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German Aggression

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The war in Europe began in September 1939, when Germany, under Chancellor Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany but took little action over the following months. In 1940, Germany launched its next initiative by attacking Denmark and Norway, followed shortly thereafter by attacks on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. All of these nations were

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The Battle Of Britain

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Later in the summer of 1940, Germany launched a further attack on Britain, this time exclusively from the air. The Battle of Britain was Germany's first military failure, as the German air force, the Luftwaffe, was never able to overcome Britain's Royal Air Force.

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The Normandy Invasion (D- Day)

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In June 1944, British and American forces launched the D-Day invasion, landing in German-occupied France via the coast of Normandy. Soon the German army was forced into retreat from that side as well. Thus, by early 1945, Allied forces were closing in on Germany from both east and west. The Soviets were the first to reach the German capital of Berlin, and Germany surrendered in May 1945, shortly after the suicide of Adolf Hitler.

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The Pacific Theater / The U.S. Entrance And Battle Of Midway

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Although the Pearl Harbor attack provoked a declaration of war by the United States on Japan the very next day, it would be several months before U.S. forces would get seriously involved militarily. In late spring of 1942, the United States and Japan engaged in a series of naval battles, climaxing in the Battle of Midway on June 3-6, 1942, in which Japan suffered a catastrophic defeat.

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Pearl Harbor

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The war in the Pacific began on December 7, 1941, when warplanes from Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By this time, Japan had already been at war with China for several years and had seized the Chinese territory of Manchuria. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan began a massive campaign of expansion throughout the Southeast Asia-Pacific region.

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The Approach To Japan

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Fighting continued throughout the Pacific in 1944 and early 1945, including major battles at Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. By the late spring of 1945, most of Japan's conquests had been liberated, and Allied forces were closing in on the Japanese home islands. As they neared Japan proper, the Allies began heavy bombing campaigns against major Japanese cities, including Tokyo. This process continued through the summer of 1945 until finally, in early August, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stunned by the unexpected devastation, Japan surrendered a few days later.

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Neville Chamberlain

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The prime minister of Britain from 1937 to 1940, who advocated a policy of appeasement toward the territorial demands of Nazi Germany. This appeasement policy essentially turned a blind eye to Germany's 1938 annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland.

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Winston Churchill

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The prime minister of Britain during most of World War II. Churchill was among the most active leaders in resisting German aggression and played a major role in assembling the Allied Powers, including the United States and the USSR.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

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A U.S. Army general who held the position of supreme Allied commander in Europe, among many others. Eisenhower was perhaps best known for his work in planning Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe. After the war, he was a very popular figure in the United States and was elected to two terms as U.S. president, taking office in 1953.

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Adolf Hitler

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Chancellor and self-proclaimed Führer, or "leader," of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. After a rapid political ascent as the leader of the far-right Nazi Party in the 1920s, Hitler achieved absolute power and maintained it throughout his time as chancellor. During his rule, he took a very active role in the government of Germany, making military decisions and implementing edicts regarding the treatment of Jews and other minorities, such as the notorious "final solution" that condemned Jews to death at concentration camps in German-controlled parts of Europe. Just before Germany surrendered in 1945, Hitler committed suicide together with his wife, Eva Braun, in his bunker in Berlin.

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Benito Mussolini

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Fascist prime minister who came to power in 1922 and ruled Italy as an absolute dictator. In many ways, Mussolini served as an inspiration to Adolf Hitler, with whom he chose to ally himself during World War II. In 1943, Mussolini was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by some of his subordinates, and in 1945 he was executed by Italian partisans just prior to the end of the war in Europe.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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The 32nd U.S. president, who led the country through the bulk of World War II until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in April 1945, just a few months before the war ended. Together with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, Roosevelt played a decisive role in holding together the Allied coalition that ultimately defeated Nazi Germany.

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Joseph Stalin

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General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. In some ways, Stalin was responsible for the USSR's severe losses at the beginning of World War II, as he failed to head the warnings of his advisors and did not allow the Russian military to prepare a proper defense. At the same time, he did succeed in holding the country together and inspiring among his people an awesome resistance against Germany, which ultimately forced a German retreat. Stalin's own regime in the USSR was just as brutal as the Nazi regime in many ways, and the alliance between Stalin and the Western Allies always remained rather tenuous because of mutual distrust.

