WW2 Definitions Ch4 Flashcards

1
Q

totalitarianism

A
  • used to describe dictatorship

- dictators controlled their populations (could seize power and strictly control the populations under rule)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

benito mussolini

A
  • formed political party called fascisti (facist)
  • threatened to overthrow italian gov during march on rome 1922 when unable to achieve election victory
  • formed blackshirts (quasi-military group) as his political goons (26,000 men)
  • demanded italian gov be handed over to him
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

weimar republic

A
  • new democratic german government
  • formed by new leaders after kaiser (former german leader) gave up power on nov 9 1918
  • thought it would help germans in peacemaking process and that it would please the americans to want a more lenient settlement regarding germany
  • sacrificed democracy after 14 years
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

inflation

A

-economic condition when currency of a country becomes less and less valuable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

adolf hitler

A
  • political party nazi’s leader
  • tried to overthrow german gov during inflation crisis
  • gained popularity by promising he would destroy democracy and stated that germans would never be victims of such events again
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

nazi

A
  • german name for the german socialist workers party

- shortened version (first word) of “nationalsozialistische deutsche arbeiterpartei”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

anti-semitism

A
  • to dislike or even hate jewish people

- (blamed for germany’s difficulties)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

scapegoat

A
  • someone blamed or punished for the errors of others

- (jews were germany’s scapegoat)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

enabling act

A
  • made hitler all powerful

- brought an end to democracy in germany and beginning of totalitarianism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

night of the long knives

A
  • june 1934
  • hitler had about 1000 people murdered
  • victims were enemies of the state by the nazis
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

nuremberg laws

A
  • package of laws between 1933-1939 that outlines hitlers harsh and unjust measures against the jews
  • passed without resistance and supposed to warn world about hitlers intentions but worked to reinforce anti-semitism
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

kristallnacht

A
  • name of infamous event on nov 9, 1938 nazis encouraged germans toattack jews
  • jewish shops attacked, windows smashed, jews were publicy beaten, many imprisoned for no reason
  • literally translates as “crystal night” referred as “night of broken glass”
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

gestapo

A
  • german secret police

- could do anything as long as hitlers believed they were serving the state

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

joseph stalin

A
  • gained complete control of soviet union in 1928
  • shaped country with his vision of communism
  • was a totaliratian dictator
  • wanted to modernize the economy of the soviet union
  • feared foreign country invasion
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

five year plans

A
  • introduced by stalin to achieve his goal of ensured industrialization
  • was stalins attempt to completely take control of all aspects of economy
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

the great terror

A
  • introduced by stalin during era of 1930s

- anyone who was considered an enemy of stalin’s goal would be executed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

appeasement

A

-occurs when a certain country becomes aggressive and other countries give the aggressor what it wants to prevent a war

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

nazi-soviet non-agression pact

A
  • signed august 23, 1939
  • hitler approached stalin to make pact
  • (deal where both countries would promised not to attack each other and divide poland between them)
  • in reality it was made to gain/stall time
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

blitzkrieg

A
  • used by nazis
  • “lightning war”
  • attacks led by airplanes by knocking key enemy positions which were followed by tanks and motorized infantry attacks
  • attacking forces would sweep past enemy and close in from behind trapping the enemy
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

conscription

A

-compulsory military service

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

phony war

A
  • october 1939-april 1940
  • people expected germamy to attack western europe but it didnt due to weather and indecision
  • allied soldiers waited for the attack
  • period where there was little fighting
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

evacuation of dunkirk

A
  • 1940
  • collapse of belgium, british and french troops retreated to french beaches of dunkirk on english channel (became trapped)
  • 900 ships arrived to rescue 340,000 soldiers
  • represented moral victory for allies-saved best british forces
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

battle of britain

A
  • summer of 1940

- british royal airforce (raf) and german luftwaffle (air force) fought in airspace over britain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

