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the peace settlement ending World War I, signed by Germany and the Allied powers on June 28, 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles
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to secure vital natural resources like iron and coal to fuel its growing industries, to gain living space for its expanding population, and to establish a puppet state in the region
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to fulfill Benito Mussolini's imperial ambitions, seeking to build a new Roman Empire and gain prestige for the Fascist regime by conquering the last independent African nation
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to assert national sovereignty, violate the Treaty of Versailles, and secure its industrial heartland against a perceived threat from the Franco-Soviet Treaty of 1935
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the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938, a move that was part of Hitler's aggressive expansionist foreign policy
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the policy of appeasement it represented failed to stop Hitler's aggression, as he immediately violated the agreement by occupying the rest of Czechoslovakia
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a military tactic characterized by concentrated, rapid, and deep attacks by armored (Panzer) units, supported by mobile infantry and tactical air power, to quickly defeat an enemy by dislocating and disrupting their lines of communication and command rather than through prolonged attrition
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The Nazi-Soviet Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, was a non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union with secret clauses to divide Poland and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
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a 1939 United States foreign policy allowing warring nations to buy American goods, including military supplies, as long as they paid in cash and arranged for their own transportation out of U.S. ports
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The Battle of Britain was caused by Nazi Germany's attempt to invade Britain after the fall of France in 1940. To prepare for an amphibious invasion (Operation Sea Lion), the German Luftwaffe needed to gain air superiority over the British Royal Air Force (RAF)
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which 50 Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson-class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. At the time, the United States was neutral in World War II.
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The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 was a United States program that allowed the President to provide military and economic aid, such as weapons, food, and supplies, to Allied nations vital to American defense during World War II
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a joint declaration issued on August 14, 1941, by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, setting out post-World War II goals for the world
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to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet, believing this was the only way to prevent the U.S. from interfering with its expansion into resource-rich territories in Southeast Asia and the Pacific