Blitzkrieg
Germany’s initial military strategy for “lightning war,” which used a combined attack with weapons such as tanks, planes, and artillery to shock and disorient the enemy.
Blitz
German for “lightning,” Blitz refers to nighttime bombing of London from September of 1940 until May of 1941. More than 20,000 people in London were killed in more than 70 attacks by Nazi air forces (the Luftwaffe).
Axis
The World War II military alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, and which later included Japan, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland. The Axis alliance fought against the Allies. […]
Aryan
A term used in the 19th-century to describe Indo-European languages that was then applied to describe people speaking such languages. The Nazis considered people speaking “Aryan” languages as superior to people speaking Semitic languages, so that “Aryan” came to describe a supposed racial background.
appeasement
Policy pursued by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in attempts to negotiate with Nazi Germany. Aimed at preventing conflict, the policy of appeasement included failure to act when Germany annexed Austria in 1938, and the Munich Agreement, which permitted German annexation of western Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland.