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Blitzkrieg
A "lightning war" tactic used by the Germans that emphasized rapid, coordinated attacks with tanks, aircraft, and infantry to overwhelm opponents.
Maginot Line
A line of heavily fortified French defenses built along its eastern border before WWII. Though formidable, it was bypassed by German forces in 1940.
Dunkirk
A coastal town in northern France notable for the 1940 evacuation (Operation Dynamo) of hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers cut off by advancing German troops.
Battle of Britain
The 1940 air campaign in which the British Royal Air Force successfully defended the United Kingdom against the German Luftwaffe.
Operation Barbarossa
The 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, marking a dramatic escalation of WWII and ultimately contributing to Germany's downfall.
El Alamein
A pivotal 1942 battle in North Africa where Allied forces, under British command, halted the Axis advance, turning the tide in the desert war.
Battle of Stalingrad
A brutal, protracted battle (1942-1943) on the Eastern Front where Soviet forces encircled and defeated a large German army, marking a major turning point in the war.
D-Day
The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, which opened a western front against Nazi Germany and began the liberation of occupied Europe.
Island Hopping
A Pacific strategy where Allied forces selectively attacked specific enemy-held islands, bypassing others to advance toward Japan.
Battle of Midway
A decisive naval battle in June 1942 where the United States inflicted severe losses on the Japanese fleet, shifting the balance in the Pacific Theater.
Pearl Harbor
The site of the December 7, 1941, surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii, which brought the United States into WWII.
Bombings of Civilian Targets
A wartime strategy involving the aerial bombing of cities and non-military installations, resulting in widespread civilian casualties.
Atomic Bomb
A nuclear weapon that releases enormous energy through nuclear fission (and fusion), first used in warfare on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Winston Churchill
The British Prime Minister during much of WWII, renowned for his leadership, speeches, and steadfast resistance against Nazi Germany.
Henri Pétain
The French general and later head of Vichy France, whose regime collaborated with Nazi Germany after France's defeat in 1940.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The 32nd President of the United States who led the nation through most of WWII and implemented the New Deal to combat the Great Depression.
Dwight Eisenhower
The Supreme Allied Commander in Europe who orchestrated the D-Day invasion and later became President of the United States.
Harry Truman
Roosevelt's successor as U.S. President; he made the final decisions in the closing stages of WWII, including the use of atomic bombs, and guided post-war recovery.
Tito
Josip Broz Tito was the leader of Yugoslav partisans during WWII and later became the president of socialist Yugoslavia, noted for his independent communist policies.
Free France Movement
Led by General Charles de Gaulle, this government-in-exile opposed the Vichy regime and worked to rally French resistance against Nazi occupation.
White Rose Movement
A non-violent resistance group of students in Nazi Germany who distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, ultimately paying with their lives.
Grand Alliance
The coalition of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union that joined forces to defeat the Axis powers in WWII.
"Europe First" Policy
The strategic decision by the Allies to prioritize defeating Nazi Germany before focusing on the war against Japan.
New Order
The Nazi vision for a restructured Europe based on racial hierarchies, authoritarian control, and the elimination of perceived "undesirable" elements.
Nazi Rule in "Nordic" Countries
Refers to the influence, occupation, or collaboration with Nazi policies in parts of Northern Europe (for example, in Denmark and Norway) during WWII.
Vichy France
The regime that governed the unoccupied portion of France after its defeat in 1940, led by Pétain and known for collaborating with Nazi Germany.
Collaborators
Individuals or groups in occupied countries who cooperated with enemy (often Nazi) forces during the war.
Denazification
The process undertaken by Allied forces after WWII to remove Nazi influence and purge former Nazi officials from public life in Germany and Austria.
German Occupation Zones
Areas of Germany (and parts of Europe) divided among the Allied powers after WWII for administration and reconstruction.
