World War II: Rise of Dictators, Mobilization, and the War in Europe

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the rise of totalitarian dictators, U.S. homefront and military mobilization, strategic shifts away from neutrality, and key campaigns across the European and Pacific theaters in World War II.

Joseph Stalin

Leader who transformed the Soviet Union into a communist state by abolishing privately owned farms, placing all economic activity under state management, and elevating the nation to the second largest industrial power in the late 1930s.

Great Purge

Stalin's campaign to eliminate anyone who threatened his power, resulting in an estimated $8\text{ to }13\text{ million}$ deaths alongside mass casualties from famines caused by collective farming.

Treaty of Versailles (Post-WWI Failures)

Peace settlement that caused severe tension and resentment by stripping territory from Germany and the USSR, while forcing Germany to pay millions in war reparations amounting to $55,000,000,000$.

Homefront Propaganda

Emotional appeals using traditional gender stereotypes—encouraging patriotism, masculinity, and volunteering in men; caution, conservation, and new roles in women; and victory gardens, recycling, and rationing in children.

War Production Board (WPB)

Government agency that oversaw the transition from a peacetime to a wartime economy, converting civilian manufacturing to military supplies and managing nationwide recycling drives for scrap metal and other goods.

Rationing

Wartime system where households received coupon books to regulate the purchase of scarce consumer goods, including meat, shoes, sugar, coffee, and gasoline.

Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)

Agency established by President Roosevelt to recruit scientists for the war effort, leading to advancements in radar, sonar, the medical use of penicillin, and pesticides to combat lice among troops.

Manhattan Project

United States initiative to develop an atomic bomb, organized after Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt that German scientists had split uranium atoms and could create a weapon of mass destruction.

"Rosie the Riveter"

Icon representing the $6\text{ million}$ American women who entered wartime industry jobs, proving their capability in welding and operating riveting guns while often being paid less than male counterparts.

Minority Discrimination in the U.S. Armed Forces

Systemic inequality that forced African American, Native American, Mexican American, and Asian American service members into segregated living quarters, divided units, and limited combat roles during military mobilization.

Women's Army Corps (WAC / WAAC)

Military branch championed by the Army Chief of Staff that enlisted women in noncombat roles—such as nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, and pilots—with full U.S. Army benefits.

Selective Service System (WWII Expansion)

Draft mechanism expanded during wartime mobilization that provided an additional $10\text{ million}$ soldiers to join the $5\text{ million}$ who volunteered for military service.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Surprise morning strike by Japanese aircraft on the largest U.S. Pacific naval base lasting $1.5$ hours, which killed $2,403$ Americans, wounded $1,178$, damaged or sank $21$ vessels (including $8$ battleships), and destroyed or damaged $300$ airplanes.

"A Date Which Will Live in Infamy"

Phrase used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his speech to Congress describing the attack on Pearl Harbor, which successfully united former isolationists behind declarations of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy.

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo

Japanese leader who publicly pledged to preserve peace with the U.S. while secretly instructing the Japanese Navy on November 5, 1941, to prepare an attack, and ordering diplomats on December 6 to reject all American peace proposals.

Japanese Expansion

Japan's military campaign across East Asia exploiting European preoccupation with the war, which triggered a U.S. oil embargo that threatened to paralyze the Japanese military unless oil access was restored or conquered.

Atlantic Charter

Joint declaration secretly drafted by Roosevelt and Churchill outlining wartime objectives including collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation, and freedom of the seas, forming the groundwork for the United Nations.

"Great Arsenal of Democracy"

President Roosevelt's concept announced during a fireside chat, stating that the U.S. had an obligation to supply weapons to Allied nations because negotiating peace with Adolf Hitler was impossible.

Lend-Lease Act

U.S. policy allowing the President to lend or lease military equipment, arms, and supplies to any country whose defense was judged vital to the defense of the United States.

Axis Alliance (Tripartite Pact)

Mutual defense pact between Germany, Italy, and Japan designed to deter the United States from entering the war by guaranteeing that a U.S. attack on any member would mean facing war against all three simultaneously.

Cash-and-Carry Provision

Clause in U.S. neutrality laws enabling belligerent nations to purchase American materials provided they paid cash immediately and transported the cargo on their own vessels.

Peacetime Military Draft of 1940

Unprecedented U.S. national defense measure enacted alongside expanded military spending, marking the first time in American history that conscription was implemented during peacetime.

Operation Barbarossa

The June 1941 Axis invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front, produced massive casualties, and forced Nazi Germany into a protracted, disastrous two-front conflict.

Battle of the Atlantic

Extended naval contest in which German U-boats attempted to cut off supply lines to Britain and the USSR, claiming $681$ Allied vessels in 1942 before convoys, radar, and shipbuilding reversed the tide in spring 1943.

Battle of Stalingrad

Pivotal urban confrontation from August 1942 to January 1943 where Soviet forces engaged in house-to-house combat, encircled the German Sixth Army using a winter counteroffensive, and turned the tide of the war despite suffering $1,100,000$ military casualties.

Afrika Korps

German expeditionary force in North Africa commanded by General Erwin Rommel ("Desert Fox"), which engaged Allied forces until being forced to surrender in the spring of 1943.

Italian Campaign and the Battle of Anzio

Allied offensive beginning in Sicily in summer 1943 that brought down Benito Mussolini's government and included a fierce four-month engagement at Anzio against dug-in German units.

Allied Air Disruption Campaign (1944)

Strategic aerial bombing offensive targeting rail yards, bridges, and airfields across Belgium and northern France, accompanied by fighter escorts that destroyed thousands of planes and eliminated Germany's most experienced pilots.

Operation Overlord (D-Day)

The Allied cross-channel amphibious invasion on June 6, 1944, landing $176,000$ assault troops on the beaches of Normandy, France, successfully catching the Germans off guard who anticipated an attack at Calais.

Liberation of Paris

Allied victory in the summer of 1944 under General Dwight D. Eisenhower that freed the French capital along with northern France and Belgium, pushing surviving German units back to their border.

Battle of the Bulge

German counteroffensive launched through the Ardennes forest on December 16, 1944, which created a deep wedge in Allied lines; it became the largest U.S. infantry clash of the war, resulting in $19,000$ American and $100,000$ German deaths.

Liberation of Nazi Death Camps

The discovery of Nazi concentration and extermination camps by advancing Allied armies, beginning in July 1944 when Soviet forces moved westward across Poland and encountered camps despite SS efforts to burn and bury evidence.

V-E Day and Unconditional Surrender

The formal end of World War II in Europe in early May 1945, which followed the Soviet capture of Berlin, the suicide of Adolf Hitler, and General Eisenhower's acceptance of the Third Reich's unconditional surrender.