| A | B |
|---|
| World War II | fought in Europe, Africa and Asia between the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States against the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. |
| Lend Lease Act | allowed the United States to trade with Great Britain while remaining neutral; it was focused on building an "arsenal for democracy" |
| Pearl Harbor | December 7, 1941 the US naval base in Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese |
| appeasement | giving in to someone in hopes that they will be satisfied |
| Axis Powers | Germany, Italy, Japan |
| Allied Powers | Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, United States |
| internment camps | designated areas where Japanese Americans were sent after the attack at Pearl Harbor; fear that they may be spies caused this to happen |
| D-Day invasion | June 6, 1944; invasion of Normandy; major turning point of the war |
| Hiroshima | first city that the atomic bomb was dropped on; about 75,000 people died on impact |
| Nagasaki | second Japanese city to be destroyed with an atomic bomb; about 45, 000 people died on impact |
| Holocaust | the systematic destruction of those people who did not fit into Hitler's perfect race; they included Jews, Gypsies, Roman Catholics, the disabled, Polish and many other groups |
| genocide | attempting to eliminate an entire group of people |
| Battle of Midway Island | a turning point battle for the US in the Pacific |
| Manhattan Project | secret production of the atomic bomb at Los Almos, New Mexico |
| VE Day | victory in Europe day (ended the war in Europe); May 8, 1945 |
| VJ Day | VJ Day August 1945; Victory in Japan day |
| dictator | a ruler with complete authority over their country |
| nationalism | having extreme pride in your country |
| Joseph Stalin | communist dictator of the Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Benito Mussolini | fascist dictator of Italy |
| Fascism | a government in which the state comes before all else |
| Adolf Hitler | Nazi dictator of Germany |
| blitzkrieg | lightning warfare |
| Battle of Britain | a series of air raids led by the Germans on England; never defeated Britain |
| ration | a limit on certain items during wartime such as sugar and gasoline in order to preserve these items for the troops |
| Harry S. Truman | became president when FDR died; used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki |
| Nazis | Hitler's National Socialist Party |
| Totalitarianism | a political system in which the government controls every aspect of citizens' lives |
| kamikaze | Japanese pilots who deliberately crashed their planes into enemy ships |
| Battle of the Bulge | The Germans quickly pushed the Allies forces back about 65 miles creating a huge bulge in the Allied lines. |
| Winston Churchill | Prime Minister of Great Britain during WW2 |
| atomic bomb | a weapon that produces tremendous power by splitting atoms |
