World War Ii + Cold War

Front 1

Horse-Mechanized Corps Reconnaissance Regiment

Back 1

Combination of horses and mechanized units, so vehicle transport of troops on cavalry. Eventual transition to full mechanization

Front 2

Amphibious Doctrine

Back 2

Transition to amphibious attacks supported by air and naval power to overwhelm the enemy used extensively in world war II

Front 3

William 'Billy' Mitchell

Back 3

General who advocated greatly for increased air power, declared that 1 aircraft can take out a battleship, rigged video to prove it a little, got court-martial.

Front 4

Strategic airpower

Back 4

having air superiority, bombers and fighters

Front 5

'Europe First'

Back 5

Strategy in World War II decided by the US to focus on the Nazis first, while holding off the Japanese - then focusing everything on Japan after the defeat of the Nazis

Front 6

Rainbow 5

Back 6

Color-coded war plans, for every possibility.

Rainbow 1 was a plan for a defensive war to protect the United States and the Western Hemisphere. In such a war, the United States was assumed to be without major allies.

Rainbow 2 was identical to Rainbow 1, except for assuming that the United States would be allied with France and the United Kingdom.

Rainbow 3 was a repetition of the Orange plan, with the provision that the hemisphere defense would first be secured, as provided in Rainbow 1.

Rainbow 4 was based on the same assumptions as Rainbow 1, but extended the American mission to include defense of the entire Western hemisphere.

Rainbow 5, destined to be the basis for American strategy in World War II, assumed that the United States was allied with Britain and France and provided for offensive operations by American forces in Europe, Africa, or both.

Front 7

Lend-Lease Act

Back 7

US provided the Allies with food, weapons, etc to help in the war effort. Some of the things, like ships, were loaned. The rest was free

Front 8

Atlantic Charter

Back 8

Outlined Allied goals for post-war, facsims declared menace to society, renounces territorial aggresions

Front 9

Midway (June 1942)

Back 9

Battle of Midway - critical battle which turned the tide of the war in the US' favor, naval wise. Crippled Japan's fleet

Front 10

Battle of the Coral Sea

Back 10

The battle was the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other. Wounded Japanese fleet before Battle of Midway

Front 11

Operation Market-Garden

Back 11

Largest airborne operation of the time, failed on the Allies part, leading to massive casualties

Front 12

War Production Board

Back 12

Transitioned civilian industries to war industries and oversaw rationing in the States for materials like oil, gas, food, etc. Showed commitment to total war

Front 13

Kasserine Pass

Back 13

First large battle between German and US troops, US troops suffered heavy casualties due to poor training and leadership

Front 14

George Patton

Back 14

Brash, rude general who was sent to North Africa to whip troops into shape after a rash of defeats. Large ego, went out of his way to prove British conceptions that US troops were weak, sometimes going ahead of orders and being hard to work with

Front 15

Combined Bomber Campaign

Back 15

UK/US combined bombing strategy where bombers targeted specific plants in Germany, mainly at night, UK at night with heavy bombers and US during the day with massive bombing campaigns - 24/7 bombings.

Front 16

Enigma

Back 16

Very complex encoding system which required a machine to decipher from the Axis, eventually the Allies cracked the code and were able to intercept German transmissions

Front 17

Operation Overlord

Back 17

Codename for D-Day operations, where the Allies would attack Normandy and get a foothold in Western France. Mainly amphibious assault after an airborne assault, over 2 million soldiers. Very bloody affair, many troops die.

Front 18

Kamikazes

Back 18

Japanese suicide bomber pilots, very little training. Used to suicide into naval ships

Front 19

Douglas MacArthur

Back 19

Large figure in World War II, was removed from command during the Korean War by Truman after leading the United Nations Command into insubordination as a whole, goading China into war.

Front 20

National Security Act 1947

Back 20

Did not unify services, merged War and navy into national military, established the secretary of defense. Made US Air Force independent, and created National Security Council. Also created the CIA

Front 21

NSC-68

Back 21

Defined US Cold War policy, defined containment strategy as a main priority against communist expansion. Massively expanded defense spending

Front 22

Berlin Airlift

Back 22

In retaliation to the Soviet blockade of Berlin, Allies continually airdropped supplies into Berlin until the blockade was taken down

Front 23

'Containment'

Back 23

Stop the spread of communist regimes, not attacking current regimes but defending countries which are vulnerable to a collapse

Front 24

Strategy of Deterrence

Back 24

Strategy that no one would attack nuclear-armed countries because of the retaliation - leads to proxy wars

Front 25

Truman Doctrine

Back 25

Established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. Extension of Containment

Front 26

NATO

Back 26

North Atlantic Treaty Organization - collective defense which was meant to be a buffer and deterrent against the USSR

Front 27

Rio Pact

Back 27

The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. The central principle contained in its articles is that an attack against one is to be considered an attack against them all; this was known as the "hemispheric defense" doctrine. Had the US and almost all of Latin America

Front 28

Tet Offensive

Back 28

Campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian commands and control centers throughout South Vietnam by Vietcong, influenced US decision to pull out due to public outcry

Front 29

Vietnamization

Back 29

Policy of the Richard Nixon administration during the Vietnam War to end U.S. involvement in the war and "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops - eventual transition away from Vietnam, brought on in part by tet offensive

Front 30

Search and Destroy

Back 30

Tactic used in Vietnam: insert ground forces into hostile territory, search out the enemy, destroy them, and withdraw immediately afterward. Aided by use of helicopters

Front 31

VietCong

Back 31

Vietnamese guerrilla movement that fought against US troops in Vietnam from North Vietnam. Used many guerrilla tactics and traps in the jungle

Front 32

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Back 32

Authorized Pres. Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. in retaliation to the Gulf of Tonkin incident where US claimed that the VietCong attacked a ship

Front 33

Powell Doctrine

Back 33

Asks a list of questions before military action is taken, emphasizes U.S. national security interests, overwhelming strike capabilities with an emphasis on ground forces, and widespread public support, then retreat

Front 34

UN Mission in Haiti

Back 34

After first elections in Haiti, the military eventually has a coup, peacekeeping mission sent in after collapse of society.

Front 35

FAD'H

Back 35

Haitian Armed Forces, highly incompetent and corrupt - eventually disbanded

Front 36

Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH)

Back 36

Paramilitary group from mid-1993, who led the coup against Aristide