American History: World War II

War between Germany, Italy, and Japan (the Axis powers) on one side, and Britain, the Commonwealth, France, the USA, the USSR, and China (the Allies) on the other.

War between the Central European Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and allies) on one side and the Triple Entente (Britain and the British Empire, France, and Russia) and their allies, including the USA (which entered in 1917), on the other side.

Agreement, signed Aug. 27, 1928, condemning "recourse to war for the solution of international controversies."

When World War I ended in 1918, the victorious Allies, led by the UK, France, and the USA, held discussions at the palace of Versailles in 1919 on Germany and how to reorder Europe.

Formulation of a peace program, presented at the end of World War I by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

The severe economic crisis supposedly precipitated by the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929.

Broadly, the extension of rule or influence by one government, nation, or society over another.

Payments or other compensation offered as an indemnity for loss or damage.

The United States used an atomic bomb against the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Three days later, on August 9, it dropped a bomb on Nagasaki.

A massive airlift of essential supplies flown in to post-war Berlin.

The closing of entry to Berlin from the west by Soviet Forces from June 1948 to May 1949; It was an attempt to prevent the other Allies (the USA, France, and the UK) unifying the western part of Germany. MORE

The day of the Allied invasion of Normandy under the command of General Eisenhower to commence Operation Overlord, the liberation of Western Europe from German occupation.

Name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany.

After World War II, the trials of the 24 chief Nazi war criminals November 1945-October 1946 by an international military tribunal consisting of four judges and four prosecutors.

US Pacific naval base on Oahu island, Hawaii, USA, the scene of a Japanese aerial attack on 7 December 1941, which brought the USA into World War II.

Meeting (July 17–Aug. 2, 1945) of the principal Allies in World War II (the United States, the USSR, and Great Britain) to clarify and implement agreements previously reached at the Yalta Conference.

The wartime effort to design and build the first nuclear weapons (atomic bombs).

Meeting (Feb. 4–11, 1945), at Yalta, Crimea, USSR, of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin MORE

Or A-bomb, weapon deriving its explosive force from the release of atomic energy through the fission (splitting) of heavy nuclei.

German-born US theoretical physicist who revolutionized our understanding of matter, space, and time with his two theories of relativity; In 1939, Einstein used his reputation to draw the attention of the US president to the possibility that Germany might be developing the atomic bomb. This prompted US efforts to produce the bomb, though Einstein did not take part in them.

A detention site outside the normal prison system created for military or political purposes to confine, terrorize, and, in some cases, kill civilians.

Or H-bomb, weapon deriving a large portion of its energy from the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes.

War involving the use of nuclear weapons; Nuclear-weapons research began in Britain in 1940, but was transferred to the USA after it entered World War II.