AP Euro Chapter 27 Vocab/Concepts

Hitler’s foundation for belief

• Wanted to rebuild Germany and turn it back into a world power

• Describes Lebensraum, aka “living space” in his book Mein Kampf

• Also discusses potential expansion to the east against the “racially inferior Slavic” people against the “Bolshevik Jew-led” Soviet Union

Democratic Revolution

• Lasted 1936-1939

• Describes the steps Hitler took to gain power and influence

• Increased the size of army from 100,000 to 550,000 in March 9, 1935, risking intervention and hoping the Allies would stay conservative

  • On the same day, also announces the Luftwaffe, a German air force, and the Allies once again did not respond

• Adopted principle of Blitzkrieg, aka “lightning warfare,” choosing lighter tanks and quick attacks

• Moved troops into the Rhineland near the French border in March 7, 1936, even though it was prohibitied by the Treaty of Versailles (no action by the Allies)

Advantages of Germany

• Second largest population out of any European country

  • Many of which were desperate to get revenge for reparations or simply live a better life

• Great industrial capacity

• Allied itself with Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan

Neville Chamberlain

• Lived 1869-1940

• Prime Minister of Great Britain during the early stages of WWII

• Created the policy of Appeasement

Appeasement

A policy created by Neville Chamberlain based on giving countries what they wanted in order to prevent a world war (leads to the rise of powers like Germany)

Annexation of Austria

• Occurred on March 12, 1938

• Germany scared the Austrians and placed a Nazi as the head of their government

• “Justified” because many Germans lived in Austria

Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia

Hitler at first threatens to invade these areas on September 15, 1938, justifying it because of the 3 million Germans residing within them

• Caused the Munich Conference

• He seizes Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939

Munich Conference

• Occurred September 29, 1938

• Germany, Italy, France, and Great Britain discuss the fate of Czechoslovakia

• Hitler gets Slovakia, a large part of Czechoslovakia as long as he promises its the last thing he invades

• While the Allies feel content with the German compromise, Hitler is fueled by their complacency (Allies also give up Czechoslovakia, a former ally)

Plot to invade Poland

Germany demanded Poland return territory lost in WWII and Germany and the Soviets form the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in this endeavor

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

A deal between the Nazis in Soviets created for the invasion of Poland

• Germany gave the Soviets Finland, Eastern Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, while the Germans got Western Poland

• Both countries fought in unison

• Broken by German invasion in 1941

Invasion of Poland

• Germany invades on September 1, 1939

• France and Great Britain declare war on Germany on September 3, 1939

• Polish fight bravely but are defeated by Germans and Soviets in 4 weeks

• Soviets move into Eastern Poland by September 17, 1939

Phony War

The nickname for the war declared by France and Great Britain on Germany after the invasion of Poland, where they only fought defensively and no real intervention occurred

Nazi invasion of Scandinavia

• Occurred on April 9, 1940

• Invaded Denmark then Norway to keep northern territory

• Denmark falls quickly and Norway surrenders on June 9, 1940

Invasion of France

• Hitler attacks on May 10, 1940, taking the Netherlands in 5 days and bombing Rotterdam

• Germans fake out the French by invading Belgium like in WWI, but the real attack is from the Ardennes and in Luxembourg across the Maginot Line

  • British and French forces are split, and Belgium falls on May 28

  • Troops are pushed back to Dunkirk in Northern France on the border of Belgium

• Mussolini invades France on June 5, leading them to surrender on June 22

• Nazi government known as the Vichy French was set up, while the French set up a shadown government in Great Britain

Maginot Line

A wall within France spanning for many miles and intended to provide protection from ground troops, but was defeated by Nazi bombers and flanked in the Ardennes Forest

Miracle of Dunkirk

Over 330,000 Allied troops were cornered in Northern France, but civilians helped them escape, with the cost of leaving behind heavy equipment

Battle of Britain

• Great Britain was the only one left standing in Hitler’s way, but it was difficult for the land-based Germans to invade the island

• In Operation Sea Lion, Luftwaffe bombs British production facilities, naval bases, and communication centers, although the British forced many German casualties

  • British had radar by 1940

  • British aircraft retaliated and hit cities, making Hitler focus on bombing British cities and shifted attention away from other fronts

  • Enigma codes

• British win by September 1940

Enigma codes

German code deciphered by the British during the Battle of Britain

Fight for Africa

• Hitler blocks the British passage to Africa in the Mediterranean

• Mussolini took Africa, the Balkans, and Mediterranean territories, also blocking areas such as Egypt and the Suez Canal

• German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps were advancing to the Canal and Egypt early in 1942

  • After the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, they were unable to hold the area and gave it up by May 1943 (Italian allies were outdated compared to British and Americans)

Hitler’s invasion of Russia

• Aka Operation Barbarossa

• Occurred on June 22, 1941

• Was regarded as a huge part of Hitler’s downfall

• Hitler wanted more farmland and to bounce back after defeating Great Britain

Initial German success against the Soviet Union

• Stalin’s generals were scared he would kill them for doing too well

• Over 2 million Soviet soldiers were captured in the first few days, and 1800 aircraft were lost on the first day

