WWII Events and Terms Quiz

World War II Terminology

• Saturated bombing, also known as carpet bombing, involves large area bombardment to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land.
• The Selective Training and Service Act required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft, marking the first peacetime draft in United States' history.

Nazi Policies

• The Final Solution, also known as the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II.

Military Strategies

• Island hopping involved skipping over heavily fortified islands to seize lightly defended locations that could support the next advance.
• Containment was a geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism.

Historical Events

• The Battle of the Coral Sea was a strategic victory for the Allies, preserving Port Moresby and having an outsized effect on the upcoming operation aimed at Midway.
• The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in which the U.S. Navy defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet.
• The Battle of Stalingrad was a catastrophic defeat for the German Army, inflicted by the Soviet Union in and around the strategically important city on the Volga river.
• The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, 1944, when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region, lasting until January 16, 1945.

Important Figures

• Hideki Tojo was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during most of World War II.
• Dwight Eisenhower planned and supervised two of the most consequential military campaigns of World War II: Operation Torch in the North Africa campaign and the invasion of Normandy.
• George Patton led corps and armies from North Africa, to Sicily, to the continent of Europe, often leading from the front and delivering victory.
• Douglas MacArthur commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre in World War II, administered postwar Japan during the Allied occupation, and led United Nations forces during the first nine months of the Korean War.

Post-War Developments

• V-E Day, on May 8, 1945, marked the end of World War II in Europe.
• The Yalta conference involved discussions between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin on the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan.
• The Postdam conference resulted in a call for “a complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany.”