Modern History Revision: Nazi Germany and the American Civil Rights Movement

Vocabulary flashcards covering the interwar Weimar Republic, Nazi methods of control, antisemitic persecution, the Holocaust, post-war Nuremberg Trials, and major campaigns of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The post-World War I peace settlement that imposed territorial losses, military restrictions, and financial reparations on Germany, creating widespread humiliation and resentment.

Weimar Republic

The democratic government established in Germany after World War I, whose stability and public confidence were severely weakened by economic hardship and the terms of the Versailles Treaty.

Great Depression (1929)

A worldwide economic crisis beginning in 1929 that caused mass unemployment and economic insecurity in Germany, creating conditions that helped extremist parties gain support.

Hitler's Appointment as Chancellor

The formal appointment of Adolf Hitler as German Chancellor by President Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, occurring via political appointment rather than a direct popular election.

The Nuremberg Laws (September 1935)

Nazi racial legislation that used the legal system to exclude Jewish people from full Reich citizenship and banned marriage or sexual relationships between Jews and people of "German blood".

Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938)

The "Night of Broken Glass", a coordinated wave of violent state-directed pogroms