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Flashcards covering the key events and policies leading up to World War 2, focusing on Hitler's actions and the international response.
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Hitler
A political figure whose rise in Germany is often debated as a potential cause of World War II.
Wall Street Crash
The stock market crash that had a global impact and affected Germany significantly.
Reasons for German people voting for Hitler
Reasons include restoring pride, solving unemployment, blaming Jews, fear of communists, Hitler's speaking ability, Nazi image, propaganda, and desire for a strong leader.
Hitler’s Foreign Policy Goals
Reversing the Treaty of Versailles, creating a 'Greater Germany', and creating ‘living space’.
Rhineland
The region remilitarized by Hitler in 1936.
Sudetenland
Territory gained by Germany in 1938 after the Munich Crisis.
Anschluss
The union of Germany and Austria in 1938.
1933
The year Germany left the League of Nations.
1935
The year conscription was re-introduced in Germany.
Anti-Comintern Pact
The pact signed between Germany, Italy, and Japan in 1937.
Czechoslovakia
In March 1939, German soldiers invaded the rest of __.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Pact between Germany and Russia agreeing not to fight each other and secretly dividing Poland.
Poland
The nation invaded by Germany in September 1939, triggering World War II.
Hitler
A political figure whose rise in Germany is often debated as a potential cause of World War II.
Wall Street Crash
The stock market crash that had a global impact and affected Germany significantly.
Reasons for German people voting for Hitler
Reasons include restoring pride, solving unemployment, blaming Jews, fear of communists, Hitler's speaking ability, Nazi image, propaganda, and desire for a strong leader.
Hitler’s Foreign Policy Goals
Reversing the Treaty of Versailles, creating a 'Greater Germany', and creating ‘living space’.
Rhineland
The region remilitarized by Hitler in 1936.
Sudetenland
Territory gained by Germany in 1938 after the Munich Crisis.
Anschluss
The union of Germany and Austria in 1938.
1933
The year Germany left the League of Nations.
1935
The year conscription was re-introduced in Germany.
Anti-Comintern Pact
The pact signed between Germany, Italy, and Japan in 1937.
Czechoslovakia
In March 1939, German soldiers invaded the rest of __.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Pact between Germany and Russia agreeing not to fight each other and secretly dividing Poland.
Poland
The nation invaded by Germany in September 1939, triggering World War II.
Treaty of Versailles
Treaty that imposed harsh terms on Germany after World War I.
'Greater Germany'
The idea of uniting all German speakers into one country.
Lebensraum ('living space')
The concept of acquiring territory for German expansion.
Rhineland
A region between Germany and France that was to be demilitarized according to the Treaty of Versailles.
Conscription
The act of re-introducing military draft, violating the Treaty of Versailles.
Anti-Comintern Pact
A pact aimed against the Communist International.
Sudetenland
A region of Czechoslovakia inhabited by many ethnic Germans.
Anschluss
The political union of Austria with Germany.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
The pact ensuring non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Poland
The invasion of this country marked the start of World War II.
Blitzkrieg
German strategy of 'lightning war'.
Battle of Britain
The air battle between the German Luftwaffe and the British Royal Air Force.
The Holocaust
Mass extermination of Jews and other groups by the Nazis during World War II.
Nuremberg Laws
Laws that stripped Jews of their rights and property in Germany.
Kristallnacht
Night of Broken Glass, in which Jewish synagogues and businesses were vandalized.
Ghettos
Segregated areas in cities where Jews were forced to live.
Einsatzgruppen
Special action squads responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting.
Death Camps
Extermination camps designed for mass murder.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Most infamous death camp, located in Poland.
The Shoah
Systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
Nuremberg Trials
International military tribunal held in Nuremberg to prosecute Nazi war criminals.
Appeasement
The act of appeasing an aggressive power to avoid conflict.
Neville Chamberlain
Prime Minister of Britain who pursued a policy of appeasement towards Hitler.
Munich Agreement
Conference where Britain and France allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland.
Isolationism
Policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of foreign countries.
Neutrality Acts
U.S. policy of neutrality at the beginning of World War II.
Lend-Lease Act
Allowing the U.S. to lend or lease war materials to countries whose defense was vital to the U.S.
Pearl Harbor
Surprise attack by the Japanese on a U.S. naval base in Hawaii, leading to U.S. entry into World War II.
Axis Powers
Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Allied Powers
Alliance between Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, and other nations.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.
Joseph Stalin
Soviet leader during World War II.
Winston Churchill
British Prime Minister during most of World War II.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
U.S. president during most of World War II.
Battle of Stalingrad
Turning point in the Eastern Front, marking a major defeat for Germany.
D-Day
Allied invasion of Normandy, France, marking the start of the liberation of Western Europe.
Battle of the Bulge
Last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II.
Pacific Theater
Island-hopping campaign by the U.S. in the Pacific to get closer to Japan.
Battle of Midway
Naval battle that was a turning point in the Pacific War.
Kamikaze
Japanese suicide pilots who crashed their planes into Allied ships.
Manhattan Project
Secret American project to develop the atomic bomb.
Hiroshima
City on which the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945.
Nagasaki
City on which the second atomic bomb was dropped on August 9, 1945.
V-J Day
Formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, marking the end of World War II.
V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day, marking the Allied victory in Europe on May 8, 1945.
United Nations
International organization founded after World War II to promote peace and cooperation.
Cold War
Ideological and geopolitical struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies.
Containment
U.S. policy of preventing the spread of communism.
Marshall Plan
U.S. aid program to help rebuild Europe after World War II.
NATO
Military alliance between the U.S., Canada, and Western European nations.
Warsaw Pact
Military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite states.
Iron Curtain
Dividing line between Western and Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
Totalitarianism
A state in which the government plans and controls all aspects of economic and social life.
Fascism
A political ideology or movement that exalts nation and race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Totalitarianism
Government control over all aspects of a nation's life.
Dictatorship
A political system headed by a dictator in which the government controls all aspects of society.
Isolationism
Policy of avoiding involvement in world affairs.
Racism
The belief that race determines traits and capabilities.
Antisemitism
Anti-Jewish prejudice
Nuremberg Laws
Laws that excluded Jews from German citizenship and forbade marriages between Jews and Germans.
Kristallnacht
A destructive rampage against Jewish communities.
Ghettos
Areas where the Jewish population was forcibly isolated.
Einsatzgruppen
Mobile killing units.
Final Solution
The Nazi policy of exterminating European Jews.
Extermination Camp
A camp where prisoners were systematically exterminated.
Genocide
The deliberate mass murder or physical extinction of a particular racial, political, or cultural group.
Fascism
Political philosophy that glorifies the state above the individual stressing the need for a strong central government led by a dictatorial ruler.
Totalitarian State
A government that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens.
State Corporatism
A political system in which the state and government are used to mobilize resources to achieve economic modernization.
Joseph Goebbels
Propaganda minister for Nazi Germany.
Heinrich Himmler
Leader of the SS.
SS (Schutzstaffel)
Elite security force of the Nazi regime.
Gestapo
Secret police force of the Nazi regime.
Great Depression
The economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash of 1929.