Dictator – Ruler with complete control obtained and kept through ruthless means.
Totalitarianism – ridicules democracy and capitalism and called for strong governments that would have total control over people’s lives
Isolationism – a policy of staying out of the affairs of other nations. Hoped that the huge oceans that surrounded America would keep it safe from faraway events.
Fascism – a form of totalitarian government that promotes extreme nationalism
Adolf Hitler – Wanted to restore German racial purity and national power after WWI reparations. Led All-out war against Europe. His Final Solution resulted in the deaths of over 10 million civilians, mostly Jews.
D-Day – the Allied invasion of German-occupied France on June 6, 1944
Holocaust – the killing of about 6 million Jews, along with others, by the Nazis during WWII
Battle of Midway – a decisive U.S. victory over the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII
Hiroshima & Nagasaki - Japanese cities where the U.S. dropped atomic bombs to end the war in the Pacific
Japanese-American Internment – sites where the U.S. forcibly relocated 110,000 Japanese during WWII
Benito Mussolini – Italian totalitarian dictator. Former socialist leader who became prime minister of Italy by threatening to lead his new Italian Fascist Party in an armed revolt
Appeasement – Giving in in order to prevent conflict. Western democracies allowed Hitler to take part of Czechoslovakia
Lend-Lease Act – The U.S. would lend or lease raw materials, equipment, and weapons to the Allied nations
Joseph Stalin – USSR totalitarian dictator. Wanted to overthrow capitalism which eventually led to the Cold War
Winston Churchill – Leader of British war effort and eventual Prime Minister. Became Britain’s symbol of defiance against Nazi Germany.
Franklin D. Roosevelt – President leading up to and during WWII. Guided the country through Pearl Harbor attack and entry into Pacific and Europe war.
Harry S. Truman – VP to Roosevelt. Became president and oversaw bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki and eventual winning of Pacific and Europe wars.
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Professional soldier later name Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. Oversaw the planning of D-Day invasion in 1944.
Genocide – the systematic, planned killing of a racial, political, or cultural group.
Manhattan Project – the top-secret U.S. program set up in 1942 to build an atomic bomb
IslandHopping – The U.S. Pacific Fleet’s strategy of seizing islands that were not too heavily defended by the Japanese to use as bases to stage further attacks on the Japanese.
TorpedoJunction – Name given to waters off Cape Hatteras due to German submarine activity during WWII
WarBonds – A low-interest loan made by citizens to the government to support the cost of war.
AlliedPowers – Great Britain, France, U.S., USSR (after Germany attacked them)
Rationing – A system in which families were allowed to have only fixed amounts of certain items (gas, tires, sugar, meat) per month in order to support the war effort.
NurembergTrials – Nazi leaders were tried for committing crimes against humanity in order to achieve some measure of justice for those killed during the Holocaust
UnitedNations – Organization set up after WWII to maintaining worldwide peace and security and to solve economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian international problems.
MarshallPlan - U.S. pledges economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II