World War II History and Home Front Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key leaders, military theaters, political alliances, legal cases, and home front programs of World War II based on lecture notes.

allied powers

Alliance of nations fighting against axis powers in WWII, including Great Britian, Soviet Union, US, and France.

axis powers

Military alliance of nations opposing the allies in WWII, including Germany, Haly, and Tapan.

adolf Hitler

Totalitarian dictator of Nazi Germany who initiated WWII in europe and led the Holocaust.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy who allied with Hitler to form Axis powers.

Joseph Stalin

Totalitarian leader of Soviet Union who led the USSR through WWII.

Emporer Hiro nito

Emporer of Japan throughout WWII.

Hideki Tojo

General and prime minister of Imperial Japan who directed Japan's military strategy and war effort in WWII.

Winston Churchill

Prime minister of Great Britian who rallied the British people against Nazi aggression and led the nation through WWII.

FDR

32nd U.S president who led the nation through the great depression and most of WWII before his death in office.

Charles de Gaulle

French general who led the French forces in exile against Nazi occupation during WWII.

Japanese Internment

Forced relocation and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans into remote inland camps during WWII.

Dorothea Lange

Documentary photographer hired by the war relocation authority whose photographs documented the human impact of Japanese American Internment.

Civilian Assembly centers

Temporary holding facilities (racetracks/Fairgrounds) where Japanese Americans were held before being moved to permanent internment camps.

relocation/internment camps

10 remote, guarded facilities across the US interior where Japanese Americans were forcibly detained during the war.

detention camps

Facilities used by the federal gov. to hold individuals deemed security risks during wartime without standard legal due process.

Fred Korematsu

Japanese American Citizen who defied Executive Order 9066 by refusing to report to an internment center, leading to a Supreme Court case.

Korematsu v. US

A 1944 Supreme court case that upheld the constitutionality of Executive order 9066, ruling that military necessity justifies the exclusion of Japanese Americans.

Bracero Program

A 1942 diplomatic agreement between U-S and Mexico that brought millions of mexican guest workers to labor on US farms and railroads to fill war labor shortages.

Zoot Suits riot

Series of racial violent conflicts in LA where US servicemen and civilians attacked Mexican American youths wearing zoor suits.

Chiang Kai-Snek

Leader of national gov. in China during WWII, fighting against Japanese aggression.

Mao Zedong

Leader of Chinese communist party who fought against Japanese occupation while competing with Chiang Kai-shek's nationalise gov.

America First Commitee

Largest American isolationist org, which strongly opposed U.S entry into WWII prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Lend Lease Act

A 1941 U.S program allowing the federal gov. to sell, lease, or lend war supplies to Allied nations whose defense was vital to US Security.

Pearl Harbor

The US naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japanese forces, bringing the US into WWII.

Battle of the Atlantic

The longest continuous military campaign of WWII, where allied naval and air forces fought german U-boats to control North Atlantic Chipping lanes.

D-day invasion

June 6, 1944 massive allied invasion of Normandy, France, which opened a major western front against Nazi Germany.

war in Europe

Theater of WWII fought across Europe, North Africa, and the Atlantic between allied and axis forces.

V-E Day

Victory in Europe Day, marking Germany's unconditional surrender to amied forces.

war in the Pacific

The theater of WWII fought across the Pacific Ocean and East Asia, primarily between the US and Imperial Japan.

Manhattan Project

Top secret U.S gov research project that successfully designed and built the world's first atomic bomb.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Theoretical physicist who served as the Scientific director of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Lab.

Nagasaki/Hiroshima

The 2 Japanese cities targeted by U.S atomic bomb denotions on August 6 and 9, 1946, forcing Japanese surrender.

V-J day

Victory over Japan day, marking Japan's surrender and official end of WWII.

Double v campaign

A civil rights initiative by AA advocating for 2 victories - victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home.

TUS kegee Airmen

The 1st AA military aviators in the US armed forces, whose elite combat challenged racial stereotypes.

Executive Order 9066

Signed by FDR in 1942, authorizing the military to designate exclusion zones and forcibly remove individuals of Japanese descent from the west coast.