World War II Flashcards

World War II

(1939 - 1945) A war fought in Europe, Africa and Asia between the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States against the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

How many did in World War II?

50-60 million; 20-30 million Russian; 400,000 Americans

The Allies

China (Kai-Shek); USSR (Stalin); France (Daladier); United States (Roosevelt and Truman); Great Britain (Chamberlain and Churchill)

The Axis Powers

Germany (Hitler), Italy (Mussolini), Japan (Hirohito, Tojo, and Yamamoto)

Why did WWII start just over 20 years later?

1. The Great Depression 2. Treaty of Versailles 3. League of Nations 4. Allies wanted to avoid war

The Sudetenland (DMZ)

Last straw for the Allies, when Hitler invades the buffer zone

The Munich Pact

Hitler promised not to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia

Appeasement

Giving in to the demands of a person or country, in order to avoid conflict

The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression Pact

"Marriage of Convenience"; The two men agreed that their countries would not attack each other, either independently or along with other nations

The Invasion of Poland begins WWII

Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

Hitler was obsessed with 2 things...

Race and Lebensraum (Living Space)

Freidrich Nietzsche

argued that Western society was decadent and incapable of real creativity because of its reliance on reason; Ubermensch

Ubermensch

Those who rise to the top; "Overman"- Above everyone else, Superior

Eugenics

Scientifcaly erroneous and immoral theory of "racial improvement" and "planned breeding"

"Original Sin"

Poisoning the bloodline by marrying and having children with non-Aryans

"What luck for rulers that men do no think"

Adolf Hitler

Kindertransport

The sending out of children for refuge; only Great Britain accepted

The Arsenal of Democracy

America's Ability to supply its European allies with war supplies prior to the U.S. entry into WWII.

The Lend-Lease Act

The laws passed by the U.S. allowing us to give aid to our Allies in early WWII

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese

Bombed Pearl Harbor

The North African Campaign (Desert War)

The Allies retake control of North Africa and us it as a launching point into Italy

The Tuskegee Airmen- African-American pilots

Nicknamed "Red Tails"; Were not allowed to fight in direct combat missions; Escorted bombers across North Africa and Europe

Double V- Tuskegee Airmen

Racism in America and Facism in Europe; Fought against the racial ideology

Erwin Rommel- German General

Nicknamed "The Desert Fox"; Greatest military mind in world history promoted by propaganda; Led the Nazi Afrika Korps

Dwight Eisenhower- American General

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe

George Patton- American Gneral

Captured or liberated territory that was equal to the size of France; Had German spies on him as he was so influential on attacks; Led the first tank brigade in WWI

Bernard Montgomery- British Field Marshall

Led the "Desert Rats"

Tunsia

They used this country to take over Italy and re-control Europe

D-Day Operation Overlord (June 6, 1944)

The Allied invasion that began the liberation of France; Largest air, sea, and land invasion in history

Atlantic Wall

Series of obstacles along the coast of France to protect Nazi occupied France

The Phantom Army

Led y George Patton; Fake Army to trick the Nazis on the real invasion

Normandy Code names

Utah, Omaha (Deadliest), Gold, Juno, Sword

Navajo Code Talkers

Native Americans from the Navajo tribe used their own language to make a code for the U.S. military that the Japanese could not decipher

The Battle of the Bulge

Hitler's "Last Stand"; Final counter-attack; Multiple series of battles

Battle of Bastogne (Belgium)

Nazi troops and tanks surround the city and put under siege for 6 days

A.C. MacAuliffe- US General response

Responded to Germans surrender threat with "Nuts!"

VE- Day

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

"Island Hopping"

Take back Japanese occupied islands with the eventual goal of invading Japan; Air, sea, and land invasion of Japan

Admiral Chester Nimitiz

Commander of the US Pacific Fleet

General Douglas MacArthur

Commander of the Allied Land Forces in the Pacific

"Death before dishonor"

japanese slogan- it was more honorable to die for your country than to come back with a loss

"Suicide Cliff"

Civilians in Saipan, Mariana Islands, were indoctrinated to never surrender; 8,000 jumped off cliffs

The Battle of Midway

Japan's first major defeat in the Pacific; No land fighting between troops; Turning point in the Pacific

USS Yorktown

Aircraft carrier that sunk at Battle of Midway

The Battle of Guadalcanal

First land or territory Japan lost to America

Corregidor, Philippines

MacArthur and Filipino forces are defeated and surrendered

Bataan Peninsula

where MacArthur retreated from the overwhelming Japanese

The Bataan Death March

POW were sent on a 65 mile "death march"; 6 day march that killed 9000 Filipinos and 1000 Americans

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

It began the liberation of the Philippines; The largest naval battle in history

The Battle of Iwo Jima

Nicknamed "Sulfer Island"; Island hopping was successful but costly; 1500 rooms dug into the rock, 16 miles of tunnel; bombed for 2 and half months straight

Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima

Highest point in the island; captured after 4 days of fighting; iconic photo of soldiers putting up the flag

The Battle of Okinawa

Operation Iceberg; The last battle in the "island hopping" strategy; cave to cave fighting; Indigenous people living in the island;

Kamikaze pilots

Suicide pilots; "Pilots of the Divine Wind"

Desmond Doss

Conscientious Objector who saved 75 comrades

The Firebombing of Japan

General Curtis LeMay led this, US used napalm on the Japanese cities to create firestorms

VJ Day

Victory in Japan Day

The Manhattan Project

Started in NY by Roosevelt; Started to develop the atomic bomb

The Yalta Conference- Ukraine

Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill agree on what Europe will look like when the war is over. Roosevelt gives Eastern Europe to Stalin; Staling agrees to fight in the Pacific after the war in Europe is over

The Potsdam Conference- Germany

"five Ds" decided upon at Yalta: demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, and deindustrialization; US successfully tested the 1st atomic bomb called "Trinity"

Trinity

First atomic bomb successfully tested

"Little Boy"

First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima; Made of uranium; Killing 70,000-100,000 and destroying 80% of the city

"Fat man"

Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki; Made of plutonium; 40,000 to 80,000 killed and 65% of the city destroyed

Office of Civilian Defense

Organized volunteers in home front activities

War Production Board

Switched industry from civilian to military production

Rosie the Riveter

"We can do it"; Symbol of encouraging women to join the work force

The Treaty of Versailles

the treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1920 after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans

Weimar Republic

the democratic government in Germany after the First World War; German currency lost all its value; Problems overwhelmed them

Collectives

Large government owned farms, each worked by hundreds of families

Joseph Stalin

Man of Steel, created Communist state, led Soviet Union, Allied Powers, killed between 8-13 million

Benitio Mussolin

Il Duce (the leader); formed a totalitarian regime in Italy; Established the Fascist Party

Facism

stressed nationalism and placed the interests of the state above those of individuals

Fasces (Latin)

A bundle of rods tied around an ax handle; Symbol of unity and authority in ancient Rome

"Black Shirts"

The private army of Mussolini, wearing black uniforms

Hideki Tojo

Chief of staff of Japan's Kwantung Army; Became prime minister in 1941

Kwangtung Army

They were a large group of the Japanese Army that launched invasions farther into China

Militarism

Japanese leaders believed in the need for a strong army to accomplish their country's goals

Francisco Franco

Fascist leader of the Spanish revolution, helped by Hitler and Mussolini

Abraham Lincoln Battalion

3000 Americans formed to travel to Spain to fight against Franco

Adolf Hitler

Der Fuhrer (The Leader); Joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) after WWI; Wrote Mein Kamph; Appointed Chancellor and established the Third Reich

Nazism

German brand of fascism based on extreme nationalism

Mein Kamph (My Struggle)

Set forth the basic beliefs of Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party

The Storm troopers (Brown Shirts)

Nazis' private army used by Hitler to terrorize communists, Socialists, and trade union workers, especially the Jews

Third Reich

Third German Empire; "Thousand-year Reich"l it would last a thousand years

Rome-Berlin Axis

Formal alliance between Germany and Italy

League of Nations

an international organization formed in 1920 to promote cooperation and peace among nations

Hitler invades Rhineland

A German region bordering France and Belgium

Mussolini targets Ethiopia

Naile Selassie (Ethiopian emperor) called for help but did little to no help

The Paris Peace Conference

The peace conference that decided the terms of WWI peace and Treaty of Versailles; Helped create Austria out of what as left of Austro-Hungarian Empire

Anschluss "Union" with Austria

Hitler successfully creates an alliance with Austria

William Shirer

US correspondent in Berlin; "The Nazi press is full of hysterical headlines"

Munich Agreement

Signed by Daladier and Chamberlain; Turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without resistance

Winston Churchill

Chamberlain's political rival in Great Britain; Though the Munich Agreement adopted a shameful policy of appeasement

Luftwaffe

German air force

Royal Air Force (RAF)

British air force

Blitzkreig (lightning war)

Made use of advances in military technology to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force

Maginot Line

Fortifications along the German-French Border

Sitzkrieg (Sitting) or Phony War

Allies sat staring at Germany waiting for them at the Maginot line, waiting for something to happen; Ended when Hitler built bases along the coasts to strike Great Britian and overran Northern Europe

Charles de Gaulle

Set up government-in-exile

Compiegne, France

France surrendered to Hitler

Marshal Philippe Petain

when Hitler gained control of northern France, he was in charge of south, hero from WWI who betrayed France by setting up a puppet government. The Vichy government.