Nuremberg Trials
A series of military tribunals held after WWII to prosecute leading Nazi officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nuremberg Laws
Racist statutes enacted in 1935 by Nazi Germany that stripped Jews of their civil rights and laid the groundwork for further persecution.
Wannsee Conference
A 1942 meeting of senior Nazi officials that coordinated plans for the "Final Solution," the systematic extermination of the Jewish people.
Holocaust
The systematic genocide carried out by Nazi Germany during WWII that resulted in the murder of six million Jews, along with millions of others deemed "undesirable."
Early Nazi Euthanasia
Often associated with the T4 Program, it involved the systematic murder of disabled, elderly, and mentally ill people as part of Nazi "racial hygiene" policies.
Ghettos
Urban districts where Jews were forcibly confined under appalling conditions during the Nazi occupation.
Einsatzgruppen
Mobile killing units deployed by the Nazis, primarily in Eastern Europe, that carried out mass shootings of Jews, communists, and other targeted groups.
Final Solution
The Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish population of Europe through systematic mass murder.
Concentration Camps
Facilities used by the Nazis to detain, exploit, and murder millions, including political prisoners, Jews, Romani people, and others.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
The largest and most notorious Nazi concentration and extermination complex in occupied Poland.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
A 1943 act of Jewish resistance in which inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against the Nazis before being brutally suppressed.
Primo Levi
An Italian Jewish chemist and writer whose memoirs about surviving Auschwitz have become central texts in Holocaust literature.
Japanese Racial-Imperial Ambitions
Japan's drive to establish a dominant, racially defined empire in East Asia, often justified with pan-Asian rhetoric but resulting in widespread aggression.
Invasion of Manchuria
The 1931 military action by Japan that seized Manchuria, leading to the establishment of the puppet state Manchukuo.
"Asia for Asians"
A slogan used by Japan to promote its imperial ambitions by claiming to free Asian countries from Western colonialism, while in practice asserting its own dominance.
Co-Prosperity Sphere
Japan's concept of a bloc of Asian nations led by Japan and ostensibly based on mutual benefit, which in reality served as a cover for imperial exploitation.
"Comfort Women"*
A euphemism for the women—primarily from Korea, China, and other occupied territories—forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military.
Rape of Nanjing*
The 1937 massacre in which Japanese troops captured the Chinese city of Nanjing and committed widespread atrocities including mass murder and sexual violence.
American Oil Embargo*
A pre-war U.S. policy that restricted oil exports to Japan, contributing to heightened tensions and influencing Japan's strategic decisions in the Pacific.
Japanese Internment Camps*
Facilities in the United States where Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated and detained during WWII under suspicion of disloyalty.
"Night Witches"*
The nickname given by the Germans to the all-female Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment, renowned for their daring nighttime raids against Axis forces.
"War without Mercy"
A term that captures the total, brutal nature of WWII, reflecting the indiscriminate violence and widespread suffering inflicted upon civilians and combatants alike.
Internal Post-War Migration Patterns*
The large-scale movements of populations within countries following WWII, driven by factors such as border changes, economic reconstruction, and displacement.
Displaced Persons
Individuals forced to leave their homes due to the war, including refugees, survivors of concentration camps, and those uprooted by shifting borders.
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
An international agency established after WWII to provide aid, food, shelter, and rehabilitation for millions affected by the war.
Big Three
The key Allied leaders—Roosevelt (U.S.), Churchill (U.K.), and Stalin (U.S.S.R.)—who shaped wartime strategy and post-war reconstruction.
Tehran Conference
A 1943 meeting of the Big Three where they coordinated plans for the final defeat of Nazi Germany and discussed post-war arrangements.
Yalta Conference
Held in February 1945, this meeting among Allied leaders addressed the reorganization of post-war Europe and the fate of Germany.
Potsdam Conference
The final major Allied meeting (July-August 1945) where leaders negotiated terms for the end of WWII, including the administration and reconstruction of defeated Germany.
