World War II Key Figures, Terms, and Events

Adolf Hitler

fascist leader of Nazi Germany

Benito Mussolini

Fascist leader of Italy

Joseph Stalin

communist leader of USSR (Soviet Union)

Emperor Hirohito

Monarch, leader of Japan

C.D. Howe

Canada's minister of munitions and supply

Elsie MacGill

Female aeronautical engineer who oversaw production of Hurricanes

Tommy Prince

Canada's most decorated indigenous soldier

Neville Chamberlain

British PM most known for appeasement towards Germany

Winston Churchill

British PM during WWII

Mackenzie King

Canadian PM, led Canada through WWII

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President of US, led through Great Depression and WWII

Fascism

a philosophy of government that glorifies the nation-state

Nazi

members of the national socialists workers party

Fuhrer

German word meaning leader

Aryans

A supposedly 'master race', (blond hair, blue eyes, white)

Non-Aryans

racially inferior, (Jews, blacks, Romas, Slavs, disabled people)

Axis Powers

Japan, Italy, Germany

Allied Powers

UK, USSR, US, China

Blitzkrieg

Military tactic used by Germany meaning 'lightning war'

Luftwaffe

German airforce

RAF

Royal Air Force, defended Britain's skies

Swastika

religious symbol strongly associated with Nazism

Fasces

Roman symbol of power and authority, symbol of Mussolini's Italy

Reichstag Fire

Arson attack on parliamentary building, turning point in Hitler's uprising

Appeasement

Giving into some of an enemy's demand in hope of keeping peace

Sudetenland

A small part of Czechoslovakia that is mostly German-speaking

Phony War

a period marked by no real battles

Miracle of Dunkirk

Evacuation of British soldiers from beaches in Dunkirk

U-Boats

German submarines

Wolfpacks

Hunted allied ships in groups called

ASDIC

British listening device that detected U-boat

Depth Charges

Explosive weapon used to destroy U-boats

Corvettes

Small fighting ships

Convoys

Convoys of merchant ships escorted by warships

Rationing

a government system that set limits on purchasing high-demand items

Lend-Lease Act

An agreement that saw the US provide war materials to Britain and its allies on a 'pay later' basis

War Measures Act

Gave the government special powers to arrest and detain suspected enemies of Canada, censor news information and regulate vast sections of the economy

St. Louis

German ship carrying around 900 Jewish refugees. They were denied access into Cuba, South America, US and Canada and were forced to return to Europe. Many passengers died in concentration camps later.

Kristallnacht

Night of Broken Glass, a violent attack on Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.

Spitfires and Hurricanes

British fighter planes used in WWII, especially during the Battle of Britain.

Messerschmitt Bf 109

Main German fighter plane; fast and heavily armed.

Stuka (Ju 87)

German dive bomber with a loud siren; used for attacks and fear.

Heinkel He 111

German bomber plane; dropped bombs during air raids, like in the Battle of Britain.

Great Depression

German economy suffering and Hitler promised a rebuild

The Reichstag fire

Hitler used this event to claim a Communist Revolution and imposed decrees to remove many civil rights