World War II Guide
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55 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Joseph Stalin | Totalitarian leader of the Soviet Union. He took over the power after Vladimir Lenin. He wanted to make the USSR into a model Communist state. Agriculture and industrial restructuring - with a high price. Ended all private industry. Peasants lost their lands and were forced to work the land for the government. Stalin's police state scared citizens. If you criticized the government, you were shipped to Siberia. He was extremely paranoid. |
| Totalitarian Government details. What were the three kinds? | This kind of government maintains complete control over its citizens. In totalitarian state, individuals have no rights and the government suppresses all opposition. The three forms of this government were Fascism, Nazism, Communism. |
| Benito Mussolini & Fascist Party/Fascism. Also, what is Mussolini known as? | Mussolini is known as "Il Duce." He built a totalitarian government in Italy during WWII. He got war veterans to fight against politicians - they were easy to blame for Italy's problems. This was the beginning of the Fascist Party (founded in 1921). He was killed and hung by his ankles. People spit on his dead body and beat it. This was in Milan. Fascism is any governmental system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all the affairs of the nation, including industrial, commercial, and financial, and emphasizing nationalism and mandatory service to a national purpose |
| Adolf Hitler | Became the head of the Nazi party. He was a drifter and a former soldier. He joined the National Socialist German Workers Party in 1919. The Nazi Party as it was known (please remember, they hated communists, despite the Socialist in the name) gave Hitler the leadership role because he was a good speaker. |
| Nazism | Nazism is philosophy. It believed that Aryans (blond, blue-eyed caucasians) were the master race and everyone who was different had to serve them. The last part of Nazism was "lebensraum" or "living space," which is essentially lots of territory for the empire to thrive in. This land would be won by force. |
| Mein Kampf | In English, it is translated to "My Struggle." This was a book that Adolf Hitler wrote while he was imprisoned (before he became a dictator or involved in politics). This book laid out his Nazi beliefs. Despite being born in Austria, Hitler wanted to unite all German-speaking people in a great new Empire (Third Reich). |
| Third Reich | Hitler's Empire. Its plan was to unite all German-speaking people. |
| Lebensraum | This is what Hitler and the Japanese wanted - more living space (which "lebensraum" meant in English,) because there was overcrowding in their countries/empires, and more territory meant more power. These would be won by force. |
| Aryan/Master Race | Blond haired and blue eyed whites. They were considered the master race in Nazism, and anyone who was different were to serve them. |
| Rome-Berlin Axis Pact | A pact between Italy and German saying that they were allies and that they won't invade each other. |
| Neville Chamberlain & Appeasement | Neville Chamberlain was the British Prime Minister before being taken over by Winston Churchill. He made a big mistake by signing a non-agression pact (called "Peace in our time" or simply the Munich Pact) with Hitler, which Hitler broke. The policy of Appeasement (giving up land etc. to pacify an aggressor) was reminded by Churchill that it was very dangerous. |
| The Munich Pact ("peace in our time") | In 1938 Hitler signed a pact with Britain and France. He said that he wouldn't invade those countries as long as they wouldn't challenge what he had already won. He eventually invaded both of those countries. |
| Winston Churchill | The Prime Minister of Britain after taking over in 1940 (after Chamberlain). He helped Britain survive the war with his perseverance and and pride. (Extra note: while London was being bombed, he would stroll through the streets even though people would try to prevent him. This was an example of his courage and pride.) |
| Germany-USSR Non-Agression Pact | The Germans and Soviet Union signs the non-agression pact. It says that neither will invade the other and secretly splits Poland between them. That is August 1939. |
| Axis Powers | These countries were Germany, Japan, and Italy. |
| The Allies | These countries were US and Great Britain, along with France, China, and Canada. And... well, sort of the USSR. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | He was the President of the United States during World War II. Before the end, though, he was assassinated. He decided to go through with the development of the nuclear bomb. |
| Lend-Lease | As the Battle of Britain rages, FDR vowed to become "The Great Arsenal of Democracy." Therfore, older supplies were lent or leased to our allies at war ("LEND-LEASE") and helps G. Britain. |
| Sept 1, 1939 Germany's Blitzkreig into Poland | SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 - WORLD WAR II begins. Hitler invades Poland and takes it in 3 weeks. He uses the new Blitzkrieg (lightening war) tactics involving tanks, troops, bombers, dive-bombers, etc. |
