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WW2 Flashcards

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1
Q

Appeasement

A

giving people what they want to prevent future problems

does not always work, think about the Soviet Union

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2
Q

Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR

A

President of the United States at the beginning of WWII, he died on his 4th term.

32nd President (1933-1945)- longest serving president

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3
Q

Adolf Hitler

A

Dictator of Nazi Germany, wanted to take over the world.

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4
Q

Benito Mussolini

A

italian fascist dictator, started as a socialist then switched to become a fascist, he allied with Hitler

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5
Q

Hirohito

A

Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989.

does not do much, is just a figurehead, political and spiritual leader

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6
Q

Hideki Tojo

A

The force behind Japanese strategy. He was the prime minister of Japan by 1941

military, dictator, like Hitler

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7
Q

Joseph Stalin

A

Communist dictator of the Soviet Union from 1920s to his death, 1953.

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8
Q

Winston Churchill

A

Prime minister of Great Britain, encouraged his citizens to not give up during the bombings, closely allied with the U.S.

led the war efforts, against appeasement

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9
Q

Axis Powers

A

Germany, Italy, Japan

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10
Q

Allied Powers

A

Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union

eventually the United States

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11
Q

Neutrality Acts

A

Series of laws passed in the 1930s that banned the U.S. from
- No selling goods to countries at war
- No loans to any country
- No traveling on ships or go to a country involved in war.

however later, they allowed some sales on a cash and carry basis.

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12
Q

America First Committee

A

Public interest group in Germany led by Charles Lindberg to pressure the U.S. to not enter the war since Germany lost after the U.S. joined in WW1. Senator Nye, General Wood, Lindberg, all about isolationism, stay out of European problems

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13
Q

Blitzkrieg

A

new style of warfare, blowing stuff up, known as lightning war launched by the Nazis

also a 3 pronged attack

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14
Q

Cash and Carry

A

have to pay in cash and send their own ships to the U.S. to get weapons

France and Britain (Allied power)

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15
Q

Selective Service Act

(1940)

A

Selective Acts was the first peacetime draft, when the US started drafting people of ages ~21-45 to the war.

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16
Q

Arsenal for Democracy

A
  • freedom of speech, religion, from want, fear (no violence, no poverty, and feeling safe)
  • the President implored Americans to stand up as the “arsenal of democracy” as though it was their own country at war
  • the central phrase used by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a radio broadcast on the threat to national security
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17
Q

Four Freedoms

A

freedom of speech, worship, from want, from fear

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18
Q

Lend-Lease Act

(03/11/1941)

A
  • FDR lends England money
    Officially choosing side because he lended to Britain when they were neutral.
  • Allowed the sale of war materials to any country whose defense was vital to the defense of the U.S.
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18
Q

Atlantic Charter

A

Arsenal for Democracy- Atlantic Charter (08/14/1941) when they beg America for a meeting on boat.

Goals / vision of post war: free trade, peace, disarmament, democracy

The allies thought of peace and cooperation.

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19
Q

Destroyers for Bases

A

(9/2/40) Arsenal for Democracy- collection/ storage of weapons. Between the US and Britain, had to trade 50 navy destroyers for military bases from Britain

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20
Q

Pearl Harbor

A

Naval base in Hawaii on 12/7/41 but they knew they planned to expand. US declared war officially on Japan.

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21
Q

Office of Price Administration

A

The OPA’s main responsibility was to place a ceiling on prices of most goods, and to limit consumption by rationing. Americans received their first ration cards in May 1942. Control prices and prevent inflation, 1941 created, rationed food.
Foods would be more fairly distributed.

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22
Q

Shoot on Sight

A

Greer Incident- if they see any type of boat, they will shoot on sight, this was 3 months before Pearl Harbor.

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23
Q

Office of War Information (OWI)

A

U.S. gov’t agency that spread information about the war and promoted war efforts, boosting morale (confidence), controlling propaganda through radio, films and posters

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24
Q

War Bonds

A

needed to buy war bonds also known as victory bonds to keep inflation intact

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25
Q

General Eisenhower

A

Main U.S. general in European theaters of WW2, leader of Operation Overload: D-Day

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26
Q

Harry Truman

A

New Vice President of FDR as before was Henry Wallace (radical democrat), however the democratic party knowing Roosevelt’s heath condition, changed to Truman. He is a unifying democrat who could be shaped and moled differently.

made the decision in August 1945 to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

27
Q

Double V Campaign

A

Stands for victory abroad and victory at home. It was to promote the fight for democracy in overseas campaigns and at the home front in the US for African Americans during WW2. Wanting to end racism while supporting war efforts against fascism abroad.

28
Q

Zoot Suit Riots

A

Part of the Double V Campaign, was a series of riots that occured in California because Mexican Americans wore zoot suits. Many stated that they’ve been attacked by those wearing zoot suits, then white men noticed the Mexicans and attacked them as they thought Mexicans were talking over. Mexican American youth (called pachuckos)

29
Q

Navajo Code Talkers

A

Many words during the WW2 were not in the Navajo language, so Navajo men created their code to understanding key phrases during the war.

