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37 Cards in this Set
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Nye Committee
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The Committee held hearings between 1934 and 1936 and compiled evidence of involvement of U.S. banks and corporations financing WWI and supplying arms and loans to the Allied nations.
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merchants of death
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This term refers to the business corporations and banks who were blamed for dragging the U.S. into the war because they were desperate to protect the millions of dollars invested in loans and weapon sales to Britain and France. All these allegations were investigated by the Nye committee.
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Neutrality Acts
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A series of acts were passed in 1935, 1936, and 1937, these laws placed an embargo on exports of war materials to belligerents. It also warned U.S. citizens not to travel on belligerent vessels, prohibited loans to belligerent nations, and instituted the cash and carry policy which meant that nations that were seeking to trade with the U.S. had to purchase the goods they wanted as well as provide their own vessels in which they could be shipped out to their country.
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Kristallnacht
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Meaning "The Night of Broken Glass," this rampage was carried out by Nazis all over Germany and Austria to destroy Jewish homes and structures. Thousands of homes were vandalized and synagogues were burned to the ground. Jewish businesses and schools were wrecked and looted. Nothing was spared.
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Munich Conference
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This conference was held in 1938 between England and Germany. Chamberlain, representing England, gave in to Hitler’s demands on territory that Germany had lost after the end of WWI. Chamberlain was very much blamed for the oncoming of WWII due to his actions toward Hitler. Many people in Britain were very disappointed in Chamberlain and how easily he had appeased to the demands of Hitler. He was replaced soon after by Winston Churchill.
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nonaggression pact
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Stalin, who advocated a popular front against fascism, signed a pact with Nazi Germany on August 24, 1939 agreeing not to make war on each other and divided up Poland between the two nations: the USSR and Germany. This was a severe blow to the Popular Front.
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Blitzkrieg
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When Poland refused to restore the German city of Danzig lost after WWI, Hitler’s troops attacked Poland on Sept.1, 1939. April 1940, Hitler unleashed his "lightening war," and quickly occupied many western European nations. This type of warfare is based on a quick attack with the airforce followed by infantry using motorized vehicles including tanks.
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cash and carry
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A precautionary move by the U.S. to make sure they stayed isolationist. Nations who wanted to trade had to purchase the materials from the U.S. and transport them on their own vessels.
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America First Committee
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When FDR expressed a desire for American intervention in WWII, he was faced with stiff resistance isolationists in 1940. This was compromised of many pro-isolationist who thought that the allied powers could do nothing to stop the war. Charles Lindbergh was a leader of this movement.
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Lend Lease
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Program set up to loan the Allied nations arms and other materials to wage war against the Axis powers. This was approved by Congress in 1941, which originally authorized $7 billion. Thirty-five other nations besides Great Britain, USSR, France, and China received loans from the lend lease. By August 1945, the amount totaled $48 billion, of which the United States received $6 billion in repayment by these nations.
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Tripartite Pact
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The Tripartite Pact was a 10 year military and economic alliance also known as the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis. Japan signed this alliance in September, 1940, with the previously allied Italy and Germany. Each of the signatories pledged to help the others in the event of an attack by the U. S.
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Atlantic Charter
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FDR met Churchill to discuss joint military strategy. Their public statement expressed their ideas of a postwar world, and frowned upon aggression, affirmed national self-determination, and endorsed the principles of collective security and disarmament.
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Internment Camps
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Japanese-born Americans and immigrants from Japan were sent to concentration camps in the early 1940’s because of a fear that they would leak out information about the U.S. to Japan. Most of these people were suspected of being spies for the Japanese, though there was no solid evidence to support such accusations. The captured Japanese were released in 1942, and FDR apologized to them.
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War Production Board
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In 1942, FDR announced a plan for massive war production. In order to get the necessary amount of raw materials, FDR established the War Production Board. It allocated scarce materials, limited or stopped the production of civil goods, and distributed contracts among competing manufacturers.
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Office of Price Administration
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Instituted in 1942, this agency was in charge of stabilizing prices and rents and preventing speculation, profiteering, hoarding and price administration. The OPA froze wages and prices and initiated a rationing program for items such as gas, oil, butter, meat, sugar, coffee and shoes.
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War Labor Board
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Established in 1942, the War Labor Board was instituted to mediate disputes between management and labor, and sought to prevent strikes and out of control wage increases. The War Labor Board acted as the mediator to prevent massive strikes and wage increases that occurred with the demand for workers.
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Office of War Information
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Roosevelt wanted public opinion to be positive during the war, and in 1941, he established the Office of Censorship. It examined all written documents, including works of publishers and broadcasters, as well as all letters going overseas, in order to maintain the positive public opinion in America.
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Office of Strategic Services
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FDR and the Joint Chief of Staffs formed this, which served as an intelligence agency during WWII and was a predecessor of the CIA. It began on June 13,1942 to conduct espionage, gather intelligence information required for planning, and to analyze the enemy. Discontinued by Truman in 1945.
