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Lend-Lease Act
A law passed in 1941 that allowed the U.S. to ship arms and other supplies, without immediate payment, to nations fighting the Axis powers. -
Pearl Harbor attack
On the morning of December 7, 1941, more than 180 japanese warplanes flew over Pearl Harbor in the Pacific. The attack lasted an hour and a half and killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more. More than 300 aircrafts were destroyed and 21 ships, included 8 battleships were sunk or damaged. -
Battle of the Atlantic
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler ordered submarine raids against American ships along the east coast. The German's aim was to prevent food and war materials from reaching Britain and the Soviet Union. A total of 681 Allied ships were destroyed after 7 months into the year. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the offensive in Stalingrad in order to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. By the end of September, they controlled 9/10ths of the city, but another winter set in. The germans surrendered on January 31, 1943, and the soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers in defending the city which was more than all American deaths. -
Unconditional Surrender
In the meeting of Casablanca, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to accept only the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. That is, enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies dictated. -
Manhattan Project
The U.S. program to develop an atomic bomb for use in World War II. The interest for a new weapon began in 1939, after German scientist succeeded in splitting uranium atoms and releasing an enormous amount of energy. Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the new discovery at Columbia University in Manhattan. -
Office of Price Administration
An agency established by Congress to control inflation during World War II. The OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also rose income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. The higher taxed reduced consumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend. In addition, the government encouraged Americans to use their extra cash to buy war bonds. As a result of these measures, inflation remained below 30%. -
War Productions Board
An agency established during World War II to coordinate the production of military supplies by U.S. industries. The WPB decided which companies could convert from peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw materials to key industries. The WPB also organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat for recycling into war goods. -
U.S. Convoy System
In response to Hitler's Atlantic campaign, the Allies organized their cargo ships into convoys. Convoys were group of ships traveling together for mutual protection and were escorted by destroyers and airplanes equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater -
Internment
The surprised Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor frighted people to believe false rumors that Japanese Americans were coming to sabotage mining coastal harbors and poisoning american crops. This led to a Confinement or a restriction in movement, especially under wartime conditions. The army rounded up some 110,000 Japanese Americans and shipped them to 10 remoted "relocation centers" or prison camps. -
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps
U.S. army unit created during World War II to enable women to serve in noncombat positions. -
Operation Torch
An invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by American general Dwight D. Eisenhower. In November 1942, 107,000 Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in North Africa and sped eastward, chasing the Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel. By May 1943, the last of the Afrika Korps surrendered. -
Korematsu v. United States
In 1944, the Supreme Court decided, in the case, that the government's policy of evacuating Japanese Americans to camps was justified on the basis of "military necessity." -
Bloody Anzio
The battle in which Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy rather than fight on German soil. It lasted for 4 months on the end of May of 1944 and left about 25,000 allied and 30,000 axis casualties. However, the German army would continue to put up strong resistance in Italy a year later. -
D-Day
The day on which the Allies launched an invasion of the European mainland during World War II. The largest land-sea-air operation in Army history in which nearly 3 million Allied troops attacked Normandy in Northern France. The Allies used a phantom army to keep their plans secret. -
The Battle of the Bulge
A month-long battle of World War II, in which the Allies succeeded in turning back the last major German offensive of the war. Hitler hoped to disrupt the enemy's supply lines and demoralize the Allies. German tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory creating a bulge in the lines, but the Germans were pushed back and lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assault guns, and 1,600 planes. -
Harry S. Truman
President Roosevelt did not live long to see V-E Day. On April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, the president had a stroke and died. That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the nation's 33rd president. -
Death of Hitler
On April 29, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun and wrote out his last address to the German people in which he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it. The next day Hitler shot himself while his new wife swallowed poison. Their bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline, and burned. -
V-E Day
The victory in Europe Day on which General Eisenhower's acceptance of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany marked the end of World War II in Europe.
