WWII Flashcards
Appeasement
The policy of Great Britain and France to give in to demands in order to maintain peace in Europe.
How Axis Expansion caused the war?
Germany, Japan, and Italy took over countries/ territories without being punished. Lack of punishment gave the Axis countries the courage to start a war and made them more powerful.
The Role of the Allies in causing WWII
Allies let the Axis powers build up their militaries and expand their territories without punishment because of appeasement. Allies did not prepare for battle, so when the war started, they could not stop it. The U.S. had a policy of isolationism which allowed Axis powers to gain power because the U.S. did not get involved.
Nonaggression Pact
A mutual promise between the Soviet Union and Germany that they would not attack one another and they would divide Poland
Blitzkrieg
“Lightning war” - a form of warfare in which surprise attacks from fast-moving airplanes followed by massive attacks with infantry forces - Hitler’s idea
What caused Great Britain and France to finally declare war on Germany?
Hilter invaded Poland
Name the Allies
Great Britain, France, U.S. Soviet Union
Name the Axis Powers
Japan, Italy, Germany
Rescue at Dunkirk
Allied troops trapped by Germans at Dunkirk. British Royal Navy and civilians in private boats rescued 338,000 Allied Troops
Details of Battle of Britain
German Luftwaffe attacked England. Won by the British because of the Royal Air Force. Important because it showed that Hitler could be defeated in battle
Name of the German Air Force
Luftwaffe
Name two technologies that made British successful in the Battle of Britain
Radar- the RAF knew when the Germans were going to attack, how many there were, and from what direction
The Enigma Machine- the Germans’code machine that had been smuggled into Britain, so the British could decode German messages
Why did Mussolini attack Egypt?
in order to take control of the Suez Canal from Great Britain
Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps
Known as the “Desert Fox” he successfully led the German Tank Corps in Africa until he was defeated by British and American Forces
Atlantic Charter
a declaration issued in August 1941 by British prime minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt that showed their connection before the U.S. entered the war
Details of Pearl Harbor
took place on December 7, 1941. Japan launched a surprise attack on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor
Turning points in the war in the Pacific
The battles of Coral Sea and Midway
Island- hopping
US strategy of moving from one island to the next, capturing them and moving closer to Japan
Holocaust
The main target was the Jews. Jews were sent to concentration camps or death camps, used as slave labor, used in medical experiments, or killed in gas chambers. 5-6 million Jews were killed. (2/3)
Aryan
The group of people Hitler believed was the “master race” who created culture.
Kristallnacht
The “Night of Broken Glass” where Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues were destroyed by the Nazis. It prompted many Jews to leave Germany
Ghettos
Prior to the Final Solution of the Holocaust, Jews were forced to live in ghettos: small closed communities with limited resources where Hitler hoped they would die of natural causes
Final Solution
Hitler’s idea to eliminate the Jews by murdering them when life in the ghettos was too slow at eliminating them
Genocide
The systematic killing of a group of people