AQA GCSE History Vocabulary Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards for AQA GCSE History Exam 1, covering Conflict and Tension (1918-1939) and Germany (1890-1945).

ANSCHLUSS

Union between Germany and Austria.

ANTI-SEMITIC

Against Jews

APPEASEMENT

Policy of giving someone what they want in the hope of avoiding war.

ARMISTICE

Initial agreement signed to stop fighting during a war; countries then work out a treaty of peace.

ASSEMBLY

A group of powerful countries which ran the LofN, Britain France, Italy and Japan were permanent members and other countries were elected to serve for a term.

BIG THREE

[Or Big Four!] representatives that negotiated the treaty of Versailles.

COLLECTIVE SECURITY

Working together or keeping the peace.

COUNCIL

Members of the LofN who met once a year to discuss and vote on matters of international importance.

COVENANT

An agreement; the covenant of the LofN set up what the League was and what members could expect to happen under it.

DEMILITARISE

To remove all military [weapons and troops] from an area.

DEPRESSION

An economic state; when a country has little or no money.

DISARMAMENT

The reduction or limitation of the number of weapons and/or troops a country has.

FOURTEEN POINTS

Woodrow Wilson’s brain child which aimed to create fairness and peace after the First World War.

HAILE SELASSIE

Title of the ruler of Ethiopia.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

An international court of law set up by the league of nations.

LEBENSRAUM

Living space in Eastern Europe.

LOCARNO TREATY

Agreement signed in $1925$, which allowed Germany to join the LofN.

MANDATE

A former colony [part of the empire] that was assigned to the LofN to be governed.

MORAL CONDEMNATION

To tell someone that they are in the wrong

PACIFIST

Someone who believes in peace and is against conflict to solve issues.

PLEBISITE

When the people of a country, not just politicians vote on a matter. Like a referendum.

PROPAGANDA

Using the media to persuade people to think a certain way.

REMILITARISATION

Rebuilding stores of weapons and troops.

REPARATIONS

Money paid as compensation to people or a country that has been harmed.

RHINELAND

An area around the River Rhine in Western Germany, bordering France.

SELF-DETERMINATION

The idea that countries should be allowed to govern themselves rather than being in an empire.

STRESA FRONT

An agreement made in $1935$ between Italy, France and Britain, declaring they would unite against Hitler.

UNANIMOUS

When everyone agrees.

USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the name given to Communist Russia.

VETO

The right to reject a proposal.

ABDICATE

Give up the throne of a country.

ANTI-SEMITISM

Hatred for and persecution of the Jews as an ethnic, religious or racial group.

ARTICLE 48

Part of the Weimar Constitution that gave the President the right to rule in a time of crisis without requiring the support of the Reichstag.

ARYAN

Person of German or Scandinavian origin, usually fair-haired and blue-eyed; the Nazis believed that Aryans were superior to all other races.

ASSASSINATE

Murder an important person for political or religious reasons.

CENSORSHIP

The limiting of access to information, ideas or books in order to prevent knowledge or the freedom of thought.

COALITION

Government where two or more political parties combine to rule.

COMMUNISM

Political system where all property is owned by the government; people are equal and they are paid by the government according to their needs.

CONCENTRATION CAMP

Camp in which people are held under harsh conditions and without the freedoms of the rest of society.

CONSCRIPTION

Law making all men of a certain age join the armed forces.

CONSTITUTION

Set of rules by which a country is governed.

DEUTSCHE ARBEITSFRONT (DAF)

German labour front, a Nazi organisation that workers had to belong to.

DAWES PLAN

Agreement between the USA and European countries, allowing for US loans to be given to European countries (especially Germany). This money was to be invested in factories and roads, and stimulate economy.

DEATH CAMP

Extermination camp where prisoners, mainly Jews, were put to death.

DEPRESSION (1930s)

Time during the $1930s$ when many banks and businesses failed and millions lost their jobs.

DER FUHRER

Supreme leader, the title adopted by Adolf Hitler.

DICTATOR

Ruler with total control over how a country is governed.

DIKTAT

Nickname given by many Germans to the hated Treaty of Versailles; translated as dictated peace.

EDELWEISS PIRATES

Rebel youth gang which went camping and sang songs making fun of Hitler, they even physically attacked Hitler youth groups.

EINSATZGRUPPEN

SS Mobile death squads responsible for the murder of those thought by the Nazis to be racial or political enemies.

ENABLING LAW

Law passed in $1933$ that allowed to Nazis to make their own laws without consulting the Reichstag.

EUGENICS

The science of improving a population by controlled breeding.

EUTHANASIA

Deliberate killing of a person.

FINAL SOLUTION

Nazi name given to their attempt to wipe out Europe’s Jews between $1942$ and $1945$.

FRIEKORPS

Right wing German paramilitary group that was active in the early years of the Weimar Republic.

GESTAPO

Part of the SS and Nazi Germany’s secret police force, created by Herman Goering in $1933$.

GHETTO

Area where members of a particular racial group are forced to live.

HOLOCAUST

Term used to describe the mass murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis during the second world war.

HYPERINFLATION

Sudden, dramatic rise in prices.

INDOCTRINATE

Another word for brainwash; to teach someone to accept a belief without exception.

JULY BOMB PLOT

Failed attempt in $1944$ by a group of Germans, containing Von Stauffenberg, to kill Hitler.

KAISER

The German Emperor.

KINDER, KIRCHE, KUCHE

‘Children, Church, Kitchen’ a slogan used by the Nazis which reflected what women should dedicate their lives to.

KRISTALLNACHT

Night of Broken Glass, in November $1938$, when Jews and their shops and businesses were attacked throughout Germany.

MASTER RACE

Elite race of people, to which Hitler believed the Germans belonged to.

MILITARISM

Belief that a country should maintain a strong armed forces and be prepared to use it aggressively.

NOVEMBER CRIMINALS

Nickname given to the German politicians who ended the First World War and signed the hated Treaty of Versailles on Germany behalf.

Nuremberg Laws

Series of laws aimed at excluding German Jews from Reich citizenship and stopping them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of ‘German or related blood.’

PASSIVE RESISTANCE

Protesting against government or laws by using non-violent acts.

POLICE STATE

Country controlled by a political police force; the government has strict controls over people’s lives, especially by means of a secret police force.

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

Political system in which the number of politicians for a particular party is in proportion with the numbers of votes they win; it can lead to lots of small parties gaining seats and an unstable government.

PUTSCH

Attempt to seize power or take control using force.

REICHSTAG

The main, elected German parliament.

SPARTACISTS

Group of German communists who wanted a revolution similar to the one that had taken place in Russia in $1917$.

STORMTROOPERS (SA)

Hitler’s brown-shirted supporters who were employed to beat up opponents and guard meetings.

SWASTIKA

The crooked cross symbol adopted by the Nazi Party emblem.

SWING YOUTH

Group of young Germans who refused to join the Hitler Youth Organisation.

WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Name given to Germany’s democratic system between $1913$ and $1933$.

WHITE ROSE GROUP

Anti-Nazi youth group, made up mainly of university students.

YOUNG PLAN

Agreement to reduce reparations, made in $1929$ between Germany and the countries they owed money to after the First World War.