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Vocab- World War II
World War II Vocab
Word | Definition |
---|---|
totalitarian state | a single party controls the government and every aspect of the people's lives |
fascism | political system that is rooted in militarism, extreme nationalism, and blind loyalty to the state |
aggression | a warlike act by one country against another without just cause |
Nazi | a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party |
scapegoat | a person or group on whom to blame problems |
concentration camps | prison camps for civilians who are considered enemies of the state |
Neutrality Acts | series of laws passed by Congress in 1935 that banned arms sales or loans to countries at war |
Good Neighbor Policy | President Franklin Roosevelt's policy intended to strengthen friendly relations with Latin America |
Munich Conference | a 1938 meeting of the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany at which an agreement was signed giving part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler |
appeasement | practice of giving in to aggression in order to avoid war |
Nazi-Soviet Pact | agreement signed between Hitler and Stalin in 1939 in which the two dictators agreed not to attack each other |
blitzkrieg | the swift attacks lauched by Germany in World War II |
Axis | World War II military alliance of Germany, Italy, Japan, and six other countries |
Allies | World War II military alliance of Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and 45 other countries |
Battle of Britain | Germany's failed attempt to subdue Britain in 1940 in preparation for invasion |
Lend-Lease Act | during World War II, the law that allowed the United States to sell arms and equipment to Britain |
Atlantic Charter | a 1941 program developed by the United States and Britain that set goals for the postwar world |
War Production Board | government agency created during World War II to help factories shift from making consumer goods to making war materials |
rationing | limitations on the amount of certain goods that people can buy |
victory garden | during World War II, vegetable garden planted to combat food shortages in the United States |
Rosie the Riveter | fictional factory worker who became a symbol of American women's comtribution to the war effort during World War II |
"Double V" campaign | African American civil rights campaign during World War II |
Tuskegee Airmen | African American fighter pilots who trained in Tuskegee, Alabama, during World War II |
compensation | repayment for losses |
bracero program | recruitment of Mexican laborers to work in the United States during World War II |
Battle of Midway | a 1942 battle in the Pacific during which American planes sank four Japanese aircraft carriers |
Operation Overlord | code name for the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944 |
D-Day | day of the invasion of Western Europe by Allied forces |
Battle of the Bulge | German counterattack in December 1944 that temporarily slowed the Allied invasion of Germany |
island hopping | during World War II, Allied strategy of capturig Japanese-held islands to gain control of the Pacific Ocean |
Navajo code-talkers | during World War II, Navajo soldiers who used their own language to radio vital messages during the island-hopping campaign |
kamikaze | World War II Japanese pilot trained to make a suicidal crash attack, usually upon a ship |
Potsdam Declaration | message sent by the Allies in July 1945 calling for Japanese surrender |
Bataan Death March | long trek across the Philippines that American and filipino prisoners of war were forced to make by the Japanese in 1942 |
Holocaust | slaughter of Europe's Jews by the Nazis before and during World War II |
Nuremburg Trails | Nazi war crimes trails held in 1945 and 1946 |