Objective 10.02

Identify Military, Political, and Diplomatic Turning Points of WWII and

determine their significance to the outcome and aftermath of the conflict.

Blitzkrieg

Lightning Warfare, Mechanized Warfare, Tanks, Planes, Armored Cars, Trucks, German war strategy in taking over Poland and France

Battle of Britain

Air war over Britain between the German Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force, Great Britain has an advantage with the development of Radar

Pearl Harbor

December 7th, 1941; Japanese bomb US Battleships in Hawaii leading to US entry into WWII.

Chester Nimitz

Commander of US forces in the Pacific theater of WWII

Stalingrad

Turning point in the war in Europe, Joseph Stalin ordered his troops to fight to the death, Hitler refused to allow his troops to retreat, USSR defeated the Germans and took approximately 100,000 prisoners

D-Day (Operation Overlord)

June 6th, 1944, Liberation of France begins, landing on the beaches of Normandy

George Patton

General in charge of the 3rd Army tank division, known for personal battles with British General Bernard Montgomery, Assassinated in London at the end of WWII

Battle of the Bulge

Last German Offensive of WWII, occurred in December of 1944, Attempt to push the Allies out of France

Airdrops

Supplies dropped to troops in remote areas

Newsreels

Films released to the American Public to document WWII

Posters

Propaganda; encouraged Americans to support the war by buying bonds, rationing, and working hard.

Battle of Midway

Island in the Pacific Ocean, Battle became the turning point in the war as the US established Naval superiority in the Pacific

Douglas MacArthur

Japanese Surrender“I Shall Return”

Philippines

Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific

Island Hopping

Strategy of the US in the pacific of moving from one island to another on the way to Japan

Iwo Jima

Sulfur Island in the Pacific, defended to the death by 20,000 Japanese, Marine Memorial

Okinawa

150,000 Japanese casualties, 72,000 American casualties, Kamikazes, showed that Japan would be very difficult to defeat because they would not surrender even when defeated

Allied ConferencesWartime conferences between the Allies to determine strategy

Casablanca Tehran

Yalta Potsdam

VE Day, VJ DayVictory in Japan

Victory in Europe

Manhattan Project

Established to develop Atomic Technology, headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer

J. Robert Openheimer

Leader of the Manhattan Project

Holocaust

Racial purification of Germany and countries that Germany controlled during WWII, Concentration Camps

Nuremberg Trials

Trial of Nazi commanders of War crimes in connection with the Holocaust