Rise of Totalitarian Regimes and the Road to World War II

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering interwar totalitarianism, communism, fascism, Nazism, and the path leading to World War II.

Communism

An ideology aiming for a society where property and the means of production (such as factories and land) are collectively owned, and social classes and large wealth disparities are abolished.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

19th-century thinkers whose ideas form the primary basis of communist ideology; they strongly criticized capitalism and the poor working conditions of laborers.

Communist Party

A political party dedicated to advancing communist objectives, exemplified by the Russian Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin, who seized power in the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Soviet Union (founded 1922)

The state created in 1922 when Russia transformed into a dictatorship led exclusively by the Communist Party, where the state owned all major property and citizens performed state-assigned labor.

Stalin's regime

The violent rule in the Soviet Union that led to the deaths of millions of citizens and strictly prohibited the operation of any political party other than the Communist Party.

Post-WWI European Crisis

The period following World War I marked by widespread poverty and high unemployment, causing citizens disillusioned with democracy to demand strong leaders with clear plans.

Fascism

A far-right political movement founded in the 1920s in Italy under Benito Mussolini, which emphasized national unity, violence, and the absolute authority of the leader.

Dictatorship

An autocratic system where only one political party is permitted, the state censors the media and spreads propaganda, and police monitor and spy on citizens.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that placed sole responsibility for World War I on Germany and imposed massive war reparations, causing severe economic hardship.

National Socialist Workers' Party (Nazi Party)

A political party led by Adolf Hitler whose supporters were called Nazis, with the primary goals of German expansion into a great power and Aryan racial supremacy.

Gestapo

The secret state police of Nazi Germany that surveilled, spied on, and persecuted political opponents, often incarcerating them in concentration camps.

Concentration camp

Camps intended for civilians where political opponents of the Nazi Party were confined, frequently to perform forced labor.

Extermination camp

Specialized facilities established by Nazi Germany in 1941–1942 to execute a systematic plan of destruction based on Nazi racial doctrine, killing over three million people (especially Jews) across six camps.

Lebensraum (Living space)

The expansionist Nazi concept claiming Germany had the right to seize additional land and natural resources from nations in Eastern Europe.

German pre-war annexations (1935–1939)

Hitler's aggressive territorial acquisitions prior to World War II: the Saar territory annexed in 1935, Austria annexed in 1938, and Czechoslovakia annexed in 1939 under threat of war.

German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

An agreement signed by Germany and the Soviet Union to buy preparation time and prevent Germany from having to fight on two fronts against Great Britain and France.

Secret Protocol of the Non-Aggression Pact

A secret agreement dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence, assigning Finland, the Baltic states, eastern Poland, and eastern Romania to the Soviet Union, and western Poland to Germany.