history 2

Black Tuesday

The stock market crash on October 29, 1929, marking the start of the Great Depression.

Speculation

Risky investment in stocks hoping for quick profits.

Buying on Margin

Borrowing money to buy stocks, leading to financial collapse when stocks fell.

Overproduction

Making too many goods, causing prices to drop and businesses to fail.

Bank Runs

When too many people withdraw money from banks, causing banks to fail.

Dust Bowl

Severe drought and dust storms in the 1930s that ruined farms in the Midwest.

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns built by homeless people during the Great Depression.

New Deal

FDR’s programs to help recover from the Great Depression.

Isolationism

Avoiding involvement in world affairs, especially before WWII.

Laissez-faire

The idea that the government should not interfere in the economy.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

A high tax on imports that worsened the Great Depression.

Fascism

A political system with a strong leader, nationalism, and no individual freedoms.

Totalitarianism

A government that controls all aspects of life.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 treaty that ended WWI and blamed Germany.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist leader of Italy during WWII.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party

Dictator of Germany and leader of the Nazis.

Weimar Republic

Germany’s weak government after WWI.

Third Reich

Hitler’s totalitarian rule in Germany.

Brown and Black Shirts

Hitler’s (Brownshirts) and Mussolini’s (Blackshirts) paramilitary groups.

Nationalism

Extreme pride in one’s country.

Mein Kampf

Hitler’s book outlining his ideas for Germany.

Appeasement

Giving in to aggressive demands to avoid war.

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy, and Japan in WWII.

Allied Powers

The U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union, and others fighting the Axis.

Non-Aggression Pact

Agreement between Germany and the USSR not to attack each other.

Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Stalin, Churchill, FDR, Truman

WWII leaders from Germany, Italy, Japan, Soviet Union, Britain, and the U.S.

Blitzkrieg

'Lightning war,' Germany’s fast-moving military strategy.

Operation Barbarossa

Germany’s failed invasion of the Soviet Union.

Operation Overlord

The Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day).

Battle of Britain

Air battle where Britain stopped German invasion.

Battle of Stalingrad

Turning point where the Soviet Union defeated Germany.

D-Day

Allied landings in Normandy, France (June 6, 1944).

Battle of Midway

Turning point in the Pacific where the U.S. defeated Japan.

Rationing

Limiting use of resources during war.

Propaganda

Government messages to influence public opinion.

War Bonds

Citizens lending money to the government to fund the war.

Holocaust

The Nazi genocide of six million Jews.

Genocide

Mass killing of a group of people.

Concentration Camps

Nazi prison camps where millions died.

Final Solution

Nazi plan to exterminate Jews.

Manhattan Project

U.S. project to develop the atomic bomb.

VE Day

Victory in Europe Day (May 8, 1945).

VJ Day

Victory over Japan Day (August 15, 1945).

United Nations

International organization formed after WWII to keep peace.

Nuremberg Trials

Trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes.

Cold War

Tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union after WWII.