Dictionary - TracesOfWar.com

Identification Friend or Foe (IFF): Small transmitter on board of an airplane to communicate to an operator on the ground whether another aircraft was hostile or not.
Ideology: A collection of principles and ideas of a certain system.
Imperialism: The policy of a state to extend its territory by annexations of border areas of other states through colonisation. After World War 2 the term got more of an economic and cultural meaning rather than the actual domination of a territory.
Incendiary device: Incendiary ammunition especially developed to set fire. Filled with napalm, thermite of white phosphorus. Sometimes equipped with a timer with explosive load to hinder the extinguishing.
Incendiary munitions: Fire-raising ammunition. Napalm, thermite, white phosphorus
Indoctrination: The education or brainwashing of people, sometimes by force, to accept a certain opinion or political doctrine. This doctrine is to be followed henceforth without question.
Infantry: Foot soldiers of a given army.
Infiltration: Quiet incursion into enemy lines prior to an attack.
Inflation: An economic process of sustained increase in general price levels and devaluation of money.(loss of purchasing power)
Influence, sphere of: Area in which a foreign state can exercise a lot of power, mostly under tacit agreement of other states.
Interbellum: “Latin: Between war”. Years between the Great War and World War 2.
International Brigades: During the Spanish Civil War brigades of international volunteers joined the Popular Front against Franco.
International Red Cross: Name of a complex of co-operating humanitarian organisations which primarily focusses on providing assistance to the sick and wounded military during wartime, to prisoner of war and to civilians during wartime and other conflicts. The role of the Red Cross during World War 2 is somewhat controversial.
Inundation: “Latin: No bottom”. The deliberate flooding of land with the aim of stopping or hindering the advance of the enemy into a certain area.
Invasion: Armed incursion.
Iron Cross: English translation of the German decoration Eisernes Kreuz.
Island Hopping: American strategy of conquering island after island to recapture the territory in the Pacific lost during World War 2.
Isolationism: US policy not to interfere with foreign affairs. This policy lasted more or less until the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941).

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