
They hunted down enemies of the Nazi party as well as Jewish people. They were mean and very powerful in Germany during WWII. Final Solution - A term used by the Nazis which meant the extermination of the Jews.Fuhrer - The title Adolf Hitler gave himself.Germany with Hitler and Italy with Mussolini were fascist governments. Fascism - A type of government ruled by a dictator.Eastern Front - The Germans called the war with the Soviet Union the Eastern Front.A turning point in the war as the Allies defeated the Germans. D-Day - The day that United States and British forces attacked the German forces on the shores of Normandy, France.Concentration camp - A place where the Germans put people they did not like such as Jewish people.Hitler would attack quickly and try to take over a country before it had time to fight back. Blitzkrieg - This means "lightning war" in German.These countries wanted to expand and conquer other countries. Axis Powers - An alliance formed by Germany, Italy, and Japan.When Hitler invaded Poland, they realized that appeasement would not work and France and Great Britain declared war on Germany.

They gave in to Hitler's demands in order to avoid going to war.

Germany surrendered in May 1945 ( see V-E Day). Beginning with the invasion of Normandy in 1944 ( see D-Day), the Allies liberated France from German occupation and pressed on in Europe, defeating the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere.

Allied forces took much of Italy in 1943, forcing its surrender. The German invasion of Russia was halted at the Battle of Stalingrad.

Japan made extensive conquests in east Asia but was checked by American victories at the Battle of Midway Island and elsewhere. The United States was drawn into the war in 1941, when the Japanese suddenly attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The Soviet Union signed a treaty with Adolf Hitler but entered the war on the side of the Allies after Germany invaded Russia in 1941. The Germans tried to wear down the British by heavy bombing, but the British withstood the attacks ( see Battle of Britain). Germany then conquered France, using blitzkrieg tactics, and forced a desperate British withdrawal at Dunkirk. The war began when the Germans, governed by the Nazi party, invaded Poland in September 1939 ( see invasion of Poland). A war fought from 1939 to 1945 between the Axis powers - Germany, Italy, and Japan - and the Allies, including France and Britain, and later the Soviet Union and the United States.
