| abstract expressionism |
(sometimes cap.) a school of painting that arose after World War II and that was marked by expressive but nonrepresentational images formed by an apparently random and often unconventional application of paint. |
| allied |
(cap.) of the Allies in World War I or II. [1/3 definitions] |
| Allies |
in World War I, the alliance of France, Great Britain, Russia, and other nations against the Central Powers. [2 definitions] |
| Anzac |
a soldier in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I (acronym for "Australia and New Zealand Army Corps"). [1/2 definitions] |
| Armistice Day |
November 11, the anniversary of the armistice ending World War I, called Veterans Day in the United States. |
| B-17 |
a four-engine U.S. bomber extensively used in World War II; Flying Fortress. |
| B-29 |
a heavy U.S. bomber used late in World War II; Superfortress. |
| baby boom |
the dramatic population increase in the United States during the decade following World War II. |
| baby boomer |
a person born in the United States during the decade following World War II, in which the population increased dramatically. |
| blitz |
(cap.; prec. by "the") the bombing attacks on Britain carried out by the German air force in 1940 and 1941 during World War II. [1/4 definitions] |
| Bren gun |
a .303 caliber gas-operated submachine gun used by the British army in World War II. |
| Central Powers |
a World War I alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary together with Turkey and Bulgaria. |
| cold war |
(cap.) the state of intense political and ideological hostility and competition for power that obtained between the communist Soviet Union and China and their allies, and the United States and its democratic allies, between the end of World War II and about 1990. The Cold War, always stopping short of direct military conflict, manifested in the arms race, the space race, and proxy wars in Vietnam, Korea, and the Middle East. [1/2 definitions] |
| commodore |
in the U.S. Navy until 1899 and again during World War II, a commissioned naval officer ranked below a rear admiral and above a captain. [1/2 definitions] |
| Coral Sea |
an arm of the southern Pacific Ocean located off the northwestern coast of Australia, extending to the north as far as New Guinea and the Soloman Islands and to the east by Vanuatu. The sea is the location of the Great Barrier Reef. It was also the scene of a fierce naval battle between Japan and the United States in World War II. |
| D-day |
June 6, 1944, when the Allied forces invaded German-occupied France during World War II. [1/2 definitions] |
| doughboy |
(informal) an infantryman, esp. an American in World War I. |
| escadrille |
a unit of military airplanes with men and equipment, as in France during World War I. |
| Espionage Act |
a U.S. law passed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I. The Espionage Act made it a crime to convey information with the intent to interfere with the operation of the U.S. military or its recruitment of troops, to disclose information relating to national defense, or to promote the success of the country's enemies. |
| fleet admiral |
the highest rank for a U.S. naval officer, created and conferred only during World War II. |
| Fourteen Points |
the provisions of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's proposed plan for peace in Europe after World War I, first enumerated in a speech to the U.S. Congress in 1918. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war, ultimately included only four of the Fourteen Points, including the creation of a League of Nations. |