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| Combination of mechanized forces on the ground with close air support to strike multiple targets quickly and leave no opportunity for a response. Allowed more rapid conquest of territory than seen in WWI. |
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| During blitzkrieg, bombers strike bridges, roads, ports, and communication lines to isolate a target area so it cannot be resupplied or reinforced. Allows for more rapid conquest of territory than in WWI. |
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| Bombers strike factories, warehouses, oil refineries, and railroads to weaken a country's ability to defend itself against invasion. Targeted a country's industrial capabilities, which played a bigger role in war than during WWI. |
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| Were smaller and faster than in WWI and had a main gun mounted on a rotating turret. Became the main offensive weapon in WWII while in WWI existed only to support infantry. |
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| Infantry who arrive in battle in trucks or tracked vehicles, typically to occupy territory and defend it against counterattack during blitzkrieg. Allowed infantry to move into action more rapidly than during WWI. |
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| Because strategic bombing targets factories, the civilians who work there and in the cities around them become casualties. The rate of civilian casualties in WWII was much higher than in WWI. |
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| The German army overran the western part of Poland while the Soviet army took the eastern part. Hitler's generals expected to do better against the outmatched Poles, and asked Hitler for six months' extra prep time before invading Western Europe. |
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| "Sitting War" between September 1939 and April 1940 while both Germany and Britain/France geared up to fight WWII. |
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| A government made up of local leaders who agreed to work with Hitler and govern conquered territories on his behalf. This made the Third Reich less prone to rebellions against Nazi rule. |
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| Collaborationist leader of Norway who ruled on Hitler's behalf after the German conquest of Norway. |
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| Prime Minister of Great Britain after Neville Chamberlain resigned following the failure of "appeasement" to stop Hitler. Churchill was determined to defeat Hitler. |
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| British Royal Navy and civilians evacuated 300,000 Allied troops from being devastated by the Germans at Dunkirk. This allowed them to continue to resist the Germans. |
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| As the Germans planned to invade Britain, they bombed British cities. British fighter pilots assisted by RADAR shot down 2200 German planes and forced Hitler to give up his plan to invade Britain. |
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| Name of Hitler's plan to violate his non-aggression pact with Stalin and invade the Soviet Union. At first the Soviets seemed unable to resist the German attack. |
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| During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stalin ordered all resources moved east -- and those that could not be moved, burned -- so the Germans could not use them. |
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| Was very young when he became Emperor of Japan, and although he was traditionally seen as a "god-king," military leaders reduced him to a symbolic figure. |
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| During the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, Japanese troops entered the capital Nanjing, slaughtered thousands of civilians, and raped civilian women. |
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| Japan occupied China from 1937 to 1945, and during this period 10 million Chinese civilians died -- many of whom were victims of executions and other cruelties at the hands of the Japanese. |
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| Ruled as essentially military dictator of Japan during the early 1940s. His goal was to make Japan the dominant country of the Pacific region. |
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| Originally an alliance between Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, the "Axis" came to include Japan as well. |
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| Was President of the United States prior to and during WWII. He believed the U. S. and other free nations must confront Japan, Germany, and Italy, but did not initially have the backing of the American people to do so. |
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| After the Japanese invasion of Indochina, President Roosevelt prohibited American companies from selling steel or oil to Japan. Before the war, Japan depended on the U. S. for these items. |
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| In response to the Japanese invasion of Indochina, President Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the U. S., which mean Japanese money in American banks could not be removed to Japan to pay for their military. |
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| Was the date of the Japanese navy's attack on Pearl Harbor, meant to be a "knockout punch" to the U. S. The U. S. declared war on Japan the next day. |
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| U. S., Great Britain, the Soviet Union (U. S. S. R.)and others |
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| Germany, Italy, and Japan |
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| Large warships with lots of big guns; all of the battleships of the U. S. Pacific Fleet were badly damaged at Pearl Harbor. In WWII, these played less of a role in naval warfare. |
