History Exam

NSDAP

National Socialist German Workers’ Party or Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, Nazi for short

Kristallnacht

“Night of Crystal,” November 9-10, 1938. Violence against Jews throughout Nazi-controlled lands including murders and destruction of synagogues.

Appeasement

Governments responded to Nazi threats with compromise as World War Two approached. Their goal? Avoid war, at all costs.

Neville Chamberlain

British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 decided to defuse the situation by appeasing the Germans

Einsatzgruppen

German name for mobile killing squads. Often these were men who were members of the German SS (“protection squadrons”)

Final Solution

Organized at the Wannsee Conference the annihilation of the European Jews

Wannsee Conference

1942 a code name for the systematic, deliberate, physical annihilation of the European Jews (including those in neutral and enemy countries), supported by Hitler in 1941

Ghetto

segregated communities where Jews were under the control of Nazi authorities

Paul Von Hindenburg

Second president of the Weimar Republic

Chancellor

The head of German Government

Reichstag

German Parliament

Labor (concentration) Camps

Often begun as forced labor camps, these provided the Nazi’s with goods and materials they needed via free labor. Later, especially between 1942-1945, the frequency of the killings there increased dramatically. Targets (victims) of the Axis powers were sent there by Germany, countries friendly to Germany, and from lands occupied by Axis countries

Fuhrer

After Hindenburg dies in 1934, Hitler takes this title. It means Head of State. He demanded a pledge of allegiance to him (not to Germany) from all in Germany

Mein Kampf

“My struggle.” A book by Hitler describing his history and ideas

Nuremberg Laws

German laws that strip German Jews of their citizenship and isolate them economically, legally, and socially

Judenraete

Jewish Councils that participated in (and communicated) daily decisions to encourage the delusion of self-determination

Neutrality Act

Permitted belligerents to purchase war materials, provided that they paid cash and carried the goods away in their own ships. Roosevelt said the US will not participate in any way in WW2. But, if you want to buy weapons from the US you can pick them up and we will sell them.

General Hideki Tojo

Leader of the militants, became premier, one of the highest Japanese leaders

USS Arizona

A Pennsylvania class battle ship that sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

Bataan Death March

More than 10,000 die on 60 mile walk to prison camp

Island Hopping

Used to regain lands lost to the Japanese earlier in the war

Kamikazes

Suicide pilots

Hiroshima

August 6, 1945 Civilian deaths total more than 70,00

Nagasaki

August 9, 1945 40,000 more civilians die

Tuskegee Airmen

The 99th fighter squadron, a group of African American pilots, served in North Africa and Italy

Women’s Army Corps

Women who served in the Army

Axis Powers

Japan, Germany, Italy, and others

Dwight D. Eisenhower

American army general that led American troops in northern Africa in November 1942, help British forces drive Rommel back and take back the region

Stalingrad

Winter 1942-43, A Russian city where thousands of Nazi soldiers froze or starved to death, but were not allowed to retreat. Forced to surrender by February 1943. Following their loss, Soviet forces start to push the Germans out of Soviet territory

D-Day

June 6, 1944 Largest seaborne invasion in history - 130,000, surprise invasion along five beaches in Normandy - Allied forces are successful

Battle of the Bulge

The last gasp of the Nazi regime. A failed counter-attack by the Axis in Belgium and Luxembourg in December 1944-January 1945

VE Day

May 8th, 1945, marked the official Allied acceptance of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender

Big 3

Three Allied leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin

Yalta Conference

February 1945 Stalin promises to declare war on Japan after Germany’s surrender, agreement to create and international peacekeeping organization (now UN), discuss how to deal with Eastern Europe after war’s end.

Baby Boom

Americans born between 1946 and 1964. The baby boomer generation now makes up a substantial portion of the North American population.

Suburbs

Suburbs are commonly defined as residential areas on the outskirts of a city or large town.

Civil Responsibilities

Major responsibilities include voting, military service, taxes

Civil Rights

Positive actions the government should take to create equal conditions for all Americans.

Civil Liberties

Protections against government actions, especially in the event of crime.

