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The Treaty of Versailles was the primary peace agreement that ended World War I, signed by Germany and the Allied Powers on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles. -
Japan invaded Manchuria starting in September 1931 after a staged incident known as the Mukden Incident, which was used as a pretext for the military takeover of the resource-rich region of northeastern China. This invasion was driven by Japan's growing imperial ambitions, a need for raw materials during the Great Depression, and the increasing influence of militarism in its government. -
Italy invaded Ethiopia, initiating the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, on October 3, 1935, using advanced weaponry, including chemical weapons, and achieving victory by May 1936. Fascist leader Benito Mussolini sought to expand the Italian empire and avenge a previous defeat, while the League of Nations proved ineffective in stopping the aggression. -
The German remilitarization of the Rhineland in March 1936 was the act of sending troops into the demilitarized zone in western Germany, a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Adolf Hitler took a gamble, expecting the Western Allies not to respond forcefully. -
The Anschluss was the Nazi German annexation of Austria into the German Reich on March 12, 1938, a key part of Hitler's goal of uniting all ethnic Germans into a "Greater Germany". The annexation was achieved through coercion and threats of invasion, leading to the dissolution of independent Austria and the incorporation of its territory into Nazi Germany. -
The Evian Conference was an international meeting in July 1938, called by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to address the growing Jewish refugee crisis in Nazi Germany. Thirty-two nations attended the conference but ultimately failed to agree on any significant solutions to resettle Jewish refugees, with countries citing reasons like existing immigration laws, economic concerns during the Great Depression -
A "Munich conference" most famously refers to the Munich Agreement of 1938, where Britain, France, and Italy allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, in an attempt to avoid war. This act of appeasement is seen as a failure, as Hitler violated the agreement and eventually dismembered the rest of Czechoslovakia, contributing to the outbreak of World War II. The term "Munich" has since become a symbol of appeasement. -
In World War II, the "cash-and-carry" policy was a 1939 U.S. law allowing warring nations to buy American arms and supplies, but only if they paid in cash and transported the goods on their own ships, thus keeping American vessels and American hands out of conflict zones. While intended to maintain U.S. neutrality, it allowed the Allies—particularly Great Britain and France, who had the ships and cash—to acquire needed materials. -
The Wagner-Rogers Bill was a 1939 legislative proposal in the U.S. Congress that would have allowed 20,000 refugee children from Nazi Germany to enter the United States over two years, outside of existing immigration quotas. Introduced by Democratic Senator Robert Wagner and Republican Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, the bill sought to admit children younger than 14 -
The MS St. Louis was a German ship carrying 937 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939. After being denied entry into Cuba, the United States, and Canada, the passengers were forced to return to Europe, where several countries eventually agreed to accept them. However, many were later trapped under Nazi rule, and about 254 passengers were killed in the Holocaust. -
The Nazi-Soviet pact, signed in August 1939, allowed Germany to invade Poland on September 1, 1939, without fear of Soviet intervention. A secret protocol within the pact divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence, leading to the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland from the east just 16 days later on September 17, 1939. This coordinated action marked the beginning of World War II and the partition of Poland. -
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War II, fought between Allied and German forces from 1939 to 1945 for control of the Atlantic sea lanes. German U-boats attempted to sever Allied supply lines carrying vital war materials to Britain, which was seen by Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the only truly frightening aspect of the war. -
The Battle of Britain was a pivotal 1940 air campaign during World War II, where the Royal Air Force (RAF) successfully defended Britain against the German Luftwaffe, thwarting Hitler's plan to invade the UK. Key to the RAF's victory were its Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes, crucial radar technology, and the resilience of its pilots and ground crews. -
Blitzkrieg, or "lightning war" in German, was a military tactic used by Germany in World War II characterized by fast, coordinated attacks with armored forces and air support to rapidly break through enemy lines and encircle them. While the British press popularized the term, it described a German approach of combined arms warfare that achieved rapid territorial gains, most notably in the invasions of Poland and France. -
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. -
Lend-Lease was a United States World War II program allowing the U.S. to lend or lease war supplies to Allied nations without immediate payment, a system designed to aid countries like Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union by providing military and other essential goods until the war ended. The program also secured long-term leases for U.S. military bases in exchange for some of the aid. -
The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration issued in 1941 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, outlining their shared vision for the post-World War II world -
Pearl Harbor was the site of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, prompting the U.S. to declare war on Japan and enter World War II. Today, it is a naval base and historical site, the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, offering a memorial to the victims of the attack and serving as a place of remembrance and education. -
