1. The Coming of War

2. Totalitarianism
A theory of government in which a single party or leader controls the economic, social, and cultural lives of its people. .

3. Joseph Stalin
An obscure journalist prior to the Russian revolution, Stalin became the head of the Communist Party in 1924 following the death of Vladimir Lenin and transformed Russia into an Industrial power, placing himself as a totalitarian dictator and purging Russia of his enemies, ordering the deaths of millions.

4. Benito Mussolini / Fascism
Benito Mussolini – Founder of the Fascist party in Italy in 1919, Mussolini became a totalitarian dictator in Italy in 1922, creating a secret police, outlawing political parties, and eliminating free press.
Fascism – An ultra-conservative political movement emphasizing nationalism and racial superiority which swept European countries in the 1920s and 1930s.

5. Adolf Hitler / Mein Kampf / Anti-Semitic
Closure Question #2: How were Germany and Japan similar in the 1930s? How were they different? (At least 2 sentences)
Adolf Hitler / Mein Kampf / Anti-Semitic
Adolf Hitler – Leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) & appointed German Chancellor in 1933, Hitler became a totalitarian dictator. Hitler rebuilt Germany through public works programs to strengthen national infrastructure & rearm the German military, gaining high popularity in Germany.
Mein Kampf – Book published by Hitler in 1925 in which he revealed himself as extremely anti-Semitic (prejudiced against Jews) & expressed his desire for Germany to dominate the world.

6. Rape of Nanjing
(1937) Example of Japanese imperialistic brutality; Japanese soldiers murdered more than 200,000 residents and burned a large section of the then-capital city of China.

7. Spanish Civil War
( ) The Nationalist Party in Spain, which had fascist tendencies, rebelled against Spain’s Democratic government, which had communist tendencies. Hitler and Mussolini sent military and economic aid to the Nationalists; Stalin sent aid to the Democrats. Members of the League of Nations refused to get involved in the conflict.

8. Anschluss
The forced union between Germany and Austria in the spring of 1938; Hitler sent German troops into Austria, claiming that all nations of Germanic descent should be ruled by one government.

9. Appeasement / Neville Chamberlain / Munich Pact
Appeasement – Granting concessions to a potential enemy in hope that it will maintain peace. This policy was used by France and Britain towards Germany during the 1930s.
Neville Chamberlain – Prime Minister of England in the 1930s who signed the Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938, which gave Germany control of the Sudetenland, a portion of western Czechoslovakia that was largely populated by ethnic Germans. Upon his return to London, Chamberlain proclaimed that he had preserved “peace for our time.”

10. Blitzkrieg
Literally meaning “Lightning War”, the Blitzkrieg was a relatively new style of warfare used by Germany that emphasized the use of speed and firepower to penetrate deep into enemy’s territory. Germany used this tactic first in invading Poland on September 1, 1939, conquering the entire country in less than one month.

11. Axis Powers / Allied Powers
Axis Powers – Alliance including Germany, Italy, Japan and several other nations during World War II.
Allied Powers – Alliance that originally only included Britain and France, but eventually several other nations including the Soviet Union, the United States, and China during WWII.

12. Winston Churchill
Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, Churchill had always warned against Hitler since the early 1930s and during the Battle of Britain from 1940 to 1941 Churchill was the lone world leader that stood against Hitler and the Axis forces.

13. Battle of Britain
(July 1940 – June 1941) The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) bombed civilian and military targets in Great Britain in preparations for invasion. However, the British Royal Air Force’s firm resistance combined with the resilience of the British people led Hitler to abandon plans for invasion of England, making the battle a British victory.

14. Neutrality Act of 1939
Law passed by the U.S. Congress requiring the U.S. to not get involved in WW2 unless it was attacked. The Act also included a cash-and-carry provision, which allowed nations engaged in the war to buy goods and arms from the U.S. if they paid cash and carried the merchandise on their own ships. This policy aided Britain more than any other country.

15. Tripartite Pact
Agreement signed in September 1940 by Germany, Italy, and Japan, officially establishing an alliance between the three countries following the fall of France that same year.

16. Lend-Lease Act / Atlantic Charter
Lend-Lease Act – Passed by Congress in March 1941, the act authorized Roosevelt to “sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government any defense article” whenever he thought it was “necessary in the interests of the U.S.” Roosevelt used this Act to exclusively lend supplies to the Allies, making it an economic declaration of war on the Axis Powers.
Atlantic Charter – Secret pact signed by FDR and Winston Churchill in August 1941, endorsing national self-determination and an international system of “general security”. The pact signaled the deepening alliance between the U.S. and Great Britain.

17. Hideki Tojo
Japanese General and Prime Minister in 1941 who ordered the Japanese attack on American forces at Pearl Harbor in response to a U.S. trade embargo on military goods sent to Japan.

18. Pearl Harbor
Main base of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet which, on December 7th, 1941, was attacked without warning by the Japanese, leaving 2,500 Americans dead and the entire fleet out of commission for nearly six months. This event pulled the U.S. into World War II.

19. Women’s Army Corps (WAC)
Established in 1941, over 150,000 American women served in the WAC as clerical workers, truck drivers, instructors, nurses and lab technicians for the U.S. Army.

20. Douglas MacArthur / Bataan Death March
Douglas MacArthur – Commander of the U.S. Army forces in Asia during WWII; MacArthur’s troops stationed in the Philipines were defeated by the Japanese in the Spring of 1942, forcing MacArthur to flee to Australia, leaving 75,000 soldiers behind as POWs.
Bataan Death March – The forced 63-mile march of American and Filipino POWs through the hot Filipino rain forest in May ,000 American and Filipino troops died during the journey.

21. Battle of Coral Sea
(May 7th-8th, 1942) Naval battle between the U.S. and Japan fought east of New Guinea; The first sea fight in which enemy warships never saw each other (U.S. and Japanese airplanes attacked the ships) ended in a draw, but was a strategic victory for the U.S. because it stopped Japanese expansion.