WWII

Jesse Owens

Won the 100-meter dash at the 1936 Olympics, challenging Nazi racial superiority claims.

Great Depression Photography

Life magazine documented the struggles of the people during the Great Depression.

Fireside Chats

Radio conversations by Franklin D. Roosevelt to reassure the American public.

Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling

U.S. boxer Joe Louis defeated Hitler’s champion in a significant boxing match.

Guernica

A painting by Pablo Picasso depicting the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

Marian Anderson

A Black opera singer who symbolized racial progress in the U.S. in 1938.

Joseph Goebbels

The Nazi Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda.

Nazi Propaganda Tools

Film, radio, and posters were used to spread Nazi ideology.

Triumph of the Will

A propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl glorifying Hitler.

Book Burnings

Destruction of works by notable authors such as Einstein and Freud.

Nuremberg Laws

Laws enacted in 1935 stripping Jews of their rights in Nazi Germany.

Munich Pact

An agreement allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for peace.

Kristallnacht

A violent Nazi attack on Jewish businesses known as 'The Night of Broken Glass'.

Lend-Lease Act

U.S. policy to supply weapons to Britain and Russia during WWII.

Einsatzgruppen

Mobile SS units responsible for the extermination of Jews and communists.

Wannsee Conference

A 1942 meeting where the Nazi 'Final Solution' was planned.

Death Camps in Poland

Auschwitz and Treblinka, among others, were sites for exterminating Jews.

Zyklon B Gas Chambers

Execution chambers where victims died within 15 minutes.

Japanese Expansion

Initiated with the invasion of China.

Rape of Nanjing

Massacre of 200,000 civilians during the Japanese invasion of China.

Saipan Civilians

Many committed suicide during the U.S. invasion by jumping off cliffs.

Kamikaze Pilots

Japanese suicide pilots who crashed into Allied ships.

U.S. Bombing of Germany

Significant bombing raids included Berlin and Dresden with many casualties.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Cities where atomic bombs were dropped in August 1945, killing 200,000.

Nuremberg Trials

Trials of Axis leaders for crimes against humanity after WWII.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

1929 agreement where nations promised never to go to war again.

Stimson Doctrine

U.S. policy of not recognizing territories acquired by force.

Spanish Civil War

Conflict from 1936-1939 in which Franco overthrew the republican government.

Munich Agreement

1938 pact allowing Nazi Germany to annex various territories.

Blitzkrieg

German military tactic of 'lightning war' used in invasions.

Battle of Britain

Air campaign wherein the RAF defended against the German Luftwaffe.

V-E Day

Victory in Europe Day, marking Nazi Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945.

Island-Hopping Strategy

U.S. military strategy to capture strategic islands in the Pacific.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. project for developing the atomic bomb.

Adolf Hitler

Leader of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist leader of Italy during World War II.

Joseph Stalin

Communist leader of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Francisco Franco

Leader of Spain, which remained neutral during WWII.