world war II Flashcards
adolf hitler’s aggression:
he used propaganda
germany occupied
the rhineland
france was responsible for
enforcing the treaty of versailles
instead,
they accepted german action
rome - what was created
the berlin axis
britain and france
appeased germany
appeasement
prevents war (“surrender on the installment plan”)
who was annexed
austria (german speaking), the sudetenland (ethic germans)
hitler pledged:
“this is the last territorial claim i have to make in europe”
munich conference
gave hitler what he wanted
six months after the munich conference…
hitler took over the rest of czechoslovakia
turning point
hitler had no excuse
britain and france realized
that they no longer could appease germany
britain and france concluded
security treaties with poland
germany invaded
poland
germany signed
a mutual non-aggression pact with russia
world war II began in
europe
blitzkrieg
lightning war - coordinated air and ground offensive
dunkirk
germans forced the british and french to retreat to britain (they left their weapons!)
battle of britain
the german luftwaffe bombed england repeatedly for five months, hitler prepared for an invasion that was later postponed, first conflict in history to be decided solely by air power, later germany hit england with V-2 rockets
churchill called more germans being killed than british…
“our finest hour”
barbarossa
germany attacked russia
who did most of the fighting in ww2
the soviets (not the western powers) which caused them to receive most of the land
operation torch
north africa, britain and america vs germany, tank warfare, george s. patton vs erwin rommel
operation husky
invasion of sicily, u.s. used mafia to fight the axis, british and u.s. troops were able to gain a stepping stone to the mainland of europe
d-day (operation overlord)
german forces were shot on the coast of france (normandy), allies pushed back germans, eventually took back paris
who led d-day
gen dwight d. eisenhower
who was gen dwight d. eisenhower
supreme commander of western europe
battle of the bulge
last german offense, germany retreated
hitler committed
suicide
victory day
may 8th, 1945
what led to the attack on pearl harbor
US/japanese relations worsened
the united states felt morally responsible to…
halt the exportation of goods which fueled the japanese military (moral embargo - oil/scrap iron)
what was stationed at pearl harbor, hawaii
the u.s. pacific fleet
tripartite agreement
germany, italy, japan (axis powers)
for japan, the attack on pearl harbor was an…
offensive-defense
the moral embargo was a threat to japan’s…
ability to make their own choices concerning the future of east asia
the embargo was designed to
persuade japan to america’s point of view
japan needed to wipe out the deterrent in the pacific
but that winter would’ve been too late (they could win a short war)
the attack was successful, except
three u.s. aircraft carriers were out at sea and oil storage tanks/dry docks were not touched
japan did not…
send out a third wave of planes
pearl harbor was therefore rebuilt,
maintaining the deterrent in the pacific
pearl harbor was more important after the war began because
it kept the u.s. navy close to action (midway was coming)
pearl harbor was a backdoor into
world war 2
atlantic conference
roosevelt and churchill met secretly off the coast of canada
four freedoms speech
brought on because of hitlers aggression in europe
what did FDR and WC decide
that germany would be the first objective; japan the second (otherwise the US would have to fight the nazis alone)
eight points based on
wilson’s fourteen points
cognitive dissonance
refusal to believe the obvious
the u.s. joined ww2 after
pearl harbor
halting the…
japanese advances
the coral sea (australia)
fight for japanese drive south, japan’s victory (in numbers; they sank the aircraft carrier lexington), america’s victory (strategically; they stopped the japanese drive south)
midway islands
aircraft carrier battle, americans were breaking japan’s code, americans were ambushed by the japanese
guadalcanal (the solomon islands)
japanese airbase, “active defense” by the allies would lead to the retaking of the philippines, hand-to-hand combat, japanese evacuated
the u.s. took back the
philippines
“island hopping”
marianas, iwo jima (flag raising), okinawa
this led to the preparation of an…
invasion of japan
president harry s. truman dropped
a-bombs instead (“fat man” and “little boy”)
the “manhattan project”
hiroshima and nagasaki (industrial target)
japan surrendered
formal instrument of surrender = sept. 3
the u.s. mobilized for war by
supplying the allies
cash and carry
allowed nations to obtain non-military supplies if they paid cash and carried it on their own ships
the neutrality acts
tied roosevelt’s hand too much and worsened the economy (this undid both)
roosevelt had the arms embargo changed from belligerents to
“cash and carry” to help the allies
destroyer for bases
the u.s. provided old destroyers to protect shipments of supplies to great britatin
the undeclared war
“shoot on sight” orders were issued to u.s. destroyers and merchant ships were armed (targeted u-boats)
lend-lease
lent materials to countries whose defense seemed vital to the defense of the u.s. regardless of its inability to pay (ex. gb and ussr)
undeclared war became worse
u.s. ships were armed and carrying goods to england
arsenal of
democracy
the war revitalized
the american economy
how did the war revitalize american economy
no strikes, unemployment went down (women and minorities were hired), earnings increased, first peace draft in u.s. history
american industrial output determined
the eventually allied victory over the axis
american military output more than doubled the axis output…
winning a war of attrition
war of attrition
a war of constant abuse to wear down the enemy (outproduce them)
japan and germany underestimated the…
production power of the u.s.
rationing
gas, coffee, sugar, canned food, stockings
war bonds
raised money for the war
income tax
the number of people paying increased
rosie the riveter
symbol for female factory workers
rosie the riveter (pt.2)
replaced men in factories, sense of pride for women, women were paid lower than men
internment camps
japanese relocation camps
internment camps were used to relocate…
japanese-americans
how did the u.s. make up for putting japanese-americans into internment camps?
they apologized and paid
442nd
the most decorated unit in the american army during ww2
the atlantic conference (charter)
roosevelt and churchill decided to enact self-determination, the right of a nation to determine their own government through elections, designed to build long lasting world peace
casablanca (morroco)
roosevelt and churchill decided not to accept anything less than “unconditional surrender”
the tehran conference (iran)
roosevelt, churchill, and stalin (stalin wanted a ton of nazis executed)
the west promised…
a large offensive
europe would be divided…
by the middle (stalin’s triumph)
europe would be liberated by…
the soviets
yalta (russia)
expanded the soviet role in far east (fight against japan)
roosevelt pushed for
a united nations (he had to keep u.s. troops out of peace time europe but died two months after this conference)
harry s. truman
fdr’s successor
potsdam (germany)
harry s. truman was kept in the dark about roosevelts deals with stalin, he learned of the successful test of the a-bomb at the conference (necessary evil), he cut off lend-lease to the soviets
in ww2, it became acceptable to
target civilians (IMPORTANT)
lesson learned —>
the price of appeasement
the holocaust
death by fire, approved by adolf hitler
what does the capital “H” in the holocaust mean?
indicates the period of time when jews were killed and persecuted
the nuremberg laws deprived jews of…
german citizenship and reduced them to the status of “subjects”
marriage between who was outlawed?
jews and aryans
aryan
a caucasian with no jewish blood
the jewish question
where to put the jewish population?
the ghetto
isolated neighborhoods of jews
the final solution
systematic extermination by industrial methods of an entire population
adolf eichmann
nazi official in charge of the extermination program (trains, ghettos, camps)
auschwitz
a collection of camps and factories in poland (worst and most deadly)
joseph mengele
the angel of death, he would whistle and sing as he killed people, he experimented on people
dachau (u.s. military) (set precedence)
100% conviction rate, men were not persecuted for certain crimes
nuremberg trials (international)
prosecuted nazi officers (they gave the orders), ESTABLISHED THE PRINCIPLE THAT OBEDIENCE TO A NATION”S WARTIME POLICIES DOES NOT EXCUSE THE GUILT FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
