History Test Ww2 Flashcards
When was world war 2?
1939-1945
When did the US enter the war?
1941
What is totalitarianism?
A government in which a single party or leader controls the people completely
Who was Joseph Stalin?
Russian leader
How many people did Stalin kill?
Over 15 million
What does Stalin mean in Russian?
Man of steel
What was the red army?
The soviet/Russian army
Who was Mussolini?
Italian dictator
What is facism?
Pride of ones nation, when the nation is more important than its people
Who founded the fascist party?
Mussolini
Where was hitler born?
Austria
Who was hitler?
Leader of the nazi party
What was hitlers goal?
To reunify all Germanic people into one Reich, or state
What is appeasement ?
A policy of granting concessions to a potential enemy in the hope that peace can be maintained.
What was the Anschluss?
The union between Austria and Germany
Who was Neville chamberlain
British prime minister
What agreement was made at the conference with hitler, chamberlain, and Daladier? What did chamberlain tell a crowd about it?
The Munich pact; he told them it had preserved peace for their time, but he was wrong and the war was postponed for 11 months.
What is blitzkrieg? What does it mean.
A sudden attack; it translates to “lightning war”
Who were the axis powers?
Germany, Italy, Japan, and several other nations.
What was the maginot line? Why was it out in place?
An interconnected series of fortresses along frances border with Germany; to prevent Germany from invading.
What was in between the maginot lone and Belgium?
The Ardennes, a hilly forested area that military experts considered invasion proof.
When was the attack on Pearl Harbor?
December 7, 1941
Who was Douglas McArthur?
Commander is the US army forces in east Asia
What was MacArthurs famous promise?
“I shall return”
Who was general Paulo’s?
A general who’s life was spared and he was allowed to live in Russia until he died
Which battle for Ed Germany to be on the defensive?
The battle for Stalingrad
What was operation Barbarossa and what year was it in?
When Germany invaded Russia, 1941
What did the conference between the allies result in?
That they were going to increase bombing of Germany and invade Italy, and that the allies would only accept unconditional surrender (giving up without any concessions )
Who were the Tuskegee airmen and what were the known as?
An African American fighter squadron; the flying panthers
What were African American soldiers known as?
Buffalo soldiers
What were busy bees in wwii?
Soldiers that were in charge of building and construction
What was the battle of midway?
The most important naval battle in ww2. The US defeated Japan and caused them to be in the defensive
Who was Rosie the riveter?
An icon from world war 2 who represented all the working ladies in the war
What was D-day?
The allies launched their first invasion (June 6, 1944)
What was battle of the bulge?
Marked the beginning of the end of nazi Germany
What is kamikaze?
Japanese pilots that crashed their planes into American ships, known as suicide pilots
What was the bloodiest battle of the war?
The fight for Okinawa in April 1945 (movie hacksaw ridge took place in the battle with soldier Desmond doss)
What was VJ Day?
August 15, the allies celebrated their victory in Japan. Japan officially surrendered on September 2 on the USS Missouri (6 days after fat man bomb)
When was the holocaust?
1941-1945
What was the “aryan race”
Descendants of Greek gods from Atlantis
What is anti-semitism?
Discrimination against Jews
What does “shoah “ mean?
Catastrophe
What were the Nuremberg laws?
Laws that took away the rights of the Jews
What was the all-women camp?
Ravensbruck
Who was in the “undesirable groups”?
Gypsies, jehovas witnesses, gay ppl, beggars, drunks, conscientious objectors, physically disabled people, mentally ill people.
What was the Geneva convention?
An international agreement governing the humane treatment of wounded soldiers and prisoners in war
What were the Nuremberg trials?
When the allies prosecuted the nazis for war crimes
What were the 3 reichs?
- The Holy Roman Empire
- Bismarck’s Germany
- Nazi germany
How did hitler acquire some of his lands?
By using appeasement
What was the first country hitler unified?
Austria
What does anschluss mean?
Unification
What is appeasement ?
Avoiding war by giving into demands made by a country
What was the nazi soviet pact?