• Hitler also invades Yugoslavia and Greece, but this costs him resources he needs later on

• By November, one German army group had swept through the Ukraine toward the Caucasian oil fields, another German army had laid siege to Leningrad (formerly St. Petersburg), and a third German army moved within 25 miles of Moscow

• He also began a spring offensive called the German Wehrmacht which led to the capturing of the entire Crimea

Stalingrad

• Regarded as the turning point of the war on the European continent

• Went from August 1942 - February 2, 1943

• Hitler could have taken nearby cities for resources, but wanted a victory over a city with Stalin’s name (nobody really care about it anyways)

• Hitler ordered General Friedrich Paulus with the Romanian, Hungarian, Italian, and German armies to march on Stalingrad and never retreat

  • Stalin hardened resistance and gave the same commands, saying “Not one step back!” in his Order No. 227

• Due to the harsh weather, over 300,000 troops in the 6th German and 4th Panzer Division were captured

Battle of Kursk

• German attack launched by Hitler against the advisory of his generals post-Stalingrad

• Went from July 5 - August 3, 1943

• Stalin says “quantity has a quality of its own”

• Largest tank battle of WWII

• German forces were outnumbered and pulled back early to defend other fronts

Nazi Germany in 1944 and 1945

Germany was slowly losing power due to battles such as Tobruk, Sicily, and Rome

Calais

A part of France where the Allies under Operation Fortitude used inflatable tanks to trick Hitler into sending many troops and keeping them there during D-Day

D-Day

• Aka Demarcation Day or Operation Overlord

• On June 6, 1944

• Commanded by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower with 150,000 troops and 700 ships (one of the largest invasion ever)

• Troops attacked on the shores of Normandy, France and were met with less resistance due to many troops being in Calais

  • Paris was successfully liberated on August 25, 1944

Battle of the Bulge

• An invasion launched by German General Gerd von Rundstedt lasting December 16, 1944 - January 25, 1945 in northwestern Belgium and parts of France

• Initially favored the Axis forces over the Allies who had landed in France after D-Day

  • In March 1945, Allied forces were advancing into Germany and Hitler eventually lost after spending most of his remaining resources

Soviet counterattacks from the east

• Launched in 1944 and 1945

• The Ilyushin Il-2 Strumovik was an advanced Soviet aircraft

• The T-34 85 was a deadly Soviet tank that was easy to repair, unlike the overly high-tech German tanks (like the Panther/Tiger)

  • German tanks were outnumbered 4:1

Fall of Nazi Germany

• Initial success leads Hitler to become naive

  • Sped up demise by declaring war on U.S., invading Russia, and taking risks no other general would take

• Germany was heavily bombed by Soviet revenge and had lost most of the territory it conquered by 1945

• German economy is ruined and unemployment spikes

• By January 1945, Soviets occupied Warsaw and made it to Berlin by April

• Hitler commits suicide on April 30, 1945

• Germany surrenders on May 7, 1945

Fall of Fascist Italy

When Axis forces surrender in Tunisia on May 13, 1943, Sicily is opened up to Allied invasion

• These attacks in Sicily are slow, as Germans set up strong defenses in the area

• Rome falls on June 4, 1944 after the Allies had suffered many casualties

Holocaust

• Certain groups were used as scapegoats

• German Jews were stripped of rights and property from 1933-1939

  • Hitler first wanted to depart them to Madagascar but realized it was impractical

• Jews, Roma, homosexuals, disabled, Russian prisoners of war, political opposition, and other non-Aryans were affected firsthand

Final Solution

• Led by Reinhard Heydrich of the SS

• Reinhard ordered the Einsatzgruppen, a special SS strike force, to round up all the Polish Jews and force them into ghettos

• In June 1941, they used mass killings and graves for Jews

Death camps

• Hitler realized shooting innocent people wasted ammo and was bad for morale, especially while losing the war

• T-4 program was the “solution”

  • Killed 80,000 mentally or physically unfit people from 1938-1941

• 6 major death camps were Auschwitz, Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor, Maidanek, and Belzec

  • People were killed in zyklon-b “showers” and bodies were burnt in crematoriums

  • SS took priority over military, who found it too immoral

• Wasted the military’s efforts and resources

Work/concentration camps

• Prisoners who could work supported the German war effort

  • Many of them were prisoners of war

  • 4 million died of overwork, exposure, starvation, or exhaustion

  • In Dachau, an estimated 40,000 died

Holocaust totals

• 9-10 million bodies, about 6 million of them being Jews and 40% of all 1 million Roma died (about 11 million total)

• Lawyers, judges, civil leaders, and educators were executed

• 3.3 million Russian prisoners of war and 1.8 million Poles died

Pre-war Japan

• Japan had advanced rapidly (population doubled to 80 million in 70 years) and became a major power

• Although the emperor officially ruled, political parties and military authorities began to gain influecne by the 1930s

• By 1933 the Japanese Empire included Korea; Taiwan (known as Formosa); Manchuria; and the Marshall, Caroline, and Mariana islands

