Unit #7: World War II & the Holocaust

Battle of Okinawa

(1945) World War II victory for the Allied troops that resulted in the deaths of almost all of the 100,000 Japanese defenders; the battle claimed 12,000 American lives

D-Day

(FDR) , June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which "we will accept nothing less than full victory." More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the invasion, and by day's end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy.

resettlement

1935, New Deal plan that helped resettle destitute farmers on better land and unemployed workers in planned communities after the dust bowl

Rome-Berlin Axis

1936; close cooperation between Italy and Germany, and soon Japan joined; resulted from Hitler; who had supported Ethiopia and Italy, he overcame Mussolini's lingering doubts about the Nazis.

Munich Conference

1938 conference at which European leaders attempted to appease Hitler by turning over the Sudetenland to him in exchange for promise that Germany would not expand Germany's territory any further.

Battle of Midway

1942 World War II United States victory of Japan, a turning point in the war in the Pacific

Battle of El Alamein

1942-British victory in WWII that stopped the Axis forces from advancing into Northern Africa

Battle of Iwo Jima

1945 a battle that lasted 6 weeks, several thousand marines, and more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, this battle is also notable for the famous photograph of US marines lifting the American flag to a standpoint

firebombing of Dresden

1945, British and Americans bring total war to new level, dropping fire bombs in Germany, thousands of civilians flee to underground shelters and suffocate

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1952, 1956; Republican; Domino Theory established, Cold War deepened, sent US military advisors to Vietnam; president when Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, and created the Interstate Highway System (for purposes of national defense)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States. Led the U.S. to victory in WWII making the ultimate decision to use atomic weapons for the first time. Shaped U.S. foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union after the war.

Pearl Harbor

7:50-10:00 AM, December 7, 1941 - Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100. In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering World War II.

Vichy France

A Nazi-controlled puppet state in Souther France established by Hitler and headed by Marshal Philippe Petain

Maginot Line

A fortification built before World War II to protect France's eastern border

island-hopping

A military strategy used during World War II that involved selectively attacking specific enemy-held islands and bypassing others

appeasement

A policy of making concessions to an aggressor in the hopes of avoiding war. Associated with Neville Chamberlain's policy of making concessions to Adolf Hitler.

Final Solution

A program of genocide (systematic killing) that focused mostly on the Jews

Rhineland

A region in Germany designated a demilitarized zone by the Treaty of Versailles; Hitler violated the treaty and sent German troops there in 1936

League of Nations

A world organization established in 1920 to promote international cooperation and peace. It was first proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the League. Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946.

Battle of Britain

An aerial battle fought in World War II in 1940 between the German Luftwaffe (air force), which carried out extensive bombing in Britain, and the British Royal Air Force, which offered successful resistance.

Normandy

Beach in France Allies Invaded,Codenamed Operation Overlord, it was the long awaited Allied invasion of France and the opening of the Second Front during World War II. The initial invasion began on June 6, 1944.

Hiroshima

City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.

Battle of the Bulge

December, 1944-January, 1945 - After recapturing France, the Allied advance became stalled along the German border. In the winter of 1944, Germany staged a massive counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg which pushed a 30 mile "bulge" into the Allied lines. The Allies stopped the German advance and threw them back across the Rhine with heavy losses.

genocide

Deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder.

Chiang Kai-Shek

General and leader of Nationalist China after 1925. Although he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang, he became a military dictator whose major goal was to crush the communist movement led by Mao Zedong.

Reinhard Heydrich

German General of the SS Security Force who created the special strike forces to carry out Nazi plans to round up the Jews, steal their valuables, and execute them

Heinrich Himmler

German Nazi who was chief of the SS and the Gestapo and who oversaw the genocide of six million Jews (1900-1945)

Manchukuo

In 1932 Japan established this puppet state in their conquered territories of Manchuria. In 1933 the League of Nations reprimanded Japan, and so the nation withdrew from the organization, which was at the same time as Germany withdrawing as well

Rape of Nanjing

Japanese attack on Chinese capital from 1937-1938 when Japanese aggressorts slaughtered 100,000 civilians and raped thousands of women in order to gain control of China

Nagasaki

Japanese city devastated during World War II when the United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Aug 8th, 1945.

Winston Chuchill

Leader of Great Britian before and during World War II; pwerful speechmaker who rallied Allied morale during the war

Auschwitz

Nazi extermination camp in Poland, the largest center of mass murder during the Holocaust. Close to a million Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and others were killed there.

Anschluss

The union of Austria with Germany, resulting from the occupation of Austria by the German army in 1938.

Hideki Tojo

This general was premier of Japan during World War II while this man was dictator of the country. He gave his approval for the attack on Pearl Harbor and played a major role in Japan's military decisions until he resigned in 1944

atomic bomb

a nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is released by nuclear fission (splitting the nuclei of a heavy element like uranium 235 or plutonium 239)

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

a peace agreement between Russia and Germany stating that Poland would be split between both of them

Sudetenland

an area in western Czechoslovakia that was coveted by Hitler

Operation: Barbarossa

code name for German invasion of USSR. Originally planned for spring of 1941, but delayed until June. Hitler believed he could defeat USSR before winter weather set in. Massive attack. largest military operation in human history in both manpower and casualties. failed because of fierce soviet resistance and German's lack of preparations for winter weather.

collaborators

during WWII helped the Nazis hunt down Jews

Einsatzgruppen

moblie killing units/death squads sent out to kill Jews, Gypsies, or any person who was not "pure"

Second Sino-Japanese War

war between Japan and China over Chinese mainland by forces of the Japanese Imperial Army against Chiang Kai-Shek's nationalist army and Mao's communist army

Erwin Rommel

"Desert Fox"-May 1942; German and Italian armies were led by him and attacked British occupied Egypt and the Suez Canal for the second time; were defeated at the Battle of El Alamein; was moved to France to oversee the defenses before D-Day; tried to assassinate Hitler.

blitzkrieg

"Lighting war", typed of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland in 1939

Battle of Stalingrad

(1942) World War II battle between invading German forces and Soviet defenders for control of Stalingrad; each side sustained hundreds of thousands of casualties; Germany's defeat marked turning point in the war

kamikaze

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

Douglas MacArthur

(1880-1964), U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman.

Bataan Death March

(1942) a forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines in World War II