Axis Powers
Side made up of Germany, Japan, Italy and the Soviet Union.
Allies
The alliance of Britain, France, and the Soviet Union (1941) in World War II; joined by the United States after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Lebensraum
Nazi Germany's idea that additional territory was necessary for national survival or for the expansion of trade.
Appeasement
Giving in to aggressive demands in order to avoid war.
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
An agreement between nations to not attack one another.
Blitzkrieg
A German word meaning "lightning war"; a fast, forceful style of fighting used by Germans in World War II.
Winston Churchill
British prime minister; he opposed the policy of appeasement and led Great Britain through World War II.
Battle of Britain
(1940) Three month air battle between Germany and Great Britain fought over Great Britain during World War II; Britain's victory forestalled a German invasion.
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 II.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
General; thirty-fourth president of the United States; as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II, he led the Allied invasions of North Africa and of France (D-Day).
Battle of Stalingrad
(1942) World War II 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 turning point in the war.
Bataan Death March
(1942) a forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines in World War II.
Battle of Midway
World War II 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
(1942-1943) World War II battle in the Pacific; it represented the first Allied counter-attack against Japanese forces; Allied victory forced Japanese forces to abandon the island.
Kamikazes
In World War II, Japanese pilots who loaded their aircraft with bombs and crashed them into enemy ships.
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 kill civilians.
Holocaust
The killing of millions of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II.
D-Day
June 6, 1944; the first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II.
VE Day
(1945) May 8, 1945; a term used by the Allies, it stands for "victory in Europe" during World War II.
VJ Day
(1945) August 15, 1945; a term used by the Allies, it stands for "victory over Japan" during World War II.
Battle of Iwo Jima
(1945) World War II battle between Japanese forces and invading U.S. troops.
Battle of Okinawa
(1945) World War II victory for the Allied troops that resulted in the deaths of almost all of the 100,000 Japanese defenders; the battle claimed 12,000 American lives.
Hiroshima
The city destroyed in World War II by the first atomic bomb used in warfare August 6, 1945.
Nagasaki
The second populated area to be devastated by an atomic bomb, on August 9, 1945.
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 II.
United Nations
International organization formed in 1945 to maintain world peace and encourage cooperation among nations.
Potsdam Conference
(July-August 1945) a meeting of Allied leaders in the German city of Potsdam to address issues about the post-World War II Europe.
Harry S Truman
Thirty-third 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 II and the beginning of the Cold War.
Emperor Hirohito
Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989; he led Japan during World War II and was forced into unconditional surrender following the atomic-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Adolf Hitler
Totalitarian dictator of Germany; his invasion of European countries led to World War II. He espoused notions of racial superiority and was responsible for the mass murder of millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust.
Nuremburg Laws
Nazi laws that eliminated citizenship and many civil and property rights for Jews.
Maginot Line
A zone of heavy defensive fortifications erected by France along its eastern border in the years preceding World War II, but outflanked in 1940 when the German army attacked through Belgium.
Erwin Rommel
German general during World War II; he commanded the African troops and was nicknamed the Desert Fox for his leadership.
SS (Schutzstaffel)
The secret German police force. Swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler, rather than the State of Germany. The SS, was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II.
Island hopping
Was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II.
London Blitz
Was the sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany that began in 1940.