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Terms in this set (89)

Adolf Hitler
Austrian-born founder of the German Nazi Party and chancellor of the Third Reich (1933-1945). His fascist philosophy, embodied in Mein Kampf (1925-1927), attracted widespread support, and after 1934 he ruled as an absolute dictator. Hitler's pursuit of aggressive nationalist policies resulted in the invasion of Poland (1939) and the subsequent outbreak of World War II. His regime was infamous for the extermination of millions of people, especially European Jews. He committed suicide when the collapse of the Third Reich was imminent (1945).
Lateran Treaty
(1929) Recognized the Vatican as an independent state, also agreed to give the Vatican heavy financial support. This led the Pope to urge his fellow catholics to support Mussolini.
Afika Korps
German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II.
Lebensraum
(German for "habitat" or literally "living space") served as a major motivation for Nazi Germany's territorial aggression. In his book Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler detailed his belief that the German people needed Lebensraum (for a Grossdeutschland, land, and raw materials), and that it should be taken in the East. It was the stated policy of the Nazis to kill, deport, Germanize or enslave the Polish, and later also Russian and other Slavic populations, and to repopulate the land with reinrassig Germanic peoples. The entire urban population was to be exterminated by starvation, thus creating an agricultural surplus to feed Germany and allowing their replacement by a German upper class.
Albert Speer
As Hitler's favorite architect, Speer was in charge of building cities and structures for Hitler and designing new cities envisioned after victory in WWII.
Lend-Lease
Approve by Congress in March 1941; The act allowed America to sell, lend or lease arms or other supplies to nations considered "vital to the defense of the United States."
Appeasement
A policy of making concessions to an aggressor in the hopes of avoiding war. Associated with Neville Chamberlain's policy of making concessions to Adolf Hitler.
Luftwaffe
German airforce
Atomic bomb
a nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is released by nuclear fission (splitting the nuclei of a heavy element like uranium 235 or plutonium 239)
Maginot Line
Line of defense built by France to protect against German invasion. Stretched from Belgium to Switzerland.
Axis Powers
A series of treaties in 1936 and 37 between Germany, Italy, and Japan created what was called the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis." The countries were thereafter referred to as the Axis Powers.
Manhattan Project
Code name for the U.S. effort during World War II to produce the atomic bomb. Much of the early research was done in New York City by refugee physicists in the United States.
Battle of Britain
(FDR) 1940, German air forces invaded Britain but the British Royal Air Force drove them out with the help of the new invention radar that let them know where the German planes were
March on Rome
(1922) This was originally in order to force King Victor Emmanuel III to give Mussolini power in the government. In the end, however, the Fascists completely conquered Rome, including the Squadristi, and so the march became a show of power for Mussolini, who became Prime Minister shortly thereafter.
Battle of Stalingrad
Unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad during World War II from 1942 to 1943, that was the furthest extent of German advance into the Soviet Union.
Marshal Henri Petain
World War I French hero who established an authoritarian regime over the southern two-fifths of France.
Battle of the Bulge
December, 1944-January, 1945 - After recapturing France, the Allied advance became stalled along the German border. In the winter of 1944, Germany staged a massive counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg which pushed a 30 mile "bulge" into the Allied lines. The Allies stopped the German advance and threw them back across the Rhine with heavy losses.
Mein Kampf
"My Struggle"-a book written by Adolf Hitler during his imprisonment in 1923-1924, in which he set forth his beliefs and his goals for Germany
Beer Hall Putsch
In 1923 the Nazis attempted to overthrow the government in Munich. It was a total failure, and Hitler received a brief prison sentence during which time he wrote Mein Kampf.
Mikhail Bukharin
A Russian statesman
Benito Mussolini
(1883-1945) Italian leader. He founded the Italian Fascist Party, and sided with Hitler and Germany in World War II. In 1945 he was overthrown and assassinated by the Italian Resistance.
