Causes and Course of WW1

Invasion of Ethiopia

The 1935 attack by Italy on Ethiopia was an act of expansion that showed the weakness of the League of Nations.

Rome-Berlin Axis

The alliance formed in 1936 between fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

Concentration camps

Camps created by Nazi Germany to imprison, exploit, and later murder millions of people, especially Jews.

Kristallnacht

A violent anti-Jewish attack in Germany on November 9–10, 1938, in which Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses were destroyed.

Andchuluss

The 1938 annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany.

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

A 1939 agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union promising not to attack each other and secretly dividing Eastern Europe.

Blitzkrieg

A military strategy based on fast attacks using tanks, aircraft, and troops to defeat an enemy quickly.

Battle of Britain

The 1940 air battle in which Britain successfully defended itself from German air attacks.

Operation Barbarossa

Germany’s 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, which opened the Eastern Front in World War II.

Appeasement

A policy used to avoid war by giving in to the demands of aggressive nations like Nazi Germany

Pearl Harbor

A surprise 1941 attack by Japan on the U.S. naval base at Pear Harbour that brought the United States into WWII

Holocaust

The systematic genocide in which Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews and millions of other under Hitler’s regime

Potsdam Conference

A 1945 meeting between Allied leaders to decide how to manage postwar Germany