• The Great Depression tarnished its industries and the country looked outward for resources

Japan invades China

• By 1931, Japan invades Manchuria and renames in Manchukuo

• In July 1937, they fought at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing and Japan declared war on China

  • The Rape of Nanjing occurs

  • Japan establishes the “Monroe Doctrine of Asia”

Rape of Nanjing

A Japanese invasion where Chinese civilians were killed and raped

Japan’s ambitions in Southeast Asia

When Japan attacked Vietnam in July 1941, the U.S. cut off their iron and oil sales to Japan, further limiting their resources

Pearl Harbor

• A bombing against the Japanese emperor Hirohito’s advice of the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941

• The USS Arizona and Oklahoma are sunk, while many other battleships are damaged (about 8 total)

• 2,000 people were killed an nearly another 2,000 were wounded

• U.S. declares war on Japan the next day

America’s involvement in the Pacific

• The Japanese believed they could assert Pacific dominance over a neutral U.S., but were wrong

• Hitler also declares war on the U.S.

• Roosevelt is finally given an excuse to drop isolationist policies and give the people what they wanted

Battle of the Coral Sea

• Lasted May 7-8, 1942

• Was a hard-fought battle where the Allies protected Australia from Japanese invasion

Battle of Midway

• After Pearl Harbor, Japan had the upper hand and was even able to take the Philippines from the U.S.

• In this battle, Japan loses 4 of its 6 aircraft carriers from June 3 - 7, 1942

  • Lack of resources makes them irreplaceable

Atomic bombs

• Japan’s houses were made of soft, traditional materials that were also often flammable

• The losses in Japam’s air force allowed bombers to fly over Japanese territory

• Resistance groups planned to ambush landed American planes, which would lead to an estimated 1 million American deaths and justifying the bombs

• Hiroshima’s “Little Boy” was dropped on August 6, 1945, killing 140,000 in the blast and another 50,000 later (out of 400,000)

• Nagasaki’s “Fat Man” was dropped on August 9, 1945, killing about 30,000 initially and 100,000 later (out of 263,000)

End of WWII

Emperor Hirohito announces Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945

• Representatives of Japan officially surrender on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945

• Agreed to total surrender, demilitarization, and peace with neighboring countries to focus on economic expansion

• Japan wanted to make sure the emperor was not blamed for the decisions

• U.S. helps Japan recover with a government takeover until April 28, 1953 with the Treaty of San Francisco

• Death toll is about 50 million

Women during WWII

• Often had jobs their husbands or family members would have otherwise held, redefining gender roles

• In Great Britain, women held nearly 50% of civil positions and the number of women in food and agriculture doubled

Home Gardens

• “Dig For Victory” campaign in Great Britain

• Women were expected to grow food for nation and family

  • Over 1.4 million new Home Gardens popped up during WWII in Great Britain

  • U-Boat attacks hindered some production

Food rationing

• Families were given booklets of what they could buy

• Bacon, fat, sugar, eggs, and fuel were rationed

Factory production

• Car companies shifted to only producing war vehicles from 1942-1945

  • Ford Motors made 8,000 B-24 Liberator bombers, other planes, tanks, and trucks after stopping normal production in Febriary 1942

• Women had to work in factories and were encouraged by Rosie the Riveter to build the “Arsenal of Democracy”

Tehran Conference

• Took place from November 28 - December 1, 1943 in Tehran, the capital of Iran

• FDR, Stalin, and Churchill discussed plans to win the war

  • FDR plans D-Day and agrees to begin attacking the western front

• Agreed to split up Germany into “zones” post-war

• Stalin clearly wanted control over Eastern Europe but acted laid back and agreed to hold free elections for sovereigntty

• The nations agreed to be the “world’s policemen” by stopping conflict before it happened and formed the United Nations

  • Included U.S., the Soviet Union, China, and Great Britain at the time

Yalta Conference

• Lasted from February 4-11, 1945

• Planned to invade Japan if Atomic Bomb isn’t ready

  • Convinced Soviet Union to join if they got Manchuria

• Agreed to replace Nazi government at all levels, make them surrender unconditionally, and become divided into 4 zones controlled by the U.S., the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France

• Stalin was allowed to exert his influence on Eastern Europe

• Decided how the UN would function (Big 3 create Security Council to maintain stability)

Buffer states

States that are neutral and act as protection from outside forces (Ex: Neutral Eastern Europe protected the Soviet Union from the U.S.)

Potsdam Conference

• Lasted from July 17 - August 2, 1945

• Held in Potsdam, Germany

• Included U.S. President Truman, Soviet Premier Stalin, and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (replaced Churchill)

• Became clear the Cold War would break out

  • Stalin did not believe the Eastern European countries should hold elections on whether they wanted to join the Soviet Union (he knew they wouldn’t join)

  • The U.S. thought this was unfair

• Germany was split into 4 zones, lost all military arms and goods, and turned Nazi institutions into democratic ones

• The Potsdam Declaration

Potsdam Declaration

Japan was told they would now face the full power of the Allies, but Japan did not back down until the Atomic Bombs were dropped