World War II Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the major events, figures, strategies, and outcomes of World War II as detailed in the lecture.

Axis Powers

The alliance created between 1936-1940 consisting of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Franco

The Spanish General who took over Spain with the help of Hitler and Italy.

Guernica

A city where Germany bombed innocent civilians to help General Franco defeat communists in Spain.

Blitzkrieg

A German strategy meaning "lightning war" that uses fast-moving planes, tanks, artillery, and soldiers to overwhelm defenses.

Battle of Dunkirk

A battle where Britain rescued the remains of its military from France using civilian boats to transport them back to Britain.

Isolationism

A policy followed by most Americans prior to the war which focused on staying out of the conflicts of other nations.

War Bond

A financial instrument where people loan the government money with the promise that the government will pay it back after the war.

Rosie the Riveter

A propaganda figure representing the women who replaced men in the workplace during World War II.

Total War

A strategy used by the Allies that involved using all available resources for the war effort.

Battle of Midway

A 1942 naval battle where the United States used radar to identify incoming Japanese forces and destroyed Japan's fleet.

Island Hopping

A US strategy in the Pacific to take over weakly defended islands while skipping heavily defended ones to get closer to Japan.

Tehran Conference

A November 1943 meeting between the US, Russia, and Britain where they planned to focus on winning in Europe first and invade Nazi-controlled France.

Battle of Stalingrad

A major 1942 house-by-house battle in the Soviet Union where German troops were eventually surrounded and forced to surrender in Jan. 1943.

Operation Torch

The Allied plan led by Dwight D. Eisenhower to re-capture North Africa from the Germans.

Antisemitism

The false belief that Jews were corrupt, evil, or responsible for horrible actions in the world.

Kristallnacht

Known as the "night of the broken glass" in 1938, it involved the killing of 90 Jews and the destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues.

Ghettos

Walled-off areas within Polish cities where Nazis temporarily segregated Jews in overcrowded and starving conditions.

The Final Solution

The official Nazi government policy for the mass extermination of Europe’s Jews.

VE Day

May 8, 1945, the day Germany officially surrendered to the Allies.

Nuremberg Trials

Trials where Nazi leaders were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, establishing a precedent for International Criminal Law.

Manhattan Project

The top-secret US project based in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to build the atomic bomb.

Little Boy

The name of the first atomic bomb dropped by a US plane on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Marshall Plan

A US program providing food and economic assistance to destroyed countries to strengthen democratic and capitalist governments.

United Nations

An international organization formed in April 1945 by 50 nations with the goal of stopping and ending wars.

Security Council

The five permanent members of the UN—US, Russia, Great Britain, France, and China—who hold veto power over decisions.