Pre-AP World History - Contemporary Period Key Terms

Militarism

glorifying war and preparing for it

Trench Warfare

fighting from trenches dug in the battlefield

Total War

war in which countries use all their resources for the war.

Fourteen Points

plan for a just and lasting peace

Treaty of Versailles

agreement at the end of World War I between Germany and the Allied powers.

Russian Revolution

the overthrow of the Russian monarchy in 1917

Communist Party

a political party practicing the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin.

Totalitarianism

a government that has control over people's lives

Mao Zedong

leader of the Communist revolution in China

Civil Disobedience

disobeying the law for the purpose of achieving some higher goal

Great Depression

severe economic downturn that followed the collapse of the U.S. stock market in 1929.

New Deal

Roosevelt's program for creating jobs and improving the American economy.

Fascism

Political movement based on nationalism that gives power to a dictator and takes away individual rights.

Nazism

German brand of fascism.

Appeasement

giving in to keep the peace.

Isolationism

belief that political ties with other countries should be avoided

Pearl Harbor

navy base in Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese.

Holocaust

systematic mass killing of Jews and other groups considered inferior by the Nazis.

D-Day

huge allied invasion mounted to retake France from the Germans.

Nuremberg Trials

trials of Nazi leaders charged with crimes against humanity, held in Nuremberg, Germany.

Iron Curtain

the division between Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War.

Containment

policy aimed at preventing the spread of communism.

Marshall Plan

plan to give aid to European countries to help them recover

Cold War

a state of tension and mistrust between the United States and the Soviet Union.

NATO

military alliance including the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.

Domino Theory

theory that nations were like a row of dominos; if one fell to communism, the others would fall, too.

Detente

policy to decrease tensions between the superpowers.

SALT

talk to limit nuclear arms in the United States and the Soviet Union

Camp David Accords

an agreement in which Egypt recognized Israel as a nation and Israel gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt.

Global Economy

economy linking the economies of many nations.