Unit 7 Time Period 4 Vocab

• refer to the military alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II (1939–1945)

  • was established with the Tripartite Pact

  • opposed the Allied Powers

Axis Powers

• were the coalition of nations that fought against the Axis Powers during World War II (1939–1945)

  • included the US, Soviet Union, UK, China, and France

Allied Powers

• was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II (1940–1945, 1951–1955)

  • a key leader of the Allied Powers as well

  • best known for his leadership, his powerful speeches, and his role shaping in the post-war world

Winston Churchill

• an agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed on August 23, 1939

  • the countries agreed that they would not attack each other and secretly divided the countries that lay between them

German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

• was a military strategy used by Nazi Germany during World War II to achieve rapid and overwhelming victories

  • involved fast-moving, coordinated attacks using infantry, tanks, and air support to quickly break enemy defenses and cause chaos

  • a shock and awe strategy that aimed to eliminate the enemy with incredible speed

Blitzkrieg

• was a U.S. policy passed in 1941 that allowed the United States to send military aid to Allied nations during World War II without directly entering the war at first

  • was a turning point in shifting US foreign policy from isolationism to active involvement

Lend-Lease Act

• was a cultural symbol representing women who worked in factories and shipyards in the United States during World War II

  • taking on traditionally male factory jobs to support the war effort, often depicted in posters with the phrase "We Can Do It!" and signifying the significant shift in gender roles during the conflict

Rosie the Riveter

• refers to the surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941

  • this event officially led the US to enter the war

Pearl Harbor

• was a major aerial battle during World War II between Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe and Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF)

  • was the first military campaign fought entirely in air

Battle of Britain

• was a turning point in World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union

  • which culminated in February 1943 with the Soviets encircling a German army and beginning the long push back towards Germany

  • was one of the bloodiest battles in history and marked the beginning of Germany’s decline on the Eastern Front

Battle of Stalingrad

• was a key battle in World War II fought in North Africa between the Allies (led by Britain) and Axis powers (led by Germany and Italy)

  • a British-led army drove German and Italian forces from the North African town back into Libya

  • the ALLIES won!

Battle of El Alamein

• was a major naval battle in World War II between the United States and Japan in the Pacific Theater

  • Code-breaking informed the United States that Japan was going to invade the Island in June

  • American naval forces managed to arrive in time to sink numerous Japanese aircraft carriers

  • it was a turning point in the war, shifting momentum in favor to the Allies

Battle of Midway

• was a military strategy used by the United States in the Pacific Theater during World War II to defeat Japan

  • Instead of attacking every Japanese-held island, the U.S. selectively captured strategic islands and bypassed heavily fortified ones

Island Hooping

• was the 32nd president of the United States (1933–1945) and a key leader during World War II

  • guided the U.S. from neutrality to full engagement in World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor (1941)

  • created the New Deal to help the US recover from the Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt

• refers to the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944, marking the beginning of a major offensive against Nazi Germany in World War II

  • considered a turning point in World War II

D-Day

• refers to the evacuation of Allied troops from France, during World War II (May 26–June 4, 1940)

  • the evacuation of Allied troops, primarily British, from the French port city during World War II, where they were trapped by German forces

Dunkirk

• refers to May 8, 1945, when Nazi Germany officially surrendered, marking the end of World War II in Europe

  • Germany’s surrender following Hitler’s suicide

  • it was victory for Europe!

