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WWII
World War Two
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Pearl Harbor | Strategic Pacific naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by the Japanese, bringing America into the Second World War. |
Neutrality Acts | Made it illegal to sell arms to any country at war as well as loaning money. |
League of Nations | International organization in which members would submit disputes for arbitration to avoid going to war, while reducing armaments |
Reparations | Payment by the losing country(Germany) in a war to the winner for the damages caused by the war |
Adolf Hitler | Nazi party leader of Germany. Became dictator of Germany, known as 'Die Fuhrer' |
Benito Mussolini | Founder of Italy's Fascist movement. Dictator of Italy, known as 'Il Duce' |
Hideki Tojo | Prime Minister of Japan as of 1941, who supported aggressive military policies. |
Lend-Lease | Nations could receive weapons, then return them or pay rent for them after the war. Used for countries 'vital to the defense of the US' |
Cash & Carry | Weapons could be sold to warring nations but they had to send their own ships to pick up the goods and had to pay in cash |
Blitzkrieg | war conducted with great speed and force; specifically : a violent surprise offensive by massed air forces and mechanized ground forces in close coordination |
Windtalkers | Soldiers from the Navajo tribe, who used their language to communicate across the radio so that the Japanese could not understand them. |
Korematsu | Toyosaburo Korematsu refused to go to the internment camps, was arrested. Korematsu petitioned the Supreme Court to hear his case. |
Atomic Bomb | Weapons of Mass Destruction, used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, military centers in Japan to the end the war. |
Holocaust | The Final Solution by Germany under Hitler, that led to the execution of nearly 6 million Jews, and 3 million Gypsies, insane, and homosexuals. |
Stalingrad | Turning Point on the Eastern Front, Strategic city for Russian economy, Germany fought urban war Germany was on the defensive after they lost the battle. |
Midway | Turning Point in Pacific theater of the war. US ambushed the Japanese fleet, stopping the Japanese advancement in the Pacific six months after Pearl Harbor. |
D-Day | June 6, 1944; agreed upon date that the Allies would launch the invasion of France opening up a two front war. |
Executive Order 9066 | Order signed by Roosevelt allowing the internment of people of Japanese ancestry within any military zones, included the internment of Germans and Italians. |
Tuskegee Airmen | First African American unit in the Air Force, trained in Tuskegee, Alabama. Did not lose a single member to enemy aircraft. |
Rationing | Restricting the amount of an item an individual can have due to a limited supply |
Franklin Delano Roosevelt | President of the United States during most of the Great Depression and the Second World War. |
Island Hopping | Military strategy to advance through the Pacific by hopping from one island to the next. |
Bracero Program | Federal government program for Mexican farmworkers to help harvest crops in the Southwest US, allowed them to come into the US on a temporary basis. |
Josef Stalin | Russian dictator from 1924-1953. Communist leader with total control over Russia |
Chester Nimitz | Admiral of the United States Pacific fleet during World War Two. |
Douglas MacArthur | General in charge of the army in the Pacific. Do to his success he was appointed Supreme Commander, Allied Powers in Japan after te war. |
Bataan Death March | Forced 65-mile march of 78,000 American prisoners of war, to a Japanese prisoner camp.10,000 men died. |
Flying Tigers | Volunteer group of American airmen who served under Chiang Kai-Sheks military to fight off Japan. |
Victory Gardens | Garden planted by citizens during war to raise vegetables for home use, leaving more for the troops |