World War II

Axis Powers

• Germany

• Japan

• Italy

Allied Powers

• United Kingdom

• United States

• Soviet Union

Appeasement

• Making concessions to an aggressive foreign power in order to avoid War

• Most commonly associated with the British government towards Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

Holocaust

The genocide of European Jews during WWII in which Nazi Germany murdered about 6 million Jews through the use of mass shootings and concentration/externment camps

Fall of France

The German invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France that resulted in these countries falling and being occupied by Axis troops

Lebensraum

German concept of expansionism and the motivation of Nazi Germany to initiate WWII

Blitzkrieg

• “lightning war”

• Describes a combined arms surprise attack

Lend-Lease Act

The United States supplied Allied nations with food, oil, and material between 1941-1945

Japan’s Defensive Perimeter

Japan’s plan to protect its empire and its natural and industrial resources

Japanese internment camps

The United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans

D-Day

The landing operations and associated airborne operations on June 6, 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy that resulted in the largest seaborne invasion in history

Battle of the Bulge

The last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945

US domestic war effort

• Government spending

• Construction on war products

• Exporting fighting vehicles to Allies

• Funding projects with universities and scientists

• Women, African Americans, and Latinos joined the work force

Adolf Hitler

The dictator of Germany during the Nazi period from 1933 until his suicide in 1945 and was closely involved in the direction of German military operations and the perpetration of the Holocaust

The Nazi Party

A far-right political party in Germany active between 1920-1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism that focused on antisemitism and anti-communism

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The 32nd president of the US serving from 1933 until his death in 1945, serving four terms, who combatted the Great Depression and was involved in World War II

Joseph Stalin

A Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953 who codified the Communist Party’s official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism-Leninism and eventually into Stalinism

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II and again from 1951-1955 and was a member of Parliament

Battle of Stalingrad

• A major battle on the Eastern Front of WWII between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from July 17, 1942-February 2,1943

• Nazi Germany wanted control over Stalingrad

• The single largest and costliest battle in military history

• The bloodiest and fiercest battle of WWII

• Resulted in a Soviet victory

Battle of Kursk

• A major battle on the Eastern Front of WWII between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from July 5-August 23, 1943

• The single largest battle in the history of warfare

• The single deadliest armoured battle in history

• The opening day was the single costliest day in the history of aerial warfare

• Resulted in Soviet history

Battle of Midway

• A major naval battle in the Pacific theater of WWII between the US and Japan from June 4-7, 1942

• Japan intended to capture Midway and lure out and destroy the US Pacific fleet

• Resulted in American victory

Battle of Iwo Jima

• A major battle between the US and Japan from February 19-March 26, 1945

• The US Marine Corps and Navy captured the island of Iwo Jima

Battle of Okinawa

• A major battle of the Pacific War between the US and their allies against Japan from April 1-June 22, 1945

• The opening battle was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of WWII

• Resulted in Allied victory

Battle of Britain

• A military campaign between the UK and Canada against Nazi Germany and Italy from July 10-October 31, 1940

• The Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the UK against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force

• The first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces

• Resulted in British victory

Attack on Pearl Harbor

A surprise military attack by Japan on the US on December 7, 1941

Rosie the Riveter

An allegorical cultural icon in the US who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during WWII

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the US detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII and remains as the only uses of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict