Unit 9: World War II Topic 1

fascism

First founded by Mussolini in Italy; a political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule.

Nazism

German brand of facism advocated by Hitler; a political movement based on totalitarian ideas and was used to unite Germany during the 1930s.

totalitarianism

Any government that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life (Ex. fascism, Nazism, communism)

Treaty of Versailles

(1919) Ended WWI; required Germany to pay huge war reparations and established the League of Nations; attributed as a cause of WWII.

appeasement

A policy of making concessions to an aggressor in the hopes of avoiding war. Associated with Neville Chamberlain's policy of making concessions to Adolf Hitler.

Munich Conference

1938, European leaders attempted to appease Hitler by turning over the Sudetenland to him in exchange for promise that Germany would not expand Germany's territory any further.

Axis power aggression

Actions taken by Italy, Germany and Japan in the 1930s to expand their territorial holdings by force in defiance of international agreements. (Ex. Italy invades Ethiopia, Japan invades Manchuria, Germany takes the Rhineland)

Non-Aggression Pact

1939-Secret agreement between German leader Hitler and Soviet Leader Stalin not to attack one another and to divide Poland; Hitler ended this when he attacked the USSR in 1941 and the USSR joined the Allies

U.S. isolationism

it was the belief that political ties to other countries should be avoided because it would lead conflict

Neutrality Acts

Laws passed in the 1930s to prevent the U.S. from being drawn into war again; barred the transportation or sale of arms to warring nations and banned loans to nations at war outside the Western Hemisphere

"Four Freedoms" speech

Delivered to Congress by FDR on January 6, 1941 to encourage Americans to move away from isolationism and support the Allies by lending money to Britain for the purchase of US war materials.

Lend-Lease Act

Law passed in 1941 that gave FDR permission to sell or lend war supplies to any nation whose defense was considered vital to the US national security

Pearl Harbor

United States military base on Hawaii that was bombed by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941, bringing the United States into World War II.