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IB History > World War II > Flashcards

World War II Flashcards

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0
Q

Zhukov

A
  • Stalin’s chief military advisor
  • Commanded Red Army
  • Won the race to Berlin
  • Involved in almost all of the battles
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1
Q

Hitler

A
  • Chancellor of Nazi Germany
  • As the war went on, he became more and more independent in decisions and didn’t listen to his advisors
  • Committed suicide before the Allies reached his bunker
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2
Q

Goebbels

A
  • Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
  • 1943 = basically running the country while Hitler concentrated on the war; urged the people of Germany to resist
  • Committed suicide with Hitler
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3
Q

Badoglio

A
  • Field Marshal of Italian army then commander-in-chief
  • Directed the campaign in Abyssinia
  • Resigned after the failure of the Greek campaign
  • Formed government that signed armistice with the Allies and declared war on Germany after Mussolini fell
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4
Q

Doenitz

A
  • Commander of German U-boats
  • Significantly underestimated forces necessary to win the Battle of the Atlantic
  • Greatly supported U-boats
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5
Q

Big Three

A

-Leaders of the Allies:
Churchill = Britain
Stalin = Russia
Roosevelt = USA
-Common aim of defeating Hitler and Nazi Germany
-Willing to compromise and listen to each other
-Mutual distrust but Churchill and Roosevelt were able to build an accumulation of trust

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6
Q

Mussolini

A
  • Leader of Italy
  • Fascist
  • People of Italy turned against him, specifically his Fascist party
  • Shot by Italian partisans on April 28, 1945 when he tried to flee
  • Role model and ally of Hitler
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7
Q

Roosevelt

A
  • President of the United States
  • At home = brought opponents into his administration, allowed big businesses to get bigger, and increased federal budget
  • At first simply provided aid to the Allies but when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the US entered the war
  • Coined unconditional surrender
  • Supported cross channel strategy to defeat Hitler
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8
Q

Hirohito

A
  • Emperor of Japan = treated like a divine being, and controlled all of the armed forces and the government
  • Emphasized preserving honor so citizens killed themselves when invaded and soldiers fought to the death
  • Surrender = only condition was to keep Hirohito as Emperor
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9
Q

Rommel

A
  • Leader of Afrika Korps
  • Successful in North Africa
  • Short of equipment and overwhelmed in battle spelled his loss at the battle of El Alamein in November 1942
  • Exceptional at initiative and improvisation = one of the best-known generals of WWII
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10
Q

Montgomery

A
  • British commander
  • Desert campaign = replaced Auchinleck; pushed the Afrika Korps back to Tunis
  • Commander of ground forces in the Normandy invasion = cautious, meticulous preparation and unflagging tenacity
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11
Q

Stalin

A
  • Leader of Russia
  • Deferred to his outstanding generals, Zhukov and Antonov for military advice
  • Desperately wanted Poland and Soviet-friendly nations around Russia as buffer states
  • Controlled the meetings of the Big Three
  • Driven by the need to spread communism, by concerns for security, and by expansionist aims
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12
Q

MacArthur

A
  • General of the American army
  • Led the Philippine campaign = 2 years of fighting
  • Accepted Japan’s surrender
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13
Q

Eisenhower

A
  • Led American forces in the desert campaign to close net around Afrika Korps
  • Later became President of the United States
  • Appointed Supreme Commander
  • Launched invasion of France, which was an enormous success
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14
Q

Himmler

A
  • Nazi
  • 1943 = Minister of the Interior
  • 1944 = Commander-in-chief of the German home forces
  • Ordered destruction of concentration/death camps, hoping to cover up the deaths or make them disappear in a sense
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15
Q

Churchill

A
  • Succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister in May 1940
  • Worked hard to maintain a British voice in the Grand Alliance
  • Urged the British people to help as much as possible
  • Wanted to defeat Hitler by going through the Mediterranean
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16
Q

