WWII Vocabulary

1939 - German-Soviet promise, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. Nonaggression Pact

A German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower.  Blitzkrieg

The Maginot Line, named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations that France constructed on the French side of its borders. Maginot Line

German term for an air force.  Luftwaffe

The Night of Broken Glass - a massive, coordinated attack on Jews throughout the Germany on the night of November 9, 1938, into the next day Kristallnacht

A Jewish quarter is the area of a city Ghettos

The Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people under the rule of Adolf Hitler. Final Solution

Concentration camp complex in Poland was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime: forced labor and a killing center. Auschwitz

Genocide in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and its collaborators killed about six million Jews. Holocaust

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, which began on 22 June 1941. Operation Barbarossa

Churchill and Roosevelt met on August 9 and 10, 1941 aboard the U.S.S. Augusta in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, to discuss their respective war aims for the Second World War and to outline a postwar international system. Atlantic Charter

Important People Winston Churchill Became prime minister of England shortly after World War II began and served through the end of the war in Europe. Churchill symbolized the fierce determination of the British to resist conquest by the Germans. Important People Winston Churchill

Nicknamed the Desert Fox. Hitler’s youngest General Nicknamed the Desert Fox. Hitler’s youngest General. Defeated by British General Montgomery at the Battle of El Alamein signifying the end of Nazi control of N. Africa. Edwin Rommel

Japanese Marshal during World War II Japanese Marshal during World War II. Mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor. Isoroku Yamamoto

French General who fled to Great Britain after the Fall of France to Germany. He assisted the allies to defeat the Axis powers during WWII. • Charles De Gaulle

Totalitarian dictator of communist Russia during WWII. Stalin

Commander of U. S. troops in the Pacific Commander of U.S. troops in the Pacific. Defeated the Japanese at Midway, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa using the strategy of Island Hopping. Japanese surrender to MacArthur September 2, 1945 after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Douglas MacArthur

• 1. Roosevelt (FDR) 2. Truman 1. President of the United States during the Great Depression and WWII. He convinced Congress to declare war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor leading the U.S. into WWII 2. Succeeded Roosevelt as President. Responsible for the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan • 1. Roosevelt (FDR) 2. Truman

American general. Supreme Allied Commander of Allied forces in Europe and North Africa. Became President of the United States in 1957 Dwight Eisenhower

1942. American military raid on Tokyo- capital of Japan and island around it. Also known as the Tokyo Raid. Shows that America will defend itself and that Japan is not invincible. Doolittle is the general that leads the raid. Doolittle Raid

Churchill, Truman, Stalin meet in Aug Churchill, Truman, Stalin meet in Aug. 1945 to discuss the Post War world Finalized plans for occupation of Europe Ultimatum to Japan – demanding unconditional surrender Potsdam Conference