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Harry S Truman

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The 33rd U.S. president, who succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt upon Roosevelt's death in April 1945. Truman, who led the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to use two atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945. After the war, Truman was crucial in the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which greatly accelerated Western Europe's economic recovery.

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Allied Powers

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An alliance during World War II made up of the countries that opposed the aggression of Nazi Germany. Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union were the most prominent members, although many other countries also joined.

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Appeasement

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The British and French policy of conceding to Adolf Hitler's territorial demands prior to the outbreak of World War II. Associated primarily with British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, the appeasement policy enabled Hitler to systematically take over the territories of several neighboring countries.

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Axis Powers

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The collective term for Germany, Italy, and Japan's military alliance in opposition to the Allied Powers. Several smaller countries in Eastern Europe also became members of the Axis Powers temporarily.

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Battle Of Iwo Jima

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A battle in February and March 1945 in which U.S. forces took Iwo Jima, a small but strategically important island off the Japanese coast. During the battle, an Associated Press photographer took a world-famous photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on the summit of Mt. Suribachi.

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Battle Of Midway

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A battle from June 3-6, 1942, in which U.S. naval forces severely disabled the Japanese fleet at Midway Island in the Pacific. Coming close on the heels of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway forced Japan into defensive mode and turned the tide of the war in the Pacific theater.

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Battle Of Okinawa

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The last large-scale battle in the Pacific theater, in which U.S. forces invaded the Japanese home island of Okinawa. The battle was very bloody, killing at least 100,000 Japanese soldiers and 80,000 to 100,000 Japanese civilians.

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Battle Of Stalingrad

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A brutal, five-month battle between German and Soviet forces for the important industrial city of Stalingrad that resulted in the deaths of almost 2 million people. The battle involved very destructive air raids by the German Luftwaffe and bloody urban street fighting. In February 1943, despite direct orders from Hitler forbidding it, Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered the German forces to the Red Army.

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Blitzkrieg

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Literally "lightning war," the term for Hitler's invasion strategy of attacking a nation suddenly and with overwhelming force. Hitler applied the blitzkrieg strategy, with varying degrees of success, to the German invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union.

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D-Day

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June 6, 1944, the day on which the Allied invasion of France via the Normandy coast began.

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Fascism

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A system of government dominated by far-right-wing forces and generally commanded by a single dictator. Several Fascist governments were established in Europe in the early twentieth century, most notably those led by dictators Adolf Hitler of Germany, Benito Mussolini of Italy, and Francisco Franco of Spain.

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Final Solution

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The Nazi's euphemistic term for their plan to exterminate the Jews of Germany and other German-controlled territories during World War II. The term was used at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, in which Nazi leaders planned the Holocaust but made no specific mention of the extermination camps that ultimately killed millions.

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Lebensraum

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Literally "living space," Adolf Hitler's justification for Germany's aggressive territorial conquests in the late 1930s. Based on the work of a previous German ethnographer, Hitler used the idea of lebensraum to claim that the German people's "natural" territory extended beyond the current borders of Germany and that Germany therefore needed to acquire additional territory in Europe

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Luftwaffe

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The German air force, which was used heavily in campaigns such as the Battle of Britain in 1940.

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Manhattan Project

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The code name for the U.S. government's secret program to develop an atomic bomb. Begun in 1942, the Manhattan Project utilized the expertise of world-famous physicists, including Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, to develop the weapon. It finally succeeded in conducting the first successful atomic bomb test in July 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico. After a difficult decision by President Harry S Truman, U.S. forces dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, prompting Japan's surrender.

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Operation Overload (D- Day)

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The code name for the Allied invasion of France in 1944, which commenced on the beaches of Normandy and ultimately was successful in liberating France and pushing German forces back east to their own territory.

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V-E Day

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May 8, 1945, the day on which the Allied forces declared victory in Europe.

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V-J Day

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August 15, 1945, the day on which the Allied forces declared victory over Japan.