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| Large flat-topped ships from which airplanes could be launched and could land. Most naval battles of WWII featured attacks on ships by planes launched from other ships; opposing fleets rarely made visual contact -- a new development in naval warfare. |
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| Planes that carried bombs and would dive straight down on an enemy target, releasing bombs and pulling out of the dive at the last moment. They combined high risk with high accuracy. A new type of plane in WWII. |
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| A plane that carried a torpedo under its belly and would drop it in the water to attack an enemy ship. The torpedo was motorized and travel the rest of the way before hitting its targets. Less accurate and lower risk. A new type of plane in WWII. |
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| Was the Allied strategy at the opening of WWII. Germany was seen as the more immediate threat because of better resources & technology and because it was closer to its enemies than Japan was. So the Allies would focus their efforts on beating Germany. |
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| Stalin and the Soviets had lost 5 million men since the German invasion of the U. S. S. R. As soon as the U. S. entered the war, he wanted the U. S. and Britain to invade German-occupied France to force Germany to fight on two fronts. Churchill did not believe this was possible for over a year. It divided the Allies. |
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| American general appointed as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He commanded troops from the U. S. and Great Britain primarily, illustrating the wartime partnership between the two countries. |
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| Commander of the U. S. Pacific Fleet during WWII. He figured out that the next Japanese attack would be at Midway and concentrated U. S. ships there tp achieve a major victory. |
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| Despite being outnumbered, the Americans sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, which were irreplaceable to the Japanese because they lacked resources. Turning point battle of the Pacific which put Japan on the defensive for the rest of the war. |
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| Germany's most aggressive and creative commander, he drove the Afrika Korps across North Africa, defeating the British repeatedly until stopped at El Alamein. |
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| Force of German & Italian troops that invaded North Africa under command of Erwin Rommel. Goal was to drive the British out of Egypt and capture the Suez Canal and Arabian oil fields beyond. |
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| Cautious British commander who took advantage of the fact that Rommel's Afrika Korps was ill-supplied. He amassed a huge army to attack the Germans at El Alamein. |
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| Against superior British numbers, the Afrika Korps was defeated and forced to retreat westward. It was the turning point battle in North Africa and Britain's first major victory of the war. |
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| The U. S. entered the war against the Germans by invading North Africa. Faced with American pressure from the west and British pressure from the east, the Afrika Korps surrendered. |
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| Soviet general who realized that Hitler was not going to commit to a major attack on Moscow, so he sent Soviet troops to surround the Germans fighting at Stalingrad. |
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| The Germans bombarded Stalingrad and entered the city, only to have to fight the Soviets for every city block. Zhukov sent troops from Moscow to surround them, and the Germans were forced to surrender. It was the turning point battle in Europe. |
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| Fighting waged in a city environment, where defenders can force attackers to fight for every city block, building, even room -- as the Soviets did to the Germans at Stalingrad. |
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| German forces besieged the city of Leningrad for almost 900 days, leading to mass starvation and as many as a million civilians deaths. |
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| After beating the Germans at Stalingrad, the Soviets attacked all across the Eastern Front of Europe and drove the Germans backward out of all the territory they had conquered. |
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| The Soviets suffered the largest loss of life during WWII (both military and civilian) -- a total of 23 million people. In this sense, the Soviets made the largest sacrifice and the largest contribution to the Allied victory over Germany. |
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| Allied soldiers attacked Italy expecting to fight half-hearted Italians, but Hitler overruled his generals and sent German soldiers to help Mussolini. A hard seven-month campaign led to the liberation of Rome by American troops in June 1944. Mussolini tried to flee but was captured and killed by Italian communists. |
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| Allied invasion of German-occupied France took place in June 1944, forcing Germany to fight on two fronts. The beaches captured in Normandy became ports of entry for Allied troops and war supplies. |
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| The countryside of Normandy were divided by earthen mounds called hedgerows that made it hard for Allies to use their tanks. Germans used these as ready-made defenses and held off the Allies for a month before retreating. |
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| As Allied troops rolled toward Germany, Hitler launched an attack into Belgium's Ardennes Forest hoping to divide and defeat the British and American armies. He put all of Germany's reserve troops into the attack. |
