World War II Glossary: Key Terms and Events
Totalitarianism: is a political system in which the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.
Adolf Hitler: Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945.
Appeasement: A political policy of conceding to aggression by a warlike nation.
Anschluss: is the term used to describe the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938.
Anti-Semitic: hostile to or prejudiced against Jews.
Tuskegee Airmen: is the popular name of a group of African-American military pilots.
Battle of the Bulge: On this day, the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium.
Albert Einstein: was a German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. Einstein’s work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.
Munich Pact: was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany’s annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country’s borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation “Sudetenland” was coined.
Axis Powers: The Axis powers, also known as the Axis and the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied forces.
Blitzkrieg: is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower.
Allies: The victorious allied nations of World War I and World War II. In World War I, the Allies included Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and the United States. In World War II, the Allies included Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
Winston Churchill: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, PC, DL, FRS, RA was a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
Rationing: Ration stamps became a kind of currency with each family being issued a “War Ration Book.” Each stamp authorized a purchase of rationed goods in the quantity and time designated, and the book guaranteed each family its fair share of goods made scarce, thanks to the war.
Harry Truman: Harry S. Truman was an American politician who served as the 33rd President of the United States, assuming that office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the waning months of World War II.
J. Robert Oppenheimer: Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Lend-Lease: Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II.
Neutrality Act: were laws passed in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 to limit U.S. involvement in future wars. They were based on the widespread disillusionment with World War I in the early 1930s and the belief that the United States had been drawn into the war through loans and trade with the Allies.
Tripartite Pact: The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Japan and Italy signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Saburō Kurusu and Galeazzo Ciano.
Four Freedoms: The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941.
Dwight Eisenhower: Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower was an American politician and Army general who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961.
OWI: was a United States government agency created during World War II to consolidate existing government information services and deliver propaganda both at home and abroad.
Manhattan Project: was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons.
Yalta Conference: was a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt early in February 1945 as World War II was winding down.
George Patton: was a senior officer of the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean and European theaters of World War II, but is best known for his leadership of the U.S.
Unconditional Surrender: is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party.
Saturation/Strategic Bombing: is a large aerial bombing done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in the same way that a carpet covers a floor.
Chester Nimitz: United States admiral of the Pacific fleet during World War II who used aircraft carriers to destroy the Japanese navy (1885-1966) Synonyms: Admiral Nimitz, Chester William Nimitz, Nimitz Example of: naval officer. an officer in the navy.
Midway: American planes based on land and on carriers decisively defeated a Japanese fleet on its way to invade the Midway Islands.
D-Day: The code name for the first day of a military attack, especially the American and British invasion of German-occupied France during World War II on June 6, 1944.
Hiroshima: At the order of President Harry S. Truman during the final stage of World War II, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.
Nagasaki: At the order of President Harry S. Truman during the final stage of World War II, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.