Chapter 34- An Age of Anxiety

Lost Generation

A group of American intellectuals and literai that expressed in poetry and fiction the malaise and disillusion that characterized U.S. and European thought after the Great War.

Albert Einstein

Scientist who was a symbol of the revolution in physics. His theory of special relativity showed there is no single spatial and chronological framework in the universe.

Uncertainty Principal

Principal established by Werner Heisenburg that stated that it was impossible to specify simultaneously the position and the velocity of a subatomic particle.

Sigmund Freud

A medical doctor from Vienna who researched the psychological explanations of mental disorders.

Psychoanalysis

A theory by Sigmund Freud that was also a clinical practice that explored the mind and its creations, such as literature, religion, art, and history.

Dadaism

A movement where individuals would spit metaphorically on nationalism, materialism, and rationalism. The rejected standards of art and would declare assault on the unquestioning conformity of culture and thought.

Neue Sachlichkeit

Meaning "New Objectivity." A German art movement focused on a realistic style of painting that reflected a cynical and highly critical attitude toward war.

Great Depression

Event in which the world plunged into economic depression and the capitalist system of trade and finance collapsed.

Black Thursday

Event in which a wave of selling on the New York Stock Exchange caused stock prices to plummet.

Economic Nationalism

Practice in which politicians would impose tariff barriers, import quotas, and import prohibitions in a hope to achieve a high degree of economic self-sufficiency.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

Act passed by Congress in 1930 which raised duties on most manufactured products to prohibitive levels which resulted in a sharp drop in international trade.

John Maynard Keynes

Most influential economist in the 20th century. He believed that governments should increase money supply which would encourage development.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

President of the United States who took aggressive steps to reinflate the economy.

New Deal

The program of sweeping economic and social reforms. The federal government was justified to intervene to protect the social and economic welfare of people.

War Communism

A policy in which the Bolshevik government assumed control or ownership of banks, industry, and other privately held commercial properties.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Policy implemented by Vladimir Lenin that placed large industries, banks, and transportation and community facilities under state control but placed small-scale industries under private ownership.

Joseph Stalin

General secretary who promoted the idea of socialism and helped transform Russia into the first socialist society, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

First Five-Year Plan

Plan made by Stalin to transform the Soviet Union from a predominantly agricultural country to a leading industrial power.

Collectivization of Agriculture

The process of expropriating privately owned land to create collective or cooperative farm units whose profits were shared by all farmers.

Kulaks

Wealthy peasants that gained prosperity from the new economic policy and represented 3-5 percent of peasantry.

Great Purge

A campaign of political repression from 1935-1938 where Stalin removed authority from people suspected of opposition.

Fascism

A political movement and ideology that sought to create a new type of society, developed as a reaction against liberal democracy and the spread of socialism and communism.

Chauvinism

A belligerent form of nationalism

Xenophobia

A fear of foreign people

Benito Mussolini

Former socialist and guiding force behind Italian fascism. He believed war represented the turning point for the nation.

Il Duce

Meaning "the leader"

National Socialism

Belief was promoted by Hitler. He promised to end all misfortunes by creating a new order that would lead to greatness for Germany.

Eugenics

Policies that had positive eugenics, which were increased production of beneficial hereditary traits and negative eugenics, which is discouraging of reproduction with those who have deficient traits.

Anti-semitism

Prejudice against Jews.

Nuremburg Laws

Laws that deprived German Jews from gaining citizenship and prevent marriage between Jews and other Germans.

Kristallnacht

Meaning "the night of broken glass". Nazis arranged for the destruction of Jewish stores and synagogues. Hundreds of Jews were killed.

Pogrom

Meaning "devastation". This devastation caused around 250,000 Jews to flee Germany.