V-E Day

• was a German-born physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity and playing an indirect but crucial role in World War II and the nuclear age

  • fits under the themes of scientific advancements, war technology, and global intellectual movements

Albert Einstein

• refers to a highly classified U.S. government program during World War II aimed at developing the world's first atomic bomb

  • primarily motivated by fears that Nazi Germany might develop such a weapon first

Manhattan Project

• was an American theoretical physicist and the scientific director of the Manhattan Project

  • known as the “father of the atomic bomb”

Robert Oppenheimer

• refers to the code name for the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert

  • marking a pivotal moment in the development of atomic weapons and the start of the nuclear age

Trinity Test

• means “The German Air Force”

  • specifically referring to the aerial warfare branch of the German military during World War II under the Nazi regime

Luftwaffe

• refers to Japanese suicide pilots who crashed their planes into enemy ships during World War II

  • particularly in the later stages of the conflict

Kamikaze

• a Japanese city that was the first target of an atomic bomb during World War II

  • was a pivotal moment in history that led to the end in war

Hiroshima

• a city in Japan that was the site of the second atomic bombing on August 9, 1945, during World War II

  • led to Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II

Nagasaki

• refers to a military tactic where incendiary bombs are dropped on an enemy city to create widespread fires and destruction

  • primarily used during World War II

Firebombing

• refers to a highly destructive weapon that harnesses the power of nuclear reactions to release a massive amount of energy, causing an explosion of unprecedented scale

  • marking a significant turning point in warfare

Atomic Bomb

• marking the day when Japan formally surrendered to the Allied forces, effectively ending World War II

  • the official signing of the surrender documents took place on September 2, 1945, which is considered this Day in the United States. 

V-J Day

• refers to the three major Allied powers during World War II: the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain

  • refers to their leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill respectively

Big Three

• refers to a crucial World War II meeting held in Iran, between November 28 and December 1, 1943

  • where Allied leaders - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin - coordinated military strategy against Nazi Germany

Tehran Conference

• refers to a meeting held in February 1945 between the leaders of the Allied powers (U.S., Britain, and Soviet Union) near the Crimean city

  • where they discussed plans for post-World War II Europe, including the division of Germany into occupied zones and the establishment of the United Nations

  • mainly discussed plans about the end of World War II and the future of the world

Yalta Conference

• refers to a meeting held in Germany in July-August 1945 where the Allied leaders (U.S. President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill/Clement Attlee, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin) discussed the post-World War II division and reconstruction of Germany, setting the stage for the Cold War by highlighting growing tensions between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union

  • the final war conference of World War II

  • main purpose: was for Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States to determine what would happen to Germany after the war, and push Japan to surrender

Potsdam Conference

• is the spread of nuclear weapons, technology, or material to countries that don't already have them

  • can also refer to the possibility of terrorist groups or other armed groups acquiring nuclear weapons

Nuclear Proliferation

• refers to an economic system where a nation fully mobilizes all its resources, including industrial capacity, manpower, and civilian infrastructure, to support a war effort

  • essentially prioritizing war production over all other economic activities (the whole economy is geared towards fighting the war)

Total War Economy

• refers to the deliberate and systematic extermination of a particular ethnic, religious, or national group

  • often state-sponsored and involves mass killings, forced deportations, and cultural destruction

  • is the intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group

  • a crime that is recognized internationally

Genocide

• refers to the forced removal of an ethnic or religious group from a particular territory, often through violence, intimidation, or deportation

  • focuses on eliminating a group's presence in a specific area

  • however it can still involve mass killings

Ethnic Cleansing

• refers to prejudice, discrimination, or hostility toward Jewish people

  • including the rise of fascism and the establishment of Israel in 1948 following the Holocaust

Anti Semitism

• was the ‘survival of the fittest’ in a worse way

  • a pseudo-science (fake science) that claims you can create a better race of people by preventing the reproduction of people you believe are inferior due to race, ability, sexuality, or other reasons

Eugenics

• refers to the misapplication of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to human society, suggesting that certain races or societies are naturally "superior" and entitled to dominate others

  • often used to justify imperialism, racism, and social inequality, based on the idea of "survival of the fittest."