Chamberlain

A
  • Prime Minister of Britain until 1940
  • Declared war on Germany with France though had to be pressured to do so
  • Failure of the Scandinavian expedition led to the fall of Chamberlain’s government and he was thus replaced
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17
Q

Schuschnigg

A
  • Chancellor of the First Austrian Republic
  • Opposed to combining with Hitler’s Nazi Germany
  • Forced to sign the Anshluss
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18
Q

Ribbentrop

A
  • Foreign Minister of Germany
  • Key role in creating the Pact of Steel (with Italy) and the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
  • Later hanged for war crimes
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19
Q

AJP Taylor

A
  • British broadcaster and journalist
  • Served in the Home Guard
  • Befriended foreign statesmen
  • Helped to encourage the expulsion of the entire German population of Czechoslovakia
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20
Q

Kristallnacht

A
  • The Night of Broken Glass

- Coordinated attacks against Jews in Nazi Germany

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21
Q

Appeasement

A
  • Method of avoiding war by providing concessions
  • Britain used this in an effort to lessen Germany’s anger
  • Hitler was actually encouraged by this
  • Germany ended up better than before after WWI
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22
Q

Anschluss

A
  • Combining Germany and Austria
  • One of Hitler’s goals
  • Had to be forced
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23
Q

Munich Agreement

A
  • Settlement that allowed Hitler to annex parts of Czechoslovakia with Germans in it, a territory called Sudetenland
  • Failed act of appeasement
  • Czechs felt betrayed by France and Britain
  • Signed by the European powers
24
Q

Hossbach Memorandom

A
  • Summary of a meeting between Hitler and his foreign ministers in which he outlined his expansionist aims
  • Showed a radical change in policy = outlined his aim of expanding across Europe
  • Hitler didn’t at first want a full scale war
25
Q

Vichy

A
  • Unoccupied zone of France ruled by Petain
  • Retained control of the French Empire and the French Navy
  • Eager to collaborate with the Germans
26
Q

Maginot Line

A
  • Line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, machine gun posts, and other protections France built along its shared borders with Germany and France
  • Inviolable but the French assumed that they were then safe and then didn’t expect the Germans to go around it through the Ardenne Forest
27
Q

Blitzkrieg

A
  • Fast-moving attacks delivered by a small but effective tank force and supported by overwhelming air power
  • Used in the Scandinavian campaign, the defeat of France, and the conquest of Poland
  • Didn’t require a fully mobilized economy and country
  • Made possible by German advancements in technology, which eventually became old news
28
Q

Panzer

A
  • German word for tank or armor

- Used in Blitzkrieg

29
Q

Afrika Korps

A
  • Leader = Rommel
  • German troops in Libya and Tunisia
  • Used in the desert campaign
  • Eventually defeated = turning point
30
Q

Yalta Conference

A
  • Last Big Three meeting
  • Roosevelt was dying
  • Reached an agreement on post-war settlement = Stalin won Poland
  • Deal between Roosevelt and Stalin that in return for Poland, Stalin has to help the US defeat Japan (this doesn’t happen)
31
Q

Operation Overlord

A
  • Overall Commander = Eisenhower
  • Included nearly 2 million men
  • Target = Normandy
  • Made possible by complete control of air and sea
  • Plan to attack German-occupied territories
  • German weaknesses = destruction of communication immobilized troops and Germans believed that attack on Normandy was a ruse
  • Factors countering a quick victory = Allies had difficulties keeping such a huge force supplied, strategic disagreements between Montgomery and the Americans
  • Germans retreated to the West Wall to regroup and recover
  • German industry collapsing and great losses
  • Hitler spread his airpower too thinly and reacted too slowly
32
Q

Operation Bagration

A
  • Coincided with Allied landings in the west
  • Germany’s biggest defeat
  • Eliminated twice as many Germans as the western campaign
  • Germans only expected the Soviets to attack from the south instead of both the south and the north
  • Paralyzed German transportation system
33
Q

