World War II Flashcards
Weimar Republic
Name of germany between end of WWII and Hitler’s rise to power
Totalitarianism
Political ideology involving power centralization, complete control of daily life, ruling by force
Fascism
National superiority, a type of totalitarianism
Nazism
Turbo-fascism believing in racial superiority as well
Communism
Believes all people are equal and state owns means of production. No concept of class or ownership
Fasces
Bundle of sticks and an axe symbolizing power over life and death, symbol of fascism
Swastika
Symbol of nazism adopted from Buddhism
German Workers Party
Precursor to the Nazi party
NSDAP
Nazi party
Anton Drexler
Founded the nazi party, succeeded by Hitler
Mein Kampf
“My struggle” the book Hitler wrote while in jail for forming a coup, describing the ideas of Nazism and how much he hated jewish people
Third Reich
Hitler’s imaginary german empire that would supposedly last for 1000 years
Munich/Beer Hall Putsch
Hitler’s failed coup to overthrow the reichstag which led to his arrest
Reichstag
German parlaiment
Gestapo
Nazi police
SA and SS
Turbo-nazi officers. SA is brown shirts, the lower ranks who were liquidated due to Hitler’s paranoia. The SS are the elites who were personally chosen as the best Nazis.
Hitler youth
Hitler’s indoctrination after-school club
Wehmract
German army
Luftwaffe
Nazi air force
Einsatzgruppen
SS death squads who personally killed Jewish people in big numbers
Lebensraum
“living room” nazi goal for obtaining more space to live
Volk
German people
Adolf Hitler
Oh come on. You know this.
Joseph Goebbels
Owned the ministry of public enlightenment (propaganda)
Heinrich Himmler
Head of the SS, chief overseer of of the final solution
Herman Goering
Commander of the Luftwaffe
Adolf Eichmann
Architect of the Holocaust
Benito Mussolini
italy’s fascist leader who came to power through force. Wanted to create a rome-style empire by allying with Hitler but got obliterated in the Battle of Italy
Brown Shirts
Another name for the SS
Black Shirts
Mussolini’s equivalent of the SS, responsible for keeping Italians in line through force
Stab in the back myth
Nazi myth explaining that Germany lost WWI because the Jewish people betrayed them
Appeasement
Europe didn’t interfere with Hitler to avoid a war: annex Sudetenland, the Anschluss, rebuild military, stop reparationsT
The Anschluss
Example of Appeasement. Hitler formed a coalition with Austria.
Neville Chamberlain
British Prime Minister who appeased Hitler (following the people’s wishes)
Winston Churchill
New British PM who was against appeasement. Stayed as PM for whole of WWII
Munich Agreement
When Hitler annexed the Sudetenland, he agreed not to make any more territorial demands. Spoiler: he made more demands
American Isolationism
America vowed not to get involved in wars that did not personally concern them.
Phony War
8-month period at the beginning of WWII when no actual fighting occured. Hitler took over most of Europe in this time.
Non-Agression Pact
Pact between USSR and Germany to not invade each other or ally with each others’ enemies. It was actually a secret plan to divide Europe into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence.
Blitzkrieg
German military strategy where all forces were focused on one part of enemy lines, basically cutting a deep wound. Very different from trench warfare.
Maginot Line
National embarassment for France who fortified this line across the German-French border, but, like WWI, Germant went through Belgium instead
Vichy France
The Nazis’ puppet government in South France
RAF
Royal Air Force
RCAF
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Blitz
Germany bombing during the Battle of Britain
Pearl Harbour
Japan attacked a US naval base in Hawaii destroying 12 warships and killing 2000, leading FDR to declare war on Japan and its allies
Mouseholing
Strategy used in WWII in the battle of Italy by Canadians, blowing small holes in walls and throwing bombs through to clear buildings at record speed
D-Day
Successful allied plan to gain a foothold in Europe by attacking Nazi-operated Normandy beaches
“The Beaches”
Canada got Juno Beach. US and Britian got two other beaches each. They were attempting
