Unit 9 Notes Organizer: E. Americans Since World War II (1. America at War- WWII) Vocab Terms Joseph Stalin Totalitarian Benito Mussolini Fascism Adolf Hitler Nazism Emperor Hirohito Hideki Tojo Francisco Franco Neutrality Acts Good Neighbor Policy Reciprocal Agreement Act FDR’s Quarantine Speech Anschluss Neville Chamberlain Munich Agreement (1938) Winston Churchill Appeasement Nonaggression pact Blitzkrieg Charles de Gaulle Battle of Britain Holocaust Kristallnacht War Refugee Board Genocide The Final Solution Ghetto Concentration camp “Cash and Carry” policy The destroyer deal Selective Training and Service Act (1940) Axis Powers “The Great Arsenal of Democracy” Lend-Lease Act (1941) Atlantic Charter Allies Dec. 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor George Marshall Women’s Auxiliary Army Corp (WAAC) A. Philip Randolph Manhattan Project Office of Price Administration (OPA) Rationing War Production (WPB) National War Labor Board (NWLB) Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) Battle of the Atlantic Dwight D. Eisenhower Operation Torch 442nd Regimental Combat Team Operation Overlord D-Day Omar Bradley George Patton Battle of the Bulge Majdanek V-E Day Harry S. Truman Douglas MacArthur Doolittle’s Raid Chester Nimitz Battle of Midway Kamikaze J. Robert Oppenheimer Hiroshima and Nagasaki Nuremberg trials GI Bill of Rights James Farmer Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) “zoot suit” Executive Order 9066 Internment Korematsu v. United States Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) trial
Spring 1939: Hitler began his routine of claiming mistreatment of Germans in Poland, who needed his protection. Many thought Hitler was bluffing, as an attack on Poland would surely bring about war with Britain and France…AND the Soviet Union. Summer 1939: Britain and France were busy in Moscow trying to secure a mutual defense treaty that stop Hitler. But remember, the Soviets were suspicious of the West, and still had the bitter taste of punishment from the Treaty of Versailles August 23, 1939: the nonaggression pact (Hitler-Stalin pact) is signed This gave the green light to Hitler to attack Poland without the fear of Soviet intervention A second aspect of the notorious Hitler-Stalin pact was the agreement to divide Poland between the two countries The fate of Poland had been sealed. A Blitzkrieg Begins WWII- With the threat of Soviet fire extinguished by the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact, The German war machine prepared to take Poland. Sept. 1, 1939: The German Luftwaffe, or air force, flew bombing raids on military bases, railroads, and cities in Poland. German tanks then raced across the Polish countryside, raining terror in the hearts of Poles This was the first true test of Germany’s military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war Blitzkrieg relies on speed and surprise to crush all enemy opposition Sept. 3, 1939- Honoring their commitments to Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany The blitzkrieg strategy made in attempt at saving Poland useless. Within three weeks, Poland had fallen. In the last week of the German blitz on Poland, Stalin ordered Soviet forces to attack Poland from the east, reclaiming some of its territory lost in the Treaty of Versailles By the end of September, Poland had ceased to WWII had begun! A “Phony War” Helps Hitler Prepare, and Stalin Steal- There seemed to be a lull in the fighting following the conquest of Poland, from fall 1939 to the spring of the following year. But during this sitzkrieg (sitting war), Hitler prepared to lay waste to Western Europe. And Stalin continued to retake territory lost following the “peace” of the Great War.