Honors Modern World History Final Study Guide

MANIA

Causes of WWI: Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Militarism

The buildup of Armies and Navies across Europe, including an Arms Race between Germany and Great Britain.

Triple Alliance

An alliance before WWI consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

Triple Entente

An alliance before WWI consisting of France, Russia, and Great Britain.

Nationalism

A great pride in one’s nation that caused ethnic groups to seek independence.

Imperialism

The competition among European nations for colonies and global power, increasing tensions.

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The event that sparked WWI, where Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

Central Powers

The alliance during WWI that included Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

Allied Powers

The alliance during WWI that included Russia, France, Great Britain, and later the United States, Italy, and Japan.

Trench Warfare

A form of warfare where soldiers fought from long trenches, leading to a stalemate.

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The treaty that ended WWI, aimed to punish Germany by making them accept blame for the war and pay reparations.

Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, the first head of Soviet Russia and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Trotsky

Leon Trotsky, commander of the Red Army and key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution, who was later exiled by Stalin.

Stalin

Successor to Lenin who aimed to create a communist state and enforced a totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union.

Total War

A war in which all efforts and resources are directed towards the war.

Armistice

A formal temporary agreement to stop fighting during a war.

Fascism

An authoritarian political system prioritizing the nation over individual freedoms, often led by a dictator.

Nuremberg Laws

Laws that took away Jewish citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and non-Jews.

Holocaust

The systematic genocide of Jews and other groups during WWII.

Final Solution

The Nazi policy aimed at the systematic genocide of Jews, viewed as a threat to the German race.

Pearl Harbor Reason

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was driven by the United States' stoppage of resource supplies to Japan.

Blitzkrieg

A rapid and intense military campaign for surprising and overwhelming an opponent.

Midway Significance

A turning point in the Pacific theater during WWII.

Stalingrad Significance

A crucial turning point in Europe during WWII that halted the German advance.

Role of Women during WWII

Women took over industrial jobs, joined the armed forces as nurses and mechanics, and engaged in code-breaking.

Russian-Soviet Pact

A non-aggression pact that secretly divided Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

German invasion of the Soviet Union

A poorly prepared Soviet Union faced the invasion, leading to significant losses for Germany.

Cold War

A geopolitical and ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union after WWII.

NATO

North Atlantic Treat Organization, a military alliance formed to counter Soviet expansion.

Warsaw Pact

A political and military alliance established by the Soviet Union as a counterweight to NATO.

Iron Curtain

A metaphorical division in Europe between the democratic West and the communist East.

Marshall Plan

An economic aid program from the US to help rebuild war-torn Western Europe after WWII.