Allied Powers
Countries that fought against the Axis Powers. Primary members included the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, France, and China.
Annexed
To incorporate (territory) into the domain of a city, country, or state: Germany annexed part of Czechoslovakia.
Anschluss
Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s doctrine of German political union with Austria, which effectively enabled Germany to annex that nation in March 1938.
Anti-Semitism
Prejudice and discrimination against Jewish people.
Appeasement
The British and French policy of conceding to Adolf Hitler’s territorial demands prior to the outbreak of World War II. Associated primarily with British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, the appeasement policy enabled Hitler to systematically take over the territories of several neighbouring countries.
Axis Powers
The collective term for Germany, Italy, and Japan’s military alliance in opposition to the Allied Powers. Several smaller countries in Eastern Europe also became members of the Axis Powers temporarily.
Blitzkrieg
German lightning warfare. Characterised by highly mobility and concentrated forces at point of attack.Allied Powers
An alliance during World War II made up of the countries that opposed the aggression of Nazi Germany. Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union were the most prominent members, although many other countries also joined.
Bundesrat
The upper house of the federal legislature of Germany.
Concentration Camps
A penal camp where political prisoners or prisoners of war are confined (usually under harsh conditions).
Death Camp
German camp created solely for the purpose of mass murder, especially of Jews (also known as extermination camps).
D-Day
The day that United States and British forces attacked the German forces on the shores of Normandy, France. A turning point in the war as the Allies defeated the Germans.
Eastern Front
The Germans called the war with the Soviet Union the Eastern Front.
Fascism
A system of government characterised by strict social and economic control and a strong, centralised government usually headed by a dictator. First found in Italy by Mussolini.
“Final Solution”
The Nazi’s euphemistic term for their plan to exterminate the Jews of Germany and other German-controlled territories during World War II. The term was used at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, in which Nazi leaders planned the Holocaust but made no specific mention of the death camps that ultimately killed millions.
Countries that fought against the Axis Powers. Primary members included the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, France, and China.
Annexed
To incorporate (territory) into the domain of a city, country, or state: Germany annexed part of Czechoslovakia.
Anschluss
Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s doctrine of German political union with Austria, which effectively enabled Germany to annex that nation in March 1938.
Anti-Semitism
Prejudice and discrimination against Jewish people.
Appeasement
The British and French policy of conceding to Adolf Hitler’s territorial demands prior to the outbreak of World War II. Associated primarily with British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, the appeasement policy enabled Hitler to systematically take over the territories of several neighbouring countries.
Axis Powers
The collective term for Germany, Italy, and Japan’s military alliance in opposition to the Allied Powers. Several smaller countries in Eastern Europe also became members of the Axis Powers temporarily.
Blitzkrieg
German lightning warfare. Characterised by highly mobility and concentrated forces at point of attack.Allied Powers
An alliance during World War II made up of the countries that opposed the aggression of Nazi Germany. Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union were the most prominent members, although many other countries also joined.
Bundesrat
The upper house of the federal legislature of Germany.
Concentration Camps
A penal camp where political prisoners or prisoners of war are confined (usually under harsh conditions).
Death Camp
German camp created solely for the purpose of mass murder, especially of Jews (also known as extermination camps).
D-Day
The day that United States and British forces attacked the German forces on the shores of Normandy, France. A turning point in the war as the Allies defeated the Germans.
Eastern Front
The Germans called the war with the Soviet Union the Eastern Front.
Fascism
A system of government characterised by strict social and economic control and a strong, centralised government usually headed by a dictator. First found in Italy by Mussolini.
“Final Solution”
The Nazi’s euphemistic term for their plan to exterminate the Jews of Germany and other German-controlled territories during World War II. The term was used at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, in which Nazi leaders planned the Holocaust but made no specific mention of the death camps that ultimately killed millions.
Flapper
A fashionable young woman intent on enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behaviour, who lived in the 1920s.
Fuhrer
The title Adolf Hitler gave himself. It means "leader" in German.
Final Solution
A term used by the Nazis which meant the extermination of the Jew.