Miracle at Dunkirk
Retreating British soldiers were trapped between the advancing Nazis and the English Channel. The British sent all available naval, merchant and even civilian ships across the channel and ferried 300,000 soldiers back to Britain.
Big Three
allies during WWII; Soviet Union - Stalin, United Kingdom - Churchill, United States - Roosevelt
Bernard Montgomery
A British army general who defeated the Germans at El Alamein in Egypt, and began pursuing them westward.
Blitzkrieg
"Lighting war", type of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland in 1939
Munich Conference
1938 conference at which European leaders attempted to appease Hitler by turning over the Sudetenland to him in exchange for promise that Germany would not expand Germany's territory any further.
Nazi Party
German political party joined by Adolf Hitler, emphasizing nationalism, racism, and war. When Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party became the only legal party and an instrument of Hitler's absolute rule.
Charles de Gaulle
Leader of Free French General that resigned in 1946 after re-establishing the free, democratic Fourth Republic. Came back to lead the Fifth Republic in 1959.
Nazi racial policies
this sparked German nationalism, it was based on anti-Semitism which included excluding Jews from public office and the Nuremberg Decrees., the Nazis believed that superior races had not just the right but the obligation to subdue and even exterminate inferior ones., Hitler spread his beliefs in racial "purity
Cheka
Stood for the Extraordinary All Russian Commission of Struggle Against Counterrevolution, Speculation and Sabotage. Was the first institution set up by the new regime, Dec of 1917. Changed over years and known at different times as OGPU, NKVD, MVD and most recently as the KGB. Carried out the RED TERROR in civil war. "Justice" or retribution carried out without tribunal. Series of summer executions.
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Hitler and Joseph Stalin agreed not to attack each other but divided Poland for an easy win, but Germany didn't keep true to their word and attacked Stalin later
Clement Atlee
Labor PM from 1945-51 - replaced Churchill at Potsdam. Led govt establishing social welfare and nationalization of major industries in postwar England. Used socialist doctrines to try to cope with Britain's relative economic decline in the postwar years due to the disintegration of the empire.
New Economic Program (NEP)
a state-planned economic policy in the Soviet Union; based on agricultural productivity; required set payments from peasants; surpluses could be sold on the free market
Collectivization
Creation of large, state-run farms rather than individual holdings; allowed more efficient control over peasants; part of Stalin's economic and political planning; often adopted in other Communist regimes.
Neville Chamberlain
"prime minister of UK. Signed the Munich Agreement in 1938. Forced to Resigned after Germany invaded
Collectivization
Creation of large, state-run farms rather than individual holdings; allowed more efficient control over peasants; part of Stalin's economic and political planning; often adopted in other Communist regimes.
Nuremberg laws
1935 laws defining the status of Jews and withdrawing citizenship from persons of non-German blood.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
American General who began in North Africa and became the Commander of Allied forces in Europe.
Operation Barbarossa
3-part attack: Leningrad, Central to Moscow, South to Ukraine; Leningrad was under siege for 900 days. It stopped because the Nazi soldiers were not equipped for winter weather
Edouard Daladier
(1884 1970) was a French Socialist politician, and Prime Minister of France at the beginning of World War II; French Negotiator of the Munich Pact with Hitler
Operation Overlord (D-day)
(6 June 1944), in World War II on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy
Enabling Act
A congressional act directing the people of a United States territory to frame a proposed State constitution as a step towards admission to the Union
Paul von Hindenburg
German field marshal who appointed Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933. In March he signed the Enabling Act of 1933 which gave special powers to Hitler's government.
Ernst Rohm
Leader of the SA (another paramilitary organization, a part of the old Nazi party, predecessor to SS) German officer and early Nazi leader, was executed by Hitler as a potential rival
Phony War (Sitzkrieg)
was a phase in early World War II marked by few military operations in Continental Europe, in the months following the German invasion of Poland and preceding the Battle of France. Although the great powers of Europe had declared war on one another, neither side had yet committed to launching a significant attack, and there was relatively little fighting on the ground
Fascism
A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Politburo
A seven-member committee that became the leading policy-making body of the Communist Party in Russia.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic candidate who won the 1932 election by a landslide. He refused to uphold any of Hoover's policies with the intent on enacting his own. He pledged a present a "New Deal" (its specific meaning ambiguous at the time to the American people) to the American public.
