World War 2 Test Flash Cards

Front 1

Totalitarian

Back 1

A person advocating such a system of government

Front 2

Fascism

Back 2

An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization

Front 3

Nazism

Back 3

a form of socialism featuring racism and expansionism and obedience to a strong leader

Front 4

Communism

Back 4

A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs

Front 5

Appeasement

Back 5

pacify: cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of; "She managed to mollify the angry customer"

Front 6

Blitzkrieg

Back 6

An intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory

Front 7

Concentration Camp

Back 7

A place where large numbers of people, esp. political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution. The term is most strongly associated with the several hundred camps established by the Nazis in Germany and occupied Europe in 1933–45, among the most infamous being Dachau, Belsen, and Auschwitz

Front 8

Rationing

Back 8

Allow each person to have only a fixed amount of (a particular commodity)

Front 9

Internment Camps

Back 9

prison camp: a camp for prisoners of war

Front 10

D-Day

Back 10

The day in World War II on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy

Front 11

What day did D-Day take place on?

Back 11

June 6, 1944

Front 12

V-E Day

Back 12

The day marking the Allied victory in Europe in 1945

Front 13

What day did V-E Day take place

Back 13

May 8

Front 14

V-J Day

Back 14

The day in 1945 on which Japan ceased fighting in World War II, or the day when Japan formally surrendered

Front 15

What days did V-J day take place

Back 15

August 15 and September 2

Front 16

Island Hopping

Back 16

the American strategy in the Pacific during World War II. It involved a leapfrogging movement of American forces from one strategic island to the next until American forces were in control of the Pacific and prepared to invade Japan.

Front 17

Paratrooper

Back 17

soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.

Front 18

Luftwaffe

Back 18

The German air force

Front 19

Panzer

Back 19

A German armored vehicle, esp. a tank used in World War II

Front 20

Ghetto

Back 20

A part of a city, esp. a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups

Front 21

Embargo

Back 21

An official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country

Front 22

Kamikaze

Back 22

A Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives and making a deliberate suicidal crash on an enemy target

Front 23

Nonaggression Pact

Back 23

an international treaty between two or more states agreeing to avoid war or armed conflict between them and resolve their disputes through peaceful negotiations.

Front 24

Purge

Back 24

Rid (someone) of an unwanted feeling, memory, or condition, typically giving a sense of cathartic release

Front 25

Bock's Car

Back 25

Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan.

Front 26

Enola Gay

Back 26

a B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of pilot Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war.

Front 27

Operation Torch

Back 27

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.

Front 28

Operation Olympic

Back 28

the overall Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The action was cancelled when Japan surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan.

Front 29

Operation Overlord

Back 29

the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 12,000-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving almost 7,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June; more than three million troops were in France by the end of August.[12]

Front 30

Operation Fortitude

Back 30

the codename for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy (code named Bodyguard) during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two sections, North and South, with the aim of misleading the German high command as to the location of the imminent invasion.

Front 31

Nye Commission

Back 31

was a United States Senate committee chaired by U.S. Senator Gerald Nye. The committee investigated the financial and banking interests which underlay United States' involvement in World War I, and was a significant factor in public and political support for American neutrality in the early stages of World War II.

Front 32

Lend Lease

Back 32

the transfer of goods and services to an ally to aid in a common cause

Front 33

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

Back 33

the alignment of nations that fought in the Second World War against the Allied forces. The Axis promoted the alliance as a part of a revolutionary process aimed at breaking the hegemony of plutocratic-capitalist Western powers and defending civilization from communism.[1]

Front 34

Nazi-Soviet Pact

Back 34

This assured a non-involvement of the Soviet Union in a European War, as well as separating Germany and Japan from forming a military alliance, thus allowing Stalin to concentrate on Japan in the battles of Khalkhin Gol (Nomonhan).[2] This remained in effect until 22 June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Front 35

Spanish Civil War

Back 35

The conflict (1936–39) between Nationalist forces (including monarchists and members of the Falange Party) and Republicans (including socialists, communists, and Catalan and Basque separatists) in Spainin which Franco succeeded in overthrowing the republican government; during the war Spain became a battleground for fascists and socialists from all countries; 1936-1939

Front 36

Selective Service Act

Back 36

the first peacetime conscription in United States history. This required that men between the ages of 21 and 35 register with local draft boards. Later, when the U.S. entered World War II, all men aged 18 to 45 were made subject to military service, and all men aged 18 to 65 were required to register.[2]

Front 37

Gold Star Mother/ Gold Star Father

Back 37

A parent who has lost a child in war

Front 38

Bataan Death March

Back 38

The forcible transfer, by the Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war in the Philippines in 1942 which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.

Front 39

Weimer Republic

Back 39

The German republic of 1919–33, so called because its constitution was drawn up at ___. The republic was faced with huge reparation costs deriving from the Treaty of Versailles as well as soaring inflation and high unemployment. The 1920s saw a growth in support for right-wing groups, and the Republic was eventually overthrown by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler

Front 40

Third Reich

Back 40

the common name for the country of Germany while governed by Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) from 1933 to 1945.

Front 41

Maginot Line

Back 41

was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defenses, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I, and in the run-up to World War II. Generally the term describes only the defenses facing Germany, while the term Alpine Line is used for the Franco-Italian defenses.
The French established the fortification to provide time for their army to mobilise in the event of attack, allowing French forces to move into Belgium for a decisive confrontation with German forces. The success of static, defensive combat in World War I was a key influence on French thinking. Military experts extolled the ___ as a work of genius, believing it would prevent any further invasions from the east (notably, from Germany).

Front 42

God Bless America

Back 42

an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song.[1][2]
It takes the form of a prayer (intro lyrics "as we raise our voices, in a solemn prayer") for God's blessing and peace for the nation ("...stand beside her and guide her through the night...").

Front 43

Atlantic Wall

Back 43

was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1945 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.

Front 44

Rosie the Riveter

Back 44

a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II,[1][2] many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military. She is commonly used as a symbol of feminism and women's economic power.

Front 45

Manhattan Project

Back 45

The code name for the American project set up in 1942 to develop an atom bomb. The project culminated in 1945 with the detonation of the first nuclear weapon, at White Sands in New Mexico

Front 46

Throughout thewar in the Pacific, the U.S. Marine Corps used ____ as codetalkers. The ___ language is very complex, and is almost impossible to learn unless learned as a child. It has nor formal ____ and is usually spoken rather than written. The Japanese were never able to break this code.

Back 46

Navajo/Navajo/Alphabet