Chapter 25: World War Two – Flashcards
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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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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; Hitler ended this when he attacked the USSR in 1941 and the USSR joined the Allies
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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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Allied Powers
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France, Britain, USSR, United States, and China as well as 45 other countries that opposed the Axis powers in World War II
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Axis Powers
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Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.
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blitzkrieg
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"Lightning war"; Germany's newest military strategy including initial strikes by Luftwaffe followed by invasion of fast tanks and infantry in order to quickly destroy another nation.,used by German forces against Poland in 1939
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Maginot Line
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A line across the eastern border of France to block German troops. It had steel poles in the ground to block panzer tanks, land mines, barbed wire, concrete bunkers, scattered steel poles, and heavy artillery and anti aircraft guns. The Germans avoided it with decoy troops around it they actually attacked through Belgium and the Ardennes forest.
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Battle of Britain
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1940, German air forces invaded Britain but the British Royal Air Force drove them out with the help of the new invention radar that let them know where the German planes were
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Lend Lease Act
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Approve by Congress in March 1941; The act allowed America to sell, lend or lease arms or other supplies to nations considered "vital to the defense of the United States."
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Battle of the Atlantic
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Germany's naval attempt to cut off British supply ships by using u-boats. Caused Britain and the US to officially join the war after their ships were sunk. After this battle, the Allies won control of the seas, allowing them to control supply transfer, which ultimately determined the war. 1939-1945
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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 and to work for peace after the war
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Internment
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the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. We did it to Japanese-Americans in WWII because we thought they might be spies or something.
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Selective Service and Training Act
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Selective Training and Service Act of September 1940 provided for the registration of all American men between the ages of 21 and 35 and for the training of 1.2 million troops in just one year.
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War Production Board
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During WWII, FDR established it to allocated scarce materials, limited or stopped the production of civilian goods, and distributed contracts among competing manufacturers
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Battle of Stalingrad
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Unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad during World War II from 1942 to 1943, that was the furthest extent of German advance into the Soviet Union.
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D-Day
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(FDR) , June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which "we will accept nothing less than full victory." More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day's end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy.
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George C. Marshall
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Army general during World War II who orchestrated the Allied victories over Germany and Japan, and later Secretary of State who developed the Marshall Plan in 1947, a program of massive aid for the reconstruction of Europe.
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George S. Patton
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Allied Commander of the Third Army. Was instrumental in winning the Battle of the Bulge. Considered one of the best military commanders in American history.
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Battle of the Bulge
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December, 1944-January, 1945 - After recapturing France, the Allied advance became stalled along the German border. In the winter of 1944, Germany staged a massive counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg which pushed a 30 mile "bulge" into the Allied lines. The Allies stopped the German advance and threw them back across the Rhine with heavy losses.
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Island Hopping
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WWII strategy of conquering only certain Pacific islands that were important to the Allied advance toward Japan
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kamikaze
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Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and crashed them into American ships.
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Hideki Tojo
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This general was premier of Japan during World War II while this man was dictator of the country. He gave his approval for the attack on Pearl Harbor and played a major role in Japan's military decisions until he resigned in 1944
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Douglas MacArthur
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(1880-1964), U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman.
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Bataan Death March
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(1942) a forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines in World War II
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Battle of the Coral Sea
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A battle from May 4-8, 1942, in which U.S. naval forces successfully protected the Allied base at Port Moresby, New Guinea, the last Allied outpost standing between the Japanese onslaught and Australia. The battle, which caused heavy losses on both sides, was the first naval battle in history fought exclusively in the air, by carrier-based planes.
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Battle of Midway
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In 1942, the U.S. went through a collective effort to crack Japanese military codes, called "Magic." The commander in charge had a hunch that the next place of Japanese invasion would be the island of Midway because it was strategically important. So the commander had the U.S. marines radio that they were low on fresh water, which the Japanese heard on the radio and then in result signaled that "AF was low on fresh water." They were able to break the codes and figure out midway was the next place of Japanese invasion. The battle took place in 1942, with the U.S. Navy waiting for japan's attack and within the first 5 minutes of the battle the U.S. sunk 3 Japanese aircraft carriers. The significance of the Battle of Midway is that it turns the tide of the pacific war, there is now an offensive war for the U.S., and Japan's navy never recovers.
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Battle of Leyte Gulf
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1944 World War II naval battle between the United States and Japan. Largest naval engagement in history. Japanese navy was defeated.
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Atomic bomb
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a nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is released by nuclear fission (splitting the nuclei of a heavy element like uranium 235 or plutonium 239)
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Genocide
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(n.) the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation
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Manhattan Project
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A secret U.S. project for the construction of the atomic bomb.
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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.