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7-4.5 Burnette
Causes and Course of World War II
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Drives for Empire | when a nation pushes to conquer other countries and take more territory or land |
| Appeasement | when Britain and France let Hitler have what he wanted in hopes of avoiding another world war; didn’t work |
| Isolationism | when the U.S. did not want to get involved in European problems or wars in the 1930s |
| Invasion of Poland | German invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, led to British and French declarations of war on Germany, officially starting WWII |
| Invasion of the Soviet Union | German invasion of the Soviet Union in June, 1941, massive mistake, led to the defeat of Germany in WWII |
| Campaigns in North Africa and the Mediterranean | failed attempts by the Axis to seize the Suez Canal, followed by successful Allied seaborne invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy in order to attack the “soft underbelly” of Axis occupied Europe |
| War Guilt Clause | part of the Versailles Treaty that blamed Germany for starting WWI |
| Ethiopia | African country attacked by Italy in 1935 |
| The League of Nations | international body that tried to keep world peace after WWI; it failed badly |
| Rhineland | area of Germany bordering France |
| Axis Alliance | Germany, Italy and Japan fought against the Allies in WWII |
| Francisco Franco | dictator of Spain, 1939-1975 |
| Spanish Civil War | 1936-1939 war in Spain between the Republicans and Nationalists, who won |
| Neutrality Acts | U.S. laws that prohibited the country from loaning money or selling weapons to countries at war, and thus, hopefully, preventing some of the issues that had led the United States into the Great War (World War I) |
| Sudetenland | mountainous part of Czechoslovakia taken by Hitler in 1938 |
| Munich Conference of 1938 | when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler and let him have the Sudetenland |
| Albania | small country in the Balkans on the Adriatic coast |
| Japan's Drive for Empire | Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere included Manchuria, French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), and the Philippines |
| expansionism | when a country takes over other countries and more land |
| Invasion of Manchuria | Japan invaded Manchuria, part of China, in 1931 |
| Economic sanctions | stopping the sale of goods or services to a country in order to punish it |
| Blitzkrieg or "lightning war" | very effective German military tactic of combining tanks, artillery, infantry and air power to swiftly defeat its opponents |
| Soviet Non-Aggression Pact | when Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to fight each other before WWII |
| Battle of Britain | 1940 air war over Britain; Britain won and prevented a German sea invasion as a result |
| Radar | an electronic device that can use bounced signals to locate enemy planes and ships, etc. |
| Prime Minister Winston Churchill | inspirational, defiant, and victorious leader of Britain during WWII |
| the Balkans | area of southeastern Europe with many smaller countries |
| Yugoslavia | medium-sized Slavic country in the Balkans |
| President Franklin D. Roosevelt | President of the U.S. during the Great Depression and WWII |
| Cash and carry policy | 1939 policy that allowed the United States to sell weapons to the Allies that were paid for with cash and transported on the purchasing country's ships |
| Lend-Lease Act | 1941 law that allowed President Roosevelt to lend or lease weapons and other supplies to countries that were important to the interests of the United States |
| French Indochina | part of Asia controlled by France, modern day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos |
| embargo | to cut off the supply of particular goods to a country |
| Pearl Harbor | Japanese sneak attack on Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, led to U.S. involvement in WWII |
| Battle of the Coral Sea | May 4-8, 1942, U.S. vs. Japan, first naval battle with aircraft carriers and the ships did not sight each other, saved Australia from potential Japanese invasion |
| Battle of Midway | June 4-7, 1942 naval battle, U.S. vs Japan, U.S. cracked Japanese codes and won, it was a turning point for the war in the Pacific theater |
| "Island-hopping" | “leapfrogging” strategy that bypassed Pacific islands that were heavily secured by Japan in favor of taking islands that were strategically located in the drive to reach the main islands of Japan yet easier to seize, thus saving countless American lives |
| turning point | a battle whose results change which side is winning, and which side wins a war |
| Battle of Guadalcanal | series of naval and land battles between the U.S. and Japan in the Solomon Islands fought from August 1942—Feb., 1943; first U.S. offensive (attack); U.S. won |
| Eastern Front | fighting in Eastern Europe, massive battles mostly between Germany and the Soviet Union; most of the fighting in WWII was done on the Eastern front |
| General Dwight Eisenhower | American WWII General who commanded (led) Allied forces in North Africa, Italy (initially), at the invasion of Normandy (D-Day), and in Western Europe |
| General Erwin Rommel | Commander of German forces in North Africa during WWII, known as the “Desert Fox;” also commanded beach defenses in Normandy during D-Day |
| Battle of Stalingrad | key battle of WWII on the Eastern front; fought between Germany and the Soviet Union from Aug. 1942—Feb. 1943; Germans lost and surrendered their Sixth Army |
| Sicily | island off the “toe” of the Italian “boot" |
| The Invasion of Normandy or "D-Day" | military operation to liberate German-controlled France and northern Europe; began on June 6, 1944 and the Allied forces were able to liberate France by September |
| Battle of the Bulge | Battle fought from Dec. 16th 1944—Jan. 25th, 1945 in the Ardennes Forest on the Western front between the Americans and the Germans. Hitler’s last strategic offensive. Germany lost |
| Battle of Iwo Jima | key battle in the Pacific theater between the U.S. and Japan. Very bloody battle. U.S. won and used Iwo Jima as an airfield to support strategic bombing of Japan |
| Battle of Okinawa | U.S. -- Japan WWII battle from April to June, 1945 for control of the northernmost Ryuku Island to be used as a base from which to invade Japan. Very bloody battle. Japan lost. Made President Truman think using the atomic bomb would save lives |
| Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII sooner, first use of atomic weapons |
| the Holocaust | when the racist Nazis killed six million Jews and others in concentration camps during WWII |
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oburnette
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