| Vichy France | Germans consolidate their power in Central Europe and then attack France (June 1940). The Germans mostly ignore the Maginot Line and invade through Belgium again. The Italians hit from the south. Germans win rather easily (the 340,000 allied troops leave at Dunkirk). They keep most of Northern France. They set up a Nazi puppet government under the control of Marshall Henri Petain (a French traitor of sorts). It is located in Vichy. The government becomes known as Vichy France. |
| Battle of Britain | The Nazi air force, the Luftwaffe, battles the RAF (Royal Air Force) for 10 months. Through the will of Churchill and the heroism of the English RADAR (which was new) the undermanned English win. HItler calls of attack. Churchill says never "was so much owed by so many few." |
| Charles DeGaulle | After Vichy France was developed by (somewhat traitor) Marshall Henri Petain, Charles DeGaulle was a general who set up a free French government in exile in Britain. He was the first to return after the Allies liberated Paris. |
| Operation Torch | The Allies, led by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, led an attack in North Africa. They chased down General Rommel until he surrendered. |
| General Rommel - the Desert Fox | He was a German general who was chased down in North Africa by the Allies. The Nazi Afrika Corp surrendered in May 1943. Hitler basically ordered Rommel to kill himself. |
| Stalingrad | A town by the Volga River in the USSR where there was a battle against the Germans. This town was the Soviet Union's turning point because many died due to cold and terrible weather. If the Germans had won the battles there, though, they would have controlled the entire USSR. (The Germans had actually successfully controlled 90% of the town already, but still lost.) The Soviets had counterattacked and left the Nazi's trapped (after 199 days). |
| "Bloody" Anzio | The most famous battle in Italy. The Allies won at the end of April in 1945. It was a battle that took place during the 18 months of fighting in mud, mountains, and the more terrain. He was killed after that. |
| June 6, 1944 | This was D-Day at Normandy or it's codename, Operation Overlord. Led by Eisenhower. |
| Gen. "Ike" Eisenhower | He was an American general, who led many attacks including D-Day (a.k.a. Operation Overlord). He eventually became our President, as well. |
| Gen. Patton - "Ol' Blood and Guts" | General George Patton, known as "Old Blood and Guts" (and subject of an Oscar winning film, Patton), led the American troops into Paris (with DeGaulle). What did Patton do when he got there? He spit in the Seine River. Regardless, his fighting in Africa, Italy, and D-Day made him one of the great 20th century military heroes. |
| Aachen | In October of 1944, the Allies captured the German town of Aachen, the first German town captured. Hitler was beginning to feel the heat. |
| Battle of the Bulge | Hitler launched a strong counter offensive (in response to the capturing of Aachen) that became known as the Battle of the Bulge. It was called this because Hitler's advance caused a bulge in the allied lines. Hitler sent in 250,000 troops. After a month, he lost 120,000 and countless planes, guns, and tanks. He could not rebuild. It was now only a matter of time until THE END. |
| The Deaths of Mussolini and HItler (& Eva Braun) - what did the methods of death symbolize? | On April 25, 1945 the Soviets stormed Berlin, the German capital. Hitler, living underground in a maze like bunker, married his long time girlfriend, Eva Braun. On April 29, died (just 4 days after Il Duce—who was shot, hung upside down, and kick and spat on recall). Eva Braun took some poison. Their bodies were later burned by Hitler's orders. He refused to suffer a fate like Mussolini. Up until the end, Hitler blamed others. He blamed Jews and his generals for losing the war—not his own inability to see the reality of the war. He refused to surrender and instead shot himself and wife (whom he married only a few days prior) took poison. Members of the Italian underground (friends of the Allies) seized a group of Nazi trucks. Inside they found Il Duce dressed as a Nazi (hoping to escape). He had no such luck. He was shot and then hung upside down by his ankles in Milan. This way the Italians could see the end of the powerful Duce. Mussolini is quoted as to have said, "From dust to power and from power back to dust." Indeed. |
| V-E Day | On May 8, 1945 the world celebrated V-E Day as Eisenhower accepted the Nazi surrender. The war in Europe was at a spectacular end. Roosevelt would not live to see it however; he died a few weeks earlier. President Truman would seal the defeat of the Japanese who were still fighting. |
| The Holocaust | The systematic imprisonment in labor camps and killing of primarily Jewish people (as well as gypsies, homosexuals, and other minorities), where millions of people were killed. This was Hitler's stated intent to eradicate the Jewish race, which was clearly stated in his book, Mein Kampf. It was also genocide. |
| Kristallnacht | The Night of Glass This was when shops owen by Jews and synagogues were burned, vandalized, and much more. |
| The Voyage of the St. Louis | After Kristallnacht in November 1938, many Jews within Germany decided that it was time to leave. For many, the visas were acquired after it was too late. The opportunity that the S.S. St. Louis presented seemed like a last hope to escape. The S.S. St. Louis, part of the Hamburg-America Line (Hapag), was tied up at Shed 76 awaiting its next voyage which was to take Jewish refugees from Germany to Cuba. |
