Module 5 Note Guides
5.01: World War Again – The Big Ideas
How did the end of WWI, including the Treaty of Versailles, affect Germany?
How did the Munich Pact affect Germany? Why was the agreement made?
How were the three Neutrality Acts different from each other? What did each allow? What were their goals?
What events helped move Americans from isolationism to support for the war?
What are the differences between the cash-and-carry and lend-lease programs?
People
The Nye Committee – (What were its goals and
results?)
Events (Describe the event, its causes and effects)
Hitler comes to power in Germany
President Roosevelt – (How did he move the country
towards war?)
Japan invades Manchuria
Benito Mussolini – (What kind of leader was he?)
Germany invades Poland
Vocabulary (fill in effects from the lesson where possible or put the definition in your own words)
Appeasement – policy of granting some of a dictator's demands to prevent further demands and ensure peace
Cash and Carry – system under which warring nations could purchase arms and other war goods from the United
States only with cash and only by taking them away on their ships
Dictator – absolute ruler
Fascism – system of government dominated by a strong leader and a military state
Isolationism – a policy of remaining apart from the affairs of other nations
Lend-Lease – system under which the United States could provide aid to any country it deemed necessary in return
for payments on credit or in kind, or because of the importance of U.S. national interests
Militarism – the policy of making military interest very strong; a political situation in which the military interest
dominates government policy
Nationalism – devotion to the interests of one's own nation; desire and plans for national independence
Totalitarianism – system of government dominated by absolute control by the state over its citizens
Module 5 Note Guides
5.02: The United States at War – The Big Ideas
What did the Atlantic Charter include and what was its purpose?
What led to the attack on Pearl Harbor?
How did the U.S. mobilize for war?
How did fighting on multiple fronts (in different places) affect the countries at war? (Hint: Think about Germany
fighting on eastern and western fronts and the U.S. fighting in Europe and the Pacific.)
How did the “Battle of the Bulge” help end the war?
Events (Describe the event, its causes and effects. Also include the countries, groups or individuals involved, when
possible.)
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Operation “Torch” (North Africa)
Operation “Overlord”
Tehran Conference
D-Day
Yalta Conference
Vocabulary (fill in effects from the lesson where possible or put the definition in your own words)
Atlantic Charter – a joint declaration of principles created by the United States and Britain as they opposed the
Axis powers
Big Three – nickname for the leaders of the major Allied powers in WWII – Roosevelt (USA), Churchill (Great
Britain), and Stalin (Soviet Union)
Embargo – a restriction on trade between nations
Tehran Conference – meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill in 1943 during which they planned
Operation Overlord, the future United Nations, and Soviet support of the war against Japan after Germany's defeat
Module 5 Note Guides
Yalta Conference – meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill in 1945 during which they agreed to divide
Germany into zones of occupation after World War II; Stalin further guaranteed "free and unfettered elections" in
Eastern European nations
5.03: Two Wars – The Big Ideas
How and why did Japan become involved in the war?
Briefly describe Japan’s actions in the Philippines.
Compare the fighting in Europe to the fighting in the Pacific.
Explain the strategy of “island hopping”. Why was it used? How well did it work?
Events (Describe the event, its causes and effects)
Bataan Death March –
Battle of the Coral Sea –
Battle of Midway –
Vocabulary (fill in effects from the lesson where possible or put the definition in your own words)
Bataan Death March – in April 1941, forced march by U.S. troops through the jungles of the Bataan
Peninsula in the Philippines after surrender to the Japanese; thousands of soldiers died during the
march due to abuse and starvation.
Battle of Guadalcanal – battle between Allied and Japanese forces from August 1942 to February 1943
that took place in Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in which the Japanese were forced to retreat;
along with Midway, served as a major turning point in the Pacific war
Battle of Iwo Jima – World War II battle that took place in February 1945 after the Allies set out to
capture the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, which was heavily guarded by Japanese troops; American
troops faced fierce opposition from heavily fortified positions on the island, and fighting continued for
weeks, killing some 19,000 Japanese troops and almost 7,000 American troops
Battle of Leyte Gulf – the largest naval battle ever fought; took place between the Japanese and the
Allied Powers in October 1944 and destroyed the Japanese fleet
Battle of Midway – key naval battle in June 1942 between the United States and Japan during World War
II during which Japan's naval forces were heavily damaged, equalizing the strength of the two sides and
destroying Japan's naval advantage in the war in the Pacific
Battle of Okinawa – World War II battle in the Pacific that took place from March to June 1945 that killed
more than 12,000 Americans and 110,00 Japanese; battle convinced Allied commanders that invading
Japan might not be the best plan of action
Island hopping – the Allied strategy used to gain control of the Pacific Theater in World War II
Kamikaze – trained Japanese pilots who loaded their planes with bombs and extra gasoline and
Module 5 Note Guides
purposefully crashed them into enemy ships in a suicide mission during World War II
Pacific Theater – the area of military operations in the Pacific Ocean region during World War II in which
the United States and other Allies fought the Japanese
5.04: Holocaust – The Big Ideas
How did anti-Semitism make Hitler’s propaganda easier for Germans to believe?
