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Mein Kampf
Book Hitler wrote in jail. Est the Nazism beliefs. Stated white, blue-eyed, blonde-haired Aryans were master race, and secure the land on Earth that was meant for Germans. -
Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
Achieved this efficiency by crushing all opposition and by making Italy a totalitarian state. Established fascist party with his powerful speaking when middle and upper classes were demanding strong leadership. Played on fears of economic collapse and communism. -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
Made agricultural and industrial growth the prime economic goals of the Soviet Union. Abolished all privately owned farms and replaced them with collectives—large government-owned farms, each worked by hundreds of families. Stalin moved to transform the Soviet Union into a great industrial power. Outlined the first of several “five-year plans." All economic activity was placed under state management. 1937, Became the world’s second-largest industrial power. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
Japanese took over it for natural resources and left the League of Nations. -
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
Joined National Socialist German Worker's party. He promised to bring Germany out of chaos and est. the Third Reich after being appointed prime minister. -
Storm troopers
Unemployed men who joined Hitler's private army aka Brown Shirts. -
Third Reich
Third German Empire that Hitler stated would last thousands of years. -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations and began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. A year later, he sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
League’s response was an ineffective economic boycott. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen. In desperation, Haile Selassie, the ousted Ethiopian emperor, appealed to the League for assistance. Nothing was done. -
Francisco Franc
Rebelled against the Spanish republic. Spanish Civil War began, and Spain est. him as a fascist dictator. -
Hitler's Anschluss
Union with Austria, rest of the world did nothing. -
Munich Agreement
Daladier and Chamberlain turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
German and Italy formed a close relationship. -
Nonaggression pact
Tensions rose over Poland, but Stalin signed a pact with Hitler. Divided Poland and no attacks on each other. -
Blitzkrieg
Lightning war. Fast tanks and more powerful aircraft to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Major fighting was over in three weeks, long before France, Britain, and their allies could mount a defense. In the last week of fighting, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, grabbing some of its territory. The portion Germany annexed in western Poland contained almost two-thirds of Poland’s population. By the end of the month, Poland had ceased to exist and World War II had begun. -
Phony war
Sitting war -
Hitler's invasion of Denmark and Norway
Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order to protect freedom and independence. But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the coasts to strike at Great Britain. -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun. The phony war had ended. -
Germany and Italy's invasion of France
Germans marched right through the Maginot Line straight to Paris. trapped almost 400,000 British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. In less than a week, a makeshift fleet of fishing trawlers, tugboats,
river barges, pleasure craft—more than 800 vessels in all—ferried about 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety
across the Channel. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
A Nazi-controlled puppet government head. -
The Battle of Britain
Hitler tried to gain control of skies by taking down Britain's Royal Air Force. RAF beat them and Hitler called it off. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor with the expectation that once Americans had experienced Japan’s power, they would shrink from further conflict. They thought wrong. -
Korematsu v. United States
Forced into a camp, called for conviction and was denied. After he called for conviction again, and had his name cleared. -
Lend-Lease Act
Roosevelt would lend or lease arms and other supplies to “any country whose defense was vital to the United States.” -
Internment
Confinement of all Japanese-Americans in Hawaii. -
Battle of the Atlantic
Hitler wanted to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and Soviet Union. However they used convoys. -
U.S. convoy system
Convoys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. They were also accompanied by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the ocean’s surface. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Germans were taking it over, but after winter came, Soviets rushed tanks and rekt them. -
Operation Torch
Invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some 107,000 Allied troops, the great majority of them Americans, landed in Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in North Africa. From there they sped eastward, chasing the Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox. After months of heavy fighting, the last of the Afrika Korps surrendered. -
Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
Women could volunteer in noncombat positions. -
Office of Price Administration
OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. The higher taxes reduced consumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend. -
War Productions Board
To get resources to win the war. WPB decided which companies would convert from peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw material to key industries. Also organized drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat for recycling into war goods. Across America, children scoured attics, cellars, garages, vacant lots, and back alleys, looking for useful junk. -
Bloody Anzio
Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy rather than fight on German soil. One of the hardest battles the Allies encountered in Europe was fought less than 40 miles from Rome. Lasted four months and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. German armies continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until 1945, when Germany itself was close to collapse. -
D-Day
Allied invasion on Germany. -
The Battle of the Bulge
German tank divisions broke through weak American defenses along an 80-mile front. Hitler hoped that a victory would split American and British forces and break up Allied supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, creating a bulge in the lines. Germans were pushed back and could nothing but retreat for the rest of the war. -
Death of Hitler
Shot himself and his wife swallowed poison. He blamed his generals and the Jews. -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day. -
Harry S. Truman
While posing for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt
had a stroke and died. That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the nation’s 33rd president. -
Manhattan Project
Code name for research across the country
