 | Term | Definition |
| | total war | nations devoted all of their resources to the war effort |
| | rosie the riveter | character that symbolized women; women replaced men in war industry jobs; they built ships and planes and produced munitions |
| | aircraft carrier | ships that transport aircraft and accomdate the take off and landing of planes |
| | dwight eisenhower | american general took command of a joint british and american force in morocco and algeria. the allies were able to trap rommels army which surrendered in may 1943 |
| | general rommel "desert fox" | one of hitlers commanders in north africa |
| | bernard montgomery | british general who helped the americans defeat rommel in north africa |
| | the big three | roosevelt, churchill, and stalin |
| | battle of the coral sea | first serious setback for the japanese; attacks were carried out by planes launched from aircraft carriers |
| | italian invasion | significant for the allies because it weakened hitler bu forcing him to fight on another front |
| | stalingrad | city in russia; named after stalin |
| | battle of stalingrad | costliest battle of the war; germans were defeated by the russians |
| | d-day | june 6, 1944; the day the allies invaded france at normandy |
| | george s. patton | american general; helped the joint british and american forces break through german defenses and advance towards paris |
| | incessant | round-the-clock, ceaseless, uniterupted |
| | battle of the bulge | took place in belgium as the allied forces advanced, germany launched a massive counterattack; germans were unable to breakthrough |
| | inevitable | avoidable, inescapable |
| | yalta conference | the three leaders (roosevelt, churchill, and stalin) agreed that the soviet union would enter the war against japan within three months of germanys surrender; the soviets would take possession of southern sakhalin island; the kuril islands and an occupation zone in korea. that germany would be divided into four zones to be governed by americans, french, british, and soviet forces |
| | amphibious | land and water |
| | v-e day | victory in europe; wair in europe ends may 8, 1945 |
| | reasons why allies were able to defeat the axis powers in europe | had to fight on several different fronts at the same time - hitler made poor military decisions; US was producing twice as much as all of the axis powers combimed; oil became scarce and the german airforce (luftwaffe) was unable to use its planes |
| | british death march | 65 mile march; the japanese killed several hundred american soldiers and 10,000 filipino soldiers |
| | guadalcanal | in the soloman islands where the US marines landed |
| | "island hopping" | goal of this campaign was to recapture some japanese held islands while by passing others. the captured islands served as stepping stones to the next goal |
| | douglas mac arthur | american general in the philipines |
| | emperor hirohito | ruler of japan - forced the government to surrender on august 10, 1945 |
| | battleship missouri | the ship where the formal peace treaty was signed between japan and the allied forces |
| | nuremberg | city in germany where the allies held war crimes trials against axis leaders who had committed "crimes against humanity" (like the holocaust) |
| | why did the allies hold war crimes trials for axis leaders? | to hold them accountable for the terrible crimes they committed against people during the war |
| | united nations | delegates from 50 nations met in san francisco to write a charter |
| | admiral chester nimitz | commander of the US navy; was blockading japan |
| | what strategy did general mac arthur use to fight the japanese in the pacific | island hopping |
| | iwo jima, okinawa | japanese islands |
| | kamikaze | suicide pilots |
| | manhattan project | code name for research on the atomic bomb |
| | alamogordo, new mexico | where the first atomic bomb was successfully tested |
| | harry truman | american president who took office after franklin roosevelt died unexpectedly |
| | hiroshima | city in japan where they dropped the atomic bomb on august 6, 1945 |
| | atomic bomb | instantly killed more than 70,000 people and flattened four square miles |
| | nagasaki | city in japan where US dropped the second atomic bomb; more than 40,000 people were killed august 8, 1945 |
| | UN charter | each of the member nations has one vote in the general assembly |
| | security council | smaller body in the UN that had greater power than the general assembly |
| | five permanent members of the security council | the US, soviet union, britain, france and china; has the right to veto any council decision in order to ensure peace |
| | the cold war | was a state of tension and hostility between nations aligned with the US on one side and the soviet union on the other |
| | US and soviet union | emerged as the new world leaders after the war |
| | what post war issues caused the western allies and the soviet union to disagree? | stalin wanted to spread communism and create a buffer zone of friendly governments as a defense against germany. roosevelt and churchill wanted stalin to promise "free elections" in eastern europe |
| | allies | FDR, henry truman, chamberlain, churchill, stalin, charles ole gaulle |
| | axis | hitler, moussilini, hirohito, tojo hideki |
| | reasons for why the allies won | location of germany; surrounded by enemies; location of japan; dependent on inported goods; poor military decisions by axis leaders; huge productive capability of US; better technology developed and used by allies |
| | technology that helped win the war | deadier bombs; dive bombers, machines that broke secret codes; radar; improved sonar technology (sound waves); nylon parachutes |
| | battle of midway | battle fought entirely from the air; the US destroyed four japanese carriers and more than 250 planes devastating blow to the japanese |
| | truman doctrine | truman said it must be the policy of the US to support free people and limit communism to the areas already under soviet control |
| | the marshall plan | a massive aid package offered by US they gave food and economic assistance to europe to help countries rebuild |
| | east germany | remained under soviet control; installed a socialist dictatorship |
| | west germany | became a democratic nation |
| | nato | north atlantic treaty organization; a new military alliance with the US, canada and ten other countries; pledged to help one another if any one of them were attacked |
| | warsaw pact | military alliance formed by the soviet union and satellites in eastern europe; to keep order; cemented the division of europe into eastern and western blocs |
| | genocide | murder of an entire national, ethnic, racial or religious group |
| | holocaust | most well known case of genocide |
| | war bonds | government raised money by selling bonds to citizens; citizens "lent" the government money that would be returned with interest later |
| | marie fourcade | french women who helped downed allied pilots escape to safety |
| | lily litvak | soviet pilot; shot down 12 german planes before she was killed |
| | how did the allies mobilize all of their resources for the war effort? | ordered factories to stop making cars or refrigerators and to turn out airplanes or tanks instead; government rationed or controlled the amount of food and other goods that consumers could buy; sold war bonds to raise money; prices and wages were also regulated; limited the rights of all citizens, censored the press and used propaganda to win public support for the war |
| | puppet government | a government that is appointed by and whose affairs are directed by an outside authority that may impose hardships on those governed |
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