Unit 3 ~ WWII

World History - Mr. Gibbs CNHS

Axis Powers

Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during WWII

Allies

The temporary alliance opposing the Axis, including the US, UK, USSR, France, and China

Atlantic Charter

1941 joint declaration outlining post

European Theater

Main area of combat in Europe

Battles at the European Theater

D-Day, Stalingrad, and the fall of Berlin

Pacific Theater

War zone between Japan and Allied forces

Battles at the Pacific Theater

Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombings

Final Solution

Nazi plan to systematically exterminate the Jewish population

The Holocaust

Genocide of 6 million Jews and millions of others by Nazi Germany

Kristallnacht

"Night of Broken Glass" violent pogrom against Jews, marking escalation of Nazi persecution

Pearl Harbor

Surprise attack by Japan on US naval base

Pearl Harbor’s Cause

US entering WWI

D-Day

Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France

Stalingrad

Major Soviet victory, turning point in the war against Germany

Atomic Bombings

US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Atomic Bombing’s Cause

Japanese surrender

United Nations

International organization founded in 1945 to promote peace and cooperation

Nuremberg Trials

Post-war trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Yalta/Potsdam Conferences

Meetings of Allied leaders to plan post-war Europe and finalize terms of Germany’s surrender

Anti-semitism

Central to Nazi ideology; used to justify discriminatory laws and genocide

Nuremberg Laws

laws that stripped Jews of citizenship and rights

Anschluss

Nazi annexation of Austria

Wannsee Conference

Meeting where the Final Solution was planned

Propaganda

Media used extensively to promote Nazi ideology and suppress opposition

Luftwaffe

German Air Force; key in early Blitzkrieg attacks

Blitzkrieg

"Lightning war" tactic; quick, overwhelming military attacks

German aggression

Violations of the Treaty of Versailles, invasions of neighboring countries

Non-Aggression Pact of 1939

Germany and USSR agreed not to attack each other; secret protocol to divide Poland

Axis Pact

Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan

Munich Agreements

Gave Hitler the Sudetenland

Fascism

Authoritarian nationalism

Totalitarianism

State control over all aspects of life

Great Depression

Global economic crisis that enabled the rise of extremist leaders

Benito Mussolini

Italy, Fascist dictator

Adolf Hitler

Germany, Nazi leader

Joseph Stalin

Soviet Union, Communist dictator

Hideki Tojo

Japan, Military leader

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

US, led US through most of WWII

Winston Churchill

UK, British Prime Minister during WWII

Operation Barbarossa

German invasion of the USSR