World War 2 key terms

Blitzkrieg

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

Atrocity

(n.) an extremely wicked, brutal, or cruel act; something very bad or unpleasant

Embargo

(n.) an order forbidding the trade in or movement of commercial goods; any restraint or hindrance; (v.) to forbid to enter or leave port; to forbid trade with

Executive Order 9066

2/19/42; 112,000 Japanese-Americans forced into camps causing loss of homes & businesses, 600K more renounced citizenship; demonstrated fear of Japanese invasion

Harry Truman

33rd president of the United States. He assumed the presidency at the death of FDR in 1945 and served until 1953. Under his leadership the United States saw the end of the Second World War with the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan and also the establishment of the Truman Doctrine for foreign policy, which seeks to limit the spread of Communism.

Battle of Stalingrad

A 1942-1943 battle of World War II, in which German forces were defeated in their attempt to capture the city of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union thanks to harsh winter; turning point of war in Eastern Europe

Rosie the Riveter

A propaganda character designed to increase production of female workers in the factories. It became a rallying symbol for women to do their part.

Munich Pact

An agreement in 1938 that attempted to prevent large-scale war by granting German chancellor Adolf Hitler his demand for control over the Sudetenland, a German-populated region bordering Czechoslovakia. Instead it verified Hitler's theory that the West would not interfere in eastern Europe, gave him time to rebuild an army, an emboldened him to continue the invasions - beginning with Czechoslovakia just months later - that led to WWII.

Lend Lease Act

Approve by Congress in March 1941; The act allowed America to sell, lend or lease arms or other supplies to nations considered "vital to the defense of the United States."

Adolf Hitler

Austrian-born founder of the German Nazi Party and chancellor of the Third Reich (1933-1945). His fascist philosophy, embodied in Mein Kampf (1925-1927), attracted widespread support, and after 1934 he ruled as an absolute dictator. Hitler's pursuit of aggressive nationalist policies resulted in the invasion of Poland (1939) and the subsequent outbreak of World War II. His regime was infamous for the extermination of millions of people, especially European Jews. He committed suicide when the collapse of the Third Reich was imminent (1945).

Operation Barbarossa

Codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II -- led to USSR joining the Allies

Treaty of Versailles

Created by the leaders victorious allies Nations: France, Britain, US, and signed by Germany to help stop WWI. The treaty 1)stripped Germany of all Army, Navy, Airforce. 2) Germany had to rapair war damages(33 billion) 3) Germany had to acknowledge guilt for causing WWI 4) Germany could not manefacture any weapons.

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.

Hiroshima&Nagasaki

First and second cities to be hit by atomic bombs, they were bombed after Japan refused to surrender and accept the Potsdam Declaration. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki was bombed on August 9, 1945.

Sept 1, 1939

German troops envade poland, Britan and France declare war. WWII begins

Albert Einstein

German-born physicist whose work undermines Newtonian physics, Theory of special relativity postulated that time and space are relative to the viewpoint of the observer and only the speed of light is constant. States that matter and energy are interchangeable and particle of matter contains enormous energy.

Allies

Group of nations, including the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, who opposed the Axis powers

Dec 7, 1941

Japanese attrcked US naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

Kamikaze

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

D- Day

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

Joseph Stalin

Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)

Nuremberg Trials

Series of trials in 1945 conducted by an International Military Tribunal in which former Nazi leaders were charged with crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes

Francisco Franco

Spanish General; organized the revolt in Morocco, which led to the Spanish Civil War. Leader of the Nationalists - right wing, supported by Hitler and Mussolini, won the Civil War after three years of fighting. Declared himself Dictator of Spain

Dwight Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and 34th president of the United States. He was the principal architect of the successful Allied invasion of Europe during WORLD WAR II and of the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany. As president, he ended the Korean War, but his two terms (1953-1961) produced few legislative landmarks or dramatic initiatives in foreign policy. His presidency is remembered as a period of relative calm in the United States.

Rationing

Taking items that are in short supply and distributing them according to a system. For instance, during World War II, gas, sugar, and butter were a few of the items rationed in the United States.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust took place in Europe between 1993 and 1945. Six million Jews were systematically and brutally murdered by the Nazis and their collaberators. Miliions of non-Jews, including Roma and Sinti(Gypsies), Serbs, political dissidents, people with disabilities, homosexuals and Jehova's Witnesses, were also persecuted by the Nazis.

Internment Camps

The US forced thousands of Japanese Americans in camps and sold there land and shop, this did this because they were suspicious of them because of pearl harbor, they soon realized their mistake

Nazism

The doctrines of nationalism, racial purity, anti-Communism, and the all-powerful role of the State. The National Socialist German Workers Party, otherwise known as the Nazi Party. Nazism was advocated by Adolf Hitler in Germany.

Battle of Britian

The massive air war against Great Britain by the Nazi war machine in Germany. Nearly nightly bombings occurred between summer of 1940 and summer of 1941 before German withdrew. Great Britain fought alone during this year and never gave up.

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 he was tried and excited for his war crimes "Battan Death March"

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 World War II. (p. 795)

Fascism

a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Dictator

a ruler with absolute power and authority

Robert Oppenheimer

an American theoretical physicist, best known for his role as the director of the Manhattan Project, the World War II effort to develop the first nuclear weapons, at the secret Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico. Known as "the father of the atomic bomb," at the Trinity test, he said, quoting from the Bhagavad Gita, "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Aggression

any warlike act by one country against another without just cause

Manhattan Project

code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II

Benito Mussolini

head of the Italian Fascist party. Mussolini was known as El Duce and was leader of Italy, the first Fascist regime, during World War II.

Battle of El Alamein

heavy fighting in North Africa led to British defeat of Italian and German forces in El Alamein. Soon after the Allies were able to take back more land from the Vichy Government, which was the French puppet state ruled by Nazis.

Axis Powers

in World War II, the nations of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which had formed an alliance in 1936.

Washington Naval Treaty

naval disarmament of the five signers, terminated by Japan in 1934

Appeasement

practice of giving in to an aggressor nation's demands in order to keep peace

The Cold War

refers to the period following WWII until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.This was a period when much of the world was divided by the communist/non-communist battle for military and political superiority. While the USA and the USSR were unquestionably the world's two superpowers, they avoided direct military conflict. Instead, they sought to bring other countries into their fold.

Unconditional Surrender

surrendering to your enemies on their terms - no negotiations

Franklin Roosevelt

the 32nd president of the United States. He was president from 1933 until his death in 1945 during both the Great Depression and World War II. He is the only president to have been elected 4 times, a feat no longer permissible due to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Non- Aggression Pact

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

A. Philip Randolph

America's leading black labor leader who called for a march on Washington D.C. to protest factories' refusals to hire African Americans, which eventually led to President Roosevelt issuing an order to end all discrimination in the defense industries.

Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of Great Britain from -1940. Famous for appeasing Hitler at the Munich Conference.

Winston Churchill

Prime minister of England from 1940 to 1945 and one of the "Big Three," famous for his inspirational speeches and zealous pursuit of war victory; in 1946, he later coined the term "iron curtain" to describe the USSR's harsh occupation of eastern Europe