UNIT 8: WW2 (study guide needs a little tweaking)

Antisemitism

Hostility, prejudice, or systematic discrimination directed specifically against Jewish people, which became a core pillar of Nazi state ideology.

Appeasement

The diplomatic policy of granting political or material concessions to an aggressive power, such as Britain and France giving the Sudetenland to Hitler, to avoid a larger military conflict.

Blitzkrieg

"Lightning war"—a devastating German military tactic utilizing coordinated, fast-moving tanks, motorized infantry, and intense air support (Luftwaffe) to rapidly penetrate enemy lines and overwhelm defenses.

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic destruction, extermination, or mass killing of a specific national, racial, political, religious, or cultural group of people.

Concentration Camps vs. Extermination Camps

Detention centers established by Nazi Germany to imprison "enemies of the state"; many were later expanded into Extermination Camps (death camps like Auschwitz) equipped with gas chambers for mass industrial murder.

War Crimes

Violations of the established laws and customs of war, including the mistreatment of prisoners of war, targeting of civilians, and devastation of areas not justified by military necessity.

Crimes Against Humanity

Widespread, systematic atrocities and attacks directed directly against any civilian population, including murder, enslavement, forced deportation, and political or racial persecution.

Crimes Against Peace

The planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of an unprovoked war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties and agreements.

Hitler's Rise to Power

He capitalized on the Great Depression's economic chaos, intense anger over the Treaty of Versailles, and a widespread fear of Communism; he used immense personal charisma, fiery speechmaking, and powerful propaganda to be legally appointed Chancellor in January 1933 before dismantling democracy.

The Holocaust & Targeted Groups

The systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews and millions of others—including the Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, Soviet POWs, and homosexuals—who were viewed as a biological threat to the Nazi "Aryan" racial state.

Hitler's 9 Steps to WWII (Mnemonic)

Rearming (violating Versailles), Rhineland (remilitarization), Anschluss (annexing Austria), Sudetenland (demanding Czech border), Munich Pact (appeasement), Czechoslovakia (total invasion), Non-Aggression Pact (deal with Stalin), Poland (invasion on Sept 1, 1939), War (Allied declaration).

Interwar Dictatorships (Similarities & Differences)

Similar in using totalitarian control, secret police, and propaganda. Differed ideologically: Italy was Fascist (Mussolini's state control), Germany was Nazi (Hitler's racial purification), Japan was Military Imperialist (Tojo's search for resources), and the USSR was Communist (Stalin's state-owned economy).

The Breakdown of Peace & Outbreak of WWII

Driven by the failure of the League of Nations to stop early aggression (like Italy invading Ethiopia and Japan invading Manchuria) and sparked directly by Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, forcing Britain and France to declare war.

Axis vs. Allied Powers

The Axis Powers comprised Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allied Powers comprised Great Britain, the Soviet Union (USSR), the United States (joined in 1941), France, and China.

The Defeat of Germany at Stalingrad

Hitler ordered his forces to take the city on the Volga River at all costs; the Soviet Red Army launched a massive counter-offensive (Operation Uranus) that completely surrounded the German Sixth Army, leaving them to freeze and starve without fuel or food until they surrendered.

Stalingrad as a Strategic Turning Point

The brutal battle shattered the illusion of Nazi invincibility, halted Germany's eastern advance, and forced the German military into a permanent, costly retreat along the Eastern Front until the fall of Berlin.

Allied Home Front Restructuring

Democratic nations shifted into "Total War" economies; governments regulated the private sector, ordering automobile factories to mass-produce tanks and planes instead of cars, while enforcing strict civilian rationing and mobilizing millions of women into the workforce.

The D-Day Invasion

June 6, 1944 (Operation Overlord): The largest amphibious invasion in human history, where Allied forces under General Eisenhower landed at Normandy, France, breaching Nazi Germany's "Atlantic Wall" to open up the vital Western Front.

The End of the War in Europe

Concluded on May 8, 1945, celebrated as V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day), following the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler in his bunker on April 30, and the unconditional surrender of the German military.

Guadalcanal as a Pacific Turning Point

The grueling battle (August 1942–February 1943) marked the first major territorial defeat for Japan, halting their advance toward Australia and allowing the U.S. to launch its strategic "island-hopping" campaign toward the Japanese mainland.

The Nuremberg Trials

A historic series of military tribunals (1945–1946) held by the Allies to prosecute prominent Nazi leaders; it established the monumental precedent that individuals and state officials can be held legally accountable under international law and that "just following orders" is not a defense.

The United Nations (UN) & Security Council

An international peacekeeping organization established in October 1945 to replace the failed League of Nations and maintain global stability; its executive authority resides in the Security Council, featuring five permanent members with absolute veto power: the US, UK, France, Russia, and China.