Vocabulary #10 - AP World History: Modern

Allied Powers

In World War I, the nations of Great Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and others that fought against the Central Powers; in World War II, the group of nations including Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, that fought against the Axis Powers.

Armenian Genocide

The forced deportation and extermination of a Christian minority in the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions from 1915-1923. Between 600,000 and 1.5 million of them died, with many more forcibly removed from the country.

Appeasement

Policy of Great Britain and France of making concessions to Hitler in the 1930s.

British Commonwealth

A political community consisting of the United Kingdom, its dependencies, and former colonies of Great Britain that are now sovereign nations

Central Powers

In World War I, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and other nations who fought against the Allies.

Fascism

A political movement that is characterized by extreme nationalism, one-party rule, and the denial of individual rights.

Great Depression

The severe worldwide economic downturn that began in the late 1920s and continued throughout the late 1930s throughout many regions in the world.

1918 Influenza Epidemic

The deadliest pandemic in modern history; it infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide-about one-third of the planet's population at the time-and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.

League of Nations

International organization founded after World War I to promote peace and cooperation among nations.

Mandate

A type of colony in which the government is overseen by another nation, as in the Middle Eastern areas placed under European control after World War I.

Nationalism

Loyalty and devotion to a nation with a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations.

Potsdam Conference

A 1945 meeting of the leaders of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union in which it was agreed that the Soviet Union would be given control of eastern Europe and that Germany would be divided into zones of occupation.

Reparations

The payment of war debts by the losing side.

Afrikaners

South Africans who were descendants of the Dutch who settled in South Africa in the seventeenth century.

Spanish Civil War

A conflict from 1936 to 1939 that resulted in the installation of fascist dictator Francisco Franco as ruler of Spain; Franco's forces were backed by Germany and Italy, whereas the Soviet Union supported the opposing republican forces.

Tehran Conference

A 1943 meeting of leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union; participants agreed on the opening of a second front in France.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The 1918 treaty ending World War I between Germany and the Russia.

Weimar Republic

Government established in Germany in 1919 and ending in 1933.

Yalta Conference

A meeting of the leaders of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States in 1945; the Soviet Union agreed to enter the war against Japan in exchange for influence in the Eastern European states. Participants also made plans for the establishment of a new international organization.

21 Demands

Instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug. 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German leasehold in Shandong prov., China. Disregarding the Chinese request to withdraw, Japan secretly presented (1915) President Yüan Shih-kai with an ultimatum.

Government of India Act

(1935) The last pre-independence constitution of the British Raj. It granted Indian provinces autonomy with direct elections being introduced for the first time. The right to vote increased from seven million to thirty-five million.

Apartheid

The South African policy of separation of the races.

New Deal

U.S. President Roosevelt's program to relieve the economic problems of the Great Depression; it increased government involvement in the society of the United States.

Revolution of 1905

Strikes by urban workers and peasants in Russia prompted by shortages of food and by Russia's loss to Japan in 1905.

Total War

A conflict in which the participating countries devote all their resources to the war effort.

Muslim League

Founded in 1906 to better support demands of Muslims for separate electorates and legislative seats in Hindu-dominated India; represented division within Indian nationalist movement.

Kuomintang

China's Nationalist political party founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 and based on democratic principles; in 1925, the party was taken over by Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), who made it into a more authoritarian party.

Collectivization

The combination of several small farms into a large government-controlled farm. As a result of its implementation in the Soviet Union the "kulaks" (affluent peasant farmers) were targeted and eliminated by the Soviet government.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. plan to support the recovery and reconstruction of Western Europe after World War II.

New Economic Policy

Lenin's policy that allowed some private ownership and limited foreign investment to revitalize the Soviet economy. Affluent peasants called "kulaks" benefited greatly from its implementation.

May Fourth Movement

A 1919 protest in China against the Treaty of Versailles and foreign influence.

Five Year Plans

Policies for industrial production first introduced to the Soviet Union in 1928 by Stalin; they succeeded in making the Soviet Union a major industrial power by the end of the 1930s

Propaganda

Information or material spread to advance a cause or to damage an opponent's cause.

Totalitarianism

Form of government that severely limits individual freedoms by exercising an extremely high degree of control over public and private life and seeks to subordinate all aspects of individual life to the authority of the state.

Purges

Joseph Stalin's policy of exiling or killing millions of his opponents in the Soviet Union.

Manchukuo

Puppet state created in 1932 by Japan out of the three historic provinces of Manchuria (northeastern China).