WWII Flashcards
Nonaggression pact
peace treaty between Stalin and Hitler
blitzkrieg
“lightning war”, german military strategy using fast moving aiplanes and tanks and massive infantry forces to take enemy defenders by surprise and overwhelm them
Charles de Gaulle
French general who tried to reconquer france after it fell
Winston Churchill
British prime minister
Battle of Britain
battle between Germany and Britain, when britains smuggled german codes to quickly launched attacks against germans and had a strong defense. germans bombed the streets of london
Erwin Rommel
german general who commanded afrika korps, a tank force sent to aid the Italians.
Atlantic Charter
declaration between Roosevelt and Churchill, upholding free trade aong nations and the right of people to choose their own government, peace plan to end world war 2
Isoroku Yamamoto
Japanese admira, japans greatest naval strategist
pearl Harbor
December 7th 1941 Japanese bombing on pearl harbor, Hawaii
Battle of Midway
battle between americans and Japanese, when American planes destroyed Japanese planes and aircraft carriers before they got into the air
Douglas MacArthur
general and commander of the allied land forces in the pacific leading battle of guadalcanal
Battle of Guadalcanal
when allies attacked Japanese airbase on the island of Guadalcanal before it was completed
Kristallnacht
“night of broken glass” Nazi storm troopers attacked jewish homes, buisnesses and synagogues, murdered around 100 jews
ghettos
segregated jewish areas, sealed off with barbed wire and stone walls.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
American general led force against Rommels Afrika Korps with british army
Battle of Stalingrad
germans went on bombing raids destroying the city of Stalingrad, germans retreated after the Russian winter when their numbers were reduced from starvation and frostbite
Battle of the Bulge
german tanks broke through American defense along front in ardennes
Kamikazes
Japanese suicide pilots
Nuremberg trials
trials held in Nuremberg to send war criminals to life sentence of prison
Demilitarization
disbanding armed forces
democratization
process of creating a government elected by the people
United Nations
international organization was intended to protect the members against aggression
Containment
policy directed at blocking soviet influence and stopping expansion of communism
Truman Doctrine
Trumans support for countries that rejected communism
Marshall Plan
Assistance program provided food, machinery and other materials to rebuild western Europe
Cold war
war between united states and soviet union, struggle over political differences carried by means short of military action
NATO
Noth atlantic treaty organization- defensive military alliance between united states and Canada during the cold war
Warsaw pact
Soviets defensive military alliance with east Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania
Brinkmanship
willingness to go the edge of war
D-Day
allied counterattack where dwight D Eisenhower stationed a fake army to attack french seaport, while they used their larger troops to attack normandy (june 6th, 1944)
Unconditional Surrender
Germany was surrounded by allied forces, hitler and his wife committed suicide. german military then requested surrender
Aryan
“master race”,non-Jewish Germans of pure heritage
genocide
killing an entire race, or large group of people
Holocaust
the systematic mass slaughter of Jews and other groups deemed inferior by Nazi Germans
The Final Solution
Hitler plan to kill Jews faster, by hunting them down and executed them or sending them to concentration camps where they would also inevitably be murdered
Yalta Conference
Post war plan where united states, britain and soviet union met at black sea resort of yalta and agreed to divide germany into zones of occupation controlled by allied military forces
Lebensraum
” living space” additional territory that, according to hitler, Germany needed because it was overcrowded
iron curtain
during the cold war, boundary separating communist nations of eastern Europe from the mostly democratic nations of western europe
Bataan death march
Japanese forced allied prisoners of the war to march a 50 mile stretch of the Bataan Peninsula.
Manhattan project
development of atomic bombs
denazification
to rid of Nazism or Nazi influence
Internment Camps
prison camp for the confinement of enemy prisoners of war
Battle of Iwo Jima
American marines took island of iwo jima
Theory of Relativity
albert eisteins ideas about the interrelationships between time and space and between energy and matter
existentialism
philosophy based on the idea that people give meaning to their lives through their choices and actions
Facism
political movement that promotes extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights and a dictatorial one-party rule
Surrealism
artistic movement tht focuses on the workings of the unconscious mind
Jazz
style of popular music developed by African American musicians
Great Depression
severe economic slump that followed the collapse of the US stock market in 1929
Coalition Government
government controlled by a temporary alliance of several political parties
New Deal
US president Franklin Roosevelt’s economic reform program designed to solve the problems created by the great depression
Nazism
fascist policies, based on the totalitarianism belief in racial superiority and state control of industry
Axis Powers
alliance between Germany, Italy and japan in world war 2
appeasement
concessions to an aggressor in order to avoid war
Mein Kampf
“my struggle” book by Adolf Hitler during his imprisonment, describing his beliefs and goals for Germany
Munich Conference
meeting of representatives of Britain, france, Italy, and Germany, allowing Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia if he respected its borders
Third Reich
the third of german empire established by adolf hitler in 1930s
isolationism
the policy of isolating one’s country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances or international agreements, to devote the entire efforts of one’s country to its own advancement by avoiding foreign entanglements
Kulaks
wealthier peasants
Weimar Republic
the republic that was established in Germany 1919-1933
Charles Lindbergh
anti-Semite, started America first
Sigmund Freud
father of philosophy: id, ego, super ego
Cubism
boxy, geometric form of painting commonly done by Picasso
Francisco Franco
took over Spain after Spanish civil war, fascist ruler, neutral during world war II
Allied leaders
Stalin(Soviets), Churchill(Britain), Charles de Gualle(France), Roosevelt(U.S)
Axis leaders
Mussolini (Italy), Hitler (Germany)