69 terms

Unit 6 Terms

German term meaning "lightning war," used to describe Germany's novel military tactics in World War II, which involved the rapid movement of infantry, tanks, and airpower over large areas.
European Economic Community
also known as the Common Market was an alliance formed by Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in 1957 and dedicated to developing common trade policies and reduced tariffs; it gradually developed into the European Union.
European Union
The final step in a series of arrangements to increase cooperation between European states in the wake of World War II; the EU was formally established in 1994, and twelve of its members adopted a common currency in 2002.
Political ideology marked by its intense nationalism and authoritarianism; its name is derived from the fasces that were the symbol of magistrates in ancient Rome.
Fourteen Points
Plan of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson to establish lasting peace at the end of World War I; although Wilson's views were popular in Europe, his vision largely failed.
Franco-Prussian War
German war with France (1870-1871) that ended with the defeat of France and the unification of Germany into a single state under Prussian rule.
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke
Heir to the Austrian throne whose assassination by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914, was the spark that ignited World War I.
Great Depression
Worldwide economic depression that began in 1929 with the New York stock market crash and continued in many areas until the outbreak of World War II.
Great War
Name originally given to the First World War (1914-1918).
Hitler, Adolf
Leader of the German Nazi Party (1889-1945) and Germany's head of state from 1933 until his death.
Name commonly used for the Nazi genocide of Jews and other "undesirables" in German society; Jews themselves prefer the term Shoah, which means "catastrophe,"
League of Nations
International peacekeeping organization created after World War I; first proposed by U.S. president Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points.
Mussolini, Benito
Charismatic leader of the Italian fascist party (1883-1945) who came to power in 1922.
Nanjing, Rape of
The Japanese army's systematic killing, mutilation, and rape of the Chinese civilian population of Nanjing in 1938.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military and political alliance founded in 1949 that committed the United States to the defense of Europe in the event of Soviet aggression.
Nazi Party
Properly known as the National Socialist Democratic Workers' Party, the Nazi party was founded in Germany shortly after World War I and advocated a strongly authoritarian and nationalist regime based on notions of racial superiority.
New Deal
A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.
total war
War that requires each country involved to mobilize its entire population in the effort to defeat the enemy.
Treaty of Versailles
1919 treaty that officially ended World War I; the immense penalties it placed on Germany are regarded as one of the causes of World War II.
United Nations
International peacekeeping organization and forum for international opinion, established in 1945.
Weimar Republic
The weak government that replaced the German imperial state at the end of World War I; its failure to take strong action against war reparations and the Great Depression provided an opportunity for the Nazi Party's rise to power.
Wilson, Woodrow
President of the United States from 1913 to 1921 who was especially noted for his idealistic approach to the end of World War I, which included advocacy of his Fourteen Points intended to regulate future international dealings and a League of Nations
World War I
The "Great War" (1914-1918), in essence a European civil war with global implications that was marked by massive casualties, the expansion of offensive military technology beyond tactics and means of defense,
World War II in Asia
A struggle essentially to halt Japanese imperial expansion in Asia, fought by the Japanese against primarily Chinese and American foes.
World War II in Europe
A struggle essentially to halt German imperial expansion in Europe, fought by a coalition of allies that included Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
The huge industrial enterprises that dominated the Japanese economy in the period leading up to World War II.
Berlin Wall
Wall constructed by East German authorities in 1961 to seal off East Berlin from the West; it was breached on November 9, 1989.
Russian revolutionary party led by Vladimir Lenin and later renamed the Communist Party; the name means "the majority."
Castro, Fidel
Revolutionary leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008 who gradually turned to Soviet communism and engendered some of the worst crises of the cold war.
Chinese Revolution
Long revolutionary process in the period 1912-1949 that began with the overthrow of the Chinese imperial system and ended with the triumph of the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
cold war
Political and ideological state of near-war between the Western world and the communist world that lasted from 1946 to 1991.
Process of rural reform undertaken by the communist leadership of both the USSR and China in which private property rights were abolished and peasants were forced onto larger and more industrialized farms.
In full, "Communist International"; Soviet organization intended to control the policies and actions of other communist states.
Cuban missile crisis
Major standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba; the confrontation ended in compromise, with the USSR removing its missiles.
Cultural Revolution
a massive campaign launched by Mao Zedong in the mid-1960s to combat the capitalist tendencies that he believed reached into even the highest ranks of the Communist Party; the campaign threw China into chaos.
