World War II

(proper noun)

The war from 1939 to 1945 of the Allied forces, including United Kingdom, Soviet Union, the United States, France, and China against the Axis Powers, including Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Related Terms

Examples of World War II in the following topics:

  • Mobilization and the Development of the West

    • During World War II, traditional gender roles changed, as women entered the traditionally male workforce and served in the military.
    • In all, 350,000 American women served in the U.S. military during World War II.
    • Asian-Pacific-American women first entered military service during World War II.
    • The navy refused to accept Japanese-American women throughout World War II.
    • By the end of World War II, 85% of the enlisted personnel assigned to Headquarters U.S.

  • Hispanics in WWII

    • Armed Forces and on the home front during World War II.
    • Armed Forces during World War II, out of a total of 12,000,000, constituting 2.3% to 4.7% of the U.S.
    • Only a small number of Hispanic women joined the military before World War II.
    • However, with the outbreak of World War II, cultural norms began to change.
    • The American GI Forum was started to ensure the rights of Hispanic World War II veterans.

  • The Final Ledger of Deaths

    • While estimates remain controversial and statistics unreliable, World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history, with around 50 - 80 million people killed.
    • World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history in absolute terms of total dead.
    • However, no positive or specific customary international humanitarian law with respect to aerial warfare existed before or during World War II.
    • World War II was devastating for both the Allied and Axis nations.
    • Summarize the final ledger of military and civilian deaths of World War II.

  • Peacetime Economy

    • The end of World War II was followed by an uneasy transition from war to a peacetime economy.
    • The decline in government spending, at the end of World War II in 1945, led to an enormous drop in gross domestic product, making this technically a recession.
    • The post-war years were unusual in a number of ways, unemployment was never high, and this era may be considered a "sui generis end-of-the-war recession," or a very unique type of recession.
    • Generally speaking, the period from the end of World War II to the early 1970s was a golden era of American capitalism. $200 billion in war bonds matured, and the G.I.
    • Although no recession of the post-World War II era has come anywhere near the depth of the Great Depression, this graph shows that the recession during the transition to a peacetime economy during the Truman administration was significant.

  • Changing Roles for Women

    • During World War II, the traditional gender division of labor changed, as the "home" or domestic female sphere expanded to include the "home front".
    • Over 60 thousand Army nurses (all military nurses were female then) served stateside and overseas during World War II.
    • The Navy refused to accept Japanese-American women throughout World War II.
    • By the end of World War II, 85 percent of the enlisted personnel assigned to Headquarters U.S.
    • Women joined the federal government in massive numbers during World War II.

  • American Indians and the War Effort

    • Some 44,000 Native Americans served in the United States military during World War II, which was one-third of all able-bodied Indian men.
    • Some 44,000 American Indians served in the United States military during World War II.
    • Whether it was due to innate skill as warriors or merely as a reflection of the stereotype of the American Indian warrior spirit perpetuated by American popular culture, American Indian men were generally highly regarded for their military service in World War II.
    • While the term code talkers is strongly associated with the bilingual Navajo speakers, code talking was pioneered by Cherokee and Choctaw Indians during World War I.
    • Other American Indian code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Lakota, Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers.

  • The Baby Boom

    • The Baby Boom is generally defined as the increase in births between 1946 and 1957, following the end of World War II.
    • The end of World War II in 1945 brought a baby boom to many countries, especially Western ones.
    • Following the end of World War II, the United States experienced vigorous economic growth that lasted until the 1970s as consumer demand fueled economic growth.
    • The following table shows the U.S. population before, during, and after World War II, based on census information.
    • Describe the optimism of the baby boom era following World War II.

  • Degrees of Neutrality

    • While World War II consumed the globe, a few states were neutral throughout the war, such as Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland .
    • During World War II, these countries took no official side during the war in their hopes to avoid being attacked by the Axis Powers or in becoming involved the aerial attacks of the Axis and Allied Powers.
    • Thus, the Spanish state under General Franco was officially non-belligerent during World War II.
    • Head of the Spanish state during World War II, Franco supposedly remained neutral, but favored the Axis powers
    • Identify the nation states that remained neutral throughout World War II.

  • Superpower Rivalry

    • The United States and Soviet Union eventually emerged as the two major superpowers after World War II.
    • World War II had served to enhance U.S. global power.
    • As the majority of World War II had been fought far from its national boundaries, the United States had not suffered the industrial destruction or massive civilian casualties that marked the wartime situation of the countries in Europe or Asia.
    • Similarly, the war had reinforced the position of the United States as the world's largest long-term creditor nation and its principal supplier of goods.
    • Evaluate the theory of a bipolar post-war world dominated by two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union

  • The Cold War's Costs and Consequences

    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today.
    • The Cold War defined the political role of the United States in the post-World War II world: by 1989, the U.S. held military alliances with 50 countries and had 1.5 million troops posted abroad in 117 countries.
    • The legacy of Cold War conflict continues today, as many of the economic and social tensions that were exploited to fuel Cold War competition in countries throughout the Third World remain acute.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.
    • After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post-Cold War world is widely considered unipolar, with the United States the sole remaining superpower.