Key Concepts from WWII Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the WWII lecture notes for study and review.

Axis Powers

Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan who fought against the Allied Powers.

Allied Powers

Alliance of countries, including the U.S., Great Britain, Soviet Union, and China, who fought against the Axis Powers.

Neutrality Acts

U.S. laws aimed at keeping the country out of future wars.

Cash and Carry Policy

Policy allowing countries at war to buy U.S. goods if they paid cash and used their own ships.

Lend-Lease Act

Allowed the U.S. to send weapons and supplies to Allies during World War II.

Twenty-Second Amendment

Set a two-term limit for the U.S. President.

Fascism

A political system led by dictators, like Mussolini and Hitler, who control everything and limit freedoms.

Appeasement

Giving in to a leader's demands to avoid conflict, exemplified by Britain and France's actions towards Hitler.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Surprise Japanese attack on a U.S. naval base in 1941, bringing the U.S. into World War II.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. project that developed the first atomic bombs.

Hiroshima-Nagasaki

Japanese cities where the U.S. dropped atomic bombs, leading to the end of World War II in the Pacific.

Mobilization

Preparing a country for war, involving people, weapons, and resources.

Rosie the Riveter

Symbol of American women who worked in factories during World War II.

Executive Order 9066

Allowed the U.S. government to force Japanese Americans into internment camps.

Wartime Relocation Authority (WRA)

Government agency that carried out the internment of Japanese Americans.

Government Issue (G.I.)

Nickname for U.S. soldiers; also means government-supplied.

Code Talkers

Native American soldiers who used their languages to send secret wartime messages.

Final Solution

Nazi plan to kill all Jews in Europe during the Holocaust.

Nuremberg Trials

Trials where Nazi leaders were judged for war crimes after World War II.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Document stating fundamental human rights that should be protected, adopted by the United Nations.

Tuskegee Airmen

First African American fighter pilots in the U.S. military.

Internment Camps

Places where Japanese Americans were forced to live during World War II.

Korematsu v. U.S.

Supreme Court case that upheld the legality of Japanese American internment during the war.

Battle of Midway

Turning point in the Pacific where the U.S. defeated Japan.

Operation Overload (D-Day)

Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944.

Island Hopping

U.S. strategy of capturing key islands in the Pacific during World War II.

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who crashed into enemy targets.

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of Britain during most of World War II and a key Allied leader.