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Holocaust
A methodical plan orchestrated by Hitler to ensure German supremacy. It called for the elimination of Jews, non-communits, homosexuals, non-Aryans, and the mentally and physically ill. The historic mass murder of 11 million people typically in concentration camps across Europe during WWII. -
HUAC
Investigatory body established to root out "Subversion" which was formed in 1938 and stands for "House Un-American Activities Committee". The investigative committee investigated what it considered, un-American propaganda. This congressional committee investigated Communist influence inside and outside the U.S. government after WWII. -
Kristallnacht
known as the "Night of Broken Glass" which was a night when the Nazis killed or injured many Jews and destroyed Jewish property. This revealed the true nature of Hitler and his regime and erased all hopes that Germany's Jews would be spared. As a result, 60,000 Jews fled to the U.S. for safety. -
Lend-Lease Act
Congress passed the act on March 11th, 1941 and the legislation gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, and lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against the Axis Powers. A sum of $50 billion was appropriated by Congress for Lend-Lease and the money went to 38 different countries with Britain receiving over $31 billion. Over the next few years the British government repaid $650 million of this sum. -
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a secret research and development project of the U.S. to develop the atomic bomb. Its success granted the U.S. the bombs that ended the war with Japan as well as ushering the country into the atomic era. The first atomic bomb was tested in the desert in Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16th, 1945. -
Stalingrad
In the winter of 1942-1943, Soviets successfully held off a major German assault in South Russia. Hitler committed such enormous forces to the battle and suffered such appalling losses, that he could not continue the offensive. This battle decimated civilian pop of this city and devastated the surrounding countryside. -
Island-Hopping
The U.S. war strategy favored by General Douglas MacArthur. The American navy attacked islands held by the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. The capture of each successive island from the Japanese brought the American navy closer to an invasion of Japan. -
Nuremberg Trials
A series of trials in 1945 conducted by an International Military Tribunal. Former Nazi leaders were charged with crimes against peace, humanity, and war crimes. The rational was that they were only fulfilling orders; however, the verdict decided that 12 be hanged and 7 serve long sentences. -
NATO
Formed in 1949 and stands for the "North Atlantic Treaty Organization" which believes that an attack against one of the member nations would be viewed as an attack against them all. It protected member nations under American nuclear power. The first U.S. peacetime military alliance in history and a formal end to U.S. isolationism. -
Korean War
After WWII, Korea had been partitioned along the 38th parallel into a northern zone governed by the Soviet Union, and a southern zone controlled by the U.S. In 1950, after the Russians had withdrawn, leaving a Communist government in the North, the North invaded the South. The United Nations raised an international army led by the the U.S. to stop the North and ended in a stalemate. -
U-2 Incident
The incident when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U.S. denied the true purpose of the plane at first, but was forced to when the U.S.S.R produced the living pilot and the largely intact plane to validate their claim of being spied on aerially. The incident worsened East-West relations during the Cold War and was a great embarrassment for the U.S.