30
Q

Japanese Internment

A

After Pearl Harbor, all Japanese of the US (including Japanese Americans) were sent to internment camps because the US was scared of what these people could do to hurt America. Most Japanese weren’t spies, but farmers and workers, the Japanese suffered terribly in those internment camps. (1942-1946)

31
Q

Battle of Britain

A

The British Parliament wanted to surrender but was pressured by the US. The Germans tried to invade Britain by bombing the whole England and getting them surrender. But Britain was still standing at the end of the battle. Nazi Luftwaffe had daily bombing raids in the UK. Radar helps the UK RAF. Churchill’s role was begging the U.S. for help. Children evacuated North. People slept in the London Underground.

July 1940-October 1940

32
Q

Battle of the Atlantic

A
  • Allied naval blockade of Germany and their counter effort to blockade.
  • U-boats verses Allied navies and convoys
  • Germany’s warships and submarines, U-boats, focused on sinking merchant shipping, thereby reducing the amount of supplies reaching the United Kingdom and other European Allies.
  • the struggle between the Allied and German forces for control of the Atlantic Ocean

Fall 1939- April 1945

33
Q

Operation Torch

A

Operation Torch was designed to take pressure off the blockade of the Soviet Union by opening a second front in the Mediterranean to divert German attention. It would also give the United States experience fighting Nazi Germany.

34
Q

Italian Campaign

A

Invasion of Sicily where German ws positive that they’ll fight the US in Italy but didn’t know where. Allies gave fake identity to a fresh dead man from rat poisoning as an allied pilot and tried the Germans and Italians. Operation Mincemeat: Successful trickery by the British, fewer German troops were ready at Sicily, it worked pretty well.

35
Q

French Resistance

A

The Maquis, showed how the resistance groups fought in France, against the Nazi occupation was before the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944.

36
Q

Operation Barbarossa

A

started in the summer of June, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, knowing that the US would eventually come, they want the take Russian resources.

37
Q

Leningrad

A

Germany surrounded Leningrad, without the people evacuating (wanted to make soldiers feel like they had something to protect). Stuck in the city without resources, causing people to starve to death. ~a million died from starvation.
Axis Powers cut off all roads/ access to the city, starved.

(September 1941 to January 1944)
872 days

38
Q

Stalingrad

A

bloodiest battle for Germany, many casulties bc Germany didnt expect Russian winter, many froze to death and resources had to be split. For Stalin’s namesake city; largest industrial city, air raids left rubble; deadliest urban battle in history: Axis power had 500,000 deaths; USSR had 1,000,000 deaths.
won by the Soviet Union against a German offensive that attempted to take the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd, Russia) during World War II.

39
Q

D-Day

A
  • The battle between the US and Germany on the shore of Normandy, bloodiest battle for Americans with 10,000 allied soldiers getting killed
  • Planned for 2 years, Allies invaded Normandy, France (known as Norman invasion).
  • Late 42-44 when FDR and Churchill planned on pushing back Germans.
  • This was the largest amphibious land invasion in history as 7,000 ships, 200,000 men from 8 different nations were brought together.
  • June 30th, 850,000 Allies were in France with Eisenhower being the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
  • Allied powers were trying to liberate France as they were under Nazi control.
  • Utah and Omah were the beaches that the U.S. died on the most.

June 6, 1944

40
Q

Battle of the Bulge

A

Bulge (Battle- Ardennes Offensives)
Last major German offensive on the Western Front in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Surprise attack by Germany to push allies back and split their lines, Germany success then failure, why? German divided their soldiers into two groups to make two negotiation groups against the allies, failed and surrenders.

(December 1944- January 1945)

41
Q

Holocaust/ Shoah

It took place from 1933 to 1945.

A

The Holocaust was a Nazi German initiative, systematic, state-sponsored persecution that took place throughout German and Axis controlled Europe. It murdered six million European Jews by Nazi German regime and allies and collaborators but affected 9 million people. It is sometimes referred to as “the Shoah”.

Jews called it “the Shoah” as it is the Hebrew word for “catastrophe”.

42
Q

Ghettos

A

were crowded and isolated, neighborhoods where Jews were forced to move, poor areas.

43
Q

Kamikaze

A

was a new strategy that was known as the suicide bombers. Bomb crashed into aircraft carriers, plane.

44
Q

Einsatzgruppen/ SS

A

Elite mobile killing squads and mostly used in Eastern and Southern Europe.

45
Q

Battle of Coral Sea

A

blocked a push that could have led to a land invasion of Australia.

45
Q

Final Solution/ camps

A

At a 1942 Berlin Meeting, Hitler proposed “a final solution to Jewish problems”, extermination.
German officials wanted to do with Jews, this was a concentration divided into two parts, labor camps (usually young man) and murder camps (children, women, elders)

46
Q

Jewish Resistance

A

Warsaw ghetto uprising, allies hiding Jews.