How were Jews treated during Hitler’s rule?
How did the U.S. respond to the Holocaust before the war?
What happened to Jews who lived in areas taken over by Germany?
How did the U.S. respond to the reports of the Holocaust and death camps during the war?
What non-Jewish groups were targeted during the Holocaust? What happened to them?
What happened after people in the camps were liberated?
People
Coughlin, Lindbergh and Ford (How did they react to
Hitler and his ideas?)
Events (Describe the event, its causes and effects)
Kristallnacht—"Night of broken glass."
The ship the St. Louis is turned away from Cuba and the
US
Displaced Persons (What problems did they face?)
Wannsee Conference
Vocabulary (fill in effects from the lesson where possible or put the definition in your own words)
Anti-Semitism – prejudice against or hatred of Jews
Crematoria – high-temperature ovens for the incineration of human corpses; in Nazi death camps, living people
were sometimes burned in crematoria
Displaced persons (DPs) – people forced out of their own countries by war, famine, or other causes
Gas chambers – sealed rooms for the killing of people by poison gas
Genocide – the systematic murder or attempted murder of a people for political or social reasons
Ghettoes – restricted communities in which Jews were forced to live, beginning in Italy in the 16th Century
Holocaust – a devastating fire; when capitalized, a name for the Nazis' attempt to kill all the Jews of Europe
Module 5 Note Guides
Intelligentsia – people representing the educated class of a country
Zionism – a nationalist movement for the establishment and preservation of a Jewish state
5.05: War at Home – The Big Ideas
How did WWII change daily life for most Americans?
How did the war affect civilian women?
How did the war affect minorities?
How did the war limit civil rights for some Americans?
What lasting effects of the social and political changes brought about by the war were seen on women and African
Americans?
People
Events (Describe the event, its causes and effects)
Bracero program workers (What was their life like?)
“Double V” campaign
Code Talkers (How did the war change their way of
life?)
Executive Order 8022
Executive Order 9066
Americans of Japanese descent who enlisted (Where
did they come from? What did they have to do to
serve in the military?)
Korematsu v. United States
Vocabulary (fill in effects from the lesson where possible or put the definition in your own words)
Bracero program – program bringing Mexican temporary laborers to work on U.S. farms in the Southwest
Code talkers – Native American soldiers who developed a military code based on the Navajo language
Executive Order 8802 – order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt desegregating wartime defense industries
Executive Order 9066 – order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt allowing the government to put people
suspected of being a threat to national security in special holding camps
Homefront – the activities that take place at home when a country is at war
Internment camps – special holding camps meant to contain potentially dangerous U.S. residents during World
Module 5 Note Guides
War II; mostly used to house Japanese Americans regardless of their actual low level of danger
Rationing – controlling how much of a resource is shared; most often done when there is a shortage of a resource,
such as food
5.06: War Ends – The Big Ideas
How did the war in Europe end?
How did new technology affect the outcome of WWII?
How did U.S. military leaders feel about the use of the atomic bomb before it was dropped?
What were the short and long term effects of the dropping of the atomic bombs?
How was the end of the war in Europe different from the end of the war in the Pacific?
What was agreed upon at the Yalta Conference and put into action after the war?
People
Events (Describe the event, its causes and effects)
War Criminals (What happened to German and
Japanese war criminals?)
Creation of the atomic bomb
Potsdam Conference
Harry S. Truman (How did he become president?)
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Vocabulary (fill in effects from the lesson where possible or put the definition in your own words)
Manhattan Project – secret program to build an atomic weapon in the United States during World War II
Nuremberg Trials – trials held after World War II that focused on Nazi leaders and their actions during the
Holocaust; trials were held at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, and were
organized by the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union
Potsdam Conference – a meeting of the Allied leaders in Germany in 1945 during which the leaders made
plans for rebuilding Europe after Germany's surrender and the United States and Great Britain gained
the Soviet Union's support for ending the war against Japan
Potsdam Declaration – statement issued by participants at the Potsdam Conference requiring that Japan
surrender unconditionally or face "prompt and utter destruction"
Module 5 Note Guides
United Nations – a league of mutual cooperation in which differences can be resolved without resorting
to war; formally created by leaders from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China;
charter was officially adopted by 50 member countries on October 24, 1945