| A | B |
|---|
| Benito Mussolini | Fascist leader of Italy. Promised to end corruption and replace turmoil with order. |
| Adolf Hitler | Leader of Germany. Wanted all people all Germans in the Third Reich |
| Francisco Franco | Spanish conservative General. Led revolt that started Spanish civil war. Fascists and Nationalists supported him. Supported by Hitler and Mussolini. Soviets sent troops to fight against him. Created Fascist government after victory. |
| Neville Chamberlain | British Prime Minister. After Munich Conference told people he had achieved “peace for our time” |
| Edouard Daladier | French leader. Not happy with Munich Conference. “you fools, why are you cheering?” |
| Winston Churchill | British Politician. Always be worried about Nazi Threat. Accused diplomats of Munich Conference of choosing dishonor. |
| Joseph Stalin | Communist leader of the Soviet Union. Developed 5 year plan |
| Charles de Gaulle | French Leader of the free French, worked to liberate France after captured by Nazi Germany. |
| Erwin Rommel | German General. Nicknamed Desert Fox. Won many battles, successfully pushed British back across Egyptian desert. |
| Tojo Hideki | Japan extreme Militarist. Hoped to expand Japans empire. Thought US was interfering with plans since they stopped selling war materials to Japan. Ordered attack on US. |
| Dwight Eisenhower | American General and later President. Took command of joint US and British forces in Morocco and Algeria. Defeated Rommel. |
| Douglas MacArthur | General who led Island hopping campaign. |
| Chester Nimitz | US naval commander. Blockaded Japan |
| Harry Truman | US president. Approved the use of the Atomic Bomb to end the war. |
| Japan invades Manchuria | Japan thought it should have an empire as big as Western powers. Seized in 1931. League of Nations condemned actions. Success strengthened militaristic faction. |
| Italy invades Ethiopia | Italy’s wanted to expand empire. Opponents did not have the technology to defeat Italy. League of Nations placed sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but had no power to enforce sanctions. |
| Neutrality Acts | Passed by US congress in mid 1930’s. Forbade sale of arms to any nation at war. Outlawed loans to warring nations. Prohibited Americans from traveling on ships of warring powers. #1 goal was to avoid involvement in European war, not to prevent conflict. |
| Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis | Axis Powers. Italy, Germany, and Japan. Agreed to fight Soviet Communism and not to interfere with others territorial expansion. Cleared way to take bolder steps |
| Spanish Civil War | Fight between Fascists/Nationalists vs. Loyalists (communists, socialists, and people who wanted democracy). Many people from different countries joined the fight. German’s bombed Guernica, to identify what their planes could do. Fascists win! |
| Appeasement at Munich | September 1938. Brit and French leaders caved to Hitler’s demands that Sudetenland be part of Germany. In exchange Hitler promised to not extend nation further. |
| Nazi-Soviet Pact | Bound Hitler and Stalin to peaceful relations. Had agreed not to fight if the other went to war and to divide up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe between them. Both feared each others form of government |
| Invasion of Poland | September 1, 1939. Germany Invades. 2 days later Britain and French declared war on Germany. Official start of WWII. |
| The “Phony War” | 1st winter of the war. French and British soldiers were in place in Maginot Line |
| Miracle at Dunkirk | French and British troops were trapped between Nazi army and British channel. Britain sent all available naval vessels, merchant ships, and boats to get troops off the beach. Got 300,000 troops to safety in Britain. Raised British Moral. |
| Vichy France | German Capital of France after French Surrendered to Nazi invaders. Some French leaders escaped to set up a government in exile. |
| Operation Sea Lion | Hitler’s plans for invasion of Britain. Started bombing England southern coast every day in August 1940. Then began to bomb London and other cities. FAILED |
| The London Blitz | Started September 7, 1940 and lasted 57 nights in a row and sporadically until May. The city did not break. FAILED |
| Operation Barbarossa | Invasion of Soviet Union. Hitler wanted to defeat Stalin and crush communism. 3 million Germans invaded, Stalin was caught unprepared. Soviet Union destroyed its own resources while retreating so Germany wouldn’t get them. |
| “General Winter” | Russian Winter. Stopped Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Thousands of German soldiers died. |
