WW2 Study Guide

Appeasement

Giving in to the demands of a dictator to stop war, Britain and France let Hitler have the Rhineland. Because of this, Hitler believes that France and Britain will not declare war against Germany. He uses this to plan is invasion of Europe.

Munich Pact

Britain, France, and Germany meet, Britain and France give Germany land and Germany promises to stop aggression, but does to keep the promise

Invasion of Poland (Germany USSR Agreement)

After both German and Soviet forces invade Poland, Hitler and Stalin sign a non-aggression pact, promising not to invade each other, but not a formal alliance. Britain and France declare war on Germany. This country is where a lot of the holocaust will happen

Maginot Line

An impenetrable line of French defenses built after WW1 made of barracks, Underground Railroad systems, and other military weaponry

Ardennes Offensive

Germany’s invasion of France, the Ardennes Forest was believed to be impenetrable, but German forces used tanks to plow through the forest, going around the Maginot line and launch a surprise attack on Britain and France

Blitzkreig

Lightning warfare-using speed to as an advantage, mostly tanks

Allied Forces

France, Great Britain, the USSR, eventually the US

Axis Forces

Japan, Italy, Germany

Miracle at Dunkirk

340,000 soldiers are trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, but are rescued by civilian boats bc the shore is too shallow for military boats

Winston Churchill

The British Prime Minister during WW2, had no intention of backing down from Hitler’s attacks and is able to motivate the British to continue to fight after Germany takes France

Operation Sea Lion

Hitler’s plan to invade Britain, first by attempting to destroy the British Air Force, then by bombing British cities, specifically London

Luftwaffe

Germany’s Airforce

RAF

Britain’s Airforce

Dowding System

Massive radar towers along the British coast that alerted RAF to approaching Luftwaffe attacks

London Blitz

London is bombed nearly every night for 2 months, 43,000 civilians die. Hitler’s plan was to beat down the British population’s will to fight, but the plan failed and British civilians rallied behind Churchill to continue to fight. This plan fails

Instead of waiting until the spring to try again, Hitler invade’s the Soviet Union, opening a two-front war

Cash & Carry Policy

Countries could buy weapons and supplies from the US in cash(gold) if they could transport them back themselves. The US does this to keep Britain in the war

Lend-Lease Act

The US allowed countries to “borrow” weapons before formally joining the war

Operation Barbarossa

German invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler’s plan was to attack three cities: Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad. He believed the invasion would take 6-8 weeks and gave German soldiers little supplies

“Fire & Ice”

Stalin’s military strategy of burning down The USSR’s own cities and crops, so when German forces arrive there would be nothing to take. Then, the Soviet winter would set in to starve freeze the German forces

Hitler’s assumption of the USSR

Hitler thought very little of soviet soldiers as they performed poorly in WW1, he underestimated the Soviets going into WW2. However both Soviet soldiers and citizens killed millions of Nazi soldiers

Siege of Leningrad

A massive blockade of the city lasted for 872 days as Germans surrounded the city and didn’t let in any supplies. Most civilian deaths were caused by starvation, but the Red Army eventually is able to push out the Germans. One of the deadliest sieges in human history

Battle of Moscow

Germans had early victories, but as winter set in and Germany ran low on supplies, they were forced to halt their advance and regroup. This allowed the Soviets to defend the city with reinforcements. Soviet tanks were able to push German forces out of the city. This was Hitler’s first major land defeat

Stalingrad

Hitler attacks this Soviet city as an insult to Stalin. The Soviets are able to push out Germany, making this the turning point in the Eastern front where Hitler realizes he wont be able to take Eastern Europe, his hopes of conquering all of Europe are done.

General Rommel

“The Desert Fox”, helped the Nazis take parts up North Africa but eventually loses there. Is later places in charge of the Atlantic wall. Eventually becomes one of Hitler’s top Generals, but he is forced by Hitler to take his own life.

Operation Overlord

D-Day; 2,000,000 soldiers storm the beaches of Normandy, the largest invading force in world history. Eventually the Allied forces are able to overwhelm German defenses and take the beaches. Allies also dropped tens of thousands of soldiers behind enemy lines as paratroopers to keep Axis reinforcements from coming.

Importance of D-day

Gives allies a foothold to get soldiers to mainland Europe

Atlantic Wall

A system of defensive Nazi bunkers under the command of General Rommel that stretched 3,200 miles

Operation Fortitude

The fake invasion of Calais, Allied forces used thousands of inflatable planes, tanks, and ships to distract the Nazis from Normandy, where the real attack would be

Hitler’s plan for attack at the Battle of the Bulge

Hitler’s last chance to split Allied lines, he chose to take his soldiers it of the Eastern front to advance through the Ardennes Forest in the middle of winter while Allies were training new recruits. This leaves the Eastern front totally un-protected ted from the Soviets, with nothing to stop their advance to Berlin.

General Patton

Controversial and aggressive but highly effective Allied commander. Pushes his soldiers to the brink and went out of his way to confront Nazi soldiers. Widely considered the #1 military general in all the American history, Hitler went out of his way to avoid where Patton was.

Battle of the Bulge Outcome

The Soviets rapidly advance towards Berlin, chasing Nazi forces. The Allied forces discover Nazi Concentration Camps

What happens to Mussolini

Mussolini is captured and put under house arrest in 1943. He is eventually rescued by German special forces and resumes power. On April 28, 1945, he is captured while trying to flee the country and is publicly executed by his own people. His body is desecrated and hung upside down for days until the US arrives and forced the Italians to take down the body.

Italian dictator, is out under house arrest half-way through the war but escapes. He is captured again and executed towards the end of the war.

Yalta Conference

Churchill, FDR, and Stalin meet to discuss what to do with Germany after the war.

1. The Soviets would capture Berlin

2. The country of Germany and the city of Berlin will both be divided into quarters, Britain, the US, France, and the USSR each controlling a portion.

The role of Nuclear Secrets play in the taking of Berlin

The US and the USSR are racing to Berlin to be the first to obtain Hitler’s secrets about nuclear weapons. Churchill has nearly convinced FDR to take Berlin first just before he dies, and Eisenhower refuses to because he wants to keep soldiers alive to fight in the war in the Pacific.

General MacArthur

The US General in charge of the US Pacific Fleet

Significance of Midway

The turning point the in the Pacific, the US is able to destroy the entirety of the Japanese navy. Japan is retreating for the rest of the war. If the US had failed, the US would give up Hawaii and it would be taken by the Japanese to bomb the west coast of the US.

Island Hopping

The strategy the US uses to take specific Japanese-held islands to obtain strategic bases and be able to bomb mainland Japan. The Japanese are unable to use their navy to stop us, because it has been destroyed

Operation Meetinghouse

A massive napalm attack on Tokyo, killing 100,000 civilians. The Japanese do not surrender.

Cities where we dropped Atomic Bombs and why

Hiroshima, then Nagasaki. They were the biggest cities that the US hadn’t already fire bombed. This officially ends the war.