geo unit 3 vocabulary

Eurasia

the large landmass that includes both Europe and Asia

Taiga

biome with long cold winters and a few months of warm weather; also called boreal forest

Steppe

A large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia.

Tundra

An extremely cold, dry biome.

chernozem soil

A Russian term for dark, fertile soil, often associated with grassland settings in southern Russia and Ukraine.

Baltic Republics

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

NATO

an international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security

USSR

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Created by Lenin in 1922.

Collective farms

Government owned farms, workers were paid by government and they shared profits from products.

Privatization

To change from government or public ownership or control to private ownership or control.

Soviet

council of workers and soldiers set up by Russian revolutionaries in 1917

Czar

A Russian emperor

Proletariat

Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production

Bourgeoisie

the middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people

Glasnost

a policy of the Soviet government allowing freer discussion of social problems

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

economic stagnation

a prolonged period of slow economic growth; usually accompanied by high unemployment

Regulated capitalism

a market system in which the government intervenes to protect rights and make procedural guarantees

Karl Marx

Father of Communism

Fredric Engels

aided Karl Marx in composing the Communist Manifesto.

Adam Smith

Scottish economist who wrote the Wealth of Nations a precursor to modern Capitalism.

Wealth of Nations

book spells out the first modern account of free market economies.

Communist Manifesto

A socialist manifesto written by Marx and Engels (1848) describing the history of the working-class movement according to their views.

Czar Nicholas II

Russian Czar during WWI; unpopular with Russian people; overthrown in March 1917; executed by Bolsheviks after November Revolution (1917)

Totalitarianism

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Stalin

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

WWI—Czar Nicholas II Abdicate

to step down or give up the throne in 1917 the people blamed the Czar the poor performance in the war. Peace land and bread.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolshevik (later Communist) Party. He lived in exile in Switzerland until 1917, then returned to Russia to lead the Bolsheviks to victory during the Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed.

Nikita Kruschhev

a politician who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Lenin

Founded the Communist Party in Russia and set up the world's first Communist Party dictatorship. He led the October Revolution of 1917, in which the Communists seized power in Russia. He then ruled the country until his death in 1924.

Stalin

Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)

Red Army

the regular army of the former Soviet Union

White Army

Russians who opposed Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Iron Curtain

a "curtain" split between the democratic nations and communist nations in Eastern Europe and Russia

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

Space Race

A competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union.

Crimea

(1853-1856) Russian war against Ottomans for control of the Black Sea; intervention by Britain and France cause Russia to lose; Russians realize need to industiralize.

Putin and Syria (Obama)

Russia and Putin support Assad regime with bombing of rebel forces and military aid
Wants to have more influence in the region after America backed off

Aral Sea

lake that has lost 80% of water volume from irrigation projects; runoff with chemicals inside it flows into this lake and has made it polluted