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Aryan Race

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the pure Germanic race, used by the Nazis to suggest a superior non-Jewish Caucasian typified by height, blonde hair, blue eyes

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Neutrality Acts

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Originally designed to avoid American involvement in World War II by preventing loans to those countries taking part in the conflict; they were later modified in 1939 to allow aid to Great Britain and other Allied nations.

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Nazism

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Adolf Hitler used fascism to create this type of government based on totalitarian ideas and was used to unite Germany during the 1930s.

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Francisco Franco

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Fascist leader of the Spanish revolution, helped by Hitler and Mussolini

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Neville Chamberlain

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Great British prime minister who advocated peace and a policy of appeasement

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Appeasement

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A policy of making concessions to an aggressor in the hopes of avoiding war. Associated with Neville Chamberlain's policy of making concessions to Adolf Hitler.

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Winston Churchill

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A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.

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Munich Pact

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A September 30, 1938, agreement among Germany, Britain, Italy, and France that allowed Germany to annex the region of western Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. The Munich Agreement was the most famous example of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement prior to World War II.

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Non- Aggression Pact

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1939-Secret agreement between German leader Hitler and Soviet Leader Stalin not to attack one another and to divide Poland

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Blitzkrieg

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Germany "lightning war" using fast moving airplanes and tanks followed by infantry forces. First successfully used on Poland

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Charles deGualle

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Leader of the free french; france was under german control

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Holocaust

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A methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-conformists, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and mentally and physically disabled.

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Kristallnacht

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(Night of the Broken Glass) November 9, 1938, when mobs throughout Germany destroyed Jewish property and terrorized Jews.

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Genocide

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Deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder.

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Concentration camp

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prison camps used under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany. Conditions were inhuman, and prisoners, mostly Jewish people, were generally starved or worked to death, or killed immediately.

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Internment camp

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Detention centers where more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated during World War II by order of the President.

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Auchwitz

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Auchwitz was the largest of the six main death camps in Poland. Auchwitz handled Jews from the Polish ghettos as well as those deported from all over Europe.

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"Final Solution"

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the Nazi policy of exterminating European Jews. Introduced by Heinrich Himmler and administered by Adolf Eichmann, the policy resulted in the murder of 6 million Jews in concentration camps between 1941 and 1945.

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Lend Lease Act

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A law passed in 1941, that allowed the US to ship arms and other supplies without immediate payment, to Nations fighting the Axis powers

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Atlantic Charter

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1941-Pledge signed by US president FDR and British prime minister Winston Churchill not to acquire new territory as a result of WWII amd to work for peace after the war

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Attack on Pearl Harbor

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Bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by Japan on December 7, 1941. The Japanese were hoping to cripple the American fleet, which had been enforcing Embargo, which denied Japan the raw materials it needed to increase their power and this attack failed leading to Japan's defeat.

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Women's Auxiliary Army Corps

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Women volunteers would serve in noncommittal positions. Women would work in non-combat roles too like nurses, etc.

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"Rosie the Riveter"

answer

A propaganda character designed to increase production of female workers in the factories. It became a rallying symbol for women to do their part.

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A. Phillip Randolph

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He was the black leader of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He demanded equal opportunities in war jobs and armed forces during WWII. He helped encourage the end of segregation in the military, although that happened after the war.

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Oppenheimer

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American physicist who directed the Los Alamos, New Mexico, laboratory during the development of the first atomic bomb (1942-1945).

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D Day

answer

June 6, 1944 - Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.

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V-E Day

answer

May 8, 1945; victory in Europe Day when the Germans surrendered

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General Douglas MacArthur

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He was one of the most-known American military leaders of WW2(He liberated the Phillipines and made the Japanese surrender at Tokyo in 1945, also he drove back North Korean invaders during the Korean War)

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Bataan Death March

answer

April 1942, American soldiers were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps by their Japanese captors. It is called the Death March because so may of the prisoners died en route. Took place at POW camp.

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"island hopping"

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The American navy attacked islands held by the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. The capture of each successive island from the Japanese brought the American navy closer to an invasion of Japan. General MacArthur was involved in battles. MacArthur would gain the territory of the islands off of Japan to island hop and gain power.

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Kamikaze Pilots

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Suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the pacific campaign of World war II. It was designed to destroy warships.

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Battle of Okinowa

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Turning point battle when the Allies were losing. Helped Allies to win.