Gestapo
The Nazi police force. They were mean and very powerful in Germany during WWII. They hunted down enemies of the Nazi party as well as Jewish people.
Great Depression
An economic recession that began on October 29, 1929, following the crash of the U.S. stock market. The Great Depression originated in the United States, but quickly spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Lasting nearly a decade, the Depression caused massive levels of poverty, hunger, unemployment and political unrest.
Holocaust
A term used to describe the murder of 6 million Jewish people by the German Nazi Party.
Inflation (hyperinflation)
Monetary inflation occurring at a very high rate.
Internment
Confinement during wartime.
Isolationist
The policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace.
Kamikaze
A term used to describe how Japanese pilots would intentionally crash their planes into US battleships. The planes were sometimes full of explosives and the pilots knew they were going to die.
Kristallnacht
Night of Broken Glass, Nov 9 1938 night when the Nazis killed or injured many jews & destroyed many jewish property.
Lebensraum
Literally “living space,” Adolf Hitler’s justification for Germany’s aggressive territorial conquests in the late 1930s. Based on the work of a previous German ethnographer, Hitler used the idea of lebensraum to claim that the German people’s “natural” territory extended beyond the current borders of Germany and that Germany therefore needed to acquire additional territory in Europe.
Luftwaffe
The name for the German air force.
Munich Agreement
A September 30, 1938, agreement among Germany, Britain, Italy, and France that allowed Germany to annex the region of western Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. The Munich Agreement was the most famous example of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement prior to World War II.
NAZI Party
The political party founded in Germany in 1919 and brought to power by Hitler in 1933.
November Criminals
The stab-in-the-back myth is the notion, widely believed in right-wing circles in Germany after 1918, that the German Army did not lose WWI but was instead betrayed by the civilians on the home front, especially the republicans who overthrew the monarchy. Advocates denounced the German government leaders who signed the Armistice on November 11, 1918, as the "November Criminals".
When the Nazis came to power in 1933 they made the legend an integral part of their official history of the 1920s, portraying the Wiemar Republic as the work of the "November criminals" who used the stab in the back to seize power while betraying the nation.
Nuremberg Laws
Laws that placed severe restrictions of Jews, prohibited from marrying non- Jews, attending schools or universities, holding government jobs, practicing law or medicine or publishing books.
Operation Barbarossa
The code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, which Hitler predicted would take only six months but ended up miring the German armies for more than two years.
Operation Overlord
The code name for the Allied invasion of France in 1944, which commenced on the beaches of Normandy and ultimately was successful in liberating France and pushing German forces back east to their own territory.
Propaganda
Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.
Reichstag
The lower house of the parliament during the period of the SecondReich and the Weimar Republic.
Reparations
Payments or other compensation offered as an indemnity for loss or damage.
S.S.
In German, Schutzstaffel (“protection detachment”), the elite German paramilitary unit. Originally formed as a unit to serve as Hitler’s personal bodyguards, the S.S. grew and took on the duties of an elite military formation. During World War II, the Nazi regime used the S.S. to handle the extermination of Jews and other racial minorities, among other duties. The S.S. had its own army, independent of the regular German army (the Wehrmacht), to carry out its operations behind enemy lines.
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics abbreviated to USSR and SU or shortened to the Soviet Union, was a Marxist–Leninist state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991.
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland is the German name to refer to those northern, southwest, and western areas of Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by German speakers.
A fashionable young woman intent on enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behaviour, who lived in the 1920s.
Fuhrer
The title Adolf Hitler gave himself. It means "leader" in German.
Final Solution
A term used by the Nazis which meant the extermination of the Jew.
Gestapo
The Nazi police force. They were mean and very powerful in Germany during WWII. They hunted down enemies of the Nazi party as well as Jewish people.
Great Depression
An economic recession that began on October 29, 1929, following the crash of the U.S. stock market. The Great Depression originated in the United States, but quickly spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Lasting nearly a decade, the Depression caused massive levels of poverty, hunger, unemployment and political unrest.
Holocaust
A term used to describe the murder of 6 million Jewish people by the German Nazi Party.
Inflation (hyperinflation)
Monetary inflation occurring at a very high rate.
