AP World History: Shifting Powers

Bolsheviks

The radical, Marxist faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, led by Vladimir Lenin.

Bolshevik Revolution

Bolsheviks who seized power in Russia's Revolution in 1917, establishing the creation of the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Marxist faction in Russia, the Bolsheviks.

Union Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

Communist party that is massive in Eastern Europe/Northern Asia that has ideological conflicts with USA (communism vs. capitalism).

Tsar Nicholas II

Last emperor of Russia and resisted political reforms that the people wanted.

Bloody Sunday

Massacre of peaceful protestors by imperial Russian troops.

Romanov’s

The imperial dynasty that ruled over Russia from 1613-1917, ending with Tsar Nicholas II.

Duma

Elected legislative assembly of Russia to help with reforms while the tsar remained in power.

New Economic Plan (NEP)

A temporary retreat from full communism to allow small-scale capitalism to revive the war-torn economy, with the state retaining control over heavy industry, banking, and foreign trade.

Communism

Political and economic ideology aiming for a classless society where the means of production (factories, farms, mines) are owned collectively by the community or state, not privately, to eliminate inequality and distribute wealth based on need.

Command Economy

A system where the government centrally controls all economic decisions—what's produced, how much, and at what price, with state ownership of resources.

Soviets

The worker councils (Russian: sovet) formed during the 1905 and 1917 Russian Revolutions, representing workers, soldiers, and peasants (key to Russian Revolutions).

Mexican Revolution

A major armed conflict overthrowing dictator Porfirio Díaz, driven by demands for political reform, land redistribution workers' rights, and ending neocolonialism.

Francesco Madero

Launched Anti-Relectionist Party, ignited the Mexican Revolution.

Francisco Pancho Villa

Mexican revolutionary general.

Emiliano Zapata

Key Mexican revolutionary (1910-1920) known as the "Liberator of the South," who led peasant armies demanding radical land reform and social justice.

Victoriano Huerta

Mexican general who seized power via a bloody coup in 1913, overthrowing President Francisco I. Madero to establish a repressive military dictatorship, sparking wider conflict in the Mexican Revolution.

Lazaro Cardenas

President of Mexico key for implementing radical social & economic reforms from the Mexican Revolution, notably land redistribution, organizing labor/peasants, and nationalizing the oil industry.

Venustiano Carranza

Key Mexican revolutionary leader who became President (1917-1920) after overthrowing Victoriano Huerta, leading the Constitutionalist faction, and playing a central role in drafting the progressive 1917 Mexican Constitution which aimed for land, labor, and social reforms.

Alvaro Obregon

Pivotal Mexican revolutionary general and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1920 to 1924.

Ten Tragic Days

Ten-day period of violence in Mexico City.

Conventionistas

The radical faction led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata during the Mexican Revolution.

Constitutionalistas

A major faction in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), led by Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón, who sought to establish a liberal, democratic republic with a strong central government.

Qing Dynasty

China's last imperial dynasty, established by the Manchus.

Sun Yat-Sen

Pivotal Chinese revolutionary leader, physician, and statesman known as the "Father of Modern China" for overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and founding the Republic of China.

Kuomintang

Chinese political party founded by Sun Yat-sen (and later led by Chiang Kai-shek) that sought to modernize China.

Chiang Kai Shek

The military leader of China's Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) after Sun Yat-sen.

May Fourth Movement

In China was a powerful student-led cultural and political uprising against foreign imperialism, especially concerning the Treaty of Versailles, which betrayed Chinese interests by granting German concessions to Japan.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Ruling single-party entity of China (People's Republic of China), founded in 1921, that established a communist state after winning the Chinese Civil War in 1949, implementing Marxist-Leninist ideology.

Mao Zedong

Revolutionary leader who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, leading the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to victory in the Chinese Civil War.

The Long March

The epic, year-long, 6,000-mile military retreat by Chinese Communist forces to escape Nationalist encirclement.

People’s Republic of China (PRC)

the communist state established in mainland China in 1949 by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after winning the Chinese Civil War.

Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedong's catastrophic campaign to rapidly industrialize China by merging farms into massive communes.

Cultural Revolution

Radical socio-political movement in China, launched by Mao Zedong, to reassert communist ideology.

Red Guards

Radical student paramilitary groups mobilized by Mao Zedong during China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) to enforce communist ideology and attack "bourgeois" elements.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Founder of modern Turkey, a military hero who led the Turkish War of Independence.

Republic of Turkey

Modern nation-state established in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after the Ottoman Empire's collapse.

Indian National Conference

Pivotal political organization founded in 1885 in British India to advocate for greater Indian participation in governance.

Mohandas Ghandi

Pivotal leader of India's independence movement, renowned for pioneering nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against British rule.

Amritsar Massacre

Pivotal 1919 event in British India where British troops, under Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, fired on a peaceful, unarmed Indian crowd in Amritsar, killing hundreds.

Salt March

Pivotal act of nonviolent civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi, protesting the British salt monopoly and tax in India.

Civil Disobedience

Active, nonviolent refusal to obey unjust laws or government demands, based on moral or ethical beliefs, to force social or political change.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Key leader of the Indian Muslim community who founded Pakistan.

Muslim League

Crucial political party in British India, formed to protect Muslim interests against the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress.