WWII

Tuskegee Airmen

Group of African American pilots who trained at the Tuskegee flying school and fought in WWII.

Blitzkrieg

“Lighting war” Germany’s method of offensive warfare designed to strike a swift, focused at their enemy.

European Theater

Series of battlefronts in WWII that stretched across the European continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mtns.

Pearl Harbor

US military base in Hawaii that was boomed by Japan on December 7, 1942, and brought the US into WWII.

Operation Barbarossa

The name of the German invasion of the Soviet Union WWII-largest land offensive in human history (10M combatants)

Manhattan Project

Code name for the US effort to build an atomic bomb during WWII-led by Oppenheimer.

Operation Overlord

The official name for the Allied invasion of Normandy in June of 1944 (also known as D-Day)

Pacific Theater

Series of battlefronts in WWII that took place in SE Asia and most of the fighting took place over ocean.

Island Hopping

American strategy in which their navy attacked and captured islands in the Pacific Ocean on their way to Japan.

Internment Camp

Detention centers where over 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated during WWII by order of the President.

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy, and Japan

Allied Powers

Great Britain and France

Totalitarianism

A political system in which the government controls every aspect of citizen’s lives.

Anti-Semitism

Discrimination of hatred against Jewish ppl, often rooted in historical or religious.

Fascism

A political system in which the government is seen as more important than individuals.

Nazism

The political ideology of Nazi Germany based on extreme nationalism and authoritarian by Hitler.

Appeasement

A policy of avoiding war with an aggressive nation by giving into its demands.

Non-Agression Pact

An agreement between countries promising not to attack or engage in military conflict with each other.

Final Solution

The plan by Hitler + Nazi Germany regime to systematically exterminate Jewish ppl during WWII.

Nuremberg Laws

Laws enacted by Nazi Germany (1935) that stripped Jewish ppl of citizenship and basic rights, enforcing racial discrimination.

Nuremberg Trials

A series of Post- WWII military tribunals where allied forces prosecuted leaders of NO for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Holocaust

In a program of mass murder, this. Hitler and Nazis had attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe in the name of Aryan Supremacy.

United Nations

An international organization founded (1945) to promote peace, security, and cooperation among countries world wide.

Potsdam (conference)

The final meeting of the same allied leaders to negotiate postwar Germany and demand Japan surrenders.

Yalta (conference)

A meeting between FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin to plan post WWII Europe and the UN.

Lend-Lease Act

Allowed the president to aid any nation believed vital to US defense.

Genocide

Extermination of an entire group of people.

VE day

Marks end of WWII in Europe when Nazis Germany surrendered. (1945 may 8)

VJ Day

Marks the end of WWII after Japan surrendered (1945 August)