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Unit 9
World War II
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| The Allies | Military alliance led by the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union during World War II. |
| Dwight Eisenhower | U.S. general who was named supreme commander of all Allied forces for the invasion of France. |
| Harry Truman | 33rd President (Democrat, 1945-1953) who ordered the use of the atomic bomb to force Japan to surrender. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | 32nd President (Democrat, 1933-1945) who led the U.S. through World War II until his death in 1945. |
| Island Hopping | The U.S. strategy in the Pacific to advance closer to Japan. |
| Stalingrad | 1942 - 1943 battle in the Soviet Union where the Soviet Army defeated German forces in the turning point of the war in Europe. |
| Operation Overlord | 1944 invasion of Allied forces across the English Channel to land in the Normandy region of France and and liberate the city of Paris from German forces. |
| Midway | 1942 naval battle where U.S. forces launched a surprise attack that sunk several aircraft carriers of Japan's Pacific Fleet in the turning point of the war in the Pacific. |
| Okinawa | 1945 battle where U.S. forces captured the island closest to Japan - Largest number of U.S. losses in the Pacific along with heavy Japanese and civilian casualties. |
| Hiroshima | Industrial city in Japan that was the target of the first atomic bomb dropped by the U.S. in 1945. |
| Nagasaki | Industrial city in Japan that was the target of the second atomic bomb dropped by the U.S. in 1945. |
| "Rosie the Riveter" | Propaganda symbol to recruit American women to work in war factories during WWII. |
| The Bulge | 1944 - 1945 battle in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg where U.S. troops repulsed Hitler's last major attack of the war - Most U.S. casualties in World War II. |
| War Bond | A loan by a citizen to the government to help fund the war effort that could be repaid at a later date with interest. |
| Winston Churchill | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during WWII. |
| Berlin | Capitol city of Germany captured by Soviet forces in 1945 which led Hitler to commit suicide and Germany to surrender. |
| Executive Order 9066 | Mandate by President Roosevelt that people of Japanese ancestry living in the West Coast be relocated and held in internment camps throughout the war. |
| Double V Campaign | Movement by Black Americans to support the war effort to fight for democracy and to end racism. |
| Manhattan Project | Secret project by scientists working for the United States government to develop an atomic bomb. |
| Selective Service of 1940 | Congress created the first ever peacetime military draft to strengthen the U.S. armed forces prior to World War II. |
| Yalta Conference | 1945 meeting between ROOSEVELT (US), Churchill (UK), and Stalin (USSR) to discuss ending the war and postwar Europe. |
| Potsdam Conference | 1945 meeting between TRUMAN (US), Attlee (UK), and Stalin (USSR) that saw tensions rise between the U.S. and USSR. |
| United Nations | International organization created after World War II to replace the League of Nations and preserve world peace and human rights. |
| Iron Curtain | Communist governments established in the nations of Eastern Europe under Soviet occupation after World War II. |
| Joseph Stalin | Communist dictator of the Soviet Union during WWII. |
| Hirihito | Emperor of Japan who ordered Japanese forces to surrender to the U.S. in 1945. |
| West Germany | Occupied by the US, UK, and France after World War II. |
| Douglas MacArthur | General in the Pacific who led U.S. forces to recapture the Philippines from Japan. |
| Chester Nimitz | Admiral who planned the U.S. Pacific Fleet's surprise attack against Japan naval forces at Midway. |
| D-Day | The June 6, 1944 landings by US, UK, and Canadian forces on the beaches of Normandy - Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword, Gold- in France. |
| Rationing | Restricting the purchase and use of critical products to ensure that enough was available for military use during the war. |
| Tuskegee Airmen | First U.S. unit of all Black fighter pilots who flew missions to escort bombing runs against Germany during World War II. |
| Declaration of a Liberated Europe | Promise made by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin at Yalta to allow the people of Europe to hold free elections to establish their own governments after World War II. |
| Poland | Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin disagreed at Yalta on whether this nation would have a new communist government or its prewar government put in power after World War II. |
| Philippines | U.S. territory in the Pacific that was captured by Japanese forces in 1941. |
| Rome | The first Axis capital city that was liberated by the Allies in 1944 after the U.S. and UK landings at Anzio. |
| East Germany | Occupied by the Soviet Union after WWII. |
| Italy | Nation that surrendered to the Allies after U.S. and UK forces captured the island of Sicily in 1943. |
| Sicily | U.S. and UK forces launched an invasion from North Africa to this island in 1943 to begin an attack against Italy. |
| El Alamein | 1942 battle in Egypt where British troops defeated an Axis advance in North Africa against the Suez Canal and the oil fields of the Middle East. |
| North Africa | U.S. forces first landed and fought Axis forces here in 1942. |
| Leyte Gulf | 1944 battle in the waters off the Philippines where the U.S. Pacific Fleet destroyed nearly all of the Japanese Navy. |
| Iwo Jima | 1945 battle where U.S. Marines captured the first "Japanese home island" from 21,000 Japanese defenders who nearly all fought the Americans to the death. |
| Nuremberg Trials | Military trials carried out by the Allies to punish former high level Nazi officers for war crimes during WWII. |
| Marshall Plan | U.S. foreign policy program after WWII which sent financial aid - $15 billion - to rebuild the war devastated nations of Europe. |
| War Production Board | U.S. agency that supervised the economy and paid companies to produce war materials during WWII. |
| Office of War Information | U.S. agency to improve public understanding of the war by making wartime guidelines for filmmakers and media. |
| Women's Army Corps | Military unit made up of women who served as clerks, drivers, cooks, and nurses during World War II. |
| Soviet Union | German forces launched "Operation Barbarossa" or the surprise invasion of this nation in 1941. |
| George Patton | General who led U.S. forces to counterattack and drive back German troops in the Battle of the Bulge. |
| VE Day | May 8, 1945 - Germany surrendered. |
| VJ Day | August 15, 1945 - Japan Surrendered. |
| Kamikaze | Japanese suicide pilots who purposefully crashed their planes into U.S. Navy ships during WWII. |
| Final Solution | Hitler program to systematically kill Jews and other undesirable populations. |
| Bataan Death March | Japanese troops led U.S. and Filipino prisoners captured in the Philippines on a brutal forced movement to POW Camps. |
| Navajo Codetalkers | Native American soldiers who used their language for U.S. military communications in the Pacific. |
| Guadalcanal | 1943 battle in the Solomon islands where U.S. forces first defeated Japanese troops "on the ground." |
| Manila | 1945 battle for the capital city of The Philippines won by U.S. forces who ended the nation's 3 year long occupation by Japanese troops. |
| The Axis | Military alliance between Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II. |
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