WW2

WW2 Notes

• Adolf Hitler: Führer of Nazi Germany, instigator of the conflict and responsible for the Holocaust.

• During the war, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, played a crucial role in establishing the Allied strategy.

• Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who rallied British resistance against Nazi Germany and inspired Allied unity.

• Joseph Stalin: Leader of the Soviet Union, he oversaw significant military victories that turned the tide of the war on the Eastern Front.

• Non-Aggression Pact: Agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union not to attack each other.

• Blitzkrieg: \"Lightning war,\" a German military strategy using rapid, coordinated attacks.

• Charles de Gaulle: Leader of the Free French forces in exile.

• Henri Petain: Leader of Vichy France, the Nazi-puppet state.

• Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of Great Britain during WWII.

• Battle of Britain: Air campaign by Germany to defeat the British Royal Air Force.

• Erwin Rommel: German field marshal, known as the \"Desert Fox.\"

• Atlantic Charter: Declaration of principles between the U.S. and Britain for a post-war world.

• Luftwaffe/RAF: German Air Force/British Royal Air Force.

• Operation Sea Lion: Germany's planned invasion of Britain, never carried out.

• Operation Barbarossa: Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union.

• Dunkirk: Site of the evacuation of Allied soldiers trapped by German forces in France.

• Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan.

• Maginot Line: French defensive fortifications along the German border.

• Manchuria: A Region invaded by Japan in 1931.

• Phony War: Period of inactivity after the German invasion of Poland.

• Vichy France: Nazi-controlled puppet state in France.

• Pearl Harbor: Site of the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

• Doolittle Raid: U.S. bombing raid on Tokyo in 1942.

• Yamato: Japanese battleship, one of the largest ever built.

• Douglas MacArthur: U.S. general, commander of Allied forces in the Pacific.

• Battle of Midway: Turning point in the Pacific War, a U.S. naval victory.

• Bataan Death March: Forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese.

• Battle of Coral Sea: Naval battle between the U.S. and Japan, a strategic U.S. victory.

• Island Hopping: U.S. strategy of selectively attacking Japanese-held islands.

• Nuremberg Laws: Nazi laws that stripped Jews of their citizenship and rights.

• Kristallnacht: \"Night of Broken Glass,\" a Nazi-organized attack on Jewish businesses and synagogues.

• Ghetto: A Segregated area where Jews were forced to live.

• Holocaust: Systematic persecution and murder of Jews and other groups by the Nazis.

• Genocide: The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

• Final Solution: Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews.

• Auschwitz: Largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp.

• Executive Order 9066: U.S. presidential order that led to the internment of Japanese Americans.

• Key Leaders:

  • Adolf Hitler: Führer of Nazi Germany.

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt: President of the United States during the war.

  • Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

  • Joseph Stalin: Leader of the Soviet Union.

• Key Terms:

  • Non-Aggression Pact: Agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union.

  • Blitzkrieg: "Lightning war," German military strategy.

  • Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan.

  • Allies: U.S., Britain, Soviet Union, and others.

  • Holocaust: Systematic persecution and murder of Jews by the Nazis.

  • Genocide: Deliberate killing of a large group of people.

  • Final Solution: Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews.

• Key Events:

  • Pearl Harbor: Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

  • Battle of Midway: Turning point in the Pacific War.

  • D-Day: Allied invasion of Normandy.

  • Hiroshima and Nagasaki: U.S. atomic bombings of Japan.

• Key Operations:

  • Operation Barbarossa: Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union.

  • Operation Sea Lion: Germany's planned invasion of Britain, never carried out.

• Strategies and Tactics:

  • Island Hopping: U.S. strategy of selectively attacking Japanese-held islands.

• Laws and Declarations:

  • Nuremberg Laws: Nazi laws that stripped Jews of their citizenship and rights.

  • Atlantic Charter: Declaration of principles between the U.S. and Britain for a post-war world. The faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party that seized power in the October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin. 