Social Darwinism

• is an organized system of misusing science to promote false scientific beliefs in which dominant racial and ethnic groups are perceived as being superior

  • influences racial bias and discrimination in science and research

Scientific Racism

• was the systematic murder of Europe's Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War

  • was the murder of millions of Jews and other persecuted groups across Nazi-occupied Europe in World War II

Holocaust

• a program which intentionally killed disabled teens, adults, and elderly people, who were considered “unfit” members of society

  • was a Nazi German effort

T4 Program

• medical killing

  • act of casing the quick or painless death, usually to relieve or avert suffering

Euthanasia

• units of the Nazi security forces composed of members of the SS

  • acted as mobile killing units during the German invasions of Poland (1939) and the Soviet Union (1941)

  • local non-Jews who were trained and encouraged by German paramilitary death squads

Einsatzgruppen (SS)

• Nazi plan to eliminate Europe’s Jewish population

  • was implemented from 1941 to 1945 and resulted in the systematic murder of 6 million Jews across 21 countries

  • the plan to exterminate the Jewish population during World War II

Final Solution

• refer to detention centers used by governments to imprison large groups of people, often under harsh and inhumane conditions

  • this was where millions of Jews, political prisoners, Roma, and other persecuted groups were imprisoned, forced into labor, and killed as part of the Holocaust

Concentration camps

• refer to Nazi camps specifically designed for the mass murder of people during the Holocaust in World War II

  • which primarily served as detention and labor camps

  • were focused on the systematic killing of large numbers of people, especially Jews

Extermination camps

• refers to the largest and most infamous Nazi concentration and extermination camp during World War II

  • located in occupied Poland

Auschwitz

• refer to the basic rights and freedoms that all individuals are entitled to, simply by being human

  These Rights include:

• The right to life, liberty, and security

• Freedom of expression and assembly

• The right to a fair trial and equal protection under the law

• Freedom from torture, slavery, and discrimination

Human Rights

• refers to the mass murder and atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979

  • is a tragic example of the extreme violence and human rights violations that occurred in the aftermath of conflicts during the Cold War

Cambodian Genocide

• refers to the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979

  • is infamous for leading the Cambodian Genocide

Pol Pot

• refers to the communist movement and regime in Cambodia that took power in 1975 under the leadership of Pol Pot

  • aimed to transform Cambodia into an agrarian utopia by implementing a radical version of Marxist-Leninist ideology

Khmer Rouge

• refers to the mass slaughter of the Tutsi ethnic group by the Hutu majority in Rwanda between April and July 1994

  • tragic event resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 people

Rwandan Genocide

• are an ethnic group native to Rwanda and Burundi, two countries in East Africa

  • are often described as being more aristocratic or elite, although this distinction was largely shaped by colonial rule rather than inherent cultural differences

Tutsis

• are an ethnic group primarily found in Rwanda and Burundi, two countries in East Africa

  • have been opposed to the Tutsis

Hutus

• refers to the man-made famine that occurred in Soviet Ukraine between 1932 and 1933

  • resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians

  • is often explained alongside other genocidal events

Holodomor

• is a country in Eastern Europe with a long and complex history, shaped by shifting empires, political struggles, and conflicts

  • has been at the crossroads of various civilizations, and its people have fought for independence and autonomy against larger, more powerful neighbors

Ukraine

• was the President of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003

  • also known for his dictatorial rule

Saddam Hussein

• are an ethnic group primarily found in the regions of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Armenia

  • have faced significant challenges over the years, particularly due to political and ethnic tensions in the countries they inhabit

Kurds

• is a country in Southeastern Europe, part of the Balkans

  • its history is marked by a series of conflicts, ethnic tensions, and political changes, particularly in the 20th century, as well as the impact of ethnic and religious divisions

Bosnia

• is a country in Southeastern Europe that has played a significant role in both regional and global conflicts over the centuries, particularly in the context of ethnic nationalism, imperialism, and the breakup of Yugoslavia

  • was a country that fought Austro-Hungary in World War I

Serbia

• refers to a region in western Sudan that became the center of a devastating genocide and humanitarian crisis in the early 21st century

  • is an example of ethnic violence, civil war, and international intervention

Darfur

• is a country in northeastern Africa with a long history marked by ancient civilizations, colonialism, ethnic conflict, and political instability