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| Germany's Ardennes Offensive had early successes, driving a "bulge" in the American lines, but as the Americans recovered and push back the bulge, Germany was bound to lose the war because Hitler had used up the last of his troops. |
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| May 8, 1945 was the day that Germany surrendered. |
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| Was the American strategy in the Pacific. The U. S. would drive the Japanese off of islands needed for airbases to bomb Japan to weaken its defenses before an expected invasion of Japan. |
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| Was an airplane designed to cover long distances in the Pacific to conduct strategic bombing of Japan prior to an expected American invasion of Japan. |
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| As the Americans got closer to Japan, Japanese defenders became more fanatical, including kamikaze pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and dove them onto American ships. |
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| A bomb developed by the Americans that got its explosive force from the energy released when an atom is split. Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing 150,000 civilian casualties and forcing the Japanese to surrender. |
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| On September 2, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. |
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| The German government issued laws that said only people of "pure" German blood could be citizens with rights like voting, serving in government, entering into contracts, and having property rights. |
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| Was a night of violence committed against Jews across Germany. The violence was organized by the ruling Nazi Party but blamed on the Jews by Hitler. After this, persecution of Jews grew more intense. |
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| Was a neighborhood within a larger city where ethnic minorities -- often Jews -- lived. During the Holocaust, Jews were often crowded into ghettos with too little living space or food, and inadequate medical care. Tens of thousands died in the ghettos. |
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| Is the German word meaning "subhuman." Hitler designated Jews, Slavs, and Africans as "subhuman" and planned to eliminate them to prevent them from tainting the "pure" German blood. |
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| Were built by the Nazis as work camps, where Jews and Slavs would be sent to be worked to death. They would be provided with inadequate food or medical care and die by the millions of exhaustion, disease, and malnutrition. |
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| Were "special action groups" who rounded up Jews and Slavs from villages in eastern Europe, executed them with machine guns, and buried them in mass graves to speed up their extermination. |
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| As the tide of war turned against the Germans, Hitler and the Nazis concluded they must accelerate the extermination of Jews and Slavs. They began to build extermination camps especially for this purpose. 6 million Jews and 5 million Non-Jews were killed overall during the Holocaust. |
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| Five were constructed to accelerate the process of exterminating Jews and Slavs. Victims were led into gas chambers, executed, and their bodies cremated in huge ovens or buried in mass graves. |
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| Was the most notorious of the extermination camps, where it is estimated 4 million Jews and Slavs were killed. |
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| Was Hitler's German empire. He believed all Germans should live in one empire under one leader: "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer." ("One nation, one empire, one leader.") |
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| Was the connection of Austria to Germany, which Hitler achieved by force. He justified doing it by claiming all Germans should live in one empire governed by one leader. |
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| Was the Chancellor of Austria who tried to defy Hitler and save Austria from being taken over by Germany, but in the end he failed and became a prisoner of the Germans. |
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| Is the idea of giving in to the demands of an aggressor in hope that he will be satisfied and stop making demands. Usually this fails, as the aggressor sees appeasement as a sign of weakness, which motivates him to make more demands. |
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| Was the Prime Minister of Great Britain who repeatedly appeased Hitler instead of confronting him, because he and the British (as well as the French) were desperate to avoid a war. |
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| Was a meeting in which Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain agreed to allow Hitler and Germany to take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. In return, Hitler promised he would make no further demands for territory. |
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| Is what Neville Chamberlain promised the British people after he returned from the Munich Conference, having traded Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland for a promise from Hitler that Hitler would not demand any addtional territory. Six months later, Hitler invaded and took the rest of Czechoslovakia. |
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| Hitler and Joseph Stalin agreed to a non-aggression pact saying they would not fight each other over Poland. Secretly, they agreed to divide Poland among themselves. |
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| BONUS CARD - Read the back |
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| Thank you for using my flash cards to prepare for the Second World War unit test. Print this card and bring it to the test to receive 5 bonus points! |
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