World War II

Causes of WWII

1. Treaty of Versailles - Germany not happy with War guilt cause 2. axis powers: Germany, Italy, Japan. Hitler creates treaty with Stalin(non-aggression pact) 1931-japan invades Manturia 1933-Hitler comes to power, 1939-Hitler invades Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, (this causes Britain and France to declare war on Germany) December 7, 1941- Pearl Harbor, US pulled into the war when the Japanese bomb the naval fleet->Germany declares was on US because they are allies with japan

European Theater

The European Theater was an area of heavy fighting across Europe, during World War II, from 1 September 1939 to 8 May 1945. Allied forces fought the Axis powers in three theatres: the Eastern Front, the Western Front and the Mediterranean Theatre.

Pacific Theater

Where most fighting actually happened in Philippines & Islands between Hawaii & Japan, very little fighting actually happened in Japan

VE Day

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

VJ Day

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

Results of WWII

over a trillion dollars spend on the war, spread of Communism in Eastern Europe and Asia (Britain, China), 55 million casualties and 40 million wounded, homelessness and refugees, Israel created (in result of Holocaust), totalitarian nations overthrown (Japan, Italy, Germany), U.S.A. and USSR become world powers (causes the Cold War), Atomic Age is born, United Nations is formed, Holocaust revealed (at least 6 million Jews killed)

Adolf Hitler

Austrian-born founder of the German Nazi Party and chancellor of the Third Reich (1933-1945). His fascist philosophy, embodied in Mein Kampf (1925-1927), attracted widespread support, and after 1934 he ruled as an absolute dictator. Hitler's pursuit of aggressive nationalist policies resulted in the invasion of Poland (1939) and the subsequent outbreak of World War II. His regime was infamous for the extermination of millions of people, especially European Jews. He committed suicide when the collapse of the Third Reich was imminent (1945).

Allied Powers

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

Appeasement

Giving in to an aggressor to keep peace

Atomic Bomb

Bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima to bring a surrender and end the war, Funded by the Manhattan Project

Axis Powers

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

Battle of Britain

An aerial battle fought in World War II in 1940 between the German Luftwaffe (air force), which carried out extensive bombing in Britain, and the British Royal Air Force, which offered successful resistance.

Battle of the Bulge

December, 1944-January, 1945 - After recapturing France, the Allied advance became stalled along the German border. In the winter of 1944, Germany staged a massive counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg which pushed a 30 mile "bulge" into the Allied lines. The Allies stopped the German advance and threw them back across the Rhine with heavy losses.

Battle of Guadalcanal

(1942-1943) World War II battle in the Pacific; it represented the first Allied counter-attack against Japanese forces; Allied victory forced Japanese forces to abandon the island

Battle of Stalingrad

Unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad during World War II from 1942 to 1943, that was the furthest extent of German advance into the Soviet Union.

Benito Mussolini

(1883-1945) Italian leader. He founded the Italian Fascist Party, and sided with Hitler and Germany in World War II. In 1945 he was overthrown and assassinated by the Italian Resistance.

Blitzkrieg

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

D-Day

175000 Allied troops invading the beaches of Normandy, France; Also called Operation Overload. The early hours of the day were spent with airborne attacks to break up the German resistance. The beaches of Normandy (which were broken into 5 groups) were stormed by US, British, Canadian, Free French, and Polish forces.

Fascism

A political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and no tolerance of opposition

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President of the US during Great Depression and World War II

Harry S. Truman

Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

Emperor Hirohito

emperor of Japan during WWII. his people viewed him as a god

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.

Island Hopping

The American navy attacked islands held by the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. The capture of each successive island from the Japanese brought the American navy closer to an invasion of Japan.

Iwo Jima

a bloody and prolonged operation on the island of Iwo Jima in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945)

Joseph Stalin

Communist dictator of the Soviet Union (Russia)

Kamikazes

Japanese suicide pilots

Mein Kampf

"My Struggle"-a book written by Adolf Hitler during his imprisonment in 1923-1924, in which he set forth his beliefs and his goals for Germany

Nagasaki

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

Nuremberg Laws

1935 laws defining the status of Jews and withdrawing citizenship from persons of non-German blood.

Okinawa

Site of important battle near Japanese mainland; last battle before atomic bombs; Allies won

Pearl Harbor

7:50-10:00 AM, December 7, 1941 - Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100. In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering World War II.

Winston Churchill

A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns.

inflation

Decrease in the value of money that results in the rising price of goods.

militarism

Rapid increase in a nation's military spending and production

USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

Name of the new nation established by the Bolshevik Party after the Russian Revolution

Hideki Tojo

Prime minister of Japan during World War II who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor

Sudentenland (Czechoslovakia)

Land that was a part of Germany before WWI and Hitler asked to have it back by formal agreement with Britain and France

Neville Chamberlain

Great British prime minister who advocated peace and a policy of appeasement in dealing with Hitler's requests prior to WWII

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and crashed them into American ships during the war in the Pacific

Concentration Camp

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.

Yalta Conference

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for the division and administration of Germany after the war

Potsdam Conference

The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held at Potsdamn, outside Berlin, in July, 1945. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Two Japanese cities on which the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs to end World War II.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

Also known as the Non-Aggression Pact. A secret agreement between the Germans and the Russians that said that they would not attack each other

Creation of Israel

In 1947, a United Nations resolution proposed that the Palestine Mandate should be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state

- The Jews then proclaimed the state of Israel on May 14, 1948