Allied Powers

In World War II, the Allied powers were those countries, including Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and France (before its defeat in 1940), that opposed the Axis powers.

Axis Powers

In World War II, the alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan formed the Axis powers.

Battle Of Midway

On June 4th, 1942, U.S. forces defeated the Japanese navy at this decisive battle near Midway Island in the South Pacific.

Blitzkrieg (German)

A German word that means "Lightning Warfare." It refers specifically to a German military strategy in which to bombardment by air is followed by rapid and overwhelming ground attacks.

Concentration Camp

A prison within which people who allegedly pose some sort of threat to the state—political, intellectual, religious, economic, or military—are detained so that they can be monitored and prevented from communicating with others outside the camp. Since the Nazi Holocaust, the term has been associated with a specific type of place in which people are deprived of food, forced to work, tortured, and killed.

D-Day

The popular term for June 6th, 1944, the day when Allied forces landed on the Normandy coast of France and began their efforts to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation.

Double V

Black leaders during the Second World War adopted this phrase to describe the specific type of battle African Americans would have to fight, a battle on two fronts—for "victory over our enemies at home and victory over our enemies on the battlefields abroad."

Il Duce (History)

In the 1920s, the Italian Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini adopted the title Il Duce, which roughly translated means "the noble leader."

Insurgent, Insurgents

Any person who resists an established government regime, usually with force, may be considered an "insurgent," particularly by the state. Often insurgents consider themselves to be "rebels" or "revolutionaries" fighting against an authority they consider corrupt.

Kristallnacht (German)

A German phrase that roughly translated means "Night of Broken Glass." It refers to November 11th, 1938, the evening in which 7,500 Jewish businesses were looted in Germany, 191 synagogues were set afire, nearly 100 Jews were killed, and tens of thousands were sent to concentration camps.

Lend-lease, Lend-Lease Act Of 1941

The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 permitted the United States to lend or lease weapons, military vessels, and other supplies to the Allies. The act seemed to contradict President Franklin Roosevelt's promise of American neutrality and hinted at the likelihood of U.S. involvement in World War II.

Potsdam Conference

From July 17th to August 2nd, 1945, leaders of the major Allied powers—United States President Harry Truman, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee—met in Potsdam, Germany to continue negotiations over plans for the postwar world that had begun several months earier in Yalta.

Third Reich

Germany from 1933 to 1945 was governed by the National Socialist German Workers Party, or the Nazi Party, and is referred to as the Third Reich.

Yalta Conference

From February 4th to February 11th, 1945, leaders of the major Allied power—United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet President Joseph Stalin—met at the Crimean resort of Yalta to make arrangements for the postwar world. Determined to protect his nation from future German aggression, Stalin claimed the right to dominate large portions of eastern Europe.