Vocab Words WWII
Terms
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- Nazi
- Short term for National Socialist German Workers Party, a right-wing, nationalistic, and antisemitic political party formed in 1919 and headed by Adolf Hitler from 1921 to 1945.
- Rhineland
- An area of land extending from the northern borders of France and Western Germany.
- Fascism
- A social and political ideology with the primary guiding principle that the state or nation is the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms.
- Benito Mussolini
- Leader of Italy around World War II. He was the one who created the Fascist government in Italy.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Roosevelt: 32nd President of the United States; elected four times; instituted New Deal to counter the great depression and led country during World War II .
- Neville Chamberlain
- Chamberlain: British statesman who as Prime Minister pursued a policy of appeasement toward fascist Germany.
- Kamikaze
- During World War II the name was applied to Japan's suicide bombers.
- Battle of North Africa
- Germans and British fought in North Africa in Egypt, with the eventual joining of the Americans. Saw such generals as tank commander Erwin Rommel.
- Genocide
- The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, cultural, or religious group.
- Ghetto
- The section of a city where the Jews were forced to live in.
- Blitzkrieg
- German for 'lightning war'. A military strategy used by the Germans at the beginning of World War II to achieve victory through a series of quick offensives, especially in Belgium, Holland and France.
- Nuremberg Trials
- Trials of twenty-two major Nazi figures in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945 and 1946 before the International Military Tribunal.
- Harry S. Truman
- Succeeding to the office upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt. Decided that it was justifiable to drop the atomic bomb.
- Appeasement
- Giving in to the demands of aggressive powers to avoid war, as long as those demands appear reasonable. Such a policy was pursued by Britain and France in dealing with Germany in the latter half of the 1930s.
- Pearl Harbor
- The Japanese air strike on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, in Hawaii with the purpose of destroying the Pacific Fleet. This ever marked the entrance of the United States into World War II.
- Adolph Hitler
- Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazis and all of the German forces in the Second World War.
- Sudetenland
- An area in Czechoslovakia along the German border. Before World War II populated primarily by Germans. After the war most of the Germans were forcibly resettled in Germany.
- Axis Powers
- The alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan opposed to the Allies in World War 2.
- Emperor Hirohito
- Emperor of Japan from 1926 until 1989. He is the last Japanese emperor to be considered divine. Led Japan through World War II.
- Non-agression pact
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Aug. 14, 1939
Ribbentrop contacts the Soviets
Aug. 19, 1939
Economic agreement signed
Aug. 23, 1939
Non-Aggression Pact signed
Sept. 1, 1939
Germans invade Poland
Sept. 3, 1939
British declare war on Germany
Sept. 17, 1939
Soviets invade eastern Poland
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Publicly, this agreement stated that the two countries - Germany and the Soviet Union - would not attack each other. If there were ever a problem between the two countries, it was to be handled amicably. - Dwight D. Einsenhower
- United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
- Iwo Jima
- In March 1945, the strategic island of Iwo Jima was captured by US forces.
- Holocaust
- Today, the term refers to the systematic planned extermination of about six million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazis between 1933-1945.
- Einsatzgruppen
- "Special Action Squads" of the SS which had as their mission to seek out and murder Jews, Communists and Gypsies.
- Aryan Race
- The Nazis, however, applied the term to people of "proven" non-Jewish, purely Teutonic "racial" background.
- Battle of Britain
- The massive air war against Great Britain by the Nazi war machine in Germany.
- United Nations
- An international organization comprising most of the nations of the world, formed in 1945, to promote peace, security, and economic development.
- UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly outlining basic human rights.
- D-Day
- The invasion of Normandy led by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- Midway
- naval battle of World War II (June 1942); land and carrier-based American planes decisively defeated a Japanese fleet on its way to invade the Midway Islands.