World War II Flashcards

Totalitarianism

Any political system in which a citizen is totally subject to state authority in all aspects of day

Benito Mussolini

One of Europe's first major dictators who founded Italy's Fascist Party in 1919 and was known as Il Duce.

Fascism

Refers to the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Mussolini.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolshevik Party who established the Communist government in Russia and renamed these territories the USSR in 1922.

Joseph Stalin

The Soviet dictator who led the USSR through World War II.

Adolf Hitler

Leader of Nazi Germany during World War II, who gave himself the title Führer and called for a "master

Mein Kampf ("My Struggle")

Hitler's autobiography calling for the unification of all Germans under one government.

Manchuria

A resource

The Nye Committee

A committee responsible for documenting huge arms factory profits, creating the impression that businesses influenced the U.S. to go to war.

Neutrality Act of 1935

Made it illegal for Americans to sell arms to any country at war.

Francisco Franco

Led a rebellion in Spain after a coalition of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists was elected.

Emperor Hirohito

The ruler of Japan during World War II.

General Tojo

The military ruler of Japan during World War II.

Axis Powers

Together Germany, Italy, and Japan became known as the Axis Powers; they formally became allies in September 1940.

Sudetenland

An area of Czechoslovakia with a large German

Neville Chamberlain

British prime minister who promised to support France against German unification and promised "peace for our time."

The Munich Conference

On September 29, 1938, Britain and France agreed to Hitler's demands in a policy that became known as appeasement.

Poland

The country Hitler turned his sights on after the Munich conference, leading to it being split between Germany and the USSR.

The Nazi

Soviet Nonaggression Pact

Blitzkrieg

A new type of German warfare, meaning lightning war, which used massed tanks to break through and rapidly encircle enemy positions.

Rhineland

An area west of the Rhine River in which Hitler illegally sent troops.

Dunkirk

A small town in northern France near the Belgian border that became the only port available for Britain and France to evacuate surviving troops.

Vichy Regime

The puppet government set up by Hitler in Southern France.

Marshall Petain

The head of the Vichy Regime.

Winston Churchill

Prime minister of Britain who replaced Neville Chamberlain and rallied the British people to fight against the Nazis.

The Battle of Britain

The air battle between Britain and Germany that began in mid

Royal Air Force (R.A.F.)

Britain's Air Force.

Hermann Goering

Head of the German air force, called the Luftwaffe.

Luftwaffe

Germany's Air Force.

The Nuremberg Laws

Laws set up by the Nazis that stripped rights away from all Jews living in Nazi territory.

Gestapo

The Nazi government's secret police.

Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)

The anti

Albert Einstein

A Jewish pacifist who left Nazi Germany in the early 1930s and saw his scientific ideas eventually applied to the atomic bomb.

Holocaust

Hitler's attempt to destroy the Jews in Europe during World War II.

Concentration Camps

Detention centers where Jews and other "undesirables" were sent to work as slave laborers until they died from exhaustion, disease, or malnutrition.

Extermination Camps

Added to many concentration camps after the conference discussing "the final solution" to make the extermination of Jews more efficient for the Nazis.

The Neutrality Act of 1939

Stated warring nations could buy weapons from the United States only if they paid cash and carried the arms on their own ships.

The Lend

Lease Act

The Atlantic Charter

Committed two leaders to a postwar world of democracy, non

Pearl Harbor

The place where the Japanese launched a sneak attack to try and destroy the United States Pacific Fleet.

December 7, 1941

The date that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Admiral Yamamoto

The Japanese admiral who planned the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

1941/1945

The years of United States involvement in World War II.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

President of the United States through most of World War II.

Selective Service and Training Act

The first peacetime draft in the United States.

General George Marshall

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who fought the war from Washington D.C.

General Dwight Eisenhower

The supreme allied commander in Europe.

Operation Torch

The code name for the American invasion of North Africa.

Erwin Rommel

Germany's best field commander, known as "The Desert Fox".

General Bernard Montgomery

Great Britain's best field general.

General George Patton

America's best field general, known as "Old Blood and Guts."

General Mark Clark

The General in charge of the Italian Campaign during World War II.

Operation Barbarossa

The code name for the German invasion of the USSR.

Stalingrad

The German defeat at this city was the turning point of the war in Europe.

D

Day/Operation Overlord

June 6, 1944

The date of the Allied invasion of France.

Battle of the Bulge

The largest battle fought by the United States Forces in World War II, resulting in an American victory.

Audie Murphy

Served in the European Theatre and is the most decorated soldier in the history of the United States.

VE Day

Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945.

General Douglas MacArthur

The supreme Allied commander in the Pacific.

Chester Nimitz

Top Admiral in the United States Navy during World War II.

Coral Sea

The first naval battle ever fought using only airplanes; this American victory stopped Japanese expansion towards Australia.

Guadalcanal

The first time American forces landed on an island occupied by the Japanese; Americans learned that the Japanese would not surrender.

Island Hopping

The American strategy used to defeat Japan where forces would only attack islands that allowed the U.S. to build bomber bases, skipping others.

Midway

The United States victory here was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

Leyte Gulf

The victory in which the United States navy destroyed most of what was left of the Japanese navy.

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide planes where one plane targeted one ship.

Asian Americans

During World War II, the United States government placed Japanese Americans in Internment Camps in California.

Korematsu v. United States

A Supreme Court case that ruled the relocation of Japanese Americans was constitutional because it was based on military urgency.

Bataan Death March

A brutal forced march that took place in the Philippines.

Iwo Jima/Okinawa

Due to heavy casualties suffered on these islands, the Americans decided invading Japan would be too costly and opted to use the atomic bomb.

Ernie Pyle

A famous reporter for Stars and Stripes who was killed in action on Okinawa.

Manhattan Project

The code name for the secret development of the atomic bomb.

Dr. Oppenheimer

The man in charge of the Manhattan Project.

Harry S Truman

The American president who made the decision to drop the atomic bomb after Roosevelt died in office.

USS Indianapolis

The ship that delivered the atomic bomb to Tinian Island and was subsequently sunk by a Japanese sub.

Enola Gay

The B

Hiroshima

The city selected as the target for the first atomic bomb.

The Bock's Car

The B

Nagasaki

The city selected as the target for the second atomic bomb.

USS Missouri

The ship on which the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II.

VJ Day

Victory in Japan, September 2, 1945.