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Chapter 28:WW2
Chapter 28: World War 2
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Appeasement | Giving in to aggressive demands in order to avoid war. |
Winston Churchill | British prime minister; he opposed the policy of appeasement and led Great Britain through World War 2. |
Axis Powers | The alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan in World War 2. |
Nonaggression Pact | An agreement between nations to not attack one another. |
Blitzkrieg | A German word meaning "lighting war"; a fast, forceful style of fighting used by Germans in World War 2. |
Allies | The alliance of Britain, France, and Russia in World War 2; joined by the United States after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. |
Battle of Britian | 3 month air battle between Germany and Great Britain fought over Great Britain during World War 2; Britain's victory forestalled a German invasion. |
Hideki Tojo | Japanese nationalist and general; he took control of Japan during World War 2. He was later tried and executed for war crimes. |
Isolationism | Staying out of the affairs and wars of other nations; the position initially held by the United States at the beginning of World War 2. |
Erwin Rommel | German general during World War 2; he commanded the Afrika Korps and was nicknamed the Desert Fox for his leadership. |
Battle of El Alamein | World War 2 battle in which Britain won a decisive victory over Germany in Egypt, securing the Suez Canal. |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | General; 34 president of the United States; as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War 2, he led the Allied invasions of North Africa and of France (D-Day) |
Siege of Leningrad | Nazi army's unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Leningrad in the Soviet Union during World War 2; as many as 1 million civilians perished during the siege. |
Battle of Stalingrad | World War 2 battle between invading German forces and Soviet defenders for control of Stalingrad, a city on the Volga River; each side sustained hundreds of thousands of casualties; Germany's defeat marked a turning point in the war. |
Douglas MacArthur | American general, he commanded U.S. troops in the southwest Pacific during World War 2 and administered Japan after the war ended. He later commanded UN forces at the beginning of the Korean War, until he was removed by President Truman. |
Bataan Death March | A forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines in World War 2. |
Battle of Midway | World War 2 naval battle fought in the Pacific; the Americans broke the Japanese code and knew the date and location of the attack, setting the stage for a major American victory. |
Battle of Guadalcanal | World War 2 battle in the Pacific; it represented the first Allied counterattack against Japanese forces; Allied victory forced Japanese forces to abandon the island. |
Kamikazes | In World War 2, Japanese pilots who loaded their aircraft with bombs and crashed them into enemy ships. |
Deported | Forced to leave a country. |
Final Solution | The Nazi Party's plan to murder the entire Jewish population of Europe and the Soviet Union. |
Ghetto | An area where minority groups live. |
Concentration Camps | Detention sites created for military or political purposes to confine, terrorize, and, in some cases, kill civilians. |
Holocaust | The killing of millions of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War 2. |
D-Day | June 6, 1944; the first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War 2. |
V-E Day | May 8, 1945; a term used by the Allies, it stands for "victory in Europe" during World War 2. |
Battle of Iwo Jima | World War 2 battle between Japanese forces and invading U.S. troops. |
Battle of Okinawa | World War 2 victory for the Allied troops that resulted in the deaths of almost all of the 10,000 Japanese defenders; the battle claimed 12,000 American lives. |
Harry S Truman | 33 president of the United States; he became president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He led the United States through the end of World War 2 and the beginning of the Cold War. |
Hirohito | Emperor of Japan from 1926-1989; he led Japan during World War 2 and was forced into unconditional surrender following the atomic-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
V-J Day | August 15, 1945; a term used by the Allies, it stands for "victory over Japan" during World War 2. |
Yalta Conference | (February, 1945) A meeting between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin to reach an agreement on what to do with Germany after World War 2. |
United Nations | International organization formed in 1945 to maintain world peace and encourage cooperation among nations. |
Potsdam Conference | (1945) A meeting of Allied leaders in the German city of Potsdam to address issues about the post-World War 2 Europe. |