History

Nazi-soviet Pact(1939): An Agreement of convenience between two bitter enemies. It

permitted them to carve up a sphere of influence in eastern Europe, while pledging
not to attack each other for 10 years.

Invasion of Poland(1939): A joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany,

the slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War
II.

Phoney War(1939):An eighth-month period at the start of World War II during which
there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front.

Dunkirk(1940): Also Known as Operation Dynamo and the evacuation from Dunkirk,
involved the rescue of more than 338 000 British and French soldiers from the
French port of Dunkirk, the evacuation was a big boost for British morale

The Battle Of Britain (1940)

A military campaign of the Second World War in which the Royal air force and the
Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the United against large -scale attacks by
the Nazi Germany's air force,the Luftwaffe. Was the first major military campaign
fought entirely by air force.

Operation Sealion(1940)

Was Nazi Germany’s code name for their planned invasion of the United Kingdom. It
was to have taken place during the Battle of Britain,nine months after the start of
the Second World War. The operation was postponed due to the Luftwaffe's failure to
achieve air supremacy in the Battle of Britain.

The Blitz

A German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom where the Luftwaffe dropped
bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain for 8 months.

Operation Barbarossa(1941)

The invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, it
was the largest land offensive in human history,with around 10 million combatants
taking part in it.

Pearl Harbor(1941)

The Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the United State Naval Base at
Pearl Harbor,Hawaii. This unprovoked attack brought the United States into World
War 2, as it immediately declared war on Japan.

The Battle of Midway(1942)

A World War 2 Naval battle which was fought almost entirely with aircraft,in which
the United State destroyed Japan’s first-line carrier strength and most of its best
trained navy pilots.
The battle of Stalingrad(1942)

A major battle on the Eastern Front of World War 2 where Nazi Germany and its
allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for the control of the city of
Stalingrad in Southern Russia.

The Battle of El Alamein(1942)

Fought near the Western Frontier of Egypt. The Axis army of Italy and Germany
suffered a decisive defeat by the British Eighth Army.

D-Day(1944)

Known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given
the codename OVERLORD,delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of
Normandy, France.

The Bombing of Dresden(1945)

A joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden,the
capital of Germany State of saxony, during World War 2.The 3 day bombing attack was
intended to force a Germany surrender,Critics of the bombing have asserted that
Dreden was a cultural landmark with little strategic significance and that the
attack were in discriminate area bombing and were not proportionate to the military
gains.

VE day(1945) Victory in Europe

Celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War 2 in Europe

VJ days (1945) Victory in Japan

When President Harry S.Trumen announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally,
war-weary citizens around the world erupted into joy and celebration.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On 6 and 9th August 1945,the United State detonated two atomic bombs above the
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Bombings killed around 129000-226000
people, most of whom were civilians. One justification for the bombing is that
Japan is unwilling to surrender and this helps by shortening the war.

American isolationism policy

During the 1930,the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of the
tragic losses in World War 1 contributed to pushing American public opinion and
policy toward isolationism.

Appeasement policy
Instituted in the hope of avoiding war, appeasement was the name given to Britain’s
policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked. It is
now widely discredited as a policy of weakness.

Foreign policies

Adolf Hitler came to power with the goal of establishing a new racial order in
Europe dominated by the German “master race”. This goal drove Nazi foreign policy,
which aimed to throw off the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles,
incorporate territories with ethnic German populations into the Reich, acquire a
vast new empire in Eastern Europe, form alliances, and during the war persuade
other states to participate in the “final solution”

Anti Semitism

Mobile killing units

After the German army invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, a new stage in the
Holocaust began. Under cover of the war and confident of victory, the Germans
turned from the forced emigration and the imprisonment of Jews to mass murder.
Special action squads or Einsatzgruppen, made up of Nazi (ss) units and police,
moved with speed on the heels of the advancing German Army. Their job was to kill
any Jews they could find in the occupied Soviet territory.

Persecution of the Jews by the Nazis

Once the Nazis came to power they introduced legislation intended to deny Jews
freedom and restrict their rights. As time progressed, more restrictions were
brought in.

Then in November 1938 the Nazis initiated pogroms (organized attacks on a

particular group) against the Jews in all Nazi territories. It was a night of
vandalism, violence and persecution that many have described as “the beginning of
the Holocaust”.

The night became known as Kristallnacht - the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ - so called
because of the smashed glass which covered the streets from the shops which were
looted.

Final solution - death camps

Death camps were used to carry out the systematic mass murder of Jews as part of
the Final solution. As the deportation trains arrived, the victims - men, women and
children - were sent directly to the gas chambers. Approximately 1.700.000 Jews,
mostly from Poland, were murdered.

Jewish resistance

Nazi-sponsored persecution and mass murder fueled resistance to the Germans in the
Third Reich itself and throughout occupied Europe. Jewish groups attacked German
tanks with Molotov cocktails, hand grenades,and a handful of small arms. During
the same year, thousands of young Jews resisted by escaping from the ghettos into
the forest. Jews in ghettos and camps also responded to Nazi oppression with
various forms of spiritual resistance.

The League of Nations

They were the first worldwide intergovernmental organization whose principal

mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded by the Paris Peace Conference
that ended the First World War.

The league’s goals: disarmament, preventing war through collective security,

settling disputes between countries through negotiations and diplomacy, and
improving global welfare.

Weaknesses: they had no army so this acted as a challenge dealing with hostile
countries

Successes: Helped Turkish refugees, attacked slave traders and drug sellers,
stopping small wars and improving lives.