radar and sonar

A
  • radar: similar to method called echolocation (locate things with great accuracy like blind bats) -uses radio waves to detect locations of things allowing britain to detect german bombers and fighter squadrons from far away
  • sonar: works in water using sound. sound waves travel through water and bounce off enemy submarines alerting allies of their presence
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
the blitz
-hitler abandoned assault on raf airfields and orderd daylight bombing raids on london
26
dieppe
- august 1942 - about 5000 can soldiers landed in dieppe (coast of france) - objective to take beach and town of dieppe back from germans
27
scorched earth policy
- used by stalin against nazis when german troops smashed into soviet union - soviet union (red army) destroyed everything as they retreated so nazis would have nothing to use
28
battle of el alamein
- battle of control of egypt - (230 kilomaters west of cairo, egypt capital city) - victory for british (oct 1942) was turning point for the war:first time allies defeated forces of facist countries
29
battle of the atlantic
- longest campaign of WW2 | - atlantic fought for control of shipping lanes between north america and britain
30
corvettes
-warships provided by royal canadian navy for protection against german uboats (convoy system)
31
royal canadian navy
-consisted of 13 ships and about 3000 sailors, expanded to 370 ships and almost 100,000 personnel after WW2
32
battle of stalingrad
- soviet union lauched attack on germans to prove they could fight through the winter - sept 1942-jan 1943 - soviets won victory by capturing/killing all of german troops/army that were in the region - stalin proved that german war maching could be defeated and germans suffered defeat after defeat after
33
italian campaign
- 1943 germans defeated in north africa and retreating from eastern front - allies wanted to eliminate germans plans before the reinvastion of western front - allies planned to take island of sicily just off coast of mainland italy
34
operation overlord
- 1944 - allied invasions of german-held europe - allies planned to use naval and aerial bombardment to knock out german defences
35
juno beach
- target assigned to can forces - beachfront code-name - consist of eight km of coastline - one of five such targets at normandy
36
v-e day
- may 8 1945 - victory in europe - announced when last of german troops surrendered
37
pearl harbour
- december 7, 1941 - japanese launched surprise attack on american naval base in pearl harbour hawai'i - attack intended to give jap naval control of pacific in preparation of future attacks
38
prisoner of war (pow)
- japanese camps that held can soldiers who were captured after surrendering to hong kong - treated very harshly and many died (267 can)
39
battle of midway
- june 1942 - turning point in pacific theatre -jap victories over - jap preparing to conquer northwest hawai'i islands - plan intercepted by americans
40
island hopping
-american strategy to select and take key islands about 400 miles (640km) apart instead of targeting every single island
41
the manhattan project
- since march 1943 | - US secret expensive funded project to determine the possiblity of creating an atomic bomb
42
hiroshima
- city that was the target of the first atomic bomb | - little boy dropped aug 6 1945
43
nagasaki
- city that was the target of the second atomic bomb | - fat man dropped aug 9 1945
44
v-j day
- victory in japan - august 14, 1945, jap gov sued for peace - WW2 over
45
war supply board
- created to show gov commitment to war production - managed by C.D. Howe - goal was to organize canadian industry towards the singular purpose of supplying the front
46
hyde park declaration
- stated that US would buy more raw materials from canada and would supply canada with american parts for weapons production - issued bc cananda was worried allied countries would no longer buy from canada after lend lease act 1941 was introduced
47
propaganda
- term used to describe information that is spread for the purpose of promoting a particular cause - stetches the truth in a heavily biased way on the cause side
48
british commonwealth air training plan
- developed by canada in 1939 | - created facilities in canada to train pilots an dother crew members from CW countries
49
camp x
- special spy training facility located outside of oshawa ontario - opened few days after bombing of pearl harbour - can, br, and am, spies trained here -trained 500 agents to work around the world
50
national resource mobilization act
- implemented by king 1940 | - required all men to help with war effort but not to serve overseas
51
enemy aliens
- canadians whose ancestry was one of the enemy countries | - labelled bc can feared they were spies, or might commit acts of sabotage
52
operation oblivion
- planned as a dangeroud, top secret infiltration on jap soil - chinese canadians enlisted to perform sabotage but were not allowed to return - given cyanide pill to help with suicide - last minute mission was cancelled for reason unknown - soldiers sent to borneo alive
53
internment camps
-camps in remote areas where members would do labour work
54
custodian of aliens act
- law passed in 1943 by canadian gov | - allowed possessions of jap can to be sold without their permission
55
holocaust
- comes from greek words holos (whole) kaustos (burnt) | - used to describe hitlers massive attempt to exterminate all the jewish people in europe during WW2
56
st louis incident
- ocean liner st louis presented oppurtunity for many that it was their last of hope of escape - ship take jewish refugees from germany to cuba where they wait for their quota number before entering the US
57
ghettos
- designated areas in city where jews were compelled to live | - 1939, 80,000 jew forced to live in ghettos
58
final solution
- 1941, hitlers obsession with complete annihilation of jewish race became horrible reality - hitler ordered all jews in nazi occupied europe be gathered and sent to extermination camps and be killed in a group in gas chambers
59
genocide
-systematic extermination of a religious or racial groups
60
auschwitz
- dealth camp located in modern day poland | - 1mil+ killed by nazis
61
nuremberg trials
-war crime court at nuremberg set up by allies in 1946 for the nazis
62
tehran conference
- held in iran capital city - first time big three (roosevelt, churchill, and stalin) met - cordial relations established
63
yalta conference
- held in south of soviet union on crimean peninsula | - made number of decisions regarding germany's future
64
potsdam conference
- held near berlin - former war allies were to make decisions reagarding future of germany and europe - supposed to be peace conference planning session but all trust from during the war was gone - conference was a setting of the stage for next war (cold war)