Pearl Harbor attack
-DECEMBER 7, 1941, marked the US' entry into WWII.
Hirohito
Emperor of Japan during WWII, who kept his title until 1989 but had no real power.
Hideki Tojo
Military General, Prime Minister of Japan during most of WWII-- was sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal (court that punished Japanese military leaders), set up by General MacArthur.
Battle of Midway
-(June 1942) Turning point in the war, the United States' first real victory. The Japanese planned to distract Americans and take over _______ island, so they could regularly attack Hawaii. The Americans found out they were planning an attack by decoding
Chester Nimitz
Admiral in US Navy, commander of the US Pacific Fleet-- aggressive commander who preferred to attack-- pressuring his opponents into making mistakes
Douglas MacArthur
Iconic 5 star general (West Point graduate!) who was extremely important in the Pacific theatre during WWII-- he was eventually given command of all US ARMY units in the Pacific
Island Hopping Campaign
Military technique carried out by MacArthur and Nimitz in which the US army kept taking over small Japanese-held islands in the Pacific to establish military bases-- and get closer to Japan. The first battle took place on Jima-- from there the rest of the
Battle of Okinawa
(April to June, 1945) The last major battle in the war, and the bloodiest/deadliest battle for the US in the pacific theatre.
Operation Downfall
Planned invasion of Japan (commanded by Nimitz and MacArthur). The US Department of War estimated it would cause half a million deaths, but Nimitz and MacArthur estimated less.
Manhattan Project
Code name for the building of the atomic bomb. It started in 1939 when Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard drafted letter to Roosevelt warning him that nuclear power is out there, and that the US should reach that nuclear power before the Germans do. It was t
Robert Oppenheimer
scientific father of the atomic bomb
Hiroshima
August 6, 1945- The first atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese, launched off the island Tinian. It was nicknamed "little boy" even though it had a bigger estimated death toll than the second bomb(90,000 to 150,000)
Nagasaki
August 9th, 1945-The second atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese, launched off the island of Tinian. It was nicknamed "fat man", and had a smaller death toll than the first bomb (40,000 to 80,0000). The Soviet Union declared war on Japan the day the bomb w
The Winter War
(Nov to March 1940)
Soviet Union' invades Finland, Finland wins even though they were small and had less artillery. (Name of the best sniper: Simo "white death" Hayha)
Battle of Britain
(1940, from June to November) Military campagin where German Luftwaffe attacked British Royal Air Force. Radar technology was essential to the Brits' win
Operation Barbarossa
Begins on June 2nd, 1941- Code-name for Hitler's decision to attack Russia (really big deal), many consider it the biggest military operation in History. Consists of three army groups: north, central and south.
German Invasion of the Soviet Union
(June 22, 1941-Operation Barbarossa) The invasion consisted of three main army groups: army group north (St Petersburg), army group central (Moscow-the capital), and army group south (Stalingrad and the Caucuses).
Battle of Stalingrad
(August 1942 to February 1943) During the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany, this battle caused over a million deaths and was a major turning point on the Eastern Front.
Battle of El Alamein
(Oct to 1932) This battle was a major turning point in the North African Campagin.
Bernard "Monty" Montgomery
British General that took advantage of German army's shortage of men (Germans were led by Erwin Rommel) in North Africa, pushing them out of Egypt and into Libya, winning the Battle of Alamein and helping the Allies in North Africa.
Operation Overlord (D-Day)
Allied invasion (Mostly US and Britain) of Normandy, in German-controlled France. The allies tricked Hitler into thinking the invasion would be in Calais. It was the largest amphibious landing in the world. Thousands died that day, on both sides, but this
Dwight Eisenhower
Nicknamed "Ike", he became the supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe in 1943. He commanded the allied forces on D-Day.
Georgy Zhukov
Very successful Soviet General who became Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Minister of Defense
The Big 3 (WWII)
Joseph Stalin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill (Soviet Union, USA, and Great Britain). They only all met together twice: When they agreed on Operation Overlord at the Tehran Conference in 1944, and at the Yalta Conference in 1945, where t
The Yalta Conference
1945, the "big three" planned what would happen to Germany after the war. They agreed to divided up Germany into 4 occupation zones after the war.
The Bretton Woods Conference
(July 1944) Delegates from the 44 allied nations met to discuss the post war economic order. They decided have to help developing countries/countries shook by the war to reach their potential. They formed the International Bank for Reconstruction and Deve
The Dumbarton Oaks Conference
(August to Oct 7 1944)
International Conference where delegates decided the League of Nations was useless and then made the UN.
Final German Surrender
May 7, 1945, unconditional
Final Japanese Surrender
announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, after German surrender.
Post War Zones Occupation (Germany)
Germany was divided into 4 sections controlled by 4 countries after the war. The British controlled the northwest, the Russians controlled the northeast, the French controlled the southwest, and the Americans controlled the southeast.
Law for the restoration of the professional civil service
All non-Aryans were banned from the legal profession and the civil service in Germanywith 3 exceptions: If they served in WWI, if they lost a father or son in WWI, or they had been in civil service since WWI.
The Nuremburg laws
Series of laws put in place to oppress Jews.
1) They lost German citizenship.
2) Could not vote or hold a German passport.
3) Jews could not marry or have sexual intercourse with someone not considered Jewish.
4)Could not employ a non-Jew in their househo
Kristallnacht
(Nov 9-10 1938) "Night of the Long Knives" A huge pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany, it was generally considered to be the start of the Holocaust.
Einsatzgruppen
SS death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass killings. Their main method of execution was shooting, but some did use gas vans.
Wannsee Conference
(January 20, 1942) A conference of HIgh-level Nazis where the "Final solution", the extermination of Jews, was determined.
Nurembeurg Trials
A massive international court case, where Nazi leaders were put before an international jury sent by the Big Three and tried for their crimes in the Holocaust and for their invasion of Europe.