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WWII
American History
58
History
9th Grade
05/16/2011

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Term
fascism
Definition
social theory rejects pacifism; pople are made unequal and have value only to country's greatness; controlled liberty and personal freedom
Term
Blitzkrieg
Definition
"lightning"war; coordinated and concentrated air and land attacks; strategy perfected by Germany to provide way  past enemy lines and surround the enemy
Term
Allied Powers
Definition
GB and France at beginning of WWII; US and GB at end; Societ Union worked with alliance against Germany
Term
Axis Powers
Definition
Germany and Italy in WWII; Japan worked with alliance through Tripartite Pact; Mussolini said alliance was axis for change in Europe
Term
Bataan Death March
Definition
1942 march of US and Filipino soldiers on Corregidor Island; conquering US soldiers; 5000 deaths
Term
Battle of Stalingrad
Definition
ended German offensive; destroyed much of the German army; continued until German surrender; first major victory for the Soviets
Term
Battle of Midway
Definition
sea battle that ended Japanese advance in the Pacific; proved planes from aircraft carriers could defeat a superior force; Japanese withdrew and never regained offensive
Term
Battle of the Bulge
Definition
December 1944; Germans surprised Americans and pushed them back; created "bulge" in American lines
Term
Hiroshima
Definition
town in Japan bombed by "Little Boy" atomic bomb in August 1945
Term
Nagasaki
Definition
town in Japan bombed by "Fat Boy" in 1945
Term
Manhattan Project
Definition
US efforts to develop nuclear weapons; headed by Oppenheimer; intended for use against Germany before Germans finished nuclear weapons
Term
Battle of Iwo Jima
Definition
island captured by US; lives saved when bombers made emergency landings; first Japanese soil invaded by US
Term
Battle of Okinawa
Definition
largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific War; use of massed Kamikaze aircraft which sank American ships
Term
Tuskegee Airmen
Definition
"Black Eagles"; black US pilots during WWII; trained in Tuskegee, AL; produced some of most highly decorated US pilots
Term
Rosie the Riveter
Definition
fictional WWII character created to urge women to enter the workforce; "Do the job he left behind"; factory and munitions work
Term
Office of Price Administration
Definition
part of the massive US war effort to control wages, price of goods; rationed scarce goods
Term
Potsdam Conference
Definition
Truman, PM Attlee, Stalin met in 1945; informed Stalin US had developed new bomb;created three free-air corridors into newly divided Berlin
Term
Operation Overlord
Definition
code name of 44-45 Allied offensive against German Western Front; began with D-Day campaign
Term
Kristallnacht
Definition
refers to November 1938 nights when Nazi youth broke into, looted Jewish buildings; marked beginning of Holocaust; night of broken glass
Term
NAZI
Definition
Nationalsozialistische Deutche Arbeiterpartei; National Socialiast German Workers Party; led by Adolf Hitler; won support by offering support to working class and using brutal police against its enemies
Term
gestapo
Definition
Germany's national secret police; led by Goering
Term
Yalta Conference
Definition
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Feb 1945; agreed to the division of Germany and Berlin and to the creation of the UN; Stalin agreed to fight against Japan if Allies increased bombing on Germany
Term
victory in Europe
Definition
celebrated in street parties; 1945 General Jodi signed for unconditional surrender of German forces; official surrender at Yalta Conference
Term
Casablanca Conference
Definition
Roosevelt and Churchill 1943; agreed to accept only unconditional surrender from Japan and Germany; wanted to avoid WWI-style armistace
Term
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Definition
president of US during Depression and WWII; proclaimed everyone should be able to enjoy freedoms
Term
Harry S. Truman
Definition
vice president who took over when Roosevelt died;  authorized bomb drops on Japan
Term
Omar Bradley
Definition
US Army general commaded troops during operation torch, overlord
Term
Bernard Law Montgomery
Definition
British General fought against Rommels Afrika Corps in North Africa; known for personal conflicts with Eisenhower and Patton
Term
George Patton
Definition