| The Final Solution | The Nazi's final solution: GENOCIDE |
| Genocide | the deliberate killing of a large group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation. (THE HOLOCAUST.) |
| Concentration Camp names - the most famous and what happened in them. | Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp. Auschwitz was located in Poland. It was made up of 3 concentration camps in one. It was a camp that had forced work and killed people. The people were sent from a forced labor camp to a death camp when they became old or when they were weak to be killed. Some were also tested for experiments that tested medical things, such as diseases and cures. About 1 ¼ million people were killed at Auschwitz during World War II. Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen was near the villages of Bergen and Belsen in Germany. It was built in 1943 as a prison camp and a Jewish slave work camp. It was meant for 10,000 people but ended up holding 41,000. It did not have any gas chambers, but 37,000 prisoners died there. They died from diseases or just being over worked. Anne Frank, one of the most famous concentration camp victims today, died there. Buchenwald Buchenwald was one of the first and the biggest concentration camps. It was built in 1937 in Weimar, Germany. It held 20,000 prisoners and most of them worked as slaves in near by factories. There were no gas chambers in Buchenwald, but many died from disease, little food or the wrong kind of food (malnutrition), exhaustion, beatings, and executions. Prisoners were used to test the viruses and their vaccines. Dachau Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp built. The camp was built in 1933. It was located in Dachau, Germany. The camp was meant to perfrom medical experiments on prisoners. These experiments left the people dead or disabled. The experiments and the harsh living conditions made it one of the most harsh camps. It was not designed as a killing camp though. |
| Nuremberg Trails | 1945-1949, The Nuremberg Trials: First time in history the world, War Criminals are tried for war crimes in court (often they were just murdered; see fate of Mussolini) more than 200 Nazis were tried. Many were sentenced to death or life in prison. The first sessions were presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice, Robert Jackson. 23 nations took part. |
| Pearl Harbor | December 7, 1941: |
| General Douglas MacArthur "I shall return": The Phillipines: Bataan (1942) and the Return 1944 (Leyte Gulf). | General MacArthur was... April 1942: Bataan (The Philippines) - General Douglas MacArthur is ordered to leave the country. US loses the Island. MacArthur says, "I shall return." He does, in October 1944, when the U.S. re-occupies the island after the Battle of Leyte Gulf (the first time the kamikaze, Japanese suicide bombers, were used). |
| Battle of Midway | July 1942: U.S. wins Battle of Midway, first Pacific win for U.S. Admiral Nimitz is a hero. |
| Admiral Nimitz | He helped win the Battle of Midway, the first Pacific win for the USA. |
| Iwo Jima | March 1945: Iwo Jima, a famous memorial in Washington DC - big win for US, very bloody. |
| Okinawa | June 1945: United States wins at Okinawa. The last Japanese outpost outside of Japan. The Americans lost 7600 troops. The Japanese lost 110,000. The bloodiest battle of the Pacific war. |
| Kamikaze | Japanese suicide bombers. They were first used in the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines. |
| The A-Bomb | The newly developed nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. It killed hundred-thousands of people. It also caused others to die of radiation (from the bomb). Albert Einstein figured out how to make the bomb originally. |
| The Manhattan Project | July 1945: The first nuclear weapon is exploded in the New Mexico desert, at Los Alamos. During the previous years, a top-secret project, The Manhattan Project, was conducted under the leadership of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, at Los Alamos. After the July test, the bombs were ready to used. |
| Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer | The Manhattan Project, was conducted under the leadership of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, at Los Alamos. |
| Harry S. Truman | FDR's vice president. He took over after FDR died. Truman faced an enormous ethical dilemma: Invade Japan (and possibly have 1 million Americans die along with 500,000 British troops) or drop the A-bomb (and kill unknown numbers of civilians—it was the most destructive weapon ever built). Truman decided, without any doubts, to drop the bombs. (FDR never even told Truman about the bomb during the making, sot his was quite a surprise). |
| Los Almos, NM | July 1945: The first nuclear weapon is exploded in the New Mexico desert, at Los Alamos. |
| The Enola Gay, and the "Little Boy" & "Fat Man." | August 6, 1945: The plane, the Enola Gay, drops the bomb "little boy" on Hiroshima. The Japanese don't surrender. August 9, 1945: Another bomb, "Fat Man," is dropped on Nagasaki. |
| Hiroshima and Nagasaki | August 6 was Hiroshima, and August 9 was Nagasaki (both in 1945) |
| The United Nations (UN) | April 1945 in San Francisco: Truman and 50 other countries establish The UN. The Security Council gives permanent seats to China, USSR, USA, GB, and France. Only countries with veto power. |
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