World War II Key Terms and Events for History Students

What is the Blitz?

British term for German air raids during World War II

What was a Kamikaze mission?

Suicide mission in which young Japanese pilots flew their planes into U.S. fighting ships at sea

What is appeasement?

Policy that sought peace and stability by satisfying reasonable demands of dissatisfied powers

Who is a collaborator?

Person who assists the enemy

What was Operation Overlord?

Code name for the D-Day invasion of France

What was the Final Solution?

Nazi plan for extermination of the Jews

What was the Potsdam Conference?

Meeting at which Truman demanded free elections throughout Eastern Europe

What was the Tehran Conference?

Meeting of the Big Three to discuss the final attack on Germany

What was the Manhattan Project?

Code name for the Atomic Bomb research and testing of the new weapon

Who were the Big Three?

Leaders of England (Winston Churchill), USA (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and USSR (Joseph Stalin) that made post-war decisions impacting Germany and Europe

What area did Hitler demand and was given in northwestern Czechoslovakia?

The Sudetenland

What event ended the war in the Pacific?

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

What was the purpose of bombing cities in World War II?

To frighten civilians and weaken morale

Which event led the United States to enter World War II?

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

How did the use of forced labor cause problems for Germany?

It disrupted industrial production in occupied countries that could have helped Germany

Why was the Battle of Stalingrad a crushing defeat for Germany?

The entire Sixth Army, considered the best of the German troops, was lost

Why was Iwo Jima important to the Allies?

Japan used airfields on the island to support its naval forces

What is Auschwitz?

A group of three German concentration camps and extermination camps in southern Poland, built and operated during the Third Reich

What was the Allied strategy of island-hopping?

Recapturing some Japanese-held islands while bypassing others

What were the Nuremberg Trials?

A series of war crimes trials held in Germany after WWII to hold Nazi leaders accountable