US tank commander; tracked by Germans as an assumption that hewould be center of Allied offensives
Term
Charles de Gaulle
Definition
WWI veteran wrote The Army of the Future criticizing theories of defensive war that led to the creation of the Maginot Line; leader whose  troops forced te German Army to  retreat during invasion of France; leader of free French Provisional Government in 44
Term
Herman Goering
Definition
WWI pilot was the  head of Luftwaffe; named as Hitler's successor; suicide before being hung
Term
Emperor Hirohito
Definition
symbolic leader of Japan during WWII;approved attack on Pear Harbor; annoucned unconditional surrender after Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Term
Hitler Youth
Definition
group of young Nazis formed in 1926; all German boys required to join; taught men Nazi teachings and military drills
Term
Dwight Eisenhower
Definition
US commander of North Africa; Allied supreme commander in Sicily; supreme commanderin Europe
Term
Hideki Tojo
Definition
appointed Japans minister of war, then Prime Minister in 41; ruler of Japan through most of WWII
Term
Erwin Rommel
Definition
commader of Hitler's bodyguard; commanded tank division in attack on France; commaded Afrika Korps to help Italians in North Africa
Term
Benito Mussolini
Definition
fascist leader of Italy during most of WWII; angry Italy had failed to win more territory at Versailles; arrested in 43 when Allies invaded his country
Term
Adolf Hitler
Definition
leader of Nazi Germany; appointed chancellor of Germany; previously arrested for trying to start a revolution in Germany
Term
Joseph Stalin
Definition
led the Soviet Union;  authorized non-aggressive treaty with Germany in 39; developedsystem to eliminate rival politicians to maintain power in the  country
Term
Auschwitz
Definition
Nazi concentration camps in Poland liberated in 1945
Term
D-Day invasion
Definition
invasion of Allied forces in Normandy; began end of German reign
Term
Neville Chamberlain
Definition
British Prime Minister known for appeasement; gave part of Czechoslovakia to Germany; led at beginning of WWII eventually resigned to Churchill
Term
Reciprocal Trade Agreement
Definition
law allowed FDR to make trade agreements with other countries; liberalized American foreign trade
Term
nonaggression pact
Definition
pact between two or more countries agreeing not to wage war or aggression against each other; Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed by Soviet and Germany ended when Germany invaded Soviets;
Term
lend-lease policy
Definition
allowed US to supply Allied forces with war supplies in return for use of rescources in other countries; intended to protect US
Term
internationalist
Definition
wanted greater cooperation/involvement with other countries
Term
isolationists
Definition
wants no foreign alliances or involvement
Term
neautrality acts
Definition
laws passed in response to isolationism after results of WWI;  later repealed in 1941 when US helped Britain in WWII
Term
Munich Pact
Definition
attempt to appease Nazi Germany with annexation of Suddenland Czechoslovakia
Term
Selective Training and Service Act
Definition
required many men to register with military in peacetime; many threatened to desert, but ranks swelled after attack on Pearl Harbor
Term
North African Campaign
Definition
attempt by Britain and eventually US to take Mediterranean from Nazi Germany and Italy;used to take Italy and pressure  Nazi empire
Term
Battle of Kursk
Definition
confrontation between German and Soviet forces; major victory that led the Soviets to defeat Germany in the rest of the war
Term
Day of Infamy
Definition
day after Pearl Harbor when FDR gave speech declaring previous day a day of infamy; later declared war
Term
totalitarian
Definition
government in which government has all the power; everything done for good of community, personal rights don't matter
Term
internment
Definition
imprisonment of people without trial; Japanese-Americans interned during WWII
Term
Guadalcanal
Definition
Soloman Islands; taken by US and stopped Japanese expansion in Western Pacific
Term
Maginot Line
Definition
defences set up by French to defend against Germany; not as effective as thought after WWI, Germans eventually took France anyway
Term
Battle of Britain
Definition
air campaign led against United Kingdom by Luftwaffe; first campaign fought in air; tried to destroy British factories, political significances, but failed
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