Ap Euro unit 8 vocab

Militarism

the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.

Conscription

military draft

Arms Race

a competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons

Mobilization

the process of assembling troops and supplies and making them ready for war.

Neutrality

the refusal to take sides or become involved in wars between other nations. 

Trench Warfare

fighting from ditches protected by barbed wire, as in World War I.

War of Attrition

a war based on wearing down the other side with constant attacks and heavy losses, such as World War I.

Total War

A war that involved the complete mobilization of resources and people, affecting the lives of all citizens in the warring countries, even those remote from the battlefield. 

Abdicate

to formally give up control of a country or state.

Bolsheviks

a Marxist party in Russia, led by Vladimir Lenin, and dedicated to violent revolution

Soviet

Russian councils composed of representatives from the workers and soldiers.

War Communism

in Russia during the Russian Civil War, the government took control of banks and most industries, seized grain from peasants, and centralized state administration under Communist control.

Armstice

a truce or an agreement to end fighting.    

League of Nations

an international organization to promote world peace and cooperation that was created by the Treaty of Versailles 

Reparations

a payment made to the victor by the vanquished to cover the costs of war. 

Mandates

A territory temporarily governed by another nation on behalf of the League of Nations.  

Great Depression

the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939

Genocide

an attempt at complete extermination of all people in an ethnic or religious group. 

Duma

the elected legislature of Russia after the Revolution of 1905.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

a modified form of capitalism, introduced by Lenin during the Russian Civil War, which helped save the economy from collapsing. 

Speculation

making high-risk investments hoping that they will eventually pay off well.

Popular Front

the name of the French government formed in 1936, which included Communists, Socialists and Radicals, and favored new policies that favored workers. 

Fascism

a political philosophy that glorifies the state above the individual by emphasizing the need for a strong central government led by a dictatorial ruler.

Blackshirts

squads of armed supporters of Benito Mussolini and the Fascist party in Italy.

Nazi

shortened form of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party; a member of such party. 

Aryan

a term used to identify people speaking Indo-European languages; Nazis misused the term, treating it as a racial designation and identifying the Aryans with the ancient Greeks and Romans and 20th century Germans and Scandinavians. 

Totalitarianism

a government that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens.

Cult of Personality

a political phenomenon where a leader uses mass media, propaganda, and other methods to create an idealized and heroic image of themselves. 

Propaganda

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view

Collectivization

a system in which private farms are eliminated and peasants work land owned by the government. 

Kulak

a class of wealthy landowning peasants who were targeted by Stalin during his collectivization of the farms in the Soviet Union

Purge

to remove from an organization or place in an abrupt or violent way.

Gulag

a system of labor camps maintained in the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1955 in which many people died.

Five Year Plan

implemented by Stalin and designed to transform the Soviet Union from an agricultural country into an industrial powerhouse. 

Socialist Realism

the theory of art, literature, and music officially sanctioned by the state in some Communist countries (especially in the Soviet Union under Stalin), by which artistic work was supposed to reflect and promote the ideals of a socialist society

Demilitarized

Elimination or prohibition of weapons, fortifications, and other military installations. 

Appeasement

Satisfying reasonable demands of dissatisfied powers in an effort to maintain peace and stability.  

Sanctions

Restrictions intended to enforce international law.

Anschluss

the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938. 

Munich Agreement

signed by Britain, France, Germany and Italy, it agreed to let Germany annex the Sudetenland within Czechoslovakia.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

a pact signed by Hitler and Stalin, agreeing not to attack one another for a period of 10 years.

Blitzkrieg

German for “lightning war”; a swift and sudden military attack; used by the Germans during World War II. 

Isolationism

A policy of national isolation by abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations.

Blitz

The British term for the German air raids on British cities and towns during World War II. 

Kristallnacht

known as the “night of broken glass”, it was a systematic attack on Jews throughout Germany in November 1938.

Partisans

resistance fighters in World War II. 

Concentration Camps

a camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions.

Holocaust

The systematic murder of more than 6 million European Jews by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during World War II.

Collaborator

A person who assists the enemy.  

Ghetto

Formerly a district in a city in which Jews were required to live.