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Battle of Iwo Jima

answer

Turning point battle when the Allies were losing. Helped Allies to win.

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Enola Gay

answer

the name of the American B-29 bomber, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets, Jr., that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945.

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"Fat Man" & "Little Boy"

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The names of atomic bombs dropped by America on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

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Hiroshima

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City in Japan, the first to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, on August 6, 1945. The bombing hastened the end of World War II.

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Nagasaki

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Japanese city on which the United States dropped an atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, bringing the Japanese surrender and an end to World War II

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V- J Day

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Japan finally surrendered August 15, 1945. This was the end of WW11.

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Nuremberg War Crime Trials

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Highly publicized proceedings against former Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of the Allies denazification program in postwar Germany. The trials led to several executions and long prison sentences.

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Selective Service and GI

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Expanded the draft and provided another 10 million soldiers to meet the armed forces needs Trained at military bases to become GI's

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Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall

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Formed Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)

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Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)

answer

Women volunteers served in noncombat positions. Congress thought this bill was "silly", but it became law in 1942. -Gave women official status/salary but fewer benefits than male soldiers. -July 1943- No longer auxiliary, but granted full US Army benefits to women. WAC's were nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, pilots (everything EXCEPT direct combat)

question

Recruiting and Discrimination

answer

African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Japanese-Americans and Chinese-Americans were racially segregated/denied citizen rights. They questioned their motive to fight because they were fighting for a country that didn't even give them freedom. But, they still fought to push past those stereotypes, and hopefully others would see that they are brave too.

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US Military Diversity

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1 million African Americans 300,000 Mexican Americans 25,000 Native Americans 13,000 Chinese Americans 33,000 Japanese Americans Women served in noncombat roles

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Manufacturers/Industries

answer

Industries turned into war industries that would produce war-related supplies for the military. For example: automobile plants began to produce tanks, planes and command cars. By 1944, about 18 million workers were laboring in war industries. More than 6 million were women and 2 million were minorities. At first, they faced prejudice.

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A. Philip Randolph

answer

President/Founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car porters -Nation's most respected African-American labor leader -Organized a March on Washington to protest the right for African Americans to serve and fight for America in the war. -As a result, Roosevelt issued an order that allowed all the right to work in defense industries without discrimination, regardless of race or color.

question

Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)

answer

He wanted to bring scientists into the war effort: -Improve war technologies like radar and sonar that can locate submarines underwater. -Encouraged the use of pesticides like DDT to fight insects, so that would help US soldiers to be free from lice. -Developed penicillin, which saved many soldiers' lives.

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Manhattan Project

answer

Top-secret program in testing and developing the atomic bomb -Einstein wrote to Roosevelt warning him that Germans were attempting to make such a weapon

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Entertainment Industry

answer

-Helped to advertise war bonds and inform the citizens of the war. Through radios, posters, and newspapers, entertainment industries were able to broadcast everything going on with the war. -War oriented propaganda geared to portray Nazis as "bad guys"

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Office of Price Administration (OPA)

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OPA fought inflation by freezing wages, prices and rents and also rationed foods like meat and vegetables. Also encouraged the buying of war bonds. -Congress raised income tax rates and extended the tax to many people who had never paid it before

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War Production Board (WPB)

answer

ensured that the armed forces and war industries received the resources they needed to win the war -organized drives to collect items like scrap iron, tin cans, rags, and cooking fat for recycling into war goods. -rationed fuel and important war materials like gas and oil.

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Economic Regulations Purpose

answer

Since everything was focused on war production, consumer good prices would go down. So, these regulations were put down to stop inflation.

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National War Labor Board (NWLB)

answer

limited wage increases, allowed negotiated benefits and kept unions stable

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Department of Treasury

answer

-gave out war bonds to raise money for the war effort and fight inflation

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Revenue Act of 1942

answer

raised top personal-income tax rate to 88% and added lower and middle income Americans to the tax rolls.

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Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act of 1943

answer

limited the right to strike and gave the president power to take over striking plants.

