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This glossary contains terms that are related to World War II. In this section, you can learn the meaning to some of the most important terms that are associated with the Second World War.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS - WORLD WAR II LIBRARY

Afrika Korps

Afrika Korps (Africa Corps), a World War II German army organization that fought in North Africa, 1941–42.

Anne Frank

Frank, Anne (1929–1945), a German-Jewish girl who died in a concentration camp in World War II.

Appeasement

Appeasement, in international relations, the act of yielding to a foreign government's demands in an effort to eliminate grievances that might lead to war.

Battle of El Alamein

El Alamein, Battle of, October 23 to November 3, 1942, a decisive battle in the North African campaign of World War II.

Battle of Stalingrad

Stalingrad, Battle of, a decisive battle of World War II between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg, the German word for "lightning war." There was some mention of the word at the time of the Spanish Civil War (1937–39), but it did not come into common use in English until the German conquest of Poland in 1939, the beginning of World War II.

Bretton Woods Conference

Bretton Woods Conference, the name commonly given to the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944.

Concentration Camp

Concentration Camp , a place where a large number of political prisoners or a certain population group is held.

Decorations and Medals

Decorations and Medals, awards granted for heroism, self-sacrifice, outstanding achievement, or other forms of service.

European Recovery Program

European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan (1947–51), the project of economic reconstruction of Europe promoted by the United States after World War II.

Four Freedoms

Four Freedoms, the name given to the general world aims of the United States, as described by President Franklin D.

Gestapo

Gestapo the secret police of Nazi Germany. The word is an abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei (secret state police).

Graf Spee

Graf Spee,Admiral, one of three German pocket battleships, built to evade treaty provisions intended to prevent Germany from having big-gun ships.

Holocaust

Holocaust, The, the systematic slaughter of European Jews by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler in Germany during World War II.

Italo-Ethiopian War

Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935–36, a war in which Italy conquered Ethiopia and annexed it to its colonial empire.


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