  • as it provides an example of colonialism, the impact of ethnic and religious divisions, and the challenges of nation-building in a post-colonial world

Sudan

• are a Muslim ethnic minority group primarily from the Rakhine State in Myanmar (Burma)

  • the group has been at the center of a humanitarian crisis and ethnic conflict in the 21st century, drawing significant international attention due to their persecution

Rohingya

• refer to a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that played a key role in the 1917 Russian Revolution

  • led by Vladimir Lenin

  • established a communist state, marked the beginning of the Soviet Union

Bolsheviks

• refers to the October Revolution of 1917

  • during which a Marxist group led by Vladimir Lenin overthrew the Russian Provisional government

  • established a communist government

  • was a turning point for Russia

Bolshevik Revolution

• is a pivotal figure as the leader of the Bolshevik Party and the architect of the Russian Revolution of 1917

  • played a critical role in overthrowing the Russian monarchy and Provisional Government to establish the first communist state in history

Vladimir Lenin

• also known as the Soviet Union, refers to a socialist state that existed from 1922 to 1991

  • was founded after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the monarchy and established a communist government

Union Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

• was the last emperor of Russia, reigning from 1894 to 1917

  • the rise of revolutionary movements caused the abdication for his monarchy

  • the defeat in the Russo-Japanese war caused even more of an issue for him

Tsar Nicholas II

• refers to a massacre that occurred on January 22, 1905 (Gregorian calendar), when peaceful protesters were fired upon by the imperial guards outside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

  • was a key trigger of the 1905 Russian Revolution and highlighted the growing dissatisfaction with Tsar Nicholas II's regime

Bloody Sunday

• were the ruling dynasty of Russia from 1613 to 1917

  • are an important example of absolutism, expansionism, and the challenges faced by traditional monarchies in the face of modernization and revolutionary change

Romanov’s

• refers to the Russian parliament or legislative assembly that was established after the 1905 Russian Revolution

  • highlighted growing tensions between the autocratic monarchy and reformist

Duma

• was a policy introduced by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 in the Soviet Union during the aftermath of the Russian Civil War (1917–1923)

  • was designed to stabilize the struggling Soviet economy and rebuild the country after the chaos of revolution, war, and economic collapse

New Economic Plan (NEP)

• is a political and economic ideology advocating for a classless society in which all property and resources are collectively owned

  • eliminating private property and wealth inequality

  • was rooted in the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Communism

• refers to an economic system in which the government makes all key decisions about production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services

  • are closely associated with communist states, such as the Soviet Union

Command Economy

• refer to local councils or assemblies of workers, peasants, and soldiers that played a key role in the Russian Revolution of 1917

  • the rise of communism

Soviets

• refers to a Soviet leader who ruled the USSR from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953

  • represented a horrific example of communist dictatorship

Joseph Stalin

• refers to a series of centralized economic plans implemented in the Soviet Union under Stalin

  • aiming to rapidly industrialize the country by setting ambitious goals for production across various sectors like heavy industry, agriculture, and infrastructure

  • all this within a five-year timeframe

Five Year Plan

• refers to a political act where a leader or government systematically removes, often violently, individuals considered to be threats or opponents from positions of power, usually through execution

  • one of the greatest of these is by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union

Purge

• form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of individual life to the authority of the state

  • is a form of government that attempts to assert total control over the lives of its citizens

Totalitarianism

• refers to a political system where power is concentrated in the hands of a single leader or small elite, with limited individual freedoms, minimal political participation, and strict control over the population

  • a government that prioritizes authority more than citizen’s rights

Authoritarianism

• refers to a policy, primarily implemented in the Soviet Union under Stalin, where individual peasant farms were forcibly consolidated into large, state-controlled collective farms

  • aiming to increase agricultural production

Collectivization

• refers to a network of forced labor camps established and operated by the Soviet Union

