World History Unit Eighteen + Nineteen

Aircraft Carrier

ship that accommodates the taking off and landing of airplanes, and transports aircraft

Anschluss

union of Austria and Germany

appeasement

policy of giving in to an aggressor’s demands in order to keep the peace

Atlantic Charter

agreement in which Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill set goals for the defeat of Nazi Germany and for the postwar world

Auschwitz

a group of three German concentration camps and extermination camps in southern Poland, built and operated during the Third Reich

Axis powers

group of countries led by Germany, Italy, and Japan that fought the Allies in World War II

Bataan Death March

during World War II, the forced march of Filipino and American prisoners of war under brutal conditions by the Japanese military

blitzkrieg

lightning war

Cold War

state of tension and hostility between nations aligned with the United States on one side and the Soviet Union on the other that rarely led to direct armed conflict

Concentration Camp

detention center for civilians considered enemies of the state

Containment

the U.S. strategy of limiting communism to the areas already under Soviet control

Crematorium

a place used to burn corpses

D-Day

code name for June 6, 1944, the day that Allied forces invaded France during WWII

Dentente

the relaxation of Cold War tensions during the 1970s

Discrimination

unequal treatment or barriers

Dr. Martian Luther King Jr.

(1929–1968), was an American minister and civil rights leader. He gained national prominence with his leadership of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott in 1955. King helped organize the massive March on Washington in 1963, where he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He was assassinated on April 14, 1968.

Dunkirk

port in France from which 300,000 Allied troops were evacuated when their retreat by land was cut off by the German advance in 1940

Dwight Eisenhower

(1890–1969) grew up poor and came from a hard-working family. During World War II, he was the American general who commanded the Allied forces in western Europe. “Ike” later served as the 34th president of the United States, from 1953–1961.

Erwin Rommel

career military officer and one of Hitler’s most successful generals. He took his own life after a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler

European Union

an international organization made up of over two dozen European nations and dedicated to establishing free trade among its members, with a common currency and common policies and laws

Francisco Franco

was a Spanish military leader who came to power during the Spanish Civil War. He was dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1973, when he left his position as premier. He continued to be head of state until his death in 1975

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

was the longest serving American president, elected to the office four times. was born into a wealthy family in New York and was a distant cousin of the early president. Elected in 1932, his first term as president focused on lifting America out of the Great Depression. He successfully passed legislation, crafting a massive package of economic and social programs, called the New Deal. During his third term, inspired many through his strong leadership during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s subsequent entry into World War II. He was elected to a fourth term in 1944, but his health deteriorated as the war came to an end. Roosevelt died in April 1945

Gross Domestic Product

the total value of all goods and services produced in a nation within a particular year

Hideki Tojo

born in Tokyo and was a career military man. He was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th prime minister of Japan during most of World War II, from 1941 to 1945. He was directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was arrested and sentenced to death for Japanese war crimes

Hiroshima

city in Japan where the first atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945

Holocaust

he systematic genocide of about six million European Jews by the Nazis in World War II

Ideology

system of thought and belief

Interdependence

mutual dependence of countries on goods, resources, labor, and knowledge from other parts of the world

Internment

confinement during wartime

Island-Hopping

during World War II, Allied strategy of recapturing some Japanese-held islands while bypassing others

John F. Kennedy

president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. A decorated naval commander in World War II, he was elected president at the age of 42. He was president during the communist revolution in Cuba and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and he increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam. On the domestic front, administration began the federal effort to enforce civil rights in the South. He was assassinated on November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald

Kamikaze

Japanese pilot who undertook a suicide mission

Lend-Lease Act

act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1941 that allowed the president (FDR) to sell or lend war supplies to any country whose defense was considered vital to the United States

Luftwaffe

German air force

Manhattan Project

code name for the project to build the first atomic bomb during WWII

Marshall Plan

massive aid package offered by the U.S. to Europe to help countries rebuild after World War II

Nagasaki

Japanese city; on an island in its harbor, the Tokugawa shoguns in the 1600s permitted one or two Dutch ships to trade with Japan each year

Nazi-Soviet Pact

agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 in which the two nations promised not to fight each other and to divide up land in Eastern Europe

Neutrality Acts

a series of acts passed by the U.S. Congress from 1935 to 1939 that aimed to keep the U.S. from becoming involved in WWII

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

a military alliance between several North Atlantic states to safeguard them from the presumed threat of the Soviet Union’s communist bloc; countries from other regions later joined the alliance

Nuremberg Trials

series of war crimes trials held in Germany after WWII

pacifism

opposition to all war

Recession

decline in economic growth for six or more months in a row

Rosie the Riveter

popular name for women who worked in war industries during WWII

Segregation

forced separation by race, sex, religion, or ethnicity

Stalingrad

now Volgograd, a city in SW Russia that was the site of a fierce battle during WWII

Suburanization

the movement to build up areas outside of central cities

Sudetenland

a region of western Czechoslovakia

Superpower

a nation stronger than other powerful nations

United Nations

an international organization formed in 1945 at the end of World War II. Since then, its global role has expanded to include economic and social development, human rights, humanitarian aid, and international law

V-E Day

Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945, the day the Allies won WWII in Europe

Vichy

city in central France where a puppet state governed unoccupied France and the French colonies

Warsaw Pact

mutual-defense alliance between the Soviet Union and seven satellites in Eastern Europe set up in 1955

Welfare State

a country with a market economy but with increased government responsibility for the social and economic needs of its people

Winston Churchill

born to British aristocracy and became prime minister of the British empire in 1940. Early on, he proclaimed the threats posed by Nazi Germany. His determination persuaded the country to defend itself against an encroaching enemy