World War 2 Terms and Leaders

• Fascism is a political system with a dictator controlling everything, suppressing opposition
• Inflation is when money loses its value as prices increase
• Blitzkrieg, meaning "lightning war," uses large military force for quick invasion
• Internment means confining a large group without trial
• A ghetto is a less cared-for, occupied part of a city with poorer, minority groups
• Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large ethnic group
• Antisemitism is hostility or prejudice against Jews

Leaders and Nations

• Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the USA were the major Allied Powers
• Winston Churchill led Great Britain: Neville Chamberlain preceded him, promising no war
• Charles de Gaulle led France
• Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union
• Franklin D. Roosevelt led the USA; Harry Truman took over after Roosevelt's death in 1945
• Germany, Italy, and Japan were the major Axis Powers
• Adolf Hitler led Germany
• Benito Mussolini led Italy
• Hideki Tojo and Emperor Hirohito led Japan

Build-Up to War

• In 1919, the Versailles Treaty weakened Germany's economy
• In 1922, Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy, introducing fascism
• In 1929, the Great Depression began, negatively affecting countries worldwide
• In 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany
• In 1936, Hitler occupied the Rhineland and took over Austria, worrying allied leaders
• In 1937, Japan invaded China, starting the Second Sino-Japanese War
• In 1938, Hitler took over the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, leading to the Munich Conference. Hitler agreed for "Peace for our time."

WWII Major Events and Battles

• In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland, initiating WWII on September 1, 1939
• In 1940, France was taken over by Nazis using Blitzkrieg tactics, leading to the Dunkirk evacuation
• In 1940, Germany began bombing Great Britain, but the British refused to surrender
• In 1941, the United States and Britain started the Lend-Lease policy
• In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, in violation of their non aggression treaty. The Soviets became Allied Powers
• On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor; the U.S. declared war on Japan the next day
• Germany declared war on the United States three days later
• In 1942, the U.S. fought off Japan at the Battle of Midway
• In 1942, the Manhattan Project began in the United States
• In 1942, Nazi forces reached Stalingrad, but Soviets fought them off with much loss of life due to starvation and freezing
• In 1944, "Operation Overlord" or 'D-Day' began in Normandy, France and turned the tide of the war in Western Europe
• In 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allied Powers after Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
• In 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Japan surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945

The Homefront

• U.S. citizens rationed food and carpooled
• U.S. citizens grew "Victory Gardens" and sold stamps and bonds
• Women and minority groups filled jobs with many men fighting overseas
• The war led the nation out of the Great Depression

Negative Consequences of the U.S. Joining WWII

• Japanese Americans faced prejudice and discrimination after Pearl Harbor
• Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps for years with horrible living conditions.
• Living conditions were horrible

The Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

• Japan aimed to dominate mainland Asia
• The Japanese pushed the capital out of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. They then pursued them to the new capital at Nanjing
• The Nanjing Massacre involved murder and looting of civilians by the Japanese
• John Rabe, a Nazi, established a safety zone in China, protecting Chinese citizens from violence
• Japanese Military Unit 731 experimented on prisoners: when Americans found out, they traded immunity for research data

The Holocaust

• The Holocaust began with discrimination against Jews in Nazi-controlled areas
• Jewish businesses were boycotted
• Jews were barred from government, education, and could only receive medical care from Jewish doctors
• Jews had to wear the Yellow Star of David
• Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass," involved Nazi attacks on Jewish families and businesses
• Jews were forced into all-Jewish ghettos and then concentration camps
• The trains carrying Jews were cramped, long-distance, and provided no food or water
• Auschwitz was the most famous concentration camp
• The SS Special Police guarded prisoners, believing Hitler's propaganda that the prisoners were inferior
• Prisoners were sorted into able-bodied people and others
• Gas chambers killed tens of thousands a day.
• Dead bodies were cremated
• Oskar Schindler saved over 1,000 Jewish employees

End of the War

• The war ended after Germany surrendered on May 7th, 1945
• The war ended after Japan surrendered on September 2nd, 1945
• The atomic bombs forced Japan to surrender
• Lead scientist Robert Oppenheimer quoted, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”
• Japanese Americans faced discrimination despite their release from internment camps
• The Holocaust led to the deaths of over 11 million people
• There were 6 million Jews killed
• The U.S. and USSR emerged as global superpowers