WWII Common Assessment

Axis Powers

Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.

Allied Powers

Great Britain, USA, and Soviet Union are remembered as the big 3, but others included Canada, Australia, China, and many, many more. There were technically 47 Allied countries.

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of Great Britain

Great Britain

Allied Power that includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that held out against the Germans air-invasions for a long time until the US joined

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

longest-serving US president; in office during the Great Depression and World War II

Joseph Stalin

Dictator of the Soviet Union (Russia) who initially sided with Hitler, but was double-crossed by him, causing The Soviet Union to switch sides and join the Allies

Soviet Union

A Communist nation, consisting of Russia and 14 other states, that existed from 1922 to 1991. Led by Stalin, switch from the Axis to the Allied powers in WW2

France

Allied power invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940; they had a 'underground' resistance to Nazis; were liberated by the Allies on D-Day (June 6 1944)

Nazi Ideology

Aryan (White, German, Christian) superiority, Anti-Semitism, totalitarian control

Appeasement

Other European nations kept 'allowing' Germany to take more and more land from other countries before stepping in

Austria

The first country Hitler invaded; no one stopped him

Czechoslovakia

The second country Hitler invaded; no one stopped him

Poland

The third country Hitler invaded in 1939 which officially started WW2 because the UK and France told Hitler it was time to stop

Causes of WWII

Treaty of Versailles, Hitler's rise to power, Invasion of Poland by Germany

Japanese-American Regiment

despite their families being interned, the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team of the military in WW2 earned more awards for bravery than any other unit of military history

D-Day

The successful Allied invasion of the beaches of Nazi-occupied France, turning the tide of the war in Europe (June 6 1944)

Holocaust

Systematic, state-sponsored murder of six millions Jews and millions of others by the Nazi regime

Battle of Midway

US won this battle against Japan, a turning point in the war in the Pacific

Tuskegee Airmen

African American military pilots who overcame racism and served in WWII

Navajo Code Talkers

Native Americans who created an unbreakable code for U.S. military use

Rosie the Riveter

Propaganda character and symbol of women entering the workforce in huge numbers, taking over positions previously reserved for men, during WWII

Bracero Program

Launched by the US Government to encourage Mexicans to move to America to work on farms due to labor shortage -- after deporting over a million Mexican-Americans a few years prior!

Fascism

A political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and suppresses individual rights and freedoms

War Production Board

FDR created this agency; it converted factories from civilian to military production.

Mobilization

Gathering resources and preparing for war

New Job Opportunities

Women, African Americans, and Mexican immigrants had new ________________ because of the U.S. mobilization in WWII

Victory Gardens

Backyard gardens; Americans were encouraged to grow their own vegetables to support the war effort

Rationing

A system where Americans had a limited portion or allowance of food or good in order to make sure there was enough for the War Effort

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

caused the U.S. to enter WWII and lead to the internment of hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans

Atomic Bomb

a nuclear weapon dropped on two different cities in Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) that forced Japan to surrender, effectively ending WWII

Internment Camps

Detention centers where more than 100,000 innocent Japanese Americans were relocated during World War II by order of the President because they were suddenly considered a 'threat' to national security

Atomic Bomb Effects on Japan

over 100,000 people died; some survivors were left deformities, most were left with long-term illnesses such as cancer from radiation exposure

Nanking Massacre

1937 killing, torture, and sexual assault of 300,000 Chinese citizens by Japanese soldiers.

"The Forgotten Ally"

China-- They had been fighting Japan since 1937, and worked with the United States and the Allies in World War 2