Study Guide for the WWII test
1. WWII Causes:
A. Political instability and economic devastation in Europe resulting from World War I.
B. Worldwide depression, lack of jobs (unemployment) and high inflation.
C. German war debt from WWI. Treaty of Versailles
D. Fascism-a strong centralized nationalistic government led by a dictator.
E. Totalitarian Dictators: Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), and Hideki Tojo
(Japan).
F. Germany, Italy and Japan’s need of land and raw materials.
2. Trigger Events:
A. The start of WWII: Hitler invades Poland in 1939.
B. Soviet Union fighting with the Allies: Hitler invades the Soviet Union in 1941. This starts
a two front war for Germany.
C. US fighting with the Allies: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A surprise morning attack
on December7, 1941. It is known as “a date which will live in infamy”
3. Allies vs. Axis powers:
A. Axis Powers: Germany (Adolf Hitler), Italy (Benito Mussolini), & Japan (Hideki Tojo)
B. Allied Powers: Great Britain (Chamber resigned then Winston Churchill), United Stated
(FDR who died in office then Harry Truman), and the Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin who was
a Totalitarian Dictator). France was an allied power, but was invaded and conquered by
Germany in May, 1940.
4. Important Events of WWII:
A. Evacuation at Dunkirk: After the fall of France, 300,000 French, British and Belgium
soldiers were ferried across the English Channel to the safety of England.
B. Battle of Britain: First major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. Britain never
surrenders.
C. Battle of Stalingrad: Winter weather stops Germans advances. Hitler is defeated.
Turning Point in the Eastern Front.
D. Normandy Landings: D-Day (Operation Overlord). Eisenhower and Allied Troops storm
the beaches June 6, 1944. Turning Point in the Western Front.
E. Battle of Midway: June 1942. Americans defeat the Japanese. Turning point battle in the
Pacific.
F. Hiroshima/Nagasaki: August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay, B29 bomber, dropped an atomic
bomb on Hiroshima. August 9, 1945 US dropped a 2nd atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
President Truman believed these attacks would shorten the war and ultimately save lives.
Leads to the surrender of Japan
5. End of WWII:
A. V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945, Allies accept the unconditional surrender of
the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
B. V-J Day: August 15, 1945; Japan surrenders. September2, 1945 Japanese and Allied
leaders met aboard the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
6. Strategies used during WWII:
A. Island-hopping: American commanders used this strategy to capture some Japaneseheld islands and go around others. Each island taken was a stepping stone toward Japan.
B. Kamikaze: Japanese pilots who flew suicide missions into American naval vessels
during the later year of WWII.
C. Blitzkrieg: Means "lightning war". Blitzkrieg was first used by the Germans in WWII
and was a tactic based on speed and surprise and needed a military force to be based
around light tank units supported by planes and infantry (foot soldiers).
7. Effects of Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941):
A. US citizens change their views: Initially the majority of the county wanted to stay
neutral. After the attack, the majority wanted to join the Allies. Women play a significant
role in the increase of war production. Rosie the Riveter
B. US enters the fight in WWII: Congress declares war on Japan 12/8/1941 and Germany
on 12/10/1941.
C. Internment Camps: Because of security concerns, FDR signed Executive Order 9066 that
authorized the U.S. government to forcibly roundup 120,000 persons of Japanese
ancestry, most of whom were on west coast, and put them in these camps.
8. American policy during WWII:
A. Isolationism: The belief that the United States should stay out of other nation’s affairs except
in self-defense. (Neutrality)
B. Neutrality Acts: Several laws passed by Congress between 1935 and 1937 to keep America
out of war.
C. Cash and Carry: FDR replaced the Neutrality Acts with a policy that said Allies could buy
war supplies from U.S. but they would have to use their own ships for transporting supplies.
D. Lend-Lease Act: This measure allowed the United States to lend or lease raw materials,
equipment and weapons to the Allied nations.
E. US enters the fight in WWII: Because of the Pearl Harbor attacks, Congress declares war
on Japan 12/8/1941 and Germany on 12/10/1941.
9. Holocaust: The systematic attempt to rid Europe of the Jews. In all 6 million Jews were killed.
A. Anti-Semitism: Prejudice against Jews.
B. Aryan Supremacy: The Nazi belief that pure blooded Germans were the “master race.”
C. Ideology: All Jews were evil no matter their religion, occupation, or education. Defined a Jew
as having at least one Jewish grandparent.
D. Nuremberg Laws: Segregation of Jews from society.
E. Removal of Rights: Took citizenship away from German Jews. Banned marriages between
Jews and Germans. Prohibited a Jew from holding public office and voting. Changed their
names to “Jewish” names. Banned from practicing law, medicine, and operating businesses.
Boycott of Jewish stores.
F. Kristallnacht: Night of Broken Glass.
G. Genocide: The deliberate & systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.
H. Concentration Camps (Auschwitz): The Nazis developed an “efficient system” of mass
murder. They built these death camps in Poland. Millions of people were transported to these
camps in railway cattle cars and were killed in gas chambers. Others were tortured or used in
horrifying medical experiments.
10. America on the Home Front:
A. America First Committee: Opposed aid to the Allies because of fear of involvement in the
war.
B. Jeanette Rankin: Congresswoman from Montana. Only vote against going to war after the
Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
C. Entering WWII put an end to the Depression.
D. Rationing: Limits set on the amount of certain goods people can buy.
E. War Bonds: Helped pay for the war.
F. Women effects: Women went to work in the factories. The symbol of “Rosie the Riveter”
invented to get women into the war industries and factories.
G. African American effects: Served with distinction throughout the war in segregated units.
(Tuskegee Airmen)
H. American Indian effects: Group from the Navajo tribe were used as code talkers to pass on
secrets. Served with honor and distinction.
I. Japanese American effects: Placed in internment camps after Pearl Harbor, 1942. Many still
enlisted and served with honor in the war.
11.These names will be on the test: FDR, Hideki Tojo, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler,
Josef Stalin, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Winston
Churchill and Robert Oppenheimer. Study your flash cards!!