- The 2 countries agreed not to attack each other
2. They also agreed to divide Poland between the.
What were the countries hitler took control of before world war 2?
Austria and Sudetenland
What were the countries hitler got during ww2?
Poland, Holland, Belgium, and France
What are panzers?
German tanks
Who was Alan Turing
Known as a famous computer scientist , 1912-1954
What was the battle of Leyte gulf?
The battle where general MacArthur liberated the Philippines (October, 1944).
When is the Philippines Independence Day?
July 4, 1944
What marked the official beginning of the holocaust?
Kristallnacht
What were the four organizations made by hitler
SA, SS, Gestapo, and SD
What is the SA and who was its leader?
Hitlers private army; röhm
What was the SS and who was its leader?
In charge of running the concentration camps; Himmler
What was the gestapo
Hitlers secret police
What was the SD and who was its leader?
Hitlers secret service; Heydrich
What is Einsatzgruppen?
Mobile killing units
What was the reason the concentration camps started being used?
The guards who would go around killing any Jews they saw told himmler they felt bad for killing Jews on the spot.
What did they use to gas the Jews?
Zyklon B (rat poison)
What was the most beautiful camp (on the outside)?
Treblinka
What did the sign outside treblinka say?
Hurry up and shower before the hot water runs out
What happened to the bodies after they were gassed?
They would be cremated
Who was Joseph mengele?
A doctor in the concentration camps that would perform experiments on the Jews, specifically children. His nickname was “the angel of death”
Who were the sonderkommandos/capos?
Jews in the halo cause who were forced to aid in killing (transported victims, cleaned gas chambers, removed gold teeth, shaved heads, etc)
Who was in charge of auschwitz ?
Rudolf Hess
Who was John weidner
The only known SDA that dedicated his life to saving Jews
Who was dr. Bloch?
Treated Hitlers mom (who had cancer) until she died, was Jewish, hitler promised to take care of him
Who said “uncommon valor was a common virtue”?
A general in the battle of iwo jima
What is the reichstag?
The parliament of Germany from the late 19th century to the early 20th century
Why was the US unprepared for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor?
A. They didn’t know when it was going to happen
B. They didn’t expect an air attack
How did the federal government control the economy during the war?
They enforced wages and price controls
Why was the world shocked after the nazi-soviet pact?
The soviet-communist ideology was feared
What three reasons did hitler have for hating Jews?
- They were trying to take over Germany politically
- They were trying to take over Germany financially
- No German-Jews fought in WWI
What was the St. Louis affair?
A ship with 90 Jews was sent to Cuba, then was turned away, then they were sent to the US and got turned away, so they had to return to Europe.
Why is the Doolittle raid important in wwii?
It was America’s first strike back at the Chinese
Why is the battle of midway important in ww2?
It forced Japanese to be on the defensive side
Why is the battle of Stalingrad important in ww2?
It forced Germany to be on the defensive side
What 3 things were decided at the Tehran conference?
- US and England would open up a 2nd front to split German defenses
- USSR would declare war on japan
- Poland would be given more land from Germany
Which beach offered the allies the biggest challenge during D-day?
Normandy
What was the bloodiest battle during the war?
Okinawa
Date of Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
Date of VE day
May 6, 1945
Date of VJ Day
August 15 1945
Date of the start of ww2
September 1, 1939
Date of D day
June 6, 1944
Why were the napalm bombs so devastating?
They started massive fire storms
Why were the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
A. To get revenge for Pearl Harbor
B. To end the war
What was the main purpose of the Nuremberg trials?
To prosecute the nazis for war crimes or their crimes against humanity.
What are the two causes of ww2?
- World war 1: treaty of Versailles
2. Economic chaos: Great Depression
Why did Germany and Russia agree to the nazi soviet pact?
- Germany didn’t want to worry about Russia attacking them from the east
- Russia didn’t want to worry about Germany attacking them from the west, since they were already concerned with Japan
What was the name of the excerpt that kept black soldiers motivated during the war?
Double V campaign
Where was the first camp they started gassing Jews? What did they use ?
Chelmno; carbon dioxide from motorcycles and trucks.