| Siege of Leningrad | lasted 2 ½ years. City didn’t fall to Germans. People inside were starving. Stalin urged Britain to open 2nd front in Western Europe to distract Germans and stop assault. |
| Arsenal of Democracy | The idea that the US was the primary military supplier to the Allies. US increased industry and war production. |
| Lend-Lease Act | FDR persuaded congress to pass. Allowed FDR to sell or lend war materials to any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the US. |
| Atlantic Charter | Created in a meeting between FDR and Churchill. Set goals for the war, final destruction of Nazi tyranny, and for postwar world. Pledged to support the right of all peoples to choose the fro of government under which they will live. Called for permanent system of general security. |
| Attack on Pearl Harbor | December 7, 1941. Japanese air strike on US naval fleet. Caused US to enter war. 2,400 Americans died. |
| Death camps | Where Jews were sent, held, and killed. 6 were established in Poland by Hitler. |
| The Holocaust | Systematic genocide of about 6 million European Jews by the Nazis during WWII. |
| Invasion of Italy | July 1943. British and American troops land in Sicily and Southern Italy. Defeated forces in a month. After the defeat Mussolini was overthrown and an armistice was signed. Fighting didn’t end, did weaken Hitler and forced him to fight another front. Hitler sent rescue force for Mussolini. Allies made their way up the Italian peninsula for 18 months. |
| Battle of Stalingrad | Hitler launched new offensive towards oil fields of south Russia. German troops stalled outside of major Russian city. Costliest battle of the war. Then Soviets encircled Germans in the city. Germans were trapped, surrendered in January 1943. After battle Germans driven out of Soviet Union. |
| D-Day | Invasion of France. June 6 1944. Dropped paratroopers and stormed French beaches. Brit and American soldiers fought their way to Paris. After a month of fighting France was liberated. |
| Battle of the Bulge | German launched counterattack against Allied forces from France, in Belgium. Lasted a month. Germans unable to break through lines, delayed Allied advance. Soviets advancing into Germany from the east. |
| V-E Day | May 8th 1945. Germany surrenders and victory is achieved in Europe for the Allies. |
| Hiroshima-Nagasaki | Japanese cities that were hit by the Atomic bomb. Devastating to the cities. Japanese emperor intervened and forced government to surrender. |
| Nuremberg Trials | War crimes trial. Held by the Allies. Top Nazi received death sentences, were imprisoned. Showed that political and military leaders could be help accountable for actions in wartime. |
| The Cold War | State of tension and hostility between nations aligned with the US on one side and the soviet union on the other, without armed conflict. |
| The “Iron Curtain” | Invisible boundary dividing Europe after WWII. ½ US Britain, other ½ Soviet |
| Truman Doctrine | US policy established in 1947 trying to contain spread of communism. Made it clear that America would resist Soviet expansion. |
| The Marshall Plan | US attempt to strengthen democratic governments. It was a massive aid package. They sent food and economic assistance to Europe. Truman offered aid to Soviet Union but Stalin refused. |
| Berlin Airlift | Jun 1948 Stalin tried to force West out of Berlin by sealing off every railroad and highway to western sectors of the city. West responded with an around the clock air lift of food and supplies in. Forced Soviets to end the blockade. NATO/Warsaw Pact—Military alliance that pledged to protect member nations if they were attacked. One for Democratic Nations, one for Soviet nations. |
| Reasons for appeasement | 1) France was demoralized by political divisions. France couldn’t battle Hitler without British support. 2) British didn’t want to fight Hitler. 3) Some thought Hitler’s actions were justifiable response to treaty of Versailles. 4) Hitler and Fascism as a defense for Soviet Communism. 5) Great depression had hurt West. |
| Reasons for Nazi-Soviet Pact | 1)Hitler wanted free hand in Poland. 2) Hitler didn’t want to fight war with Soviet Union and Western Powers. 3) Suspisions between Stalin and Western powers stopped alliances. Stalin tried to protect Soviet Union from war with Germany. 4) Soviet Union would gain land in Eastern Europe |
| Reasons for Allied victory in Germany | 1) Location of Germany and Allies meant they had to fight on several fronts simultaneously. 2) Hitler made poor military decisions 3) Hitler underestimated Soviet Unions fighting abilities. 4) Productive capacity of US 5) Allied bombing hindered German production |