  • primarily under Joseph Stalin’s rule

  • where individuals deemed politically undesirable were sent to work in harsh conditions, often resulting in death

Gulag Organization

• a violent armed conflict that took place in Mexico from 1910 to 1920, primarily aimed at overthrowing the long-standing dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz and addressing deep social, political, and economic inequalities in the country

  • leading to significant land redistribution and a new constitution that established a more democratic system

Mexican Revolution

• refers to a Mexican general and politician who served as President of Mexico for multiple terms during the late 19th and early 20th centuries

  • maintained a strong centralized government, often suppressing political opposition and limiting individual freedoms

  • based his authority on Mexico’s economic prosperity

  • he headed for exile to France on May 25, 1911

Porfirio Diaz

• refers to a prominent Mexican revolutionary leader who spearheaded the Mexican Revolution by successfully overthrowing dictator Porfirio Díaz

  • briefly serving as President of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination in 1913

Francisco Madero

• refers to a prominent Mexican revolutionary general who played a key role in the Mexican Revolution, known for his guerilla tactics

  • and his fight for land reform and social justice against the oppressive regime of Porfirio Díaz

  • often seen as a folk hero for his actions against the wealthy elite

  • was one of the Conventionistas

Francisco Pancho Villa

• was an accomplished guerrilla leader during the Mexican Revolution, and he strongly opposed the hacienda system that characterized much of rural Mexican life

  • particularly fighting against the large landowning class during the early 20th century

  • was another one of the Conventionistas

  • waged a guerrilla war in the Southern state of Morelos

Emiliano Zapata

• refers to a Mexican military leader who seized power as President of Mexico through a coup d'état against Francisco Madero during the Mexican Revolution

  • known for his brutal dictatorship and ultimately being overthrown by revolutionary forces due to his repressive rule

  • became president the day after the Ten Tragic Days

Victoriano Huerta

• refers to a Mexican president who served from 1934 to 1940

  • known for his radical leftist policies that included extensive land redistribution to peasants, nationalizing the oil industry (expropriating foreign companies), and significantly advancing the goals of the Mexican Revolution through social and economic reforms

Lazaro Cardenas

• was a leader in the Mexican civil war following the overthrow of the dictator Porfirio Díaz

  • became the first president of the new Mexican republic

  • was one of the Constitutionalistas

  • assassinated Zapata in 1919

Venustiano Carranza

• refers to a prominent Mexican revolutionary leader and later President of Mexico who played a key role in bringing stability to the country after the tumultuous Mexican Revolution

  • primarily known for his ability to unify different factions and establish a period of relative peace and economic recovery following the civil war

  • was one of the Constitutionalistas

Alvaro Obregon

• the name historians give to the ten days from the beginning of the coup to Madero’s death

  • President Madero was executed in February 1913

Ten Tragic Days

• included Pancho Villa and Zapata

  • sought big economic and social reforms

Conventionistas

• led by Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón

  • wanted to establish a liberal democracy, but were less willing to return land to peasant and indigenous villages

Constitutionalistas

• established in 1936 by the Manchus in what is now northeast China

  • was the dynasty after the fall of the Ming dynasty

Qing Dynasty

• was the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang

  • became known as the father of modern China

  • championing the principles of nationalism, democracy, and socialism

Sun Yat-Sen

• was a ruling nationalist party

  • founded by Sun Yat-Sen

  • struggled to unify and modernize China in the face of continued Western extraterritorial privileges and increasing Japanese imperialist pressure

Kuomintang

• leader of the Kuomintang from 1928 to 1975

  • tried to eliminate the Chinese communist party

  • but soon was distracted in the Japanese invasion of Mainland China

  • was a Chinese military and political leader

Chiang Kai Shek

• was a significant political and cultural movement in China that emerged in response to the Treaty of Versailles

  • Chinese students, intellectuals, and workers protested once Japan took control of Shandong demanding stronger resistance against imperialist powers and advocating for modernization, nationalism, and political reform

May Fourth Movement