Chpt. 30, WW2

Question 1

National Socialist (Nazi) Party

Answer 1

also known as the Nazi Party, this party was led by Adolf Hitler in Germany and picked up political support during the economic chaos of the Great Depression; it advocated an authoritarian state under a single leader, and an aggressive foreign policy to reverse the humiliation of the Versailles treaty; it took power in Germany in 1933

Question 2

Winston Churchill

Answer 2

the British prime minister during WW2, he was responsible for the British resistance to German air assaults

Question 3

blitzkrieg

Answer 3

the German term for lightning warfare, it involved the rapid movement of airplanes, tanks, and mechanized troop carriers, and resulted in early German victories over Belgium, Holland, and France in WW2

Question 4

Vichy

Answer 4

the French collaborationist government established in 1940 in southern France following the defeat of French armies by the Germans

Question 5

Battle of Britain

Answer 5

the 1940 Nazi air offensive, including the saturation bombing of London and other British cities; it was countered by innovative British air tactics and the radar tracking of German assault aircraft

Question 6

Battle of the Bulge

Answer 6

Hitler’s last-ditch effort to repel the invading Allied armies in the winter of 1944-1945

Question 7

Holocaust

Answer 7

the term for Hitler’s genocide of European Jews during WW2, it resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews

Question 8

Pearl Harbor

Answer 8

an American naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by the Japanese in December 1941, crippling the American fleet in the Pacific and causing the entry of the US into WW2

Question 9

Battle of the Coral Sea

Answer 9

a Pacific WW2 battle in which US and Japanese forces fought to a standoff

Question 10

Midway Island

Answer 10

the location of a Pacific WW2 naval battle that constituted a decisive US victory over a powerful Japanese carrier force, and was a major turning point for US victory in the Pacific

Question 11

United Nations

Answer 11

an international organization that was formed in the aftermath of WW2 and included all of the victorious Allies; its primary mission was to provide a forum for negotiating disputes

Question 12

Tehran Conference

Answer 12

a meeting among the leaders of the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union in 1943 in which the leaders agreed to the opening of a new front in France

Question 13

Yalta Conference

Answer 13

a meeting among leaders of the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union in 1945 that agreed to Soviet entry into the Pacific war in return for possessions in Manchuria, and which also confirmed the organization of the UN; at this conference, the division of political organization in eastern European states to be reestablished after the war was disputed

Question 14

Potsdam Conference

Answer 14

a meeting among the leaders of the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union just before the end of WW2 in 1945; the Allies agreed upon Soviet domination in eastern Europe, and for Germany and Austria to be divided among the victorious Allies

Question 15

total war

Answer 15

the warfare of the 20th century, in which vast resources and emotional commitment of belligerent nations were marshaled to support military effort; this resulted from the impact of industrialization on the military effort, reflecting enhanced technological innovation and organizational capacity

Question 16

Atlantic Charter of 1941

Answer 16

a WW2 alliance agreement between the US and Britain that included a clause recognizing the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they live, and which harbored a sympathy for decolonization

Question 17

Quit India Movement

Answer 17

a mass civil disobedience campaign to end British control over India that began in the summer of 1942

Question 18

Muslim League

Answer 18

founded in 1906 to better support the demands of the Muslims for separate electorates and legislative seats in Hindu-dominated India, this group represented the division within the Indian nationalist movement

Question 19

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Answer 19

a Muslim nationalist leader in India who was originally a member of the National Congress party but eventually became a leader of the Muslim League; he traded Muslim support for the British during WW2 for promises of a separate Muslim state after the war, and was the first president of Pakistan

Question 20

Convention Peoples party (CPP)

Answer 20

a political party established by Kwame Nkrumah in opposition to British control of colonial legislatures in the Gold Coast of Africa

Question 21

Jomo Kenyatta

Answer 21

the leader of the nonviolent nationalist party in Kenya who organized the Kenya Africa Union (KAU); he failed to win concessions because of the resistance of white settlers, and came to power only after the suppression of the Land Freedom Army, or Mau Mau

Question 22

Kenya African Union (KAU)

Answer 22

the leading nationalist party in Kenya, it adopted a nonviolent approach to ending British control in the 1950s

Question 23

Land Freedom Army

Answer 23

a radical organization for independence in Kenya that was frustrated by the failure of nonviolent means and initiated a campaign of terror in 1952; it was referred to by the British as Mau Mau

Question 24

National Liberation Front (FLN)

Answer 24

a radical nationalist movement in Algeria that launched a sustained guerilla war against France in the 1950s, and the success of its attacks led to the independence of Algeria in 1958

Question 25

Secret Army Organization (OAS)

Answer 25

an organization of French settlers in Algeria who led a guerrilla war following Algeria’s independence in the 1960s; assaults were directed against Arabs, Berbers, and French who advocated independence

Question 26

Afrikaner National Party

Answer 26

a party that emerged as the majority party in the all-white South African legislature after 1948, it advocated complete independence from Britain and favored a rigid system of racial segregation called apartheid

Question 27

apartheid

Answer 27

a policy of strict racial segregation imposed in South Africa to permit the continued dominance of whites politically and economically

Question 28

Haganah

Answer 28

a Zionist military force engaged in violent resistance to the British presence in Palestine in the 1940s