Deng Xiaoping
Leader of China from 1976 to 1997 whose reforms essentially dismantled the communist elements of the Chinese economy.
Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of "openness," which allowed greater cultural and intellectual freedom and ended most censorship of the media; the result was a burst of awareness of the problems and corruption of the Soviet system.
Gorbachev, Mikhail
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 whose efforts to reform the USSR led to its collapse.
Great Leap Forward
Major Chinese initiative (1958-1960) led by Mao Zedong that was intended to promote small-scale industrialization and increase knowledge of technology; in reality, it caused a major crisis and exacerbated the impact of a devastating famine.
Cultural Revolution
Mao Zedong's great effort in the mid-1960s to weed out capitalist tendencies that he believed had developed in China.
Great Purges
Also called the Terror, the Great Purges of the late 1930s were a massive attempt to cleanse the Soviet Union of supposed "enemies of the people"; nearly a million people were executed between 1936 and 1941
Acronym for the Soviet government agency that administered forced labor camps.
Adopted name of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870-1924), the main leader of Russia's communist revolution and head of the Soviet state from 1917 until his death.
Mao Zedong
Chairman of China's Communist Party and de facto ruler of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
Bold economic program launched in 1987 by Mikhail Gorbachev with the intention of freeing up Soviet industry and businesses.
Russian Revolution
Massive revolutionary upheaval in 1917 that overthrew the Romanov dynasty in Russia and ended with the seizure of power by communists under the leadership of Lenin.
Name assumed by Joseph Vissarionovich Jugashvili (1878-1953), leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death; the name means "made of steel."
Warsaw Pact
Military alliance of the USSR and the communist states of Eastern Europe during the cold war.
African National Congress
South African political party established in 1912 by elite Africans who sought to win full acceptance in colonial society; it only gradually became a popular movement that came to control the government in 1994.
Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal
Founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey (1881-1938); as military commander and leader of the Turkish national movement, he made Turkey into a secular state.
Also known as Afrikaners, the sector of the white population of South Africa that was descended from early Dutch settlers.
Process in which many African and Asian states won their independence from Western colonial rule, in most cases by negotiated settlement with gradual political reforms and a program of investment rather than through military confrontation.
Gandhi, Mohandas K.
(1869-1948) was a political leader and the undoubted spiritual leader of the Indian drive for independence from Great Britain.
Indian National Congress
Organization established in 1885 by Western-educated elite Indians in an effort to win a voice in the governance of India; over time, the INC became a major popular movement that won India's independence from Britain.
Jinnah, Muhammad Ali
Leader of India's All-India Muslim League and first president of the breakaway state of Pakistan (1876-1948).
Mandela, Nelson
South African nationalist (b. 1918) and leader of the African National Congress who was imprisoned for 27 years; he was elected president of South Africa in 1994, four years after he was finally released from prison.
Muslim League
created in 1906, was a response to the Indian National Congress in India's struggle for independence from Britain; the League's leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, argued that regions of India with a Muslim majority should form a separate state called Pakistan.
Nehru, Jawaharlal
The first prime minister of independent India (1889-1964).
International organization of fundamentalist Islamic militants, headed by Osama bin Laden.
Major international movement that protests the development of the global economy on the grounds that it makes the rich richer and keeps poor regions in poverty while exploiting their labor and environments;
bin Laden, Osama
The leader of al-Qaeda, a wealthy Saudi Arabian who turned to militant fundamentalism.
Occurring within all the major world religions, fundamentalism is a self-proclaimed return to the "fundamentals" of a religion and is marked by a militant piety and exclusivism.
Term commonly used to refer to the massive growth in international economic transactions from around 1950 to the present.
global warming
A worldwide scientific consensus that the increased burning of fossil fuels and the loss of trees have begun to warm the earth's atmosphere artificially and significantly, causing climate change.
Guevara, Che
an Argentine-born revolutionary (1928-1967) who waged guerrilla war in an effort to remedy Latin America's and Africa's social and economic ills.
Term used by modern militant Islamic groups to denote not just the "struggle" or "striving" that the word originally meant but also the defense of authentic Islam against Western aggression.
Kyoto protocol on global warming
International agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to slow global warming; as of November 2007, 174 countries had subscribed to the agreement, but the United States' refusal to ratify the protocol has caused international tensions.
religious right
The fundamentalist phenomenon as it appeared in U.S. politics in the 1970s.
World Trade Organization
International body representing 149 nations that negotiates the rules for global commerce and is dedicated to the promotion of free trade.