World War II Flashcards

Flashcards capturing key vocabulary terms and concepts from the World War II lecture notes.

Nationalism

A strong identification with one's own nation (1930s-1940s context) leading to superiority and the belief that national interests are more important than international cooperation.

Totalitarian Government

A system of government prevalent in the 1930s (e.g., USSR, Germany, Italy) where the state has total authority over society and controls every aspect of public and private life.

Fascism

A political ideology characterized by authoritarianism and extreme nationalism; rose in Italy (1922) under Mussolini and Germany (1933) under Hitler.

Blitzkrieg

A German "lightning war" strategy using fast, powerful military attacks, first used during the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.

Axis Powers

The coalition of Germany, Italy, and Japan, formalized by the Tripartite Pact in 1940, which opposed the Allies during World War II.

Allied Powers

The coalition including Great Britain and France (1939), the Soviet Union (1941), and the United States (1941) that fought against the Axis Powers.

Pearl Harbor

The Japanese surprise military strike on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, leading to the U.S. declaration of war.

Manhattan Project

A secret U.S. research and development project (1942-1946) that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II.

Nuremberg Trials

A series of military tribunals held between 1945 and 1946 to prosecute prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany.

The Marshall Plan

An American initiative enacted in 1948 providing over 13 billion dollars in economic aid to rebuild Western Europe and prevent the spread of communism.

Cold War

A period of ideological and geopolitical tension (1947-1991) between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Kristallnacht

The "Night of Broken Glass" (November 9-10, 1938), where Nazis coordinated a wave of violence against Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.

Munich Pact

A 1938 agreement permitting Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, famously associated with the failed policy of appeasement.

Jackie Robinson

The first African American to play in Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers) on April 15, 1947, breaking the color barrier.

22nd Amendment

An amendment ratified in 1951 that officially limited a U.S. President to serving only two terms in office.

Adolf Hitler

The Fuhrer and dictator of Nazi Germany (1933-1945) whose expansionist policies and racial ideology led to WWII and the Holocaust.

Josef Stalin

The General Secretary of the Communist Party and totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953.

Hideki Tojo

The Prime Minister of Japan (1941-1944) and general of the Imperial Japanese Army responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Benito Mussolini

The Fascist dictator of Italy (1922-1943) who allied with Hitler during World War II.

Appeasement

The policy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power to avoid war, most associated with Britain's Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s.

Non-Aggression Pact

A secret agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939 where they promised not to attack each other and agreed to divide Poland.

Executive Order 9066

A presidential order signed by FDR in February 1942 authorizing the removal of Japanese Americans to internment camps.

Harry Truman

The 33rd U.S. President (1945-1953) who took office after FDR’s death and authorized the use of atomic bombs on Japan.

Total War

A conflict in which a nation mobilizes all of its resources—economic, industrial, and human—to support the war effort (1939-1945).

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The two Japanese cities targeted by U.S. atomic bombs on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively, leading to Japan's surrender.

Hibakusha

A Japanese word meaning "survivor of the bomb," referring to the people affected by the 1945 atomic bombings.

Issei and Nisei

Terms for Japanese Americans:

• Issei: First-generation immigrants born in Japan.
• Nisei: Second-generation, American-born citizens.

Third Reich

The Nazi name for Germany during the period of 1933 to 1945 under the regime of Adolf Hitler.

Final Solution

The Nazi plan formulated in 1942 to systematically murder all European Jews, leading to the establishment of death camps.

Lebensraum

German for "living space"; Hitler's expansionist goal (1930s) to acquire more territory in Eastern Europe for the Aryan race.

Isolationism

The foreign policy of avoiding political or military involvement with other countries, dominant in the U.S. during the 1930s until 1941.

Auschwitz

The largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex, located in occupied Poland (1940-1945).

Hitler’s Death

Adolf Hitler died by suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945, as Allied forces closed in.

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. General who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific Theater (1941-1945) and supervised the post-war occupation of Japan.

Rosie the Riveter

A cultural icon representing American women who worked in factories and shipyards during WWII to replace men serving in the military.

Amache

The Granada War Relocation Center (1942-1945), a Japanese-American internment camp located in Colorado.

Ralph Carr

The Governor of Colorado (1939-1943) who was the only Western governor to publicly defend the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans.

Levittowns

Mass-produced suburban housing developments built after 1945 to accommodate returning WWII veterans and their families.

VE Day and VJ Day

Celebrations of victory:

• VE Day: Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945.
• VJ Day: Victory in Japan, August 15, 1945 / September 2, 1945.

The Holocaust (Meaning and Scope)

The state-sponsored systematic murder of approximately 6 million Jews (1941-1945). Meaning "sacrifice by fire," it claimed about 66\% of European Jewry.

Ghettos

Enclosed districts of a city where the Nazis forced Jews to live under miserable conditions before transporting them to camps (1939-1944).