WWII Term Definitions

Invasion of Poland: occur in 1939. Around the start of WWII. Arranged by German Nazis. AKA September Campaign or the 1939 Defensive War.

Blitzkrieg: The Lighting War. Military force of a mechanized force. Concentration on attacking a small section of the enemy front.

Nazi-soviet Nonaggression Pact: Hitler’s & Stalin’s agreement to divide Poland. Both men did not trust one another but the two signed it nevertheless. Hitler eventually turned his back on the agreement and invades Poland.

Tripartite Pact: Also known as the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three- Way Pact or the Tripartite Treaty. Signed in Berlin, September 1940. Involves countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy. Entering a military allicance and founding WWII. Went against the allied powers.

Anti Comintern Pact: Between Nazi Germany and Japan's Empire. Eventually joined by other countries. They were not in favor of the Communist International and Soviet Union.

Operation Barbarossa: Name of Germany’s plan to invade the Soviet Union in WWII. Over 4.5 million troops of Axis Powers invaded the USSR. Named after Emporer Frederick Barbarossa. Lasted for nearly a year. Conquest of European part of the Soviet Union, also known as the A-A line.


Winston Churchill: british politician, lead the UK during WWII. Prime minister fromt the years 1940-1945. Help Britain defeat Axis powers. Against german rearment.

Atlantic Charter: blueprint for world after the end of WWII. Internation treatments are modeled after the Atlantic Charter. Created by Sir Alexander Codagan at the Atlantic Conference.

Pearl Harbor: Harbor in O'ahu Hawaii. It is a United States Navy base Since Japan didn't formally declare war, the U.S. changed from being an isolationist country to one that would be directly involved in wars. 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack while only 65 Japanese were wounded and killed.

D-Day: This is also known as the Normandy Landings, during WWII. The landings started in June of 1944. This is the day in which an attack operation was initiated. The Allies created a stronghold in Normandy with the help of the Free French.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki: During WWII, it served as the headquarters for the Second Army and the Chugoku Army as well as having large deposits of weapons. Hiroshima was the target of a U.S. nuclear bomb that killed 90,000-140,000 people. Nagasaki was the second city to get bombed by the U.S. in 1945 with 73,000 deaths.

Stalingrad: A city and administrative center in Rusia. The city was the place of the Battle of Stalingrad during WWII. The city was destroyed but was rebuilt after Germany left the land.

Midway: The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle, It is even said to be the most important of the Pacific Campaign in WWII. The United States Navy defeated Imperial Japanese Navy attack Midway Atoll. This made damage on the Japanese carrier force and seizing the strategic initiative. This Japanese operations, was aimed to eliminate the United States as a strategic Pacific power. This gave Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co- Prosperity Sphere. They hoped another defeat would force the United States to negotiate an end to the Pacific War.

Robert Oppenheimer: American physicist and professor of physics at Berkley. He is known as a scientific director of the Manhattan Project: the WWII effort to develop the first nuclear weapons at the secret Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He is known as the "The Father of the Atomic Bomb."

Yalta Conference: Also known as the Crimea COnferece. Wartime meeting between the U.S, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom. Created to reestablish the nations conquered by Germany

F.D.R: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was the 32nd President of the United States. He was the central figure in a time of wartime and worldwide crisis. He is the only U.S president to have served more than two terms. Around the time of the war he practiced internment of Italians, Germans, and Japanese people without trial. He allowed the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: The 34th President of the United States from 1953- 1961and a general in the United States Army. He led the invasions of France & Germany. First commander of NATO. Believed that nuclear weapons were a top issue for the U.S.

NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A military alliance establishment by signing the North Atlantic Treaty. The NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium. military alliance that calls for collective defense, or a mutual defense in the event of an attack from an outside party.

Warsaw Pact: A pact of communist states in Central/Eastern Europe. Signed at Warsaw in 1955 as a reaction to West Germany joining NATO. Similar to NATO because they are a political consultative committee.

Terms

Appeasement: both sides giving up something for the greater good. Done through admitting, agreeing, and negotiating. Hopes to avoid military disagreements.

League of Nations: International governmental organization created at one point during the Treaty of Versialle. Included 58 members. It was made to prevent future wars and to resolve conflicts between different countries.

Collective Security: security agreement where all countries involved to take security as an important issue. NATO is the best known collective security defense force. The League of Nations did not approve of the concept of Collective Security at first.

Neville Chamberlain: Once was the Prime Minister of the UK. Appeasement of foreign policies related to the Munich Agreement. Voted into parliament in 1918 and was a British conservative politician.

Remilitarization of the Rhineland: March 1936. Germany military had control over the Rhineland again. Adolf Hitler leads this. The Versailles Treaty specifically states that Germany could not have possession of the Rhineland and Hitler takes control over it anyways in order to gain popularity, and add to the amount of land in Germany’s empire.


Anschluss: incorporation of Austria & Germany. Hitler leads this. One of first major steps into Hitler’s dream to create one empire that includes all German speaking territories


Lebensraum: concept that means finding additional living space. Hitler wanted to enlarge Germany by within Europe. He wanted all of former German territory back. He claimed it was living area, they didn’t really need it but demanded it. Thought it would make military stronger & make Germany more self sufficient through adding food & raw material sources.

Austrian Nazi Party: Political party of Austria. Use of propaganda in order to get people to support the Nazis. Austria Nazi Party and Hitler’s party joins together to form the German Nazis.


Austrian Plebiscite: Political group in Austria. Made decisions during 1950’s. People had no freedom in Austria.

Kurt Schuschnigg: Austrian politician that served as a dictator of Austria. Leader of Austrofascism regime. Reign ended when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp, a political prisoner of the German Nazis.

Abyssinia Crisis: Conflict between Italy and Ethiopia. Had a negative impact on the League of Nations. Helped push the alliance of fascist Italy and socialist Germany.

Sudetenland: German word portrays western regions of Czechoslovakia. German inhabitants on this area. Germany attacked during WWII through Lebensraum.


Munich Agreement: agreement that states that Sudetenland were regions along the border of Czechoslavakia. Established in Munich incorporating Germany and other major powers. Decide the future of Czechoslovakia and Hitler’s plans with Czechoslovakia.