World War II Study Guide

Flashcards covering key concepts and events related to World War II for exam preparation.

Appeasement

Giving in to an aggressor to keep peace, as seen in Britain and France's response to Hitler in the Munich Conference.

Czechoslovakia

First country at Hitler took after the Munich conference.

Poland

Hitler invades on September 1st 1949, surrendering in two weeks.

Blitzkrieg

A military tactic used by Hitler, characterized by speed and concentrated firepower using tanks and planes.

France

Hitler invades on May 10th 1940, maginot line is bypassed.

Battle of Britain

A significant air campaign in 1940 where Britain did not surrender, marking Britain's finest hour although being at a 4:1

Soviet Union

Invades on June 22 1941. Germany army is 12 miles from Moscow in December.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

An agreement signed between Hitler and Stalin on August 23, 1939, to divide Poland.

Axis powers.

Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Battle of Midway

Japan island were attacked on June 4th 1942, marines finest hour, US navy sinks 4 Japanese aircraft carriers.

Island hopping

The USA would take over Japanese islands.

D-Day

The largest invasion in history on June 6, 1944, where Allied forces landed at Normandy.

Kamikaze tactics

Japanese suicide attacks during World War II involving pilots deliberately crashing into Allied ships.

Battle of Stalingrad

On July 17th 1942, Russian army and the winter season would push Germans back, did not give up.

Pearl Harbor

A surprise attack by Japan on December 7, 1941, that led to the United States entering World War II.

Allied bombing campaign

Would start at 1943 and end at 1945.

The Holocaust

The systematic extermination of Jews during World War II, resulting in millions of deaths.

USAAF

Hit Germans factories in the day

RAF

Hit German cities at the night.

Battle of the Altanic

British and American destroyers sinked German U-boats.

Iwo Jima

A pivotal battle in the Pacific where US Marines raised the flag, marking a strategic victory.

Hitler death

He committed after Germany surrenders due to D-Day.

Atomic Bomb

First target was Hiroshima than Nagasaki

Final Solution

Nazi Germany's plan to exterminate the Jewish population, leading to the mass murder in death camps.

Einsatzgruppen

Mobile death squads, shot them in the head, and Jews would dug their own grave.

Death Camps

6,000 killed in a day, 6 million were killed in total

Gas Chambers

Bodies were cremated in industrial ovens.

Victims

Jews, Soviet soldiers and civilians, Homosexuals and political dissidents.

Schindler’s list

Jews were forced to the countryside, careful list were made, became essential workers not be sent to death camps.

Jewish Ghettoes

Eventually liquidated and force into work camps.

Hate from Nazis

They hated Jews because they feared Jews, saw them as a threat, wanted Germany to be united, money, and victory.