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Operation Torch
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Undertaken in November 1942, it employed an allied army of more than 100,000 troops. Led by General Eisenhower, the troops landed in Morocco and Algeria and pressed eastward to entrap the German forces being pushed by British forces in Libya. Surrounded, the Germans surrendered in May 1943.
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D-Day
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In the first 24 hours, 150,000 allied troops landed on the beach of Normandy. An additional million waded ashore in the following weeks, and allies reached inland in July, arriving in Paris by August. By summer’s end British secured Belgium and the Americans recovered France and Luxembourg.
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Stalingrad
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The site of one of the bloodiest battles during WWII. Thousands of soldiers died at the hands of German and Russian armies during the battle of Stalingrad.. The Russians were victorious at the battle, and thus were able to launch a counter-offensive against Germany and drive the Nazis from Russia.
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Winston Churchill
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British Prime Minister during WWII, member of the Big Three. The Big Three was compromised of Stalin, FDR and him and were the major parties involved in allied conferences. When Germany first began attacking Britain, he asked for assistance from the U.S. in the form of equipment and arms.
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Casablanca Conference
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In the middle of the North African campaign, Roosevelt and Churchill met and resolved to attack Italy before invading France. They also vowed to pursue the war until the unconditional surrender of the Axis power, and tried to reduce Soviet mistrust of the west.
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Teheran Conference
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FDR met with Stalin and Churchill and set the date for the invasion of France for May or June 1944, to coincide with the Russian offensive from the east. They agreed to divide Germany into occupation zones, to impose reparations on the Reich, and Stalin promised to fight Japan after Hitler’s defeat.
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Okinawa
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This was secured by the Americans after the battle of Iwo Jima. It is 350 miles from Japan and a key area for staging the invasion of Japan by the American troops. The assault forces suffered nearly fifty thousand casualties in the battle before being able to subdue Japanese resistance.
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Battle of the Bulge
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As the allies prepared for an attack on Germany after penetrating up to Germany’s border, Hitler threw the last of his reserves to fight against the allied troops in December of 1944. On Dec. 25, the allies stopped the last German counter-attack and within a month, drove the Nazis back to Rhine.
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Manhattan Project
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Because Nazi scientists were seeking to use atomic physics in a harmful manner, in 1941 FDR launched a secret program to produce an A-bomb before the Germans. In 1943 and 1944, the Manhattan Engineering district worked to stockpile U-235 and in 1945 attempted to use it in a bomb.
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YALTA CONFERENCE
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Conference of Russia, Great Britain and US in Feb.1945 with leaders FDR, Stalin and Churchill in Crimea. The result was statement of Soviet intent on entering the Pacific War two to three months after the end of the European war, Churchill and FDR promise for Soviet concessions in Manchurian and return of lost territories. Stalin recognized Chiang as China's ruler, agreed to drop demands for reparations from Germany, approved plans for a UN Conference and promised free elections in Poland.
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POTSDAM CONFERENCE
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Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Potsdam Germany from July 16-Aug. 2 to decide on postwar arrangements begun at Yalta. A Council of Foreign Ministers was established to draft treaties concerning conquered European nations, and to make provisions for the trials of war criminals. The Soviet Union agreed to drop demands for reparations and Germany was decentralized into British, Russian, French and US zones.
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Kellog-Briand Pact
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62 nations signed this document stating that war is no longer a part of foreign policy.
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Manchurian Crisis
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The 1932 military expansion of Japan into China for the purpose of gaining access to a vast amount of natural resources.
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Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
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The Japanese version of the Monroe Doctrine applied to the pacific rim.
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Zoot Suit Riots
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Violence surrounding racial problems in California in 1942 and 1943. The violence culminated between the Mexican Americans and Naval personnel in 1943. The racial discord was heightened due to the fact that the Mexican Americans were working lucrative war industry jobs while the white Californians were enlisted in the armed forces.
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WACS
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These were the first women, other than nurses, to serve within the ranks of the army. The women performed a variety of tasks ranging from clerical to flying planes that freed men to join combat forces rather than perform behind the lines jobs.
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Selective Service Act
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This instituted the draft prior to American involvement in WWII. This was the first peace time draft in American history.
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Island Hopping or Leapfrogging
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The strategy used by the armed forces in the Pacific theatre. Not every Japanese controlled island would be attacked, rather the military concentrated on more strategic islands, especially those having or capable of having airstrips. The bypassed islands would be strategically unimportant for the Japanese military. This idea saved American lives by limiting combat.
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Nuremberg Trials
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The first international war crimes trial occurred in November of 1945. Prosecutors from the victorious allies indicted a total of 22 Nazi German officials on three basic charges - conspiring and ultimately launching an "aggressive war," committing war crimes and committing "crimes against humanity." Eleven were sentenced to death, three were acquitted, with the remaining receiving prison terms.
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