World War II

Terms, People, and Places

Terms

• Blitzkreig– Lightning War– Strike fast and hard– Technique used by the Germans to conquer much

of Europe

Terms

• Kamakaze• Strategy used by Japanese fighter pilots to

take out ships• Suicide bombers

Terms

• Island hopping• Used by the American forces in the Pacific • Allies did not try to capture every island held

by the Japanese• Went after islands that were not as securely

held in order to establish bases to attack Japan

Terms

• Holocaust• Refers to the mass murder of 6 million Jews by

Nazis

Terms

• Battle of Britain • Relentless bombing of mostly London by the

Germans through much of the war• Enforced blackouts• Children were sent to live in the country

Terms

• Code Talkers• People who used the Navajo language to

communicate in the Pacific• Japanese couldn’t crack the code because it

wasn’t a code; it is a language

Terms

• Manhattan Project• Code name for the building of the atomic

bomb • Alamogordo, New Mexico

Terms

• The Four Freedoms• Set out by Franklin D. Roosevelt• Freedom of Speech• Freedom of Religion• Freedom from Want• Freedom from Fear

Terms

• Democracy• The people make all the decisions– Not very practical

with a lot of people

Terms

• Republic• A government where people are picked to

represent the people• If those people are elected, then it is called a

democratic republic• The United States is a democratic republic

Terms

• Anarchy• No one is in charge

Terms

• Dictatorship• A government that tells people what to do• A dictatorship could be either benevolent or

malevolent depending on the circumstances

• Monarchy – one ruler• Oligarchy – more than one

Terms

• Fascist – looks to the past (ultra-conservative)– Nazi Germany

• Communist – looks to the future (ultra-liberal)– The USSR

Terms

• After WWII the world divided into two major factions led by superpowers– Communist or Iron Curtain countries led by the

Soviet Union (USSR)

– Free World countries led by the United States

Terms

• The Marshal Plan• A plan to rebuild war-torn Europe

Terms

• United Nations• Organization set up after the war to provide a

way to solve disputes peacefully.

People

• Adolf Hitler• Leader of Germany, part of the Axis• Called Der Furher

People

• Benito Mussolini• Leader of Italy, part of the Axis• Called Il Duce

People

• Tojo• Leader of Japan, third member of the Axis

People

• Rosie the Riveter• She was an advertising symbol for women

working in defense ministries

People

• Neville Chamberlain• Prime Minister of Great Britain during the

1930s• Believed that by giving Hitler what he wanted,

called appeasement, war could be averted.

People

• Winston Churchill• Prime Minister of Britain, one of the Allied

countries, during World War II

People

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)• President of the United States, an Allied

country, during the Depression and WWII• Was elected to an unprecedented 4 terms

People

• Josef Stalin• Leader of the Soviet Union, which became one

of the Allies after Hitler violated the nonaggression pact he had made with Stalin

People

• Charles de Gaulle • General of France, exiled to and allied with

Britain during WWII.

People

• Dwight Eisenhower• Supreme Allied Commander in Europe• American, became President in the 1950s

Places

• Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Midway were all sites of major battles in the Pacific

Places

• Normandy• The site of D-Day, June 6, 1944 which marked

the Allied invasion of France

Places

• Hiroshima and Nagasaki• Atomic bombs were dropped on these

Japanese cities• Americans believed it was necessary to save

American lives due to the ferocity of fighting on outlying islands. They believed attacking the homeland would be worse.

Places

• Yalta• Site on the sea in Russia where Stalin,

Roosevelt, and Churchill met to plan what would happen to Europe at the end of the war