World War II by order of the President.

War Production Board

During WWII, FDR established it to allocated scarce materials, limited or stopped the production of civilian goods, and distributed contracts among competing manufacturers

Tuskegee Airmen

First African American fighter pilots.

Luftwaffe

German Air Force

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy & Japan

Allies

Great Britain, France, United States & Soviet Union

Final solution

Hitler's program of systematically killing the entire Jewish community in German held territories

U.S. embargo

In response to Japan creating a protectorate over all of French Indochina; US cut off Japan's oil rubber and other materials making Japan have to go elsewhere to get these materials like Burma

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and crashed them into American ships.

Serviceman's Readjustment Act

Known as the GI bill, it provides Veterans of WWII with unemployment insurance and money for housing and college.

Code talkers

Navajo troops who used their language to send messages in a code the Japanese were never able to break

rationing

Restricting the amount of food and goods people may buy. This is usually done during wartime to assure adequate supplies for the military.

Dwight Eisenhower

Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II leader of troops in Africa and commander in D-Day invasion. President in the 1950s

Third Reich

The Third Republic of Germany which began with Hitler's rule in 1933 and ended with his defeat in 1945

Sudetenland

The area in Czechoslovakia that was mainly German ethnicity that Germany eventually took.

D-day

The largest invasion force in history led by Eisenhower. On June 6, 1944 over a million troops stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.

Battle of Bulge

This battle was the German's last major offensive in World War II. The Allies pushed the Germans back and won.

Battle of Midway

U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in the Pacific theater of World War II.

Battle of Stalingrad

Unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad during World War II from 1942 to 1943, that was the furthest extent of German advance into the Soviet Union.

Island hopping

WWII strategy of conquering only certain Pacific islands that were important to the Allied advance toward Japan

Changes in US homefront during WWII

Women and minorities entered the workforce, the US economy recovered from the Great Depression, the federal government grew in size and power, Americans rationed goods, bought war bonds, and rationed goods

Adolf Hitler

seized power in 1933, German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945)

Appeasement

the act of giving in to Hitler's demands for more territory in Europe in hopes he would be satisfied and stop aggressive actions in Europe in the 1930s

Little Boy and Fat Man

two atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The bombing marked the beginning of the age of nuclear warfare

Nonaggression Pact

1939-Secret agreement between German leader Hitler and Soviet Leader Stalin not to attack one another and to divide Poland

Double V campaign

African Americans fought for victory against the Axis powers abroad and victory against racism at home

Lend-Lease

Allowed America to sell, lend, or lease arms or other war supplies to any nation considered "vital to the defense of the U.S."

Pearl Harbor

American base in Hawaii. On December 7, 1941 Japanese planes attacked the bases. The bombing led to a US declaration of war

Hedeki Tojo

Prime minister of Japan and military leader during WWII, later executed for war crimes.

Concentration Camp

Prison camps established by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party for Jews and other political prisoners during the war.