WWII Flashcards
satisfying demands of dissatisfied powers in an effort to maintain peace and stability
appeasement
the British prime minister who boasted that the agreement made at the Munich Conference meant “peace for our time.” Hitler had promised Chamberlain that he would no more demands. Chamberlain believed him.
Neville Chamberlain
Hitler demanded that Germany be given the Sudetenland because the people there spoke German. Hitler said he was willing to risk world war. The Munich Conference allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland. He then took the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Invasion of Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia
Hitler threatened Austria with invasion so the Austrian chancellor put Austrian Nazis in charge of the government. They invited German troops into Austria to help maintain law and order. Hitler annexed Austria to Germany.
Anschluss of Austria
a conference in Munich where British, French, German, and Italian representatives did not object to Hitler’s plans but agreed to almost all of Hitler’s demands. They agreed to allow German troops to occupy the Sudetenland. (Czechs were not there)
Munich Conference
Hitler demanded the Polish port of Danzig and Great Britain offered to protect Poland in case of war. Hitler made the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact that would let Stalin control Poland and the Baltic states if he would not join Britain and France. German forces invaded Poland and Britain and France declared war on Germany.
Invasion of Poland
Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to attack each other. He promised to give Stalin control of Eastern Poland and the Baltic states.
Nazi-Soviet Non-agression Pact
“lightning war,” it used armored columns called panzer divisions, supported by airplanes. Each panzer division was a strike force of about 300 tanks with accompanying forces and supplies.
Blitzkrieg
a series of concrete and steel fortifications armed with heavy artillery along France’s border with Germany
Maginot Line
German went around instead of across the Maginot Line and threatened to bomb Paris so the French signed an armistice that allowed Germany to control all of France and it was known as Vichy France.
Fall of France
Germans went around the Maginot Line. This split the Allied troops trapping French troops and the entire British army on the beaches of Dunkirk. Winston Churchill went on the radio and asked private boats to save the British army. They evacuated 338,000 Allied troops.
Miracle at Dunkirk
a major offensive launched by the Luftwaffe on Britain. German planes bombed strategic targets. The British had a radar system that gave them advanced warning of attacks. The British air force suffered critical losses. The Luftwaffe began bombing non-strategic targets and the British air force was able to rebuild air strength. The British inflicted major losses on the Luftwaffe and Hitler decided to postpone the invasion of Britain.
Battle of Britain
Acts passed by the U.S. Congress in the 1930s in response to the conflicts in Europe and Asia. They ensured policies of isolationism and non-interventionism.
Neutrality Acts
a program under which the United States supplied Allied nations with oil, food, and other materials. The U.S. was given leases on bases in Allied territory during the war.
Lend-Lease Acts
the German air force
Luftwaffe
Hitler thought Britain was only staying in the war because they expected the supported of the Soviet Union. German forces invaded the Soviet Union. Soviet resistance halted the German advance. Germany had planned the attack for spring so they did not have winter uniforms.
Invasion of Soviet Union
Japanese aircraft attacked the U.S. naval base (Pearl Harbor) in the Hawaiian Islands. This attack led to the U.S. joining the war.
Pearl Harbor
the Afrika Korps were German forces in North Africa led by Erwin Rommel. They broke through British defenses in Egypt and advanced toward Alexandria. British forces later stopped them at El Alamein and German forces retreated back across the desert.
North African Campaign
Allies crossed the Mediterranean and carried the war to Italy. Allied troops took Sicily and then began an invasion of mainland Italy. Mussolini was removed from office and placed under arrest by King Victor Emmanuel III. The Italian government then offered to surrender to the Allies. Mussolini was liberated and set up a government in northern Italy. German forces occupied most of Italy.
Invasion of Italy
Allied forces under Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the shore of Normandy in history’s greatest naval invasion. There was heavy German resistance. Allied forces moved inland and broke through German defensive lines.
D-Day
the U.S. stopped all trade with Japan
Japanese Embargo
a surprise blitzkrieg attack through the Ardennes to Antwerp by the Germans
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler decided that Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga, should be taken. The Soviets launched a counterattack. German troops were stopped, then encircled, and supply lines were cut off, all in the winter conditions. The German forces were forced to surrender. The entire German Sixth Army was lost.
Siege of Stalingrad
American naval forces stopped the Japanese advance and saved Australia from the threat of invasion.
Battle of Coral Sea
It was the turning point of the war. U.S. planes destroyed 4 attacking Japanese aircraft carriers. The United States defeated the Japanese navy and established naval superiority in the Pacific.
Battle of Midway
a U.S. general who commanded the Allied force in Asia that would move into the Philippines through New Guinea and the South Pacific Islands.