The War Refugee Board (WRB) was a U.S. government agency established in 1944 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to rescue and aid victims of Nazi persecution, primarily Jews, during the Holocaust. Operating as a civilian effort, the WRB coordinated with various organizations to send humanitarian relief, pressure neutral countries for support, and provide diplomatic assistance to those in danger. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942) was a significant naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, where American and Australian forces repelled a Japanese plan to invade Port Moresby, New Guinea. It was the first naval battle fought entirely by carrier aircraft and a strategic victory for the Allies, as it stopped the Japanese advance and prevented them from threatening Australia, though the U.S. lost the carrier USS Lexington. -
The Battle of Midway was a decisive U.S. naval victory in World War II (June 4–7, 1942), where American forces, aided by intelligence that broke Japanese codes, sank four of Japan's aircraft carriers, resulting in the loss of many of its best pilots and crippling its naval power in the Pacific. This battle was a major turning point in the Pacific War, halting Japan's expansion and allowing the U.S. to begin its counter-offensive. -
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) on June 6, 1944, the largest amphibious assault in history, which began the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. Under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied forces landed on five beach sectors—Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword—to establish beachheads and push inland, ultimately leading to the defeat of the Nazi regime. -
The Battle of the Bulge was a major World War II offensive by Germany in December 1944 to stop the Allied advance through the Ardennes, creating a "bulge" in the Allied front line. This surprise attack caused heavy casualties and was the bloodiest battle fought by the U.S. in the war. Despite the initial German success and harsh conditions, the Allies, supported by African American G.I. fighting alongside white troops for the first time, eventually closed the bulge and secured a decisive victory -
The Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest and largest battle of the Pacific War, occurring from April 1 to June 22, 1945, to secure the island as a final base for invading Japan. Codenamed Operation Iceberg, the 82-day campaign involved the U.S. Tenth Army and Allied forces against the Japanese Thirty-Second Army, resulting in ~49,000 American casualties and tens of thousands more among the Japanese and Okinawan civilians. -
The Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated by the United States Army in April 1945, though the exact date is not specified in the provided search results. The liberation exposed the horrors of the camp, where many prisoners died from forced labor, poor conditions, and executions, and led to the death of over 56,000 people. Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower visited one of the camp's subcamps after the liberation. -
"Little Boy" was the codename for the first atomic bomb used in warfare, dropped by the United States on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. A gun-type fission bomb, it worked by firing a uranium projectile into a uranium target to achieve critical mass and trigger a nuclear chain reaction, releasing energy equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. -
The "Fat Man" atomic bomb was the plutonium-based nuclear weapon dropped by the United States on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. Named for its large, round shape, it used an implosion design to compress a plutonium core, triggering nuclear fission. The bomb, the second atomic bomb used in war, had a yield of approximately 22,000 tons of TNT, causing extensive destruction and an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 deaths. -
V-J Day marks the end of World War II and is celebrated on different dates, including August 15th (Emperor Hirohito's announcement and celebrations) and September 2nd (the formal signing of Japan's surrender aboard the USS Missouri in 1945). -
The United Nations is the world's foremost international organization, founded in 1945 by 51 countries to prevent future wars and maintain global peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development. With 193 member states today, the UN provides a forum for countries to collaborate on pressing issues, offering emergency aid -
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials after WWII that prosecuted Nazi leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace before an International Military Tribunal (IMT) and later U.S. military tribunals. Key events included the IMT trial (1945-1946) of 22 prominent Nazis, resulting in 12 death sentences for prominent leaders like Joachim von Ribbentrop, and the subsequent trials (1946-1949) that prosecuted other high-ranking officials, doctors, and industrialis. -
The Truman Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy, announced by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, that pledged American support to "free peoples" resisting subjugation by authoritarian forces or "outside pressures". Its primary goal was to contain the spread of communism by providing political, military, and economic assistance to nations, initially Greece and Turkey -
The Marshall Plan was a U.S. foreign aid program from 1948–1951 that provided over $13 billion to help Western European countries rebuild after World War II, aiming to stabilize economies, restore industries, and counter the spread of communism. -
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a foundational United Nations document adopted on December 10, 1948, that sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms for all people, regardless of their background. It establishes that everyone is born free and equal in dignity and rights, covering civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights in its 30 articles. -
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a political and military alliance of 32 member countries from Europe and North America. Established in 1949 after World War II, its founding purpose was to provide collective security against the threat posed by the Soviet Union. Today, it remains the primary security instrument for the transatlantic community.