Potsdam Conference
July 26, 1945 - Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction.
Firebombing of Dresden
a total of 3,900 bombs dropped on Germany, resulting in over 135,000 deaths. Weakened German protection, and utilized the British RAF and US Air Force. Controversial due to its unstrategical positioning and importance to german fortifications
Reinhard Heydrich
German General of the SS Security Force who created the special strike forces to carry out Nazi plans to round up the Jews, steal their valuables, and execute them
Five Year Plans
Plans that Joseph Stalin introduced to industrialize the Soviet Union rapidly, beginning in 1928. They set goals for the output of steel, electricity, machinery, and most other products and were enforced by the police powers of the state. (781)
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
It was ordered by Hitler marched 22,000 of his troops onto demilitarised land breaking not only the Treaty of Versailles but also the Locarno Pact. The treaty of Versailles after WWI had forbidden Germany from having military forces in the Rhineland - this provided a buffer zone between Germany and the countries which it invaded in 1914 - France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. However, in 1936 Hitler made a unilateral decision to re-occupy the Rhineland with very strong military forces. In another vain attempt to prevent another war, other European countries complained about it, but did nothing else.
Free French
Supporters of General de Gaulle who refused to acknowledge the French armistice in 1940. In 1944, de Gaulle's Committee of National Liberation was proclaimed and recognized as the French provisional government.
Schutzstaffel (SS)
special police force in Nazi Germany founded as a personal bodyguard for Adolf Hitler in 1925
Erwin Rommel
"Desert Fox"-May 1942; German and Italian armies were led by him and attacked British occupied Egypt and the Suez Canal for the second time; were defeated at the Battle of El Alamein; was moved to France to oversee the defenses before D-Day; tried to assassinate Hitler.
Siege of Leningard
Nazi army's unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Leningrad in the Soviet Union during World War II; as many as 1 million civilians perished during the siege
Francisco
A conquistador like Cortes, who conquered the Incas in Peru and help to begin more advances in South America. Besides miners, farmers, priests, friars and missionaries went to South America after it was conquered by the conquistadores.
Franco Spanish Civil War
socialist: rebellion in democratic Spanish gov't France + Britain do not support Hitler does, does not want a totalitarian government just wanted power in gov't destructive for Spain
George Patton
Allied Commander of the Third Army. Was instrumental in winning the Battle of the Bulge. Considered one of the best military commanders in American history.
Sturm Abteilung (SA)
paramilitary organization which was the chief Nazi instrument for terror and intimidation before the party controlled the government
Giacomo Matteotti
Was a leading noncommunist, socialist leader and member of Parliament that the fascists murdered. Had frequently criticized Mussolini and had exposed the criminality of the fascist movement. Deputies that were against the murder withdrew from parliament and were not given readmission. This gave Mussolini more freedom to do as he wished.
Tehran Conference
(FDR) December, 1943, a meeting between FDR, Churchill and Stalin in Iran to discuss coordination of military efforts against Germany, they repeated the pledge made in the earlier Moscow Conference to create the United Nations after the war's conclusion to help ensure international peace
Great Patriotic War
This was what Russia called World War Two. Thus their triumph became a symbol of national pride. This was ironic, however, because 20 million Russians were killed in the war, the Russians could not have won the war without help from the other Allied powers, and the Nazis were the ones who initiated it by invading Russia.
The Final Solution
Nazi Germany's plan and execution of its systematic genocide against European jews during World War II.
