WWII

Allied Powers

An Alliance between Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, and France during World War II.

Axis Power

An Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.

Blitzkrieg

"Lightening war", a form of warfare in which surprise attacks with fast-moving airplanes are followed by massive attacks with infantry forces used by German forces against Poland in 1939

Pearl Harbor

A surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Instead, the U.S. entered World War II

Appeasement

the policy of making concessions (giving in) to an aggressor in order to avoid conflict.

Genocide

The extermination of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group

Holocaust

The genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany throughout Nazi-occupied territory. This systematic murder also included the Gypsies, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses, and many others

Nazi-Soviet Pact

An agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 in which the two nations promised not to fight each other and to divide up land in Eastern Europe

Island Hopping

A military strategy used during WW2 that involved attacking specific enemy-held islands and then quickly building air strips & support structures to be used to "hop" to the next closest island to mainland Japan.

Total War

A war that involves the complete mobilization of resources and people, affecting the lives of all citizens in the warring countries, even those remote from the battlefields.

Totalitarianism

A form of government in which a single party has total control over the country and every aspect of people's lives.

Fascism

political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule.

Nazism

Adolf Hitler used fascism to create this type of government based on totalitarian ideas and was used to unite Germany during the 1930s.

Democracy

A form of government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives and using those people as the primary source of political power

United Nations

international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace; was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and get countries to talk out their

Kamikazes

In World War II, Japanese pilots who loaded their aircraft with bombs and crashed them into enemy ships

Propaganda

Ideas and facts that were used to further spread a particular political cause or ideology by a group or governments

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The 32nd President of the United States, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war.

Winston Churchill

A noted British Prime Minister who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns.

Benito Mussolini

Italian dictator who rose to power after WWI and eventually took over Italy, leader of the Fascist Party.

Emperor Hirohito

Japanese Emperor during the 1930s and WWII

General Tôjô Hideki

Japanese Prime Minister during the 1930s and WWII, militarist who wanted to expand Japan

Joseph Stalin

Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953; He is known as the man who turned the Soviet Union from a dysfunctional country into a world superpower at unimaginable human cost.

Harry Truman

The 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953). He succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

Adolf Hitler

German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945), Nazi leader and founder; had over 6 million Jews assassinated during the Holocaust

Neville Chamberlain

1938; British Prime Minister; practiced appeasement, declared that Britain and France would fight if Hitler attacked Poland.