Holocaust

A
  • Systematic and mass genocide
  • Anti-Semitism = in Germany Jews were treated as scapegoats, condemned for their capitalism and their association with the origins of bolshevism and the death of Christ
  • Decision for murder made by Heydrich, not just Hitler
34
Q

Red Army

A
  • Soviet army
  • Commander = Zhukov
  • Troops that conquered Germany and Berlin
  • Was cruel to German citizens, raping and pillaging, though German forces did the same in Russia
35
Q

RAF

A
  • British air force = fighter planes
  • Necessary in the victory of the Battle of Britain
  • Couldn’t train pilots quickly
  • Used radar, radio telephones, and operation rooms
  • Used in strategic bombing, which was overall not very effective
36
Q

Battle of Midway

Turning Point

A
  • Battle around Midway Atoll, an island formed from a coral reef with an airfield
  • US deciphered Japanese codes and moved to intercept the fleet, hiding two carriers a safe distance away
  • Japanese losses = 4 carriers, 240 aircraft, a cruiser, and 3000 men
  • US losses = 1 carrier, 150 aircraft, a destroyer, and 300 men
  • First real victory against the Japanese, reduced the Japan’s fighting power, and prevented the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) from making any major attacks for months
37
Q

Nazi-Soviet Pact

A
  • Non-Aggression Pact with secret clauses
  • When Hitler invaded Poland, Russia invaded from the east in accordance to this Pact
  • Was broken when Hitler invaded Russia, and then Russia joined the Allies
38
Q

Phoney War

A
  • Britain and France prepared for attack but none came
  • No fighting but both planned for victory
  • Britain and France wanted to go through Belgium and attack Germany, but Belgium refused to allow them passage
39
Q

Miracle of Dunkirk

A
  • Large scale evacuation of British and French troops
  • Made possible because of bad weather and German mistakes
  • British citizens using normal boats/yachts picked up troops
40
Q

Battle of Britain

A
  • Hitler wanted peace with Britain but Churchill refused
  • Britain could only survive
  • RAF versus Luftwaffe = RAF got the better of Luftwaffe
  • Luftwaffe bombed major cities = British morale didn’t decrease
  • Britain only won because Hitler wasn’t actually serious
  • Britain realized that their only hope to defeat Germany in the war was the United States
41
Q

Luftwaffe

A
  • German Air Force

- Played key role in Blitzkrieg

42
Q

Barbarossa

Turning Point

A
  • June 22 1941 = Hitler attacked Russia and surprises Stalin
  • German strategy = divide and conquer; at first worked perfectly but then Hitler changed his plans
  • Stalin was slow to react but when he did he was a great leader
  • Russians = increasingly determined and tenacious in defense
  • Bad weather slowed German advance, interfered with machinery, and reduced mobility; Soviets better prepared for winter
  • Leningrad = Stalin stayed and faced German troops with weapons and soldiers from his Eastern Front
  • December 8 = Hitler called a halt to all offensives
  • December 16 = Hitler forbade any withdrawal
  • Marked the end of Blitzkrieg
43
Q

Lend-Lease program

A
  • US sent arms to Britain with the matter of repayments undecided
  • Shows the United State’s reluctance to get directly involved in the war and isolationist policy
44
Q

U-boats

A
  • German submarines
  • Only option available to fight against Allied ships = disrupt transportation of supplies between the US and Britain
  • Roamed the sea in groups
  • Almost all U-boats were destroyed in the Battle of the Atlantic for Allied destroyed hunted them down
  • Commander = Doenitz
  • Could be tracked by radar and then avoided
45
Q

Total war

A
  • Germany didn’t fully mobilize their economy and country, while all the Allies did
  • Easy for Russia to convert into a total war economy since there was already heavy government control
  • Home front = factories, morale, and women and children took up extra tasks since the men were away
  • Japanese honor = never surrendering and committing suicide
46
Q

Battle of the Bulge

A
  • Hitler planned a surprise yet risky winter offensive = attack through the Ardennes, recapture Antwerp, split the Allies and roll them back to sea
  • Occurred on December 16 1944, after D-Day
  • Succeeded in surprising the Allies but they soon recovered and won
47
Q

