American History - Unit 8✅

Blitzkreig

A sudden attack, literally meaning a “lightning war.”

Axis Powers

Included Germany, Italy, Japan, and several other nations that fought the Ally powers in WWII

Allies

Included Britain, France, and eventually many other nations, including the Soviet Union, the U.S., and China

Winston Churchill

The new prime minister of Britain who led them through difficult times during WWII. He cautioned Parliament that wars were not won by evacuation after escaping from Dunkirk

Neutrality Act of 1939

An act passed by Congress that included a cash-and-carry provision. This provision allowed belligerent nations to buy goods and arms in the U.S. if they paid cash and carried the merchandise on their own ships. Aided the Allies

Charles Lindbergh

A leading isolationist voice that believed the real threats to America were the Soviet Union and Japan, and he didn’t want to see his country weaken itself fighting in Western Europe to save Britain

Lend-Lease Act

An act that authorized Roosevelt to sell, transfer, title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government any defense article whenever he thought it was necessary in the interests of the defense of the U.S.

Atlantic Charter

A document that endorsed national self-determination and an international system of general security, signed by Roosevelt and Churchill secretly on a warship, signaling a deepening alliance between the nations.

Hideki Tojo

The Japanese Prime Minister known as “the razor” for his sharp mind. He focused intently on military expansion but sought to keep the US neutral.

Pearl Harbor

The site in Hawaii of the US Navy’s main pacific base that Japan bombed

George Marshall

Army chief of staff who directed the military buildup, from coordinating and training troops to oversee the manufacturing and delivery of all necessary supplies

Women’s army corps

Part of the regular army, not an auxiliary attachment, where women who volunteered and served received the same benefits as men

Douglas MacArthur

Commander of US Army forces in East Asia who struggled to hold the US positions in the Philippines with little support

Bataan Death March

Japanese troops forced the sick and malnourished prisoners of war to march more than 60 miles in inland, where more than 7000 died.

Battle of coral sea

A naval battle fought entirely by aircraft carriers that stopped Japan’s advanced toward Australia and marked an ally victory

Neutrality Acts

Acts put in place to keep the U.S. out of foreign conflicts

Cash-and-Carry Policy

A policy that helped the U.S. remain neutral by allowing the sale of non-military goods to nations at war as long as they pay in cash and transport the goods themselves

Lend-Lease Act

This act prohibited military aid and money to our allies during the war

Atlantic Charter

Joint declaration that allowed trade, including self-determination & economic collaboration

War bond

Where citizens lent the government money in order to help fund the war, and then receiving a certain amount of interest after 10 years. It allowed them to save income and invest in the war effort.

Rationing

Limiting the amount of certain goods that citizens could buy, ensuing that raw materials like rubber and gasoline went to war production

Office of War Information

A government agency that worked closely with the media to encourage support of the war effort. It spotlighted common needs, minimized racial and economic divisions, and downplayed problems of poverty and crime.

Internment

Temporary imprisonment of members of a specific group

442nd Regimental Combat Team

One of the most highly decorated Army regiments in the history of the U.S. Army, and one of the most historic military units in American military history.

A. Philip Randolph

A labor leader who asserted that African Americans would no longer accept second-class citizenship, demanding for the ability to fight for their country

Executive order 8802

A measure that assumed fair hiring practices in any job funded with government money and established the Fair Employment Practices Committee to enforce these requirements

Bracero program

A program where laborers from Mexico were brought in to work on American farms, especially in the West.

Executive Order 9066

Allowed to US military to place Japanese Americans in internment camps within “war zones” of the U.S. About 120,000 people were moved into these camps

War Production Board

Federal agency that directed the economy, while trying to limit the effect on civilian lives by controlling war production

Double V Campaign

Defeating Jim Crow defeats the Nazis and Japanese because they believe in these ideals. A campaign that worked to defeat the Axis powers abroad as well as discrimination in the U.S.

Atlantic Wall

Coastal defenses built by Nazis along Western coast of Europe to prevent Allied invasions

Operation Torch

American invasion of Nazi and Italian-Occupied North Africa where the British were already fighting the Nazis

Operation Husky

Allied invasion of Sicily, and then the later invasion of mainland Italy

Operation Overlord

Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France led by Dwight Eisenhower that included several phases

Dwight Eisenhower

Known as Ike, who commanded the Allied invasion of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and North France

George S. Patton Jr.

As innovative tank commander and single-minded general known as Blood and Guts

Unconditional surrender

Giving up completely without any concessions / no peace agreement

Saturation bombing

A type of bombing that’s goal was to inflict maximum damage with massive amounts of bombs

Strategic bombing

A type of bombing that targeted Germany’s capacity to make war by specifically targeting large German cities or important factories

Tuskegee Airmen

An African American fighter squadron that played a key role, escorting bombers and protecting the, from enemy fighter pilots

Chester Nimitz

Commander of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific who knew the Japanese plans to attack Midway. To meet the assault, he sent his only available aircrafts to Midway

Battle of Midway

The most important naval battle in WWII where the U.S. defeated Japan, ending the seemingly unstoppable Japanese advance

Battle of the Philippines / Bataan Death March

Japan attacked the Philippines at the same time they attacked Pearl Harbor. 80,000 Americans and Filipino soldiers remained and were marched 80 miles to a POW camp.

Island hopping

U.S. strategy in the Pacific, attacking Japanese-held islands to approach the Japanese home islands

Kamikaze

Suicide plane attacks

Ketsu Go

Japanese plan where hopefully negotiations could get made at Okinawa, but they knew the U.S. would island hop until reaching mainland Japan, where civilians and the military would fight to the death

Battle of the Bulge

A counterattack ordered by Hitler where English-speaking German soldiers in U.S. uniforms cut telephone lines, changed road signs, and spread confusion, allowing Germany to capture several towns

Harry S. Truman

The new president of the U.S. after Roosevelt’s death that chose to drop the atomic bombs on Japan and end the war

Albert Einstein

The world’s most famous scientist who signed a letter that alerted President Roosevelt about the need to proceed with development of atomic weapons

Manhattan Project

The development of an atomic bomb, given the highest national priority by Roosevelt

J. Robert Oppenheimer

A physicist who was one of the primary leaders for the Manhattan Project, running the scientific aspect of the project