- "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
- UN charter: each of the member nations has one vote in the general assembly
- US and soviet union: emerged as the new world leaders after the war
- admiral chester nimitz: commander of the US navy; was blockading japan
- aircraft carrier: ships that transport aircraft and accomdate the take off and landing of planes
- alamogordo, new mexico: where the first atomic bomb was successfully tested
- allies: FDR, henry truman, chamberlain, churchill, stalin, charles ole gaulle
- amphibious: land and water
- atomic bomb: instantly killed more than 70,000 people and flattened four square miles
- axis: hitler, moussilini, hirohito, tojo hideki
- 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
- battle of stalingrad: costliest battle of the war; germans were defeated by the russians
- battle of the bulge: took place in belgium as the allied forces advanced, germany launched a massive counterattack; germans were unable to breakthrough
- battle of the coral sea: first serious setback for the japanese; attacks were carried out by planes launched from aircraft carriers
- battleship missouri: the ship where the formal peace treaty was signed between japan and the allied forces
- bernard montgomery: british general who helped the americans defeat rommel in north africa
- british death march: 65 mile march; the japanese killed several hundred american soldiers and 10,000 filipino soldiers
- d-day: june 6, 1944; the day the allies invaded france at normandy
- douglas mac arthur: american general in the philipines
- 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
- east germany: remained under soviet control; installed a socialist dictatorship
- emperor hirohito: ruler of japan - forced the government to surrender on august 10, 1945
- 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
- general rommel "desert fox": one of hitlers commanders in north africa
- genocide: murder of an entire national, ethnic, racial or religious group
- george s. patton: american general; helped the joint british and american forces break through german defenses and advance towards paris
- guadalcanal: in the soloman islands where the US marines landed
- 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
- holocaust: most well known case of genocide
- 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
- incessant: round-the-clock, ceaseless, uniterupted
- inevitable: avoidable, inescapable
- italian invasion: significant for the allies because it weakened hitler bu forcing him to fight on another front
- iwo jima, okinawa: japanese islands
- kamikaze: suicide pilots
- lily litvak: soviet pilot; shot down 12 german planes before she was killed
- manhattan project: code name for research on the atomic bomb
- marie fourcade: french women who helped downed allied pilots escape to safety
- nagasaki: city in japan where US dropped the second atomic bomb; more than 40,000 people were killed august 8, 1945
- 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
- nuremberg: city in germany where the allies held war crimes trials against axis leaders who had committed "crimes against humanity" (like the holocaust)
- puppet government: a government that is appointed by and whose affairs are directed by an outside authority that may impose hardships on those governed
- 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
- 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
- rosie the riveter: character that symbolized women; women replaced men in war industry jobs; they built ships and planes and produced munitions
- security council: smaller body in the UN that had greater power than the general assembly
- stalingrad: city in russia; named after stalin
- technology that helped win the war: deadier bombs; dive bombers, machines that broke secret codes; radar; improved sonar technology (sound waves); nylon parachutes
- the big three: roosevelt, churchill, and stalin
- 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
- the marshall plan: a massive aid package offered by US they gave food and economic assistance to europe to help countries rebuild
- total war: nations devoted all of their resources to the war effort
- 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
- united nations: delegates from 50 nations met in san francisco to write a charter
- v-e day: victory in europe; wair in europe ends may 8, 1945
- war bonds: government raised money by selling bonds to citizens; citizens "lent" the government money that would be returned with interest later
- 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
- west germany: became a democratic nation
- 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
- what strategy did general mac arthur use to fight the japanese in the pacific: island hopping
- 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
- 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