Untitled Flashcards Set

1.    Mein Kampf – Hitlers autobiography where he blames commies and Jews for all of germanys misery and defeat in WWI

    2.    Battle of midway – Showed what decisive weapons aircraft carriers had become. U.S. navy stopped Japans momentum into the pacific. Eliminated threat to hawaii, and ended Japans hope for a quick and decisive war against U.S

    3.    Battle of Guadalcanal – 6 month “meat grinder” battle for a small island. First sustained U.S. offensive in the pacific. Marines held on to “Henderson Field” thanks to air support (first defeat of Japans army.

   4.    Allied Air Campaign against Germany – 1942-45, Killed 600,000 German civilians, Caused enormous damage yet failed to destroy German industry. U.S. pilots destroyed German air force, gave allies complete control of skies over Europe

  5.    Operation OVERLOAD – (Dday) U.S. Army, british, and canadian forces invaded France along Normandy coast. U.S. Army suffered horrible casualties at Omaha beach. Normandy invasion was the turning point of the war in Europe.

   6.    Battle of Iwo Jima – (Feb, 1945) bloodiest battle in USMC history. Iwo jima (Sulfur island) provided an airfield for American escort fighters and an emergency “safe haven” airfield for damaged B-29 bombers

 7.    Postdam Declaration – (‘45) Truman’s warning to Japan to accept unconditional surrender or face prompt and utter destruction

   8.    Hiroshima – site of the first nuclear strike on Japanese industrial

 9.    Nagasaki – site of second nuclear strike on Japanese industrial city use of nuclear weapons made it possible for U.S. to avoid bloody invasion of Japan itself

 10.    Holocaust – was only after WWII and Nazi extermination that the world learned profoundly shocking realization of full extent of horrors of the death camps

11.    Truman Doctrine ‘47 – Truman’s stance against Stalin’s Russia; U.S. would support any country resisting armed takeover by communist agents or forces

 12.    Containment – using U.S. political influence to counter Russian (later, Chinese) Communism the world over; basis for every U.S. foreign policy decision until 9/11

13.    Marshall Plan – the economic side of “containment”; U.S. spent $13 billion ($175 billion 2023*) to rebuild Western Europe destroyed by WWII

    14.    Berlin Airlift – (1948) Russians surrounded/cut off all supplies into Berlin; USAF/RAF supplied 13,000 tons and 840 flights per day; Russians gave up after one year; first “victory” of Cold War for U.S.

 15.    38th Parallel – Korea was divided in half right after WWII by the big three into North and South Korea

  16.    Inchon landing – U.S. Marines surprise amphibious flank attack hit North Koreans from behind; triggered North Korean retreat

 17.    Chinese Counterattack – massive surprise counterattack by the Chinese Communist Army against McArthur’s forces

  18.    VEONA Project – FBI counterintelligence operation begun 1943 uncovered Communist spying in FDR’s New Deal government and WWII nuclear program; taken over by NSA

 19.    Election of 1960 – Saw America’s first ever televised presidential debate; JFK won a very narrow victory over Nixon; Nixon actually won popular vote

20.    Peace Corps – JFK’s plan to use college youths to assist 3rd world countries and promote U.S. interests

21.    Bay of Pigs Invasion (Operation Trinidad) – badly bungled; ill-conceived attempted invasion of Castro’s Cuba using the CIA’s 2506 Brigade; failed miserably; Approved by JFK

 22.    Cuban Missile Crisis – WWII was adverted by mutual consent; Soviets removed nukes from Cuba in exchange for U.S. removing nukes from Turkey

23.    Warren Commission –

  24.    Adolf Hitler – Nazi Dictator of Germany during WWII, German Nazis were called “brown shirts”

   25.    Winston Churchill – Prime Minister of Great Britain during WWII

 26.    Dwight D. Eisenhower – U.S. Supreme Allied Commander in Europe

    27.    Harry Truman – Vice president that replaced FDR; Authorized nuclear attacks on Japan

    28.    George F. Kennan – U.S. State department official who invented the “containment” strategy for Truman

    29.    George C. Marshall – Former U.S. Army Chief of Staff; Architect of U.S. victory in WWII; Truman’s secretary of state, devised the Marshall Plan

    30.    Douglas MacArthur – Senior commander of U.S. Forces in Korea, also senior commander of U.N. Forces in Korea

    31.    Matthew B. Ridgway – Replaced MacArthur as senior U.S./U.N. commander in Korea

    32.    John F. Kennedy – Won election of 1960 Democrat tough on Communism, assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas

    33.    Nikita Khrushchev – Russian Soviet Premier during JFK admin., pledged to U.S. “we will bury you