End of WWII and the Holocaust

Mr. Wallace history test

Partisans

resistance fighters

Beachhead

a defended position on a beach taken from the enemy by landing forces, from which an attack can be launched.

Cold War

the power struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States after World War II

Dwight D Eisenhower

American General in charge of planning D-Day

Harry Truman

Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

Italy

Where did the allies invade after their successful campaign in North Africa?

Over One Year

How long did it take allied commanders to plan for D-Day?

To establish a beachhead from which further attacks could be launched

What was the Allied objective for D-Day?

1. Underwater mines

2. Barbed Wire

3. Deadly Machine Gunfire

What the Allied soldiers faced on the beaches on D-Day

1- Hitler was asleep so the tanks were ordered to go later

2- General Rommel wanted the tanks on the beaches but Hitler said no to protect them, were placed further inland

(arrived late)

How were German Panzer Divisions misused on D-Day?

Disrupt communication and supply lines, and prevent German reinforcements from counterattacking

What was the objective of paratroopers like the 101st Airborne Division on D-Day?

Paris

What major city is liberated in August, 1944?

Battle of the Bulge

What was the last German counteroffensive of the war?

Battle of Kursk

What was the greatest tank battle in the history of the world?

Italian resistance fighters caught him trying to flee the country and shot him

How did Benito Mussolini die?

Committed suicide in 1945

How do the history textbooks tell you Hitler died?

V-E Day

May 8, 1945; victory in Europe Day when the Germans surrendered

V-J Day

"Victory over Japan day" is the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which was initially announced on August 15, 1945

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

The last two heavily defended Japanese islands conquered by the United States in 1945

Manhattan Project

A secret U.S. project for the construction of the atomic bomb.

Drop atomic bomb on japan

What was the difficult decision President Truman chose to make?

As villains and barbaric killers

How did Japanese citizens view America troops?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Two Japanese cities on which the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs to end World War II.

Nuclear Arms Race

What started between major superpowers of the world after the dropping of the atomic bombs?

Communism v Democracy

The two political ideologies in conflict throughout the Cold War

Free elections in previously conquered territories

What did the divide between the Soviet Union and the United States center around at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences?

Nuremberg Trials

A series of court proceedings held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II, in which Nazi leaders were tried for aggression, violations of the rules of war, and crimes against humanity.

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

Genocide

the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

Shoah

Hebrew word for Holocaust

The Holocaust

A methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled.

Heinrich Himmler

German Nazi who was chief of the SS and the Gestapo and who oversaw the genocide of six million Jews (1900-1945)

What: Allies attack in Normandy France

Goal: To establish a beachhead from which further attacks could be launched

Outcome: allowed the Allies to gain momentum in France and eventually push farther

description of D-Day

1- phantom army placed near Calais to deceive and keep Normandy a secret

2- tin foil dropped to reflect on the German radars to show a naval force

Extra- ruperts, General Montgomery stunt double

How the Allies tricked the Germans

1- rough seas

2- experienced German fighters stationed at Omaha

Differences of Omaha beach

1- Atomic bombs cause Arms race

2- issue of what to do with buffer countries along the Soviet Union, free election (Soviet's see it as a buffer between communism and democracy, Churchill calls it an iron curtain, Allies say let them vote)

Reasons for Cold War

As an easier country to conquer compared to France

How did the Allies view Italy

A British designer who mad different types of tanks

Percy Hobart

"angel of death", German doctor in concentration camps performing painful experiments

Josef Mengele