47
Q

War Refugees

A
  • 60 million displaced people after WWII including 3 million Jewish survivors. 1.3 million refused to go back home- where was their home…?
  • A lot were wondering if they should go back to Palestine? South America?
  • South Americans wanted to whiten their area so a ton of ex-Nazi and Jews were in South America.
48
Q

Pacific Theater

Battle of Midway

A

broke Japanese code, island hopping campaign established

49
Q

Island Hopping

A
  • Winning territory going from island to island, starting with weakest island, one island at a time to surround an eventual land invasion of Japan (didn’t happen because of the atomic bomb)
  • Having these islands allowed aerial bombing, resting spots, and natural resources, it was slow, and took 3 years to get to Japan.
50
Q

Baatan Death March

A

A penninsula in the Philippines, American/ Filipino soldiers were prisoners of war by Japanese.
They went on a march/ walked 60 miles to the prison camps and many died/ was executed on the way. Starved tired dead

51
Q

Battle of Leyte Gulf

A

New strategy- first time bomber use of the Kamikaze.
Reclaimed the Philippines, destroyed the Japanese fleet.

52
Q

POW Camps

A
  • Worst prisoners of war camps- Japan
  • 25% of Americans died, 40-50% of the
    -British/Australians were treated worse than Americans, and died.
    -These guards were smart, strong, good, and took out skilled prisoners.
    -Brutal guards, poor conditions, torture, starvation, forced labor, escape….
53
Q

Battle of Guadalcanal

A

First Japanese defeat on land, was bloody.

54
Q

Battle of Iwo Jima

A

(feb-march 1945)
Took 6 weeks, the entire island was full of volcanic ashes, sand was practically black, good for camouflage.
Wanted both axis powers (Japan and Germany) to give up.

55
Q

Battle of Okinawa

A

(started in April 1945)
Around the time when Germany was surrounded, Hitler suicides.
This was considered the last stop before the land invasion, but then there was no land invasion due to the drop of the atomic bomb. 110,000 guys died.

56
Q

Firebombing of Tokyo

A

(march 9/10 of 1945)
U.S. Bombers (B-29) killed 90,000 to 100,000 civilians using fire bombs.

57
Q

Yalta Conference

A

(February 1945)
Big 3: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin. Big 3 had a meeting to discuss post-war Europe (like Munich Part 2).
FDR made concessions (too many) to Stalin.
Agreed to demilization and deNazify Germany.
Temporary divide Berlin/Germany in 4 zones, Stalin agreed to free elections in POL.
April 12, 1945- Longest serving U.S. President-FDR died (1933-1945), Truman had only been VP for 3 months, and had no idea about anything related to the atomic bomb.
Race to Berlin (2 Soviet Generals in a competition).
The UK and US aim for Southern Germany and it uncovers the horrors of the Holocaust.
Hitler Suicide- April 30, 1945 (day after he got married).
German Surrender- May 8, 1945 (VE Day- Victory in Europe, but still got to fight Japan).

58
Q

Potsdam Conference

A

(July 1945)
Stalin-Truman-Churchill’s meeting where they were finalizing Germany, who was gonna get what.
The alliance between the trio had cracked as Stalin had been lagging behind, the promises he made kept getting pushed back.
An agreement that was sent to Japan to surrender, but Japan didn’t agree so Truman sent the atomic bomb to Japan.

59
Q

Potsdam Declaration

A

a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. (Japan wanted to keep Emperor Hirohito but it was an unconditional surrender)

60
Q

Manhattan Project

A

A secret plan in the US for the nuclear bombing of Japan.

61
Q

Atomic Bombs

A

was targeted to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, huge post-affect. An extremely powerful bomb which creates massive explosive energy by splitting atoms invented by Albert Einstein. The first atomic bomb, named Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima from the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, at 8:15 AM on August 6, 1945. The second bomb, named Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki from the Bockscar, also a B-29 bomber, at 11:02 AM on August 9, 1945.

62
Q

Japanese Surrender

A

Only surrendered August 15, took 6 days after the second bomb to surrender. Wanted to keep Emperor Hirohito, but America said no.

63
Q

US Occupation of Japan

A

Divided Japan into four and made each allied power country to control them.
- demilitarize Japanese soldiers
- re-make governemnt and turn the emperor system into a figure
- rebuild the economy by free market and capitalism.
- they keep them away from the idea of communism.

64
Q

United Nation

A

Eleanor Roosevelt helped organize, made to keep peace, with the five strongest countries (US, China, Russia, France, UK) in the Security Council. They also have ten rotating elected members made to protect human rights of everyone.

1945

65
Q

Nuremberg Trials

A

excluded Jews from everything, a city that still had building trials, less damaged.
Allies put 22 Nazi leaders and 6 German/ Nazi organizations on trial for war crimes, crimes that were against humanity.
There were 12 death sentences, 7 prisoners and 3 acquittals.
After the Nuremberg trial, genocide was unexceptable, established a precedent stating that “following orders” is not an excuse for committing war crimes.
Purpose of the trial- convict the defendants, assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes and offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans.

(November 1945- October 1946)

Contemporary History and Global (4 decks)

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