World War II Flashcards
Anti-Comintern Pact
An agreement between Germany, Japan and Italy against the spread of Communism (1936)
Sino-Japanese War
a military conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945
Sudetenland
the outer edge of Czechoslovakia where many ethnic Germans lived
Pact of Steel
a formal political and military alliance between Italy and Germany (1939)
German-Soviet non-aggression Pact
a non-aggression pact between Germany and Soviets that also secretly divided up the countries between them
Battle of El Alamein
a battle between British forces against Italian-German forces in Egypt
the British won in 1942
Paris Peace Treaties
Treaties at the end of WWII with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland that elaborated war reparations, committed to minority rights and made territorial adjustments
Hitler Confrontation Attitude in 1933 (5)
- Leaves the UN at the Confrence of Security in Geneva, demonstrating its powerlessness
- Remilitarized the Rhineland
- Takes over Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia)
- Ignores Treaty of Versaille
- Searches for “living space” for Germans
Italian and German Involvement in Spanish Civil War
Supported the Nationalists (Franco) and helped bomb Madrid
Munich Conference
Conference between Nazi Germany and Allies in which Allies allowed Hitler to take over Saarland section of Czechoslovakia
Road to War based on…(7)
- Germany takes Austria
- Munich Conference
- Germany takes more of Czechoslovakia
- Italy takes Albania
- Pact of Steel
- German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Japanese Expansionism (3)
- Takes over Manchuria, as China is weak from 1930s economic crisis
- Makes Manchuria stellite state and sets its eyes on the rest of China
- Looks to conquer the rest of South East Asia
Lightning War
- 1939-1941
- Modern German war tactic that combined the use of tanks and airplanes
- Surprised allies prepared for trench warfare
Scientific, technical and militaristic advances
- English built the radar, Germans the guided bomb and Americans the atomic bomb
- Tanks, airplanes and aircraft carriers entered the scene
Germany offensive against England (3)
- Isolating the allied army in Dunkirk
- Battle of England in the summer of 1940
- Systematic bombing of English cities
Germany offensive against France (3)
- Invaded France June 1940, entering Paris
- Divided France in two, with Armistice of Compiegne
- North occupied by Germany, South in collaborative Vichy government
North African Campaign
series of battles for control of North Africa, notably the profitable Suez canal, between Axis and Ally forces
Operation Barbarossa (4)
- Nazi Germany’s USSR invasion in June 1941
- Germans aimed to control the energy and food resources
- Hindered by abrupt arrival of winter and lack of fuel
- Soviets used scorched earth tactic, meaning destroying anything that could be useful to Germans
December 7th, 1941 (3)
- Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in US
- American fleets are destroyed, 2000 killed
- USA enters confict
Japan Offensive in Southeast Asia (2)
- After Pearl Harbor bombing, switches to Southeast Asia
- Occupies Indochina, Siam, Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia, Philippines, Guam, Solomon Islands and New Guinea
Eastern Europe 1943-1944 (2)
- Germany defeated in Stalingrad (February 1943)
- Germany defeated in Kursk (July 1943), starting the allied initiative
Africa 1942-1944 (3)
- British Victory in the Alamein in 1942
- Allies arrive to Morocco and Algeria
- German defeat and evacuation of Tunisia (1943)
Sicily
Allies arrive in Sicily and fought for control for the island against Italian forces, eventually succeeding in 1943
South Europe 1943-1944 (2)
- Germans occupied northern and central Italy
- Mussolini fired, his dictatorship replaced by Italian Social Republic
Pacific War 1942-1944
- American counterattack in summer 1942
- Japanese defeats in South Asia (Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal)
Tehran Conference
Occured in 1943 between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill for end-of-war and post-war planning
End of WWII (5)
Final defeats of the Axis between 1944-1945:
- the Ally victory in Normandy
- Liberation of Paris
- Reconquest of French and Belgian territory
- Russian army’s success in the east
Germany at the end of the War (3)
- Nazi regime fell apart in April 1945
- Germans surrendered May 1945
- Occupation of Berlin
End of the Pacific War
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs dropped
- Japanese surrender, September 1945
forced labor force in Nazi Germany (1939-1944) (4)
- Resources are needed due to the lengthening of the war
- A policy of exploitation of human and economic resources
- Forced labor camps run by the SS
- 8 million deportees to Germany in their industries and forced labor camps
Support for Nazism
- Support for Nazi ideas based on fear of communists
- Aided by collaborationism such as with the the French Vichy government
Anti Nazis (2)
- Anti-Nazi order based on patriotism, anti-fascism and resistance
- Some Italians rebelled against the fascists and the Germans
Charles de Gaulle
Led the “Free France” forces in resisting German takeover
Germanization (2)
- Origins of the genocide: idea of superiority of the German Aryan race and the need for “living space space”
- Slavic peoples also victims as their lands were “Germanized”
The extermination of the Jews “holocaust”
- First deportation to the ghettos, then internment in concentration camps
- Jews held and killed in extermination camp, extermination chambers, concentration camps, gas chambers and crematorium ovens
Wannsee Conference
Created the “final solution” to the Jewish question: annihilation the Jewish people
The greatest catastrophe humanity has ever known (5)
- Total war (military and civilian high casualties)
- The destructive power of the new weapons
- Mortality (55 million)
- Large population displacements due to Nazi occupation
- 40 million uprooted people
The Nuremberg Trials
Tried and convicted high ranking Nazi officials, establishing the concept of crimes against humanity, war crimes and the International Criminal Court
Consequences of the World War II (6)
- Problems of food supply and distress
- High level of debt
- Prices skyrocketed (inflation)
- The war accelerated the decline of the old European powers
- Millions of deaths (mostly civilian)
- The Cold War
Battle of Stalingrad
1942 battle on the Eastern Front in which Soviet Union last 1.5 million soldiers, but still managed to win against Germany, the turning point of the war
Italy Expansionalism
Italy invaded Ethiopia and Albania, also desiring the British North Africa territories