D-Day

Deliverance Day

A

-June 6 1944 = Operation Overload started

48
Q

Wehrmacht

A

-German army

49
Q

Operation Citadel

A
  • German offensive designed to destroy salient (a bulge in the line) at Kursk in order to stabilize the front and consolidate the conquered territory
  • Originally planned for April 1942, but Hitler became hesitant and kept postponing it, which destroyed its chances of success and gave the Russians time to build up their defenses
50
Q

Battle of Kursk

A
  • Great Tank Battle
  • Germans sent 700,000 troops and 2,400 tanks against over a million Soviet troops and 3,400 tanks
  • Hitler called it off quickly with a loss of half a million men
  • Shattering defeat for Wehrmacht = Germans lost initiative
  • Russians now had superiority in numbers and in tanks and air
  • Ended Hitler’s hopes of holding onto the bulk of his conquests in Russia
51
Q

Teheran Conference

A
  • End of November 1943 = Big Three met for the first time
  • Stalin was much more professional and better prepared than Roosevelt and Churchill, and thus he controlled the meeting
  • Stalin and Roosevelt favored invasion of France over continuation of Mediterranean campaign
  • Stalin wanted territory, especially Poland
52
Q

“Percentage Agreement”

A
  • Between Churchill and Stalin
  • Churchill flew to see Stalin in October 1944 to try and limit Soviet influence
  • Stalin agreed to stay out of Greece and to some extent Yugoslavia though he still got Poland, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria
  • Germans hoped these differences would break apart the Grand Alliance, but this of course was not the case
53
Q

Stalingrad

A
  • Battle of Stalingrad became a matter of personal prestige though it wasn’t essential for victory
  • October-November 1942
  • Germans fought a vicious house-to-house battle until they had control of most of the city, but Soviets counterattacked
  • Hitler forbade the Marshal from withdrawing and wrongly relied on the Luftwaffe who couldn’t reclaim victory
  • End of January 1943 = German Marshal surrendered
  • German invincibility broken and thus morale harmed in Germany
54
Q

Anglo-Soviet Alliance

A

-Formal military alliance signed by Britain and Russia when the latter was invaded by Germany

55
Q

Battle of the Atlantic

A
  • Churchill coined the name
  • Convoy system paired with radar to protect the Allied transportation system of supplies
  • Germans late to innovate U-boat in time to make a difference
  • Defeated U-boats
  • Britain was able to crack the enigma codes
56
Q

Strategic bombing

A
  • Not very effective = bombers were operating beyond the range of fighter escorts and were too vulnerable to German fighting planes
  • Hamburg = German city that burned greatly with many losses, but this is an exception to the norm
  • Commander-in-chief of Bomber Command = Harris
  • Though there were a lot of losses when the Luftwaffe was defeated, civilian morale wasn’t broken
  • Made a significant contribution to victory = led to elimination of Luftwaffe
  • Night bombing was adopted
  • Britain wanted to bomb civilians as revenge for the Battle of Britain
57
Q

Orthodox view

A
  • Blames certain events, people, and/or countries quickly
  • Hitler = all major decisions in German foreign policy was made by Hitler; Mein Kempf
  • Chamberlain = appeasement was the deliberate surrender of smaller nations and Chamberlain is uber guilty
  • Paris Peace Settlements = failed compromise between the idealism of Wilson and the greed of European powers
58
Q

Revisionist view

A
  • Reinterpretation of orthodox view after time as passed, considering motivation, new evidence, and decision-making process
  • Hitler = Hitler being an all-powerful leader is simply Nazi propaganda; his foreign policy was a spontaneous response to the situation
  • Chamberlain = appeasement was an attempt to stop another war; Britain felt guilty for its part in starting WWI; at the time Chamberlain thought this to be the only option
  • Paris Peace Settlements = brave attempt to deal with the difficult problems; failed because of the lack of enforcement

IB History (2 decks)

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