Great Purges
Also called the Terror, the Great Purges of the late 1930s were a massive attempt to cleanse the Soviet Union of supposed "enemies of the people"; nearly a million people were executed between 1936 and 1941, and 4 million or 5 million more were sentenced to forced labor in the gulag.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust took place in Europe between 1993 and 1945. Six million Jews were systematically and brutally murdered by the Nazis and their collaberators. Miliions of non-Jews, including Roma and Sinti(Gypsies), Serbs, political dissidents, people with disabilities, homosexuals and Jehova's Witnesses, were also persecuted by the Nazis.
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Soviet-Nazi pact forced Japan to change the focus of their expansion to the European colonies of Southeast Asia in order to create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere - an economic & political order dominated by Japan w/ a defensive barrier of Pacific islands. However, such a plan risked war w/ Europe & the U.S.
The Homefront
- westward migration of workers (new economic opportunities, esp. aircraft industry), high rates of divorce and family/juvenile violence, women encouraged to work in factories, still held inferior to men
Haile Selassie
Emperor of Ethiopia (r. 1930-1974) and symbol of African independence. He fought the Italian invasion of his country in 1935 and regained his throne during World War II, when British forces expelled the Italians. He ruled Ethiopia as an autocrat. (809)
The T-4 Program
a program to kill incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people. 200,000 killed
Harry Truman
Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb
Totalitarianism
A form of government in which power resides in a leader who rules according to self-interest and without regard for individual rights and liberties
Heinrich Himmler
Entrusted by Hitler with administration of the "Final Solution" to the Jewish Question. Head of SS (Gestapo) which oversaw the Death Camps.
United Nations
An international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. It was founded in 1945 at the signing of the United Nations Charter by 50 countries, replacing the League of Nations, founded in 1919.
Hitler Youth (Jugend)
Nazi Party's compulsory youth movement, which emphasized physical training, Nazi ideology, and absolute obedience to Hitler and the Nazi party. Youth were subject to intensive propaganda regarding racial and national superiority.
Vichy France
Germans occupied northern 2/3 of France. What was left of the Third Republic moved to South. HQ at Vichy and led but a confused parliament with Petain as president and Laval as premier. Signed armistice with Hitler. Was an openly defeatist regime - known as Vichy govt. In effect it collaborated with the Germans. In reality, the Third Republic was dead. Lost its slogan - "liberty, equality and fraternity." A Free French movt under General De Gaulle moved to London from where they helped to organise resistance to German occupation. In France, some collaborated and others secretly helped the resistance.
Iron Curtain
A term popularized by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe the Soviet Union's policy of isolation during the Cold War. The barrier isolated Eastern Europe from the rest of the world.
Wannsee Conference
A meeting in which the "Final solution" and use of concentration camps were decided in 1942, Heydrich was the chief executor of the "Final Solution". Held in Wannsee, Berlin
Joseph Goebbels
Goebbels was head of Nazi propaganda and was instrumental in building hatred of the Jews. He attempted to flee Germany at the end of WWII, but committed suicide when captured by Allied forces.
War communism
A system introduced under Bolshevik rule after 1917 which involved land being seized and redistributed, factories given to the workers, banks being nationalized, and church property being granted to the state. This was enforced by the Cheka.
Joseph Stalin
Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition
White Rose
1942-1943, moment of a group who openly opposed Hitler and Nazis, distributed anti- Nazi leaflets and painted slogans like "freedom" and "down with Hitler", Leaders Hans and Sophie Scholl caught distributing leaflets and arrested in 1943, along with fellow leader Christop Probst, they were killed four days later
Josip Broz (Tito)
This man was the Yugoslavian Premier from 1945 to 1953, and President from 1953 to 1980. He was a member of the Russian Bolshevik party around the time of WWI, but later created a unified socialist Yugoslavia separate from the Soviet Union.
Winston Churchill
A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.
Kristallnacht
"Night of Broken Glass" -the night of November 9, 1938, on which Nazi troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues throughout Germany
Yalta Conference
1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war
Kulaks
Agricultural entrepreneurs who utilized the Stolypin and later NEP reforms to increase agricultural production and buy additional land
Zyklon-B
A pesticide used as poison gas to murder Jews in the death camp gas chambers.
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