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Rationing

answer

-establishing fixed allotments of goods deemed essential for the military." -Households would receive ration books with coupons to be used for buying scarce goods such as meat and shoes. -1 out of every 4 Americans will resist following rationing. This is when the black market comes in.

question

Winston Churchill

answer

British Prime Minister. Convinced Roosevelt to strike first against Hitler. He worked very closely with Roosevelt for three weeks working out war plans after Pearl Harbor. Defeat Germany first then focus on Japan.

question

Why was the defeat of Germany the Allies' top priority? Why were some historians critical of this decision?

answer

Hitler posed a major threat on Britain and America, since he was determined to prevent food and supplies from reaching Britain. He ordered submarine raids on US ships and German U-boats to sink Allied ships. They had to defeat Germany first so once the Allies gained control in Europe, they could have more resources. Some historians were critical of this decision because maybe they thought America should have focused on fighting Japan, since they were the ones who bombed Pearl Harbor, not Germany. Defeating Germany would make matters worse.

question

Battle of the Atlantic

answer

Hitler wanted to prevent food and supplies from reaching Britain. He ordered submarine raids on US ships and German U-boats to sink Allied ships. But Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships in convoys (group of ships that are like escorts) and with tracking, Allies destroyed the U-Boats and they won.

question

Battle of Stalingrad

answer

Hitler wanted to wipe out a major industrial center called Stalingrad. The German Air Force bombed the city nightly. It looked very bad for the Soviets. But when winter came, Soviets took advantage and closed around Stalingrad, locking the Germans in the city and cutting off their supplies. They froze. So they eventually surrendered to the Soviets. -Soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers- more than Americans lives lost- but this was a turning point because it was a huge Allied victory.

question

Battle of the Bulge (FRANCE)

answer

Hitler wanted to break up the Allied lines, hoping it would split Americans and Britains. At first, they were succesfu, but the Germans lost troops, tanks, guns and many planes. They couldn't lose any more so they retreated and surrendered.

question

Operation Torch

answer

Eisenhower led an invasion of Axis-controlled North America. They landed in Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. They chased the Afrika Korps, General Erwin Rommel AKA Desert Fox. Afrika Korps surrendered.

question

Casablanca

answer

Roosevelt, Churchill and commanders met in Casablanca. They agreed to accept only UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER of the Axis powers. (They would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies dictated.) Also discussed where to strike next. They decided to launch a massive feet in Britain and to launch it across the English Channel through France and into Germany. Churchill thought it's better to attack Italy.

question

Italian Campaign

answer

Churchill's idea- capture Sicily. Mussolini resigned. Hitler then came and fought the Allies. This was one of the hardest battles the Allies fought near Rome. "Bloody Anzio" lasted 4 months. But Allies won.

question

Tuskegee Airmen

answer

all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron. They had impressive strikes against German forces. They won two Distinguished Unit Citations. There were other minority segregated units that made major contributions to the Allies' win of the war.

question

Dwight D. Eisenhower AKA "ike"

answer

Chosen by Marshall to be Supreme Commander of US Forces. Very good planner and good at military tactics. He was able to work with all kinds of people. He later became president in 1953.

question

D-Day- AKA "Operation OverLord" June 6, 1944 (originally June 5 but bad weather)

answer

3 million British, American, and Canadian troops attacked Normandy in France. They set up a fake army and tried to fool Germans into thinking they were attacking somewhere else (where English channel was the narrowest). It was the largest land-sea-air operation ever. But Germans were also very brutal too, esp. at Omaha Beach. Many Allied troops died.

question

Omar Bradley

answer

General who unleashed massive air/land bombardment against enemy

question

George Patton

answer

Him and his Third Army- advanced through Seine River Paris and liberated French Capital from Germans

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September 1944...

answer

Allies had freed France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

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Liberation of the Death Camps

answer

Allies and Soviets pushed across Poland and Berlin and they freed all the prisoners.

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April 25, 1945- Berlin

answer

Soviet Army stormed Berlin. Meanwhile, underground, Hitler got married but then they both committed suicide. A week later, Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender.

question

V-E Day

answer

May 8, 1945. Victory in Europe Day. The war was over.

question

Roosevelt's Death

answer

He did not live to see VE Day. But Harry S. Truman became the next president.

question

Audie Murphy

answer

Most Decorated American soldier of the war- 24 medals including congressional medal of honor. Awarded three medals by France and one by Belgium.

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