Module 9: World War II

By the late 1930s, aggression by the totalitarian powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan startled the rest of the world into action. As the fascist powers formed the Axis alliance and began invading neighboring countries, nations in Europe and the United States responded with force in what would become World War II.

During the early years of the war, the Axis powers dominated the Allied powers and continued to expand their territories. The entrance of Russia on the side of the Allied powers and the D-Day invasion in France led to victories against the Axis powers. Meanwhile, the success of the island hopping campaign in the Pacific signaled that tide had turned against Japan.

The Big Three – Stalin, Churchill, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) – met several times during the war to discuss war strategies and their plans for a post-war world. Unfortunately, tensions built between Stalin and FDR over how to manage post-war Europe and continued even after the end of the war.

After the war ended, the extent of the Holocaust became apparent. The Holocaust was the Nazi campaign to exterminate the Jewish population and others that they considered “undesirable” in territories they controlled.

We will look at other examples of modern genocide including those that took place in Armenia, the Soviet Union, Cambodia, and Rwanda.

Pre-Assessment

Take this un-graded pre-assessment quiz and see how well you know the countries and major figures that were involved in World War II. Click the player to get started.

 

 

 

Key Vocabulary

To view the definitions for these key vocabulary terms, visit the course glossary.

Adolf Hitler	George C. Marshall	North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
appeasement	Harry Truman	pacifism
Armenians	Hideki Tojo	Pol Pot
Battle of Britain	Hirohito	Treaty of Versailles
D-Day	Hutu	Tutsi
Douglas MacArthur	Iron Curtain	United Nations
Dwight D. Eisenhower	isolationism	Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Final Solution	Joseph Stalin	War crimes trials
Franklin D. Roosevelt	League of Nations	Warsaw Pact
genocide	Marshall Plan	Winston Churchill