**WWII** Flashcards
1
Q
Axis Powers
A
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan
2
Q
Allied Powers
A
- Britain
- France
- United States
- Soviet Union
- China
- Russia
3
Q
Appeasement
A
- Giving in to various demands, threats, or violations of laws in order to avoid a greater conflict
- An attempt to do whatever was necessary to pacify Hitler
- Churchill saw it as an abandonment of moral principles that would lead to a war and national disaster
4
Q
Adolf Hitler
A
- Dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in a great German empire
- Wanted to enforce racial “purification” at home
- Nazism – national expansion
- Great Depression – people became desperate, turned to Hitler for hope
5
Q
Benito Mussolini
A
- Rises to power in 1922 and attempts to restore Italy to its former position as a world power
-
Fascist party (leader wields absolute power)
- Fascism = to value the nation or the race above the individual
- Il Duce (the leader)
- Goal was to promote Italian power by suspending elections, centralizing the economy under state control, and modernizing the armed forces
- Tried to create modern-day Roman Empire
6
Q
Hideki Tojo
A
- Prime Minister of Japan
- Chief of staff of Japan’s Kwantung Army
- Planned Pearl Harbor attack
- Launched the invasion into China
7
Q
Winston Churchill
A
- Great Britain / England’s prime minister during most of WW2
- Did not agree with the policy of appeasement
8
Q
Emperor Hirohito
A
- Forced to give up status at end of WW2
- Figurehead, not much power
9
Q
Joseph Stalin
A
- Leader of Soviet Union
- Replaced private farms with collectives
- Created second largest industrial power, famines killed millions
- Purged anyone who threatened his power, many killed
- Totalitarian government
10
Q
Harry S. Truman
A
-Vice president who became president when FDR died -Gave the order to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
11
Q
Manhatten Project
A
- Led by General Leslie Groves with research directed by American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the development of the atomic bomb
- Enrico Fermi
12
Q
D-Day (why important/historic?)
A
- Under Eisenhower’s direction in England, the Allies gathered a force of nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops, together
- Planned to attack Normandy in northern France
- Operation Overlord
- June 6, 1944
- Ultimately an Allied victory and marked the start of Operation Overlord, which drove the Nazis from northwest Europe in June 1944
13
Q
Pearl Harbor
A
- “A date which will live in infamy” – FDR
- U.S. declares war on Japan
- Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S
14
Q
December 7, 1941
A
- Pearl Harbor
15
Q
Island Hopping
A
- Military strategy of capturing various small islands in the Pacific, moving closer to Japan’s main island
- By capturing a few crucial islands, you cut off the bypassed islands from supplies and reinforcements and make those islands useless to Japanese
- Allowed US to move more quickly towards Japan
16
Q
Kamikaze
A
- Suicide-plane, attack in which Japanese pilots crashed their bomb-laden planes into Allied ships
- Battle of Leyte Gulf was a disaster for Japan
- “Win at all costs” feared by Americans
17
Q
War Bonds
A
- Loans to government to raise money for the war effort and to fight inflation
- Instantly gives government money, the rest came over time
18
Q
August 6, 1945
A
- Hiroshima
19
Q
August 9, 1945
A
- Nagasaki
20
Q
Executive Order 9066
(Why not for Germans or Italians? Did government support?)
A
- Forced Japanese to leave within a certain time frame
- No compensation for property lost or left behind
- No time to sell homes/businesses
- Often not told where they were being sent
- Uprooted from their communities
- Curfew for all [Japanese, Italian, German-Americans] ← secure national defense and security
- Freeze of movement only for Japanese Americans
- Internment
- EO is like a law
- It is written by the president
- Not approved by Congress
- It is temporary
- Government passed – Japanese Americans while fighting war with Japan, don’t want to protect rights
21
Q
Rationing
A
- Only buying a limited amount of everyday items so the rest could be used to help the soldiers
- Personal contribution to the war effort
22
Q
Rosie the Riveter
A
- Encouraged US women to work in factories to support the war effort
- Women replace men as welders, taxi drivers, factory workers, etc
- Women also seen on the front lines as pilots, GIs, nurses, etc.
