World War 2

Fascism

A political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule.

Totalitarianism

A political system in which the government has total control over the lives of individual citizens.

Dictator

A ruler who has complete power over a country

Nazism

Adolf Hitler used fascism to create this type of government based on totalitarian ideas and was used to unite Germany during the 1930s.

Appeasement

Accepting demands in order to avoid conflict

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy, Japan

Allied Powers

Alliance of Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, and France during World War II.

Blitzkrieg

"Lighting war", typed of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland n 1939

Invasion of Poland

Germany invaded, breaking their agreement, so Britain and France declared war, starting World War II

Hitler

German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945), Nazi leader and founder; had over 6 million Jews assassinated during the Holocaust

Mussolini

Italian fascist dictator (1883-1945)

Joseph Stalin

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

The Fall of France

France and Britain created a Maginot Line, which is a system of fortifications along France's eastern border. The Germans rode through an area of wooded ravines in northest France, completely avoiding the blockade. Then Germans marched to Paris and trapped the soldiers; soon Hitler gave them terms of peace.

The Battle of Britain

Is the name given to the air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. The objective of the campaign was to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Lend Lease Policy

a law passed in 1941 that allowed the United States to ship arms and other supplies, without immediate payment, to nations fighting the Axis powers

Pearl Harbor

7:50-10:00 AM, December 7, 1941 - Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100. In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering World War II.

The Pacific Theater

The war in the Pacific, most islands were involved, Japan tried to take these islands and sent 65 bombing raids all the way to Australia.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust took place in Europe between 1933 and 1945. Six million Jews were systematically and brutally murdered by the Nazis and their collaberators. Miliions of non-Jews, including Roma and Sinti(Gypsies), Serbs, political dissidents, people with disabilities, homosexuals and Jehova's Witnesses, were also persecuted by the Nazis.

Bataan Death March

Japanese forced about 60,000 of americans and philippines to march 100 miles with little food and water, most died or were killed on the way

Island Hopping

A military strategy used during World War II that involved selectively attacking specific enemy-held islands and bypassing others

General Eisenhower

A US Army general who held the position of supreme Allied commander in Europe, among many others. He was best known for his work in planning Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe.

The Manhattan Project

A secret research and development project of the US to develop the atomic bomb. Its success granted the US the bombs that ended the war with Japan as well as ushering the country into the atomic era

Nagasaki

Japanese city devastated during World War II when the United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Aug 8th, 1945.

Hiroshima

City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.

D-Day

(FDR) , June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which "we will accept nothing less than full victory." More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day's end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy.

Winston Churchill

A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.

Concentration Camps

prison camps used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany. Conditions were inhuman, and prisoners, mostly Jewish people, were generally starved or worked to death, or killed immediately.

General Dwight Eisenhower

Led the allied invasion of North Africa and planned and executed the D-Day invasion at Normandy and the battle of the budge; Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

General Douglas MacArthur

He was one of the most-known American military leaders of WW2 (He liberated the Philippines and made the Japanese surrender at Tokyo in 1945, also he drove back North Korean invaders during the Korean War); developed strategy of "island-hopping".

Harry Truman

Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

Death Camps

camps used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany for the purpose of killing prisoners immediately.

Kristallnacht

(Night of the Broken Glass) November 9, 1938, when mobs throughout Germany destroyed Jewish property and terrorized Jews.

Anti Semitism

hatred towards Jews

Adolph Hitler

• Leader of Nazi Germany.

Benito Mussolini

• Leader of Fascist Italy

Franklin Deleno Roosevelt

Leader of the United States during the Great Depression and World War 2.

Hideki Tojo

• Military Leader of Japan during World War 2.

Douglas MacArthur

US General in the Pacific.

He said, "I shall return."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

US General in Europe

Leader of D-Day

Later became president of the United States

League of Nations

A global association formed in 1919 to promote peace. It was later replaced by the United Nations in 1945

Blitzkreig

"Lighting Wars" type of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland in 1939

Nonagression Pact

a pact between Germany and the USSR saying,"You don't mess with me i won't mess with you."

Battle of Stalingrad

Decisive battle in German invasion of Russia, the Germans were surrounded and systemically destroyed

Hitler's Final Solution

The answer to "The Jewish Question". It was a mass murder of all Jews. He set up extermination camps and forced millions of Jews to enter gas chamber, ovens, and fire pits.

D Day

June 6, 1944 - Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.`

V J Day

"Victory over Japan day" is the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which was initially announced on August 15, 1945

V E Day

May 8, 1945; victory in Europe Day when the Germans surrendered

Yalta Conference

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war

Holocaust

A mass slaughter of Jews and other civilians, carried out by the Nazi government of Germany before and during World War II.

Nuremberg Trials

A series of court proceedings held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II, in which Nazi leaders were tried for aggression, violations of the rules of war, and crimes against humanity.