The Second World War Flashcards
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
Good Neighbor Policy
This group includes…
…Anastaio Somoza in Nicaragua
…Rafael Trujillo Molina in the Dominican Republic
…Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
Latin American Dictators supported by FDR
“He may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”
FDR speaking of Nicaraguan dictator Somoza
Invaded by Japan in 1931 during lead up to WWII
Manchuria
Province in Northern China
Invaded by Italy’s Mussolini in 1935
US was unable to help due to the Neutrality Law of 1935
Ethiopia
Occupied by Germany in 1936
Prior to the occupation, was the demilitarized zone between France & Germany
Rhineland
Led uprising in Spain, beginning in 1936, which led to the Spanish Civil War
General Francisco Franco
Invaded and overrun by Japan in 1937, killing 300,000
Nanjing, China
Hitler annexed in 1938
Austria and Sudetenland
Diplomatic meeting in 1938 which awarded the Sudentenland to Hitler
British diplomat Chamberlain appeased by Hitler’s guarantee of “peace in our time”
Munich Conference
We shall have “peace in our time”
Hitler’s Guarantee to Chamberlain
Munich Conference of 1938
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
Isolationism
Congressional entity that found bankers and arms exporters had greatly benefited from WWI
Influenced the general American preference for isolationism
Nye Committee
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
Neutrality Act of 1935
Popular term for American servicemen during World War II
Virtually anything the servicemen wore or used was “government issued”
GI
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
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Event that led directly to the declaration of war by Britain and France against Germany
German Invasion of Poland
German style of war that allowed it to quickly overrun Poland, Scandinavia, Belgium, the Netherlands and ultimately occupy Paris by June 14, 1940
German blitzkrieg
Group of Germany, Italy, Japan that was formally created in September 1940
Axis Alliance
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.”
Battle of Britain in 1940-41
“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”
Churchill on American Isolationism
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
Neutrality Act of 1939
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
America First Committee
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
Election of 1944
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
Lend-Lease Act of 1941
Organization including Americans as well as refugees from Germany and the occupied countries who sought to bring the United States into the war
Free World Association
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
Freedom House
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
Atlantic Charter of 1941
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
Pearl Harbor Attack
December 7 will be a “date which will live in infamy”
Roosevelt
Speech Requesting Declaration of War against Japan
Coalition of nations that opposed Germany, Italy, Japan
Led by Great Britain, Soviet Union and the United States
Allied Powers
Victories included…
…Burma and Siam (Thailand) in early 1942
…Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
…Guam
…Philippines
Early Japanese Victories in
the War in the Pacific
Japanese captured 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers
More than 10,000 died during forced walk to POW camp
Bataan Death March in May 1942
American naval victory over Japanese in May 1942
Prevented Japanese from attacking Australia
Losses on both sides came almost exclusively from bombing from planes
Battle of Coral Sea
US navy inflicted significant losses on Japanese navy
Battle of Midway
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
Island Hopping
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
Kamikaze Pilots
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
Battle of the Atlantic
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
North Africa
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
D-Day and Normandy
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
Siege of Stalingrad
Source of more than 10 million of the 13.6 million German casulties in the War
Eastern Front
Plan by Hitler to eliminate the Jewish civilization
Resulted in nearly 6 million Jews being murdered by 1945
Hitler’s Final Solution
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
Battle of the Bulge
“the most terrible weapon ever known in human history”
Atomic Bomb
as described by Harry Truman
Code name for the development of the atomic bomb
Resulted in successful test in New Mexico in July 1945
Manhattan Project
Airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
Enola Gay
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
Targeting of Civilian Populations
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
Potsdam Conference
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
Yalta Conference
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
Bretton Woods
New organization established at Bretton Woods to provide money to developing countries
World Bank
New institution established at Bretton Woods to prevent countries from devaluing currencies to gain trade advantage
International Monetary Fund
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
“What Rome was to the ancient world, America is to be to the world of tomorrow”
Walter Lippman
on America’s Post War Influence and Power
