Terms:
- Anschluss: The political union of Germany and Austria.
- Axis Powers: The alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan based on the common goals of getting rid of communism and expanding territory.
- Battle of Britain: In September 1940, German's attempt to overtake Britain with air raids miserably failed due to Britain's strong efforts in fighting off any oncoming threat.
- Battle of Iwo Jima: During the U.S.'s long battle with Japan, in March 1945 they decided to take Iwo Jima, an air base 660 miles from Tokyo. This would be a tactical maneuver in order to bring breaking B-24 bombing planes in for repairs instead of sending them all the way back to America. The battle for this island last from June 1944 until March 1945, making it the most heavily shelled battle of an of the Pacific islands during the war.
- Battle of Midway: The largest American fleet was located on Midway Islands, drawing the Japanese in to come and destroy the American's once and for all. The U.S. had been able to decode the Japanese plans before the attack, preparing the skies with four planes to every one ship. The battle took place on June 3, 1942 and ended on June 6 when Yamamoto's army of 322 planes, one carrier ship and four aircraft carriers were destroyed. This was an important war because it was the American's turning point to take back the Pacific Ocean.
- Battle of Stalingrad: Being the major industrial center of Russia the Germans were sent to destroy Stalingrad on August 23, 1942. By early November 90% of the city had been taken over and destroyed by the Germans, but Stalin refused to let his namesake city be defeated. The war raged on through the deadly winter, making the German troops beg Hitler to retreat, but, just as Stalin refused to back down, Hitler did not relent. On February 2, 1943, despite Hitler's commands, 90,000 of the original 330,000 Germans retreated, having mostly been killed off by the winter. Their retreat proved to be the changing point of the war; the Russians began to fight back fiercely and made the German lines push westward.
- D-Day: Lead by Dwight D. Eisenhower, planes and tanks numbering in the thousands, and 3.5 millions troops, awaited June 6, now known as D-Day. The Allies were prepared to finally defeat the Axis Powers in Europe, planning a major attack on the English Channel, code named Operation Overlord. On just the first day 3,000 soldiers were killed and thousands more followed in the coming days. One month later the Allies brought in one million more troops. The fight was in the Allies favor on July 25 when the troops broke through German lines. On August 25 the Allies had a victorious win and took back France from the Axis Powers.
- Gestapo: Abbreviation for Geheime Staatspolizei in German and was the Secret State Police of Nazi Germany.
- Lebensraum: German for "living space" Hitler told the Germans that there will be more living space to expand farms and increase German population. What the people did not understand was that in order to get more living space Hitler would kill millions of people, or "subhumans" and deport others to other countries to either work in brutal conditions or just live elsewhere.
- Manhattan Project: Headed by General Leslie Groves and chief scientist Robert J. Oppenheimer, America had a top secret project of creating an atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was later dropped on Japan in order to win the war.
- S.S.: Hitlers elite security force.
- V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day was May 8, 1945, the day the official signing of the Nazi surrender occurred in Berlin
- V-J Day: Victory over Japan Day took place on both August 14 and 15, 1945 when Japan surrendered to the U.S. via a radio show.
- Wannsee Conference: Taking place on January 20, 1942, fifteen member of the Nazi party and German Government to put the "final solution" into place. The "final solution" was a code name for the mass killing of millions of Jews in concentration camps.