AP World History Review

Flashcards covering New Imperialism, its motives, tools, justifications, effects, and examples in Africa, Asia, Russia, and Japan. Also covers the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, Boxer Rebellion, and Open Door Policy in China. Followed by World War I's causes, modern warfare techniques, key battles, total war strategies, and post-war outcomes including the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. Continues explaining Decolonization, the Russian Revolution, Stalin's policies, the Great Depression, Fascism, the rise of the Nazis, and World War II in Asia and Europe, including the Holocaust, key battles, and bombings. Concludes with the Cold War, the Marshall Plan, NATO, the Warsaw Pact, proxy wars, the fall of the Soviet Union, and globalization.

White Men's Burden

A fabricated justification to "civilize" people of Africa and Asia during the era of New Imperialism, as expressed in a poem by Rudyard Kipling in 1889.

Social Darwinism

The application of "survival of the fittest" to justify imperialism, suggesting that stronger nations are naturally better and should control others.

Early Modern Colonization

The encounter, conquest, settlement, and exploitation of the Americas by Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English powers between the late 15th and late 18th centuries, accompanied by mercantilism and slavery.

New Imperialism

A period in the 19th-20th century focused on Africa and Asia, characterized by the imperialism of free trade rather than mercantilism, with legal but not enforced slavery, and driven by motives such as the pursuit of resources, power, and strategic geopolitical positions.

Partition of Africa

An economic and political competition among European powers for raw materials in Africa, leading to artificial boundaries set at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) and intense economic extraction with few settler colonies.

"Jewel in the Crown"

Britain's colony in India, valued for its resources and strategic importance.

Opium Wars

Wars fought between Britain and China over the opium trade, leading to unequal treaties and the opening of China to foreign influence.

Boxer Rebellion

An anti-foreign revolt in China in response to spheres of influence and anti-Christian sentiment.

Open Door Policy

A policy that proposed open access to trade for all states in China, preventing direct colonization but signaling a decline in Qing Dynasty sovereignty.

Neocolonialism

A situation where a country benefits economically from another without direct colonization, wielding soft power.

Meiji Restoration

A period in Japanese history marked by the end of feudalism, rapid industrialization, nationalism, and imperial expansion to avoid the fate of China.

Crimean War

A war fought in the 1850s over Ottoman territory, revealing Russia's industrial and military weaknesses.

Militarism

The belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to promote national interests.

Triple Alliance

An agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, with Italy later joining the Triple Entente.

Triple Entente

An agreement between Britain, France, and Russia.

Pan-Slavism

The idea that all Slavic nations should be united, contributing to tensions in the Balkan Peninsula.

Spark of WWI

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, sparking World War I.

Trench Warfare

A form of warfare characterized by prolonged battles, high casualties, and little territorial gain, utilizing modern technology for defense.

Shellshock (PTSD)

The psychological response to prolonged helplessness under artillery fire during World War I.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (1917)

A major factor leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.

Total War

Directing all resources of a state toward the war effort, requiring rationing, propaganda, and silencing of dissent.

Propaganda

Communication meant to influence the attitudes and opinions of a community through the spread of misinformation.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

A peace treaty in March 1918, where Russia ceded territory to Germany due to lack of negotiating power.

Wilson's 14 Points

Principles proposed by Woodrow Wilson for post-war peace, including freedom of the seas, reduction of arms, self-determination of peoples, and the League of Nations.

"The War Guilt Clause" (Article 231)

A clause in the Treaty of Versailles that assigned Germany all the guilt and responsibility for World War I.

League of Nations

An international organization established after World War I to perpetuate peace, though it lacked major powers and faced rejection from the U.S. Senate.

Mandate System

Colonies administered by Britain and France but still under League of Nations oversight, effectively ruled as de facto colonies.

Pan-Arabism

A nationalist movement uniting lands in North Africa and the Middle East.

"The New Economic Policy" (NEP)

Lenin's policy that temporarily allowed some free market principles to help transition towards a communist market.

Kulaks

Peasants who slightly benifited from the NEP, by being able to sell their excess grain.

Five Year Plans

Stalin's policy of promoting heavy industry with less focus on workers, eliminating private property, and centralizing control through terror.

Cult of Personality

Stalin's use of propaganda focusing on himself, connecting himself to Lenin, and purging party members not in line with his ideals to reinforce his power.

Weimar Constitution

Germany's government undermined by the Treaty of Versailles reparations, leading to hyperinflation and economic instability.

Great Depression

Economic downturn marked by hyperinflation, stock market crashes, and global suffering, aligning the middle class with extremist ideologies like Nazism.

Tenets of Facism

A political ideology that emphasizes hyper-nationalism, militarism, and totalitarian control, often combined with racialism and propaganda.

Rise of the Nazis

A time when the nazi party gained traction with the promise to revise the Treaty of Versailles and solve the economic problems associated with post-war reparations sna Great Depression

World War II in Asia

Fueled by imperialism, nationalism, and militarism, beginning with the creation of Manchukuo in 1931 and escalating with the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

Japanese Imperial Ambitions

Driven by similar ambition that Japan has, rapidly industrializing and driving toward needs for raw materials, markets and labor.

Manchukuo

a puppet state controlled by Japan with the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty as the ruler.

Nanking Massacre

Horrific violence perpetrated by the Japanese Military, which led to the Rape of Nanking- with mass rape and violent torture.

"Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere"

Japan’s Sphere that aimed at expelling Western influence believing themselves to be the most capable and deserving to rule.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The point that WWII officially spreads to the Pacific and the United States.

Island Hopping

U.S. island hopping around Japan to attempt to make territorial gain.

Siege of Leningrad

A military tactic that the Nazis tried to implement to prevent anything from coming in or out.

Battle of Stalingrad

A battle during the war that was the turning point because the Nazis lose enough that they didn’t persist.

Kamikaze attacks

Suicide missions to defeat American ships during the WWII.

Atomic Bomb

The U.S. dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki leading to japan surrendering to make a treaty with America.

Establish U.N.

Established after WWII, with major powers having veto powers.

WWII horrors require a UN

A massive loss of life during WWII and the destruction of the World, made it required to create a UN.

Cold War

The wall dividing Germany into west and east sides.

Marshall Plan

U.S. plan to rebuild Europe.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A defensive alliance formed in 1949 among first-world nations to oppose the spread of communism.

Warsaw Pact

A defensive union of the USSR and Soviet satellite states formed in 1955 as a response to NATO.

Containment

Providing economic and limited military assistance to prevent new states from becoming communist.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Policy Concept that nuclear capable states would be reluctant to launch nuclear weapons.

Khrushchev Thaw

Former USSR policy.

Berlin Wall

Built in 1961, the wall was built by the USSR to separate the people of East and West Berlin.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Point extremely close to nuclear war which occurred when a US spy plane detects Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Brezhnev Doctrine:

A doctrine that means USSR will intervene in any satellite state that is moving away from communism.

Decolonization

Countries gaining independence primarily in Africa and Asia.

Pan-Arabism

A national movement that united lands in North Africa and Middle East.

Apartheid

Extreme segregation.

Nelson Mandela

Helped to develop a new south africa but south africa is stills recovering from colonization

Tiananmen Square

Mass student protests

Proxy wars - Vietnam

Response to French colonialism and Ho Chi Minh.

Korea war

Response UN involvement and Chinese involvement.

Globalization

The trend toward increased cultural and economic connectedness between people, businesses, and organizations throughout the world.