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The World Wars: A Global View

Causes, sides, major events and results of World War I and World War II around the world.

75 cardsGrades 6–8, Grades 9–12#world war i#world war ii#global#treaty of versailles

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75 cards
  • Causes of WWITerm or event
    Militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism (MAIN)
  • MilitarismTerm or event
    Building up armies and weapons
  • Alliance systemTerm or event
    Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia) versus Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy)
  • Assassination at SarajevoTerm or event
    June 28, 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed, setting off the war
  • July CrisisTerm or event
    Weeks of diplomacy and ultimatums that led to war in 1914
  • Schlieffen PlanTerm or event
    German plan to defeat France quickly before turning to Russia
  • Western FrontTerm or event
    Line of trenches across France and Belgium
  • Eastern FrontTerm or event
    Fighting between Germany/Austria and Russia
  • Battle of the Marne (1914)Term or event
    Allied victory that stopped the German advance on Paris
  • Battle of Verdun (1916)Term or event
    Long, costly battle between France and Germany
  • Battle of the Somme (1916)Term or event
    British offensive with enormous casualties
  • Gallipoli (1915)Term or event
    Failed Allied attack on the Ottoman Empire's coast
  • Machine gunTerm or event
    Weapon that made attacks deadly for soldiers crossing open ground
  • Poison gasTerm or event
    Chemical weapon first widely used in WWI; later banned
  • TankTerm or event
    Armored vehicle first used by Britain in 1916
  • Airplane in WWITerm or event
    Used first for scouting, then for fighting
  • U-boatTerm or event
    German submarine
  • Russian Revolution (1917)Term or event
    Russia's tsar fell, and the Bolsheviks under Lenin took power
  • Vladimir LeninTerm or event
    Bolshevik leader who founded the Soviet state
  • Nicholas IITerm or event
    Last tsar of Russia
  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)Term or event
    Russia left the war and gave up land
  • Armistice DayTerm or event
    November 11, 1918, when fighting stopped on the Western Front
  • Treaty of Versailles (1919)Term or event
    Peace treaty that blamed Germany and made it pay reparations
  • ReparationsTerm or event
    Payments for war damages
  • War guilt clauseTerm or event
    Treaty article that made Germany accept blame for the war
  • League of NationsTerm or event
    Organization to keep peace, set up in 1920
  • Collapse of empiresTerm or event
    The Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German and Russian empires ended after WWI
  • Great DepressionTerm or event
    Worldwide economic crisis in the 1930s that helped extremists rise
  • FascismTerm or event
    Government by a dictator with strong nationalism and no free opposition
  • Benito MussoliniTerm or event
    Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922
  • Nazi PartyTerm or event
    German party led by Adolf Hitler
  • Hitler's rise (1933)Term or event
    Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933
  • AppeasementTerm or event
    Giving in to demands to avoid war, as at Munich in 1938
  • Munich Agreement (1938)Term or event
    Britain and France let Germany take part of Czechoslovakia
  • Invasion of Poland (Sept. 1, 1939)Term or event
    Start of World War II in Europe
  • BlitzkriegTerm or event
    German 'lightning war' using tanks, planes and fast movement
  • Fall of France (1940)Term or event
    Germany took France in six weeks
  • Dunkirk (1940)Term or event
    Evacuation of over 300,000 Allied troops from France
  • Battle of Britain (1940)Term or event
    Royal Air Force defeated German air attacks
  • The BlitzTerm or event
    German bombing of British cities in 1940-41
  • Operation Barbarossa (1941)Term or event
    Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union
  • Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43)Term or event
    Soviet victory that turned the tide on the Eastern Front
  • El Alamein (1942)Term or event
    British victory in Egypt against German-Italian forces
  • Pearl HarborTerm or event
    Japan's attack on the US on December 7, 1941
  • Japanese expansionTerm or event
    Japan invaded China in the 1930s and spread across Asia in 1941-42
  • Nanjing (Nanking) 1937Term or event
    Japan captured the Chinese capital after a hard battle; many civilians suffered
  • Battle of Midway (1942)Term or event
    US Navy victory that weakened Japan's carriers
  • HolocaustTerm or event
    Nazi murder of six million Jews and millions of others
  • Resistance movementsTerm or event
    Secret groups that opposed Nazi occupation
  • KindertransportTerm or event
    Rescue program that took thousands of Jewish children from Germany to Britain
  • Righteous Among the NationsTerm or event
    Honor for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews
  • Raoul WallenbergTerm or event
    Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews
  • Oskar SchindlerTerm or event
    German businessman who saved over a thousand Jewish workers
  • D-Day (June 6, 1944)Term or event
    Allied invasion of Normandy
  • Liberation of Paris (Aug. 1944)Term or event
    Allied forces freed the French capital
  • Yalta ConferenceTerm or event
    Allied leaders planned the post-war world
  • Potsdam Conference (1945)Term or event
    Allied leaders met in Germany after Germany's surrender
  • V-E DayTerm or event
    May 8, 1945, victory in Europe
  • Hiroshima and NagasakiTerm or event
    Atomic bombs dropped in August 1945, leading to Japan's surrender
  • V-J DayTerm or event
    Japan's surrender announced August 15, 1945; signed September 2
  • Total deathsTerm or event
    WWII killed an estimated 70 to 85 million people
  • Nuremberg TrialsTerm or event
    International court trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes
  • United NationsTerm or event
    Founded in 1945 to maintain peace
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)Term or event
    UN statement of basic rights for all people
  • DecolonizationTerm or event
    After WWII, many colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence
  • Cold War beginsTerm or event
    The US and USSR became rivals after the war
  • Marshall PlanTerm or event
    US aid to rebuild Western Europe
  • Allied PowersTerm or event
    Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the US and China
  • Axis PowersTerm or event
    Germany, Italy and Japan
  • Division of GermanyTerm or event
    After WWII, Germany was divided into East and West
  • Occupation of JapanTerm or event
    US-led occupation, 1945-1952, helped Japan write a new constitution
  • Chinese Civil WarTerm or event
    Fighting between Nationalists and Communists, resumed after WWII; Communists won in 1949
  • Indian Army in WWIITerm or event
    Over 2.5 million Indian volunteers served
  • Navajo Code TalkersTerm or event
    Used their language to send secret Pacific messages
  • Anne Frank's diaryTerm or event
    Diary of a Jewish girl hiding in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944

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