World War I: Global war from 1914 to 1918 among the Allies and the Central Powers
Allied Powers: Britain, France, Russia and later the US and Italy
Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria
Archduke Franz Ferdinand: Austrian heir whose 1914 assassination set off the war
Neutrality: Not taking sides in a war; the US stayed neutral until 1917
Lusitania (1915): British passenger ship sunk by a German submarine, killing 128 Americans
Zimmermann Telegram: Secret 1917 German message proposing an alliance with Mexico, which angered Americans
US enters WWI (April 1917): Congress declared war on Germany after submarine attacks
Woodrow Wilson: President during World War I who proposed the Fourteen Points
Fourteen Points: Wilson's plan for peace, including a League of Nations
American Expeditionary Forces: US troops sent to Europe, led by General John Pershing
John J. Pershing: Commander of US forces in Europe in WWI
Trench warfare: Fighting from long ditches, common on the Western Front
Armistice (Nov. 11, 1918): Cease-fire that ended the fighting in World War I
Treaty of Versailles: 1919 peace treaty with Germany
League of Nations: International group meant to keep peace; the US Senate refused to join
Liberty bonds: War bonds citizens bought to lend money to the government
Selective Service: System for drafting people into the military
19th Amendment (1920): Gave women the right to vote
Great Migration: Millions of Black Americans moved from the South to northern cities, starting around 1916
Rise of dictators: In the 1930s Hitler, Mussolini and others took power in Europe and Japan expanded in Asia
World War II: Global war from 1939 to 1945
Axis Powers: Germany, Italy and Japan
Allies in WWII: Britain, the Soviet Union, the US, China and others
Adolf Hitler: Nazi dictator of Germany who started the war
Neutrality Acts: 1930s laws trying to keep the US out of foreign wars
Lend-Lease Act (1941): Let the US supply weapons and goods to Allies
Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941): Japan's surprise attack on the US naval base in Hawaii
Infamous date: FDR called December 7, 1941 'a date which will live in infamy'
Franklin D. Roosevelt: President during most of the Depression and World War II
Holocaust: Nazi Germany's murder of six million Jewish people and millions of others
D-Day (June 6, 1944): Allied landing in Normandy, France, the largest sea invasion ever
Dwight Eisenhower: Supreme Allied commander in Europe; later president
Normandy: Region of France where the D-Day landings occurred
Battle of the Bulge (1944-45): Germany's last big attack in the West, in Belgium
V-E Day (May 8, 1945): Victory in Europe: Germany surrendered
Battle of Midway (1942): Naval battle that turned the Pacific war toward the US
Island hopping: US plan to take key Pacific islands and skip others
Iwo Jima: Pacific island taken by US Marines in 1945; famous flag-raising photo
Douglas MacArthur: General who led US forces in the Pacific
Chester Nimitz: Admiral in charge of the US Pacific Fleet
Manhattan Project: Secret US program that built the first atomic bombs
Atomic bombs (Aug. 1945): Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, before Japan's surrender
V-J Day (Aug. 14-15, 1945): Japan announced surrender; formal signing on September 2
United Nations: International organization formed in 1945 to keep peace
Home front: What people did at home to support the war
Rationing: Limiting how much of items like sugar, gas and rubber people could buy
Victory garden: Home vegetable garden planted to ease food shortages
Rosie the Riveter: Symbol of women who worked in factories during the war
War bonds: Savings bonds sold to help pay for the war
Scrap drives: Families collected metal, rubber and paper for the war effort
Tuskegee Airmen: Black fighter pilots who trained in Alabama and served with honor
Navajo Code Talkers: Marines who used the Navajo language to send unbreakable messages
442nd Regimental Combat Team: Japanese American unit that became the most decorated for its size
Japanese American incarceration: Over 100,000 Japanese Americans were forced from their homes to camps; it is now seen as a grave injustice
Executive Order 9066: 1942 order that allowed the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast
Women's Army Corps: Created in 1942 so women could serve in the Army
WASP: Women Airforce Service Pilots, who flew military aircraft within the US
G.I. Bill (1944): Gave veterans help with college, loans and housing
Yalta Conference (1945): Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin planned the end of the war
Winston Churchill: British prime minister during most of the war
Joseph Stalin: Leader of the Soviet Union
Harry Truman: Became president when FDR died in April 1945
Marshall Plan (1948): US aid that helped rebuild Western Europe
Nuremberg Trials: Courts that tried Nazi leaders for war crimes
Anne Frank: Jewish girl whose diary describes hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam
Code breaking: Allied codebreakers broke Axis codes and helped win key battles
Radar: Technology using radio waves to find aircraft and ships
Sgt. Alvin York: WWI soldier famed for bravery in the Argonne Forest
Harlem Hellfighters: 369th Infantry, a Black regiment that fought with French forces in WWI
Spanish flu (1918): Worldwide flu outbreak that killed millions near the end of WWI
Red Cross in wartime: Helped wounded soldiers and war refugees
Total war: When a country uses all its resources, including factories and citizens, for war

Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/us-world-wars