World History Final Part 5: World War 2 (1939-1945)

Axis Powers

= Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis - alliance between Italy, Germany, and Japan

Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by

“anschluss” - annexation of Austria by Germany

Remilitarizing German and starting the draft

Appeasement

giving into demands in order to keep peace

Appeasement in context of WW2

England and France practiced appeasement when dealing/negotiating with Hitler

Nazi-Soviet Pact

non-aggression agreement between Hitler and Stalin

Nazi-Soviet Pact Result

Hitler (Ger) and Stalin (S.U.) agreed not to attack each other and to divide Poland

Significance of Nazi-Soviet Pact

Hitler could attack Poland without Soviet interference

Final Solution

Hitler’s plan to eliminate the Jewish population of Europe

Holocaust

systematic murder of Jewish people by the Nazis

Nazis forced Jewish people into concentration camps

Genocide in the context of the Holocaust

over 6 million Jewish people were killed

Blitzkrieg

= “lightning war” - German strategy of using air raids and armored attacks to quickly defeat their targets

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of England who refused to surrender to Hitler and turned to the U.S. for help

Pearl Harbor

12/7/1941 - U.S. navy base in Hawaii was attacked by Japan

Results of Pearl Harbor

U.S. Pacific fleet was destroyed

2500 Americans were killed and over 2000 were injured

FDR quote: “A date which will live in infamy”

U.S. declared war on Japan and entered the war on the Allies’ side

island hopping

U.S. strategy of defeating islands in the Pacific one by one on the way to Japan

Battle of Midway

first major turning point for the U.S. against Japan when the U.S. defeated Japan and stopped their advance toward Hawaii

D-Day

June 6, 1944 -

Allied invasion against Germany in Normandy, France led by U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower

over 150,000 troops invaded - largest sea invasion in historyD

D-Day Significance

ended Nazi rule in France

Battle of the Bulge

Allies defeated Germany along the borders of Belgium and France

Yalta Conference

Big 3 Allies met to discuss the future of Europe and the division of Germany after the war

Big 3 Allies = FDR, Churchill, and Stalin

Yalta Conference Result

Stalin promised to help the U.S. against Japan AND allow free government in Poland and Eastern Europe

V-E Day

= Victory in Europe Day - Germany surrendered (May 7, 1945)

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Two Japanese cities that the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on

Hiroshima

1st bomb - over 70,000 died but Japan did not surrender

Nagasaki

2nd bomb - over 40,000 died, Japan surrendered, and WW2 ended