history

Bolsheviks

Radical Russian Marxist revolutionaries led by Lenin who took control in the October Revolution of 1917.

Adolf Hitler

Dictator of Nazi Germany, responsible for World War II and the Holocaust.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolsheviks and the first leader of the Soviet Union.

Mein Kampf

Hitler’s autobiography outlining his ideology and future plans for Germany.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy, known as 'Il Duce'.

Rasputin

Mystical advisor to Tsarina Alexandra; heavily influenced Russian politics before the revolution.

Soviet

Local councils consisting of workers, peasants, and soldiers in revolutionary Russia.

Josef Stalin

Totalitarian leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin, known for the Great Purge and forced industrialization.

Leon Trotsky

Bolshevik revolutionary and rival to Stalin; played a key role in the Russian Revolution.

Tsar Alexander II

Russian emperor before the revolution.

Tsar Nicholas II

The last emperor of Russia; abdicated during the 1917 revolution.

Weimar Republic

German democratic government post-WWI, which struggled economically and politically.

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice or discrimination against Jews.

Censorship

Government suppression of speech, media, or thought.

Command economy

An economy in which the government controls production and prices.

Communism

A classless political system where all property is publicly owned.

Fascism

A political movement based on nationalism, dictatorship, and suppression of opposition.

Der Führer

Title meaning 'the leader,' used by Adolf Hitler.

Great Purge

Stalin’s campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union.

Il Duce

Title meaning 'the leader,' used by Mussolini.

Indoctrination

Teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs without question.

Kristallnacht

'Night of Broken Glass,' a Nazi attack on Jewish communities in 1938.

Nazism

German form of fascism under Hitler, with extreme nationalism and racism.

Proletariat

Working-class people, especially in Marxist theory.

Totalitarianism

A government system where the state has total control over all aspects of life.