The Second World War Flashcards

1
Q

FDR’s formal policy to oppose foreign intervention in Latin America

initiated to limit Nazi influence in Latin America

led to US withdrawal of troops from Haiti and Nicaragua in the 1930s and US acceptance of Cuba’s repeal of the Platt Amendment

Mexico tested Roosevelt’s committment to the policy by seizing oil assets

A

Good Neighbor Policy

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2
Q

This group includes…

…Anastaio Somoza in Nicaragua

…Rafael Trujillo Molina in the Dominican Republic

…Fulgencio Batista in Cuba

A

Latin American Dictators supported by FDR

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3
Q

“He may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”

A

FDR speaking of Nicaraguan dictator Somoza

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4
Q

Invaded by Japan in 1931 during lead up to WWII

A

Manchuria

Province in Northern China

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5
Q

Invaded by Italy’s Mussolini in 1935

US was unable to help due to the Neutrality Law of 1935

A

Ethiopia

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6
Q

Occupied by Germany in 1936

Prior to the occupation, was the demilitarized zone between France & Germany

A

Rhineland

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7
Q

Led uprising in Spain, beginning in 1936, which led to the Spanish Civil War

A

General Francisco Franco

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8
Q

Invaded and overrun by Japan in 1937, killing 300,000

A

Nanjing, China

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9
Q

Hitler annexed in 1938

A

Austria and Sudetenland

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10
Q

Diplomatic meeting in 1938 which awarded the Sudentenland to Hitler

British diplomat Chamberlain appeased by Hitler’s guarantee of “peace in our time”

A

Munich Conference

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11
Q

We shall have “peace in our time”

A

Hitler’s Guarantee to Chamberlain

Munich Conference of 1938

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12
Q

American view of the growing conflict, influenced by…

…perception of the threat as distant

…belief that German power countered Soviet Union communism

…desire to not give up the German market

…desire to continue to trade trucks, aircraft, oil with the Japanese

A

Isolationism

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13
Q

Congressional entity that found bankers and arms exporters had greatly benefited from WWI

Influenced the general American preference for isolationism

A

Nye Committee

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14
Q

Prohibited American from trading arms with any country at war

Established that any American citizen traveling on a ship of a country at war was doing so at his or her own risk

Resulted in embargo of arms sales to both sides of the Spanish Civil War and kept America from helping to defend Ethiopia from Mussolini

A

Neutrality Act of 1935

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15
Q

Popular term for American servicemen during World War II

Virtually anything the servicemen wore or used was “government issued”

A

GI

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16
Q

Surprise agreement after Soviet Union initially proposed agreement with Britain and France to oppose Germany

Britain and France had refused the proposal, wanted to stop Stalin

A

Nazi-Soviet Pact

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17
Q

Event that led directly to the declaration of war by Britain and France against Germany

A

German Invasion of Poland

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18
Q

German style of war that allowed it to quickly overrun Poland, Scandinavia, Belgium, the Netherlands and ultimately occupy Paris by June 14, 1940

A

German blitzkrieg

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19
Q

Group of Germany, Italy, Japan that was formally created in September 1940

A

Axis Alliance

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20
Q

German air force launched attacks on London

Royal Air Force turned back the air assault

Churchill called on the “new world, with all its power and might, to step forward and rescue the old.”

A

Battle of Britain in 1940-41

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21
Q

“What worries me is that public opinion over here is patting itself on the back every morning and thanking God for the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean”

A

Churchill on American Isolationism

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22
Q

Allowed Britain and France to buy arms on a “cash and carry” basis – Britain had to pay cash and transport them on British ships

Approved plans for re-armament

A

Neutrality Act of 1939

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23
Q

Isolationist group that opposed involvement in the war

Held rallies from 1939 to 1941

Argued that…

…affairs in Europe should be settled by Europeans

…Soviet Union was a greater threat than Nazi Germany

Leaders of the group included Henry Ford, Father Coughlin, Charles Lindbergh

A

America First Committee

24
Q

Roosevelt broker with tradition and announced his candidacy for an unprecedented third term

Republican candidate was a political amateur Wendell Willkie

Differences between the two candidates were minor

Roosevelt won decisively

A

Election of 1944

25
Q

Allowed Allies to receive goods from the U.S. without payment

U.S. ultimately shipped $48 billion in goods to 38 nations with Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union being the primary recipients

Required a promise to repay after the war

A

Lend-Lease Act of 1941

26
Q

Organization including Americans as well as refugees from Germany and the occupied countries who sought to bring the United States into the war

A

Free World Association

27
Q

Members included univesity presidents, ministers, business leaders

Argued that war was an ideological struggle between dictatorship and the “free world”

Sponsored “Fight for Freedom” rally at Madison Square Garden

A

Freedom House

28
Q

Agreement between FDR and Churchill

US and Britain would support a post war world based on…

…self-determination

…included a world body to ensure “general security”

Included US agreement to convoy merchants ships

A

Atlantic Charter of 1941

29
Q

Japanese surprise attack intended to cripple US

Occurred on December 7, 1941

Killed 2,000 servicemen and destroyed 187 aircraft and 18 vessels

Failed to sink US aircraft carriers, which were out to sea by chance, as well as the fuel oil supplies

A

Pearl Harbor Attack

30
Q

December 7 will be a “date which will live in infamy”

A

Roosevelt

Speech Requesting Declaration of War against Japan

31
Q

Coalition of nations that opposed Germany, Italy, Japan

Led by Great Britain, Soviet Union and the United States

A

Allied Powers

32
Q

Victories included…

…Burma and Siam (Thailand) in early 1942

…Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)

…Guam

…Philippines

A

Early Japanese Victories in

the War in the Pacific

33
Q

Japanese captured 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers

More than 10,000 died during forced walk to POW camp

A

Bataan Death March in May 1942

34
Q

American naval victory over Japanese in May 1942

Prevented Japanese from attacking Australia

Losses on both sides came almost exclusively from bombing from planes

A

Battle of Coral Sea

35
Q

US navy inflicted significant losses on Japanese navy

A

Battle of Midway

36
Q

American military tactic in the Pacific War

Involved taking strategic islands that could be staging points and then by-passing enemy strong points

Made possible by American dominance of air power

Set up bloody campaigns to win Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands

A

Island Hopping

37
Q

Late war tactic of the Japanese air force

Pilots flew at American ships and crashed into them

Showed the desperate nature of the Japanese military

A

Kamikaze Pilots

38
Q

Primarily included German submarine attacks on American merchant vessels and armed conflict between American and German warships

Led to the arming of US merchant ships by 1942

A

Battle of the Atlantic

39
Q

One of first areas of invasion by British and American forces in November 1942

Led to the forced surrender of Gernal Erwin Rommel by May 1943

A

North Africa

40
Q

American troops entered Europe on June 6, 1944

Involved 200,000 American, British and Canadian troops

More than one million troops followed in the next few weeks

Led to German army retreat and the liberation of Paris in August

A

D-Day and Normandy

41
Q

Russians surrounded Germans troops and forced them to surrender afer more than 3 million invaded the Soviet Union in 1941

More than 800,000 German and 1.2 million Russian troops died

A

Siege of Stalingrad

42
Q

Source of more than 10 million of the 13.6 million German casulties in the War

A

Eastern Front

43
Q

Plan by Hitler to eliminate the Jewish civilization

Resulted in nearly 6 million Jews being murdered by 1945

A

Hitler’s Final Solution

44
Q

Desperate German counterattack in France in December 1944 that pushed Allied forces back fifty miles into Belgium

Resulted in more than 70,000 American casualties but ultimately failed

A

Battle of the Bulge

45
Q

“the most terrible weapon ever known in human history”

A

Atomic Bomb

as described by Harry Truman

46
Q

Code name for the development of the atomic bomb

Resulted in successful test in New Mexico in July 1945

A

Manhattan Project

47
Q

Airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945

A

Enola Gay

48
Q

20 million of 50 million dead during World War II

Germany had killed members of “inferior race”

Germany had bombed London

Firebombing of Dresden killed 100,000

Atomic bomb killed 140,000

A

Targeting of Civilian Populations

49
Q

Last of the “Big Three” conferences

President Truman, Joseph Stalin, Clement Atlee

Established military administration of Germany

Decision to place Nazi leaders on trial for war crimes

A

Potsdam Conference

50
Q

Roosevelt allowed Soviet control of Eastern Europe

Churchill rejected American pressure to place India and other colonies on path to independence

Churchill made a side deal with Stalin on Soviet and British spheres of influence

A

Yalta Conference

51
Q

Established post-war economic order

Replaced the British pound with the American dollar

Re-established the link between gold and the dollar at $35 per ounce

Created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

A

Bretton Woods

52
Q

New organization established at Bretton Woods to provide money to developing countries

A

World Bank

53
Q

New institution established at Bretton Woods to prevent countries from devaluing currencies to gain trade advantage

A

International Monetary Fund

54
Q

Body established as part of the United Nations that includes…

…five permanent members (Britain, China, France, Soviet Union, United States) each with a veto

…six rotating members

Votes on resolutions

A
55
Q

“What Rome was to the ancient world, America is to be to the world of tomorrow”

A

Walter Lippman

on America’s Post War Influence and Power