  • October Revolution: A coup led by the Bolsheviks in 1917 that resulted in the overthrow of the Provisional Government in Russia.

  •  White Anti-Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, including monarchists and other groups opposed to the Reds. 

  • Bolshevik Victory: The Bolsheviks (Reds) won the Russian Civil War. 

  • Cult of Personality: A political system where a leader is presented as infallible and heroic, often through propaganda. 

  • Totalitarianism: A type of government seeking total control over all aspects of public and private life. 

  • Romanov Family: The royal family was executed during the Russian Civil War. 

  • Class Struggle According to Marx, the engine of history.

  •  Pravda, the Communist Party's official newspaper. 

  • Kulaks: Wealthy peasants in Russia who resisted collectivization. 

  • Five-Year Plan: Stalin's industrialization strategy aimed at rapid economic growth. 

  • Abolition of Property. The economic policy closest to The Communist Manifesto, advocating for public ownership of land. 

  • Bolshevik Power Sharing:The Bolsheviks and the Soviet Congress shared power after the October Revolution

  • Joseph Stalin was the leader who succeeded Lenin after he died in 1924. 

  • Eisenstein's Films Notable Soviet films included 'Battleship Potemkin'. 

  • Communism's Goal: The establishment of a classless society where all property is publicly owned. 

  • Marx's View on Capitalism: A Marxist would NOT want private ownership of the means of production. Kulaks: Wealthy peasants who resisted collectivization. 

  • Great Purge: A campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. 

  • Totalitarianism is A political system where the state seeks total control over its citizens. 

  • Joseph Stalin Leader who succeeded Lenin in 1924 and developed a totalitarian regime. Bolsheviks: The faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party led by Lenin that seized power in 1917. 

  • Five-Year Plan: Stalin's economic policy aimed at rapid industrialization and collectivization. 

  • March Revolution: An uprising in 1917 that led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. 

  • Mensheviks: A faction of the Russian socialist movement that opposed the Bolsheviks. 

  • The Soviet A council representing workers' and soldiers' interests. 

  • Provisional Government: The temporary government established after the abdication of Nicholas II. 

  • Rasputin was A mystic and advisor to the Romanov family, influential before the Russian Revolution. 

  • Lenin Leader of the Bolsheviks and head of the Russian government after the October Revolution. 

  • Proletariat: The working class, particularly in Marxist theory. 

    • Red Army: The army of the Bolshevik government. 

    • White Army: The anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War. 

    • Leon Trotsky was a key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution and the leader of the Red Army.

    •  New Economic Policy: Lenin's policy to stabilize the economy by allowing some private enterprise. 

    • Red Terror: A campaign of political repression and violence carried out by the Bolsheviks. 

    • Traits of Totalitarianism include propaganda, censorship, and the suppression of dissent. 

    • Command Economy: An economic system where the government makes all economic decisions.

    •  Soviet Realism was an artistic movement that glorified communism and Soviet life. 

    • Alexander III, Emperor of Russia known for his oppressive policies and suppression of dissent.

    •  Duma: The legislative body of the Russian Empire. Bloody Sunday, the 1905 incident where the Tsar's troops shot peaceful protesters. 

    • Russo-Japanese War: A conflict between Russia and Japan (1904- 1905) over territorial disputes. 

    • Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, abdicated in 1917. 

    • Pogroms: Violent riots aimed at the massacre or persecution of an ethnic group, particularly Jews. 

      • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: The peace treaty signed by the Bolshevik government and Germany in 1918. 

      • Collective Farm: A large farm owned and operated collectively by a group of farmers.

  • October/November Revolution: The 1917 revolution that resulted in the Bolsheviks taking power. Alexander Kerensky: The leader of the Provisional Government before the Bolshevik takeover.

• Operation torch

• Barnard montgomery  

• Operation overload

• D day

• Battle of the Bulge

• Nuremberg trials

• Demitrializm

• Democrazation

• Hirshima and nagasaki

• Eisenhower

• FDR and Truman

• Lesley gulf

• TOSO