AP WORLD

Anti-Comintern Pact

1936 agreement between Germany and Japan (later Italy) to oppose the spread of Communism.

Appeasement Policy

The strategy of giving in to an aggressor's demands (Hitler) to maintain peace and avoid war.

Aryans

In Nazi ideology, the "master race" of non-Jewish Caucasians, usually Nordic, seen as superior.

Battle of Britain

1940 air campaign where the British RAF defended the UK against large-scale Nazi Luftwaffe attacks.

Battle of Midway

1942 naval battle in the Pacific

Blackshirts

Paramilitary wing of the Italian Fascist Party under Mussolini used to intimidate opposition.

Blitzkrieg

"Lightning war"

Chamberlain, Neville

British PM known for the policy of appeasement toward Hitler before WWII.

Churchill, Winston

British PM who led the UK to victory in WWII with defiant leadership and oratory.

Collective Security

System where a group of nations acts together to preserve peace (e.g., League of Nations).

Command Economy

Economic system where the government makes all decisions regarding production and pricing.

D-Day

June 6, 1944

DeGaulle, Charles

Leader of the Free French Forces in exile and future President of France.

Fascism

Far-right political system characterized by dictatorial power, nationalism, and suppression of dissent.

Five-Year Plans

Stalin's economic goals focused on rapid industrialization and agricultural control in the USSR.

Great Depression

Global economic collapse of the 1930s characterized by high unemployment and bank failures.

Hiroshima

The first city to be destroyed by an atomic bomb (August 6, 1945) to end the war with Japan.

Hitler, Adolf

Leader of the Nazi Party and dictator of Germany who initiated WWII and the Holocaust.

Holocaust

The state-sponsored systematic murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis.

Island hopping

US Pacific strategy of capturing strategic islands one by one to get closer to mainland Japan.

Lenin, V.I.

Bolshevik leader who founded the Soviet Union after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

limited war

A conflict where participants do not use all available resources or seek total enemy destruction.

Manhattan Project

Top-secret US project during WWII that developed the first atomic bombs.

Marshall Plan

US program providing $13 billion in aid to help Western Europe rebuild and resist Communism.

Mein Kampf

"My Struggle"

Munich Conference

1938 meeting where Britain and France allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland to avoid war.

Mussolini, Benito

Fascist dictator of Italy (Il Duce) who allied with Hitler during WWII.

Nanking Massacre

1937 atrocity where Japanese troops murdered and brutalized hundreds of thousands in China.

New Deal

President FDR's series of programs to provide relief and recovery during the Great Depression.

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941

Potsdam Conference

1945 meeting of Allied leaders to discuss the post-war order and peace treaty terms.

Protectionism

Economic policy of shielding a country's industries from foreign competition via tariffs.

Reichstag

The German parliament building

Reparations

Compensation payments made by a defeated nation (Germany) for damage done during WWI.

Roosevelt, Franklin

US President who led the country through the Great Depression and most of WWII.

Stalin, Joseph

Totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union who led the USSR through WWII and the Cold War.

Tehran Conference

1943 meeting of the "Big Three" to coordinate the final strategy against Germany.

Total War

Conflict requiring a country to mobilize its entire population and all resources for the war effort.