Internment
Confinement during wartime.
Isolationist
The policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace.
Kamikaze
A term used to describe how Japanese pilots would intentionally crash their planes into US battleships. The planes were sometimes full of explosives and the pilots knew they were going to die.
Kristallnacht
Night of Broken Glass, Nov 9 1938 night when the Nazis killed or injured many jews & destroyed many jewish property.
Lebensraum
Literally “living space,” Adolf Hitler’s justification for Germany’s aggressive territorial conquests in the late 1930s. Based on the work of a previous German ethnographer, Hitler used the idea of lebensraum to claim that the German people’s “natural” territory extended beyond the current borders of Germany and that Germany therefore needed to acquire additional territory in Europe.
Luftwaffe
The name for the German air force.
Munich Agreement
A September 30, 1938, agreement among Germany, Britain, Italy, and France that allowed Germany to annex the region of western Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. The Munich Agreement was the most famous example of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement prior to World War II.
NAZI Party
The political party founded in Germany in 1919 and brought to power by Hitler in 1933.
November Criminals
The stab-in-the-back myth is the notion, widely believed in right-wing circles in Germany after 1918, that the German Army did not lose WWI but was instead betrayed by the civilians on the home front, especially the republicans who overthrew the monarchy. Advocates denounced the German government leaders who signed the Armistice on November 11, 1918, as the "November Criminals".
When the Nazis came to power in 1933 they made the legend an integral part of their official history of the 1920s, portraying the Wiemar Republic as the work of the "November criminals" who used the stab in the back to seize power while betraying the nation.
Nuremberg Laws
Laws that placed severe restrictions of Jews, prohibited from marrying non- Jews, attending schools or universities, holding government jobs, practicing law or medicine or publishing books.
Operation Barbarossa
The code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, which Hitler predicted would take only six months but ended up miring the German armies for more than two years.
Operation Overlord
The code name for the Allied invasion of France in 1944, which commenced on the beaches of Normandy and ultimately was successful in liberating France and pushing German forces back east to their own territory.
Propaganda
Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.
Reichstag
The lower house of the parliament during the period of the SecondReich and the Weimar Republic.
Reparations
Payments or other compensation offered as an indemnity for loss or damage.
S.S.
In German, Schutzstaffel (“protection detachment”), the elite German paramilitary unit. Originally formed as a unit to serve as Hitler’s personal bodyguards, the S.S. grew and took on the duties of an elite military formation. During World War II, the Nazi regime used the S.S. to handle the extermination of Jews and other racial minorities, among other duties. The S.S. had its own army, independent of the regular German army (the Wehrmacht), to carry out its operations behind enemy lines.
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics abbreviated to USSR and SU or shortened to the Soviet Union, was a Marxist–Leninist state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991.
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland is the German name to refer to those northern, southwest, and western areas of Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by German speakers.
Third Reich
Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are common names for the German Reich from 1933 to 1945, when it was under control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Treaty of Versailles
One of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
USSR
A former federal union of 15 constituent republics, in E Europe and Wand N Asia, comprising the larger part of the former Russian Empire: dissolved in December 1991. Also known as the Soviet Union.
Wannsee Conference
A January 1942 conference during which Nazi officials decided to implement the“final solution” to the “Jewish question”—a euphemism for the extermination of European Jews and other minorities at concentration camps in eastern Europe.
Wehrmacht
The term used for regular German army.
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is a name given by historians to the federal republic and semi-presidential representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government.
Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are common names for the German Reich from 1933 to 1945, when it was under control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Treaty of Versailles
One of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
USSR
A former federal union of 15 constituent republics, in E Europe and Wand N Asia, comprising the larger part of the former Russian Empire: dissolved in December 1991. Also known as the Soviet Union.
Wannsee Conference
A January 1942 conference during which Nazi officials decided to implement the“final solution” to the “Jewish question”—a euphemism for the extermination of European Jews and other minorities at concentration camps in eastern Europe.
Wehrmacht
The term used for regular German army.
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is a name given by historians to the federal republic and semi-presidential representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government.