DCUSH Unit 5B Study Guide

Appeasement/Munich Agreement

The Munich Agreement was a pact that gave Germany Czechoslovakia. Created the spark that eventually led to Germany invading Poland.

Who were the Axis Powers?  The 3 primary Allied powers?

Germany, Italy, Japan

Winston Churchill

• British Prime Minister

• Rallied the British, led the country from brink of defeat

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower

• Marshall’s successor

• Kept the allies together

• Command of North African landings leads to Italy and Normandy

• Masterful at “coalition” warfare (when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal ex. US and Soviets)

Gen. George Marshall

• Army Chief of staff

• wanted field command but Roosevelt deemed him “too valuable” to let out of Washington

Adm. Chester Nimitz

• Commanded the Pacific fleet throughout the war

• Commander of the Pacific Oceans area

• Responsible for all naval operations and central Pacific offensive (marines)

• Admiral of Pearl Harbor

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

• Commander of the Philipines when Japan attacks

• Commander of the SW Pacific area, based in Australia

• “Island hopping”- hop to big islands and build air bases to police their supply 

“Germany First”

The concept that they would try to defeat Germany before they got involved fully in other nations. Germany was their priority.

Manhattan Project

• The Nationwide project to build an atomic bomb

• Helped end WW2

• Operation to maintain containment

Joseph Stalin

• Soviet Leader

• Helped to defeat Germany

• Helped to extend Soviet controls

Battle of El Alamein

A fight between Germany and Britain in El Alamein, major British victory to push Germany back deeper into Africa

Battle of Stalingrad

Germany V Soviets in Stalingrad during the winter months, Soviets blockade German troops and starve them out. 

Battle of Midway

• June 1942 - EARLY morning

• Most important battle in Pacific

• TURNING POINT in Pacific

• Was meant to be a trap led by the Japanese to lure US away from Hawaii, but US intercepted the hidden code just in time

D-Day/Battle of Normandy (incl which 3 Allied nations)

• US, Canada, and Britain

• US got Omaha, most difficult beach to invade

• Canada won easily

• US fought for hours, Germany was super powerful

Island hopping

US’s attempt of getting island to island in the Pacific to get closer to Japan. 

Kamikazes

• Suicide planes

• Ran out of highly trained pilots and needed a way to keep flying air attacks

• Easy to train pilots how to take off and they don't have to learn how to land.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

• The two targets of the Atomic Bomb

• Final chance at getting Japan to surrender

Holocaust

• German attempt at concentrating all Jews in German controlled land

• Concentration camps that turned into death camps just to keep Jews until execution

• One of the biggest genocides in world history

“Rosie the Riveter” 

• Backbone of the war effort

• 19 mil women in war (6 mil new)

• Showed that women were capable of doing men’s work

Japanese Internment

• Executive order - not approved by Congress

• Held people of Japanese decent under armed guard in AZ deserts

• Korematsu vs US supreme court case

  • In times of war, civil rights can be suspended

Iron Curtain

During the Cold War, the Iron Curtain was a political metaphor used to describe the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991

Cold War

A full-scale ideological and military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies that led to several hot wars around the globe, although the Americans and Soviets, fearful of a nuclear showdown, but never fought each other directly.

Containment

• The US policy containment policy was meant to contain the soviets after world war

• The plan was to stabilize Japan and some other 3 world countries to make sure that the soviets would be closed in and wouldn’t be able to go to war with anyone else.

  • NATO

    • North Atlantic Treaty Organization

  • Marshall Plan

    • Restore European’s faith in capitalism.

    • $13B

    • Help supply european countries that were affected by ww2 to help prevent the soviet union from expanding

Truman Doctrine

The Truman Doctrine was Truman’s idea that they would need to do anything to help independent countries keep their democracy, and fight off communism. 

NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• It was a group created to provide collective security for everyone who joined against the Soviet Union. 

Marshall Plan

• The Marshall Plan was the US’s attempt to help rebuild European countries

• They would help by creating stable economies by trading US goods with Europe

• One of the main goals was to help develop stable democratic countries all throughout Europe to fight communism

Berlin Blockade/Airlift

US’s attempt at blocking off the Soviets by blockading them, the airlifts were US planes flying low over Berlin and dropping food and supplies for the German occupants stuck in East Germany, but mainly Berlin. 

Korean War

• Began when North Korea invaded South Korea

• Us joined to fight for a long time

• The war ended with the border between the two countries in the exact same place as it started. 

Truman vs MacArthur

• It was a conflict between General Douglas MAcArthur, who wanted to use American air power to attack China during the Korean War

• Truman heavily disagreed fearing the possibility of the Soviets joining the war if China was attacked

McCarthyism

McCarthy was trying to strike fear in every American using communism as a fear factor. He was sharing really bad things about the Soviets getting closer to hurting their freedoms, he made things up like soviet spies and communist spies everywhere, scaring people into thinking anyone could be a spy. Causing lots of tension between citizens. 

MAD

• MAD was Mutual Assured Destruction

• It meant both the US and the Soviet Union understood the power of each other, and that they both could destroy each other as soon as one shot off a rocket, so they both backed off and left each other alone.

Berlin Wall

Russia put up a wall between West and East Germany to trap Germans on their side, enforcing communism, and killing a bunch of people. Everyone in Berlin was trying to get out but couldn't so the US stepped in and tried to help the Germans via Air lifts.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Russia advanced into Cuba and built missile sites. The US got worried because Russia was a lot closer to the US now, and the US was too far away from Russia. It struck worry in a ton of Americans about the constant threat of bombings. 

Domino Theory

The theory that if Vietnam falls to communism all of Southeast Asia will fall to communism.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

It was a bank check Congress gave to Johnson authorizing Johnson to do whatever he deemed necessary to continue to keep peace internationally. It gave Johnson the ability to do anything he wanted, as long as it was intended to promote peace in Southeast Asia.  

Viet Cong

South Vietnamese fighting for the North. They wore normal clothes to blend into the innocent Southern Vietnamese, so the US couldn’t tell the difference between the good guys and bad guys, which meant very bad things happened. 

Attrition

• It was a military strategy that the US adopted

• It was a strategy to bombard and attack belligerently until they wear the enemy down so much they could not continue to fight.  

Ho Chi Minh Trail

• 600 mile North Vietnamese supply route that ran along the western border of vietnam through neighboring laos and cambodia 

• Heavily defended and rapidly repaired 

• Agent orange= a defoliant that stripped trees of their leaves to expose vietcong hideouts & killed crops 

Peace Movement

• Loose coalition of anti war activist that included students and civil rights activists

• Fragmented vision 

• Anti war sentiment also among those who weren't visible protestors 

Tet Offensive

• A massive coordinated communist assault against more than 100 towns in South Vietnam 

• A military win but a psychological defeat 

• There were pictures and reports about this 

• The US loses trust in military leaders 

My Lai

• Vietnamese village: American soldiers massacred 500 civilians

• There was a national debate over 2 things

  • Was this a unique event or was this going to become common? 

  • Both left and right thought that Calley was a scapegoat 

Kent State

• Student protesting, military aid fires at crowd 

• 4 dead, 9 injured 

• Spurs even more protesting- turns most everyone against Vietnam

Vietnamization

• Nixon’s administration policy that gave the ground fighting over to South Vietnamese army 

• Led to end of war because the US pulled out their troops/support, so the North could just come in and take over