Douglas MacArthur
the U.S. general who led the invasion on D-Day and later became the U.S. president
Dwight D. Eisenhower
led German forces in North Africa, called the Afrika Korps
Erwin Rommel
Great Britain’s wartime leader. At the beginning of the war, he had already had a long political career. He was confident that he could lead Britain to ultimate victory. He rallied the British people with stirring speeches. After the Battle of Britain, he said, “Never have so many owed so much to so few.”
Winston Churchill
the president after the death of Roosevelt who decided to use atomic bombs against Japan. One was dropped on Hiroshima and one was dropped on Nagasaki.
Harry Truman
a military strategy used by the Allies against Japan. They wanted to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not well defended.
Island Hopping
the United States and Great Britain would use the majority of their resources to first defeat Nazi Germany while trying to keep Japan from attacking. Then focus on defeating Japan.
Europe First
a large aerial bombing done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land.
Carpet Bombing
a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party.
Unconditional Surrender
genocide of the Jewish people. It was executed by the SS.
Final Solution
special strike forces, created by Reinhard Heydrich, created to carry out Nazi plans
Einsatzgruppen
the leader of the SS who was in charge of German resettlement plans in the east. His task was to move the Slavic people out and replace them with Germans.
Heinrich Himmler
a camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions.
Concentration Camps
the youth organization of the Nazi Party in Germany. In the last year of the war, Hitler youth members could be found in the front lines.
Hitler Youth
the youth organization of the Nazi Party in Germany. In the last year of the war, Hitler youth members could be found in the front lines.
Hitler Youth
Japanese for “divine wind,” a suicide mission in which young Japanese pilots intentionally flew their airplanes into U.S. fighting ships at sea
Kamikaze
the prime minister of Japan. He hoped to force Chiang Kai-shek to agree to a join a New Order in East Asia, comprising of Japan, Manchuria, and China. He opposed female employment. He thought that it would weaken the family system and would weaken the nation.
General Tojo
The Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain met at Yalta in southern Russia. Stalin wanted to establish pro-Soviet governments along the border of the Soviet Union. Roosevelt wanted self-determination for Europe. Roosevelt also sought Soviet military help against Japan so Roosevelt agreed to let Stalin control Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, two warm water ports and have railroad rights in Manchuria. Roosevelt also wanted the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain to agree to join the United Nations. They decided that Germany must surrender unconditionally and would be divided into 4 zones controlled by the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Stalin agreed to free elections in the future to determine a new government for Poland.
Yalta Conference
Discuss the European powers policy of appeasement. Why did they pursue this policy? What were its results?
Appeasement was used by the European powers to satisfy the demands of dissatisfied powers in an effort to maintain peace and stability. They pursued this policy because they didn’t want to start another world war.
Appeasers: Chamberlain and France
Appeased: Hitler
Results: Britain gained a year to build up its forces and so did Germany. Czechoslovakia was controlled by Germany. It convinced Hitler that Britain and France would let him do whatever he wanted.
List and discuss Hitler’s spectacular early successes.
Anschluss of Austria Taking over France Stabilized German economy Sudetenland Invasion of Poland Extermination of Jews
List and describe Hitler’s three biggest mistakes.
Underestimating British
Invading USSR
Declaration of war on the U.S.
Using resources for the holocaust (crazy racism)
Why did the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor? What was the result of this decision both short term and long term?
Japanese leaders had hoped that their bombing would destroy the U.S. fleet in the Pacific and stop the Japanese Embargo. They didn’t attack the aircraft carriers and fuel reserves. Short term - it went great for them and they were winning. Long term - they couldn’t win a war of attrition
Why was the United States more concerned with the Japanese aggression than German early in the war? What was the US policy for each before our entrance into the war?
Japan - active threat, large navy. Germany - never active threat unless Britain was defeated. The US had a policy of isolationism.
Why did the Allies win WWII?
The combined industrial capacity of the USA, Soviet Union and British Empire was much larger than that of the Axis powers. The number of people in the Soviet Union that could fight. Superior technology, freedom, Allies have a navy Germany doesn’t, Russia’s winter
List and discuss the aspects of western culture that the Axis believed would lead to our defeat but actually led to our victory.
Freedom, capitalism, greed, soft, questioning orders
What were the primary strategies for the Allies in WWII after the US entrance into the war?
Naval landings, strategic bombing (carpet bombing and atomic bombs) , and Europe First, island hopping
List the actions and lack of action by the Allies that led directly to the Cold War.
Giving them tanks
Letting them have Eastern Europe
Not getting rid of Stalin
Left them with factories
Were the carpet bombing of Germany and the atomic bombs dropped on Japan justified?
No because they were going to surrender anyway and many civilians were killed.
Discuss the causes of the Holocaust. Could it happen again?
Causes: Much of Europe was Anti-Semitic, the Nazis had separated the Jews from the rest of the population, the rise of Hitler, Nazis helped the economy
