WHAP Unit 7 Vocab - WWII & Atrocities

Axis Powers

Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.

Allied Powers

Alliance of Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, and France during World War II.

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of Great Britain during WWII

German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

The non-aggression pact was an agreement between Hitler and Stalin not to attack each other. This allowed for German victories in the west without worries of the east.

Blitzkrieg

"Lighting war", typed of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland in 1939. THINK BLITZ

Lend-Lease Act

allowed sales or loans of war materials to any country whose defense the president deems vital to the defense of the U.S

Rosie the Riveter

A propaganda character designed to increase production of female workers in the factories. It became a rallying symbol for women to do their part.

Pearl Harbor

United States military base on Hawaii that was bombed by Japan, bringing the United States into World War II.

Battle of Britain

A series of battles between German and British air forces, fought over Britain in 1940-1941

Battle of Stalin guard

a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia

Battle of El Alamein

1942-British victory in WWII that stopped the Axis forces from advancing into Northern Africa

Battle of Midway

U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President of the US during Great Depression and World War II

D-Day

Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.

V-E Day

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

Albert Einstein

German physicist one of the most influential scientists ever

Manhattan Project

A secret U.S. project for the construction of the atomic bomb.

Robert Oppenheimer

leader of Manhattan project

Trinity Test

America's extremely secret testing of its atomic power in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945

Hiroshima

Japanese city that was hit with the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945

Nagasaki

Japanese city in which the second atomic bomb was dropped (August 9, 1945).

V-J Day

"Victory over Japan day" is the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which was initially announced on August 15, 1945

Big Three

allies during WWII; Soviet Union - Stalin, United Kingdom - Churchill, United States - Roosevelt

Tehran Conference

First major meeting between the Big Three (United States, Britain, Russia) at which they planned the 1944 assault on France and agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation after the war

Yalta Conference

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war

Potsdam Conference

July 26, 1945 - Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction.

Nuclear Proliferation

the spread of nuclear weapons production technology and knowledge to nations without that capability

Total War Economy

channeling entire nation's entire resources into war efforts

Genocide

Deliberate extermination of a racial or cultural group

Ethnic Cleasing

policy of killing or forcibly removing people of certain ethnic groups

Antisemitism

hostility to or prejudice against Jews.

Eugenics

study of factors that influence the hereditary qualities of the human race and ways to improve those qualities. tried to take certain qualities of certain people to reproduce those qualities.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

Scientific Racism

the use of scientific theories to support or validate racist attitudes or worldviews

Holocaust

A methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled.

T4 Program

Nazi German effort—framed as a euthanasia program—to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people.

Euthanasia

the act of painlessly killing a suffering person or animal; mercy killing

Einsatzgruppen

Nazi strike forces that killed innocent Jews with their infamous "death squads"

Final Solution

Hitler's program of systematically killing the entire Jewish people

Concentration Camps

prison camps used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany. Conditions were inhuman, and prisoners, mostly Jewish people, were generally starved or worked to death, or killed immediately.

Extermination Camps

Nazi camps equipped with gassing facilities for mass murder of Jews

Auschwitz

Nazi extermination camp in Poland, the largest center of mass murder during the Holocaust. Close to a million Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and others were killed there

Human Rights

the basic rights to which all people are entitled as human beings

Cambodian Genocide

Pol Pot eliminated educated, artists, religious, and minorities

Pol Pot

Leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who terrorized the people of Cambodia throughout the 1970's

Rwandan Genocide

Beginning on April 6, 1994, Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. More than 800,000 were eventually killed.

Tutsis and Hutus

two ethnic groups living in Rwanda that participated in genocide against one another during fight for political control

Holodomor

a man-made famine-genocide in which the USSR starved the people of Ukraine; killed millions

Ukraine

country in europe

Saddam Hussien

Iraqi leader who waged war against Iran; his invasion of Kuwait led to the Gulf War

Kurds

A minority group in Turkey and neighboring countries

Bosnia/Serbia

Tangle of Nationalism -- Bosnia and Serbia wanted to gain independence and not be absorbed by Austria. Russia felt powerless, its ties with Germany weakened. Serbia mad at Austria suggested open warfare instead of peace talks.

Darfur

a region in western Sudan where ethnic conflict threatened to lead to genocide

Sudan

From the Arabic term for "land of black people," a large region of West Africa that became part of a major exchange circuit.

Rohingya

group of minority muslims in Myanmar that are being persecuted and are being pushed out to Bangladesh and other refugee areas