Civil Disobedience

The active, nonviolent refusal to obey governmental laws, demands, or commands to influence policy or highlight injustice

Passive Resistance

Nonviolent opposition to authority, especially a refusal to cooperate with legal requirements.

Emmett Till

African-American boy who, at 14 years old, was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store

Little Rock Nine

Nine African American students who, in September 1957, became the first to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

Jim Crow Laws

laws meant to enforce the segregation of schools and other public places

Segregation

The separation of groups based on race or separation of groups based on race or ethnic background.ethnic background. Blacks and whites were separated around this time.

Racism

The belief that some races of people are better than others

Discrimination

the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, esp. on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Began in order to make sure the 14th, 15th, and 16th amendments were followed.

Nuremberg Trials

After World War II, Allied countries put Nazi leaders on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. These trials helped establish that individuals can be held responsible for such actions.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance formed in 1949 where member countries agree to defend each other if one is attacked. It was created mainly to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance created in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies. It was meant to oppose NATO during the Cold War.

United Nations (UN)

An international organization founded in 1945 to promote peace, cooperation, and problem-solving between countries. The Security Council has the most power in keeping global peace.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A tense 13-day standoff in 1962 between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles in Cuba. It is considered the closest the world came to nuclear war. MAD - mutually assured destruction.

Domino Theory

The idea that if one country became communist, nearby countries would follow. The U.S. used this idea to justify getting involved in other countries during the Cold War.

Tet Offensive

A large surprise attack by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in 1968 during the Vietnam War. It was a turning point because it weakened U.S. support for the war. During the lunar near year holiday called Tet.

My Lai

United States war crime committed on 16 March 1968, involving the mass murder of unarmed civilians in Sơn Mỹ village, Quảng Ngãi province, South Vietnam, during the war. Major turning point in the Vietnam War.

Kent State

1970, Turning point in the Vietnam War. The killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio, United States

Hawks

Officials, politicians, and analysts who advocated for an aggressive, military-focused stance against the Soviet Union and communism, favoring increased defense spending and direct intervention

Doves

Individuals, politicians, or activists who advocated for peaceful, diplomatic solutions to international conflicts, opposing the aggressive, military-focused policies of "hawks."

War Production Board

Factories worked round the clock to produce material for war effort

Rationed

Allow each person to have only a fixed amount of (a particular commodity)

Rosie the Riveter

The popular symbol of women who abandoned traditional female occupations to work in defense industries

A. Philip Randolph

The president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, called for 150,000 blacks to march on Washington to protest discrimination in defense industries

Fair Employment Practices Committee

Because of Randolph’s march, Roosevelt issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination in defense industries and creating the FEPC

Zoot suits

Members of Mexican American youth gangs wore these flamboyant outfits to celebrate their ethnicity

Sayyid Qutb

Egyptian founder of Islamic fundamentalism 1940’s

Islamic Fundamentalism

Strict following of all religious laws in Quran. Minority view.

Ayatollah Khomeini

Iranian Islamic leader + revolutionary 1979

Mullah Omar

Taliban leader of Afghanistan

Taliban

Islamic fundamentalist government of Afghanistan

Shariq

Religious law of Islam

Mujahideen

Islamic guerrilla fighters vs Soviets in Afghanistan 79-92

Osama Bin Laden

Founder of Al-Qaeda 1988

Al-Qaeda

Responsible for 9/11 + other terror attacks. “The base”

Ramzi Yousef

Al-Qaeda mastermind of 1993 World Trade Center attack

Jihad

“holy war,” use of violence against the enemies of Islam

USS Cole

Navy ship bombed by Al-Qaeda in 2000

Saddam Hussein

Former President of Iraq 2003-2011

Ayman Al-Zawahiri

Leader of Al-Qaeda after Bin Laden 2018

Mikhail Gorbachev

Final Premier of the Soviet Union

Glasnost

Freedom of Speech

Perestroika

Making the economy more modern in the Soviet union/economic reform

Secessionists

Wanted independence from the Soviet Union

Commonwealth of Independent Republics

The replacement for the Soviet Union, composed of most of the independent countries of the former Soviet Union. Weak and informal agreement between some of the members of the soviet union

Timothy McVeigh

Oklahoma city bomber. Former US Army solider