- Most war workers well-paid
- Problems: long hours, tough to work, care for homes and take care of children
23
Q
Double v campaign
A
- Sought victory abroad and victory in the struggle for equality at home
- Campaign slogan for African Americans in the US
- Would show white America that AA were equal in skill and patriotism
- Victory in war, racial discrimination ends
24
Q
Hiroshima
A
August 6, 1945
25
Nagasaki date
August 9, 1945
26
Korematsu v. US
* The majority of the Justices found that the Order did not show racial prejudice but rather was a logical response to the attack on Pearl Harbor and an attempt to keep the West Coast safe from invasion
*
27
V-E Day
-Victory in Europe Day
28
V-J Day
* In face of these atomic disasters and the Soviet declaration of war, Japan on August 14, 1945
* September, 2 1945— Japan officially surrendered to General MacArthur on the USS Missouri
29
What was the policy of appeasement and why did it fail?
* Led to WW2
* We kept giving in, allowed Hitler and Mussolini to get stronger
30
Why did the US not want to get into WWII and what were examples of how it remained neutral?
* We were dealing with the Depression and wanted to focus on fixing our economy
* We did not want to involve ourselves, and our soldiers lives, in the problems of other countries
* We had many English, French, German, and Italian citizens and didn't want to pick a side
* 1935 congress passed Neutrality Acts
* Outlawed arms sales or loans to nations at war
* Extended the ban on arms sales and loans to nations engaged in civil wars
31
What was the Allied plan to defeat the Germans in WWII?
* Split Germany into 4 zones, each under the control of one of the major Allies. Plan similar division of Berlin (would lie deep in Soviet zone)
* Stalin promise to allow elections in nations of Eastern Europe that his army had liberated from Germans
* Stalin also promised to enter the war against Japan within 3 months of Germany’s surrender
32
What policy did the US military adopt in order to defeat Japan in WWII?
* Island hopping
* Didn't attack last island, would have ended in many dead
33
What were two reasons for using atomic bombs against Japan?
What are two arguments why this was the wrong decision?
* **For:**
* Only way to avoid invasion of japan
* Japan was not going to surrender otherwise
* **Against:**
* Japan was already defeated
* Immoral / war crime
34
How did women play a major role in helping the US win the war?
* Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
* Women volunteers served in noncombat positions (nurse, ambulance driver, radio operator, electrician, pilot, etc.)
35
How did we pay for WWII?
* War bonds
* Raise taxes (sort of)
* Deficit spending
36
What was Japanese internment? Was this legal in the eyes of the Supreme Court? Why or why not?
* Pearl Harbor attack had stunned the nation
* Frightened people believed false rumors that Japanese Americans were committing sabotage
* Confinement of Japanese Americans
* Prison camps
*
37
How did fighting the war affect our economy and our country’s world status? Provide some evidence for both questions.
**Economy:**
* American factories were retooled to produce goods to support the war effort and almost overnight the unemployment rate dropped to around 10%, paychecks rose
**World Status:**
* World's dominant economic and military power
38
How did the US government use propaganda to help “sell the war”?
-
39
What agreement was made between Hitler and Stalin? Why did it benefit Hitler so much?
* Nonagression pact
* Committed to never attack each other
* Second, secret pact: divide Poland between them
* Hitler violated pact
40
During WWI Japan was out ally. What happened to our relationship with Japan and why? How and when did Japan drag us into the war?
* Japan got nothing in Treaty of Versailles
* **Japan was committing atrocities against China**
* Japan needed oil, and the United States had placed an embargo on it to protest Japanese aggression in Indochina (didn't want to start a war)
* US breaks Japanese codes, learns Japan planning to attack US
* Peace talks with Japan for 1 month
* Japanese instructed to reject all US proposals
* Pearl Harbor
41
How were the Allied offensive victories in Russia, North Africa, Italy and Normady important to winning the war (even though they didn't happen at the same time)?
* Before D-Day
* Russians finally win, pushes Germany back
* Allies lay out 3 year long plan to defeat Germany
* Come down into North Africa, drive Italian soldiers out
* Win in Itality
* Push to Germany
* To Russia
* D-Day (in France)
* Found a way to surround Germany
42
How did the war affect life for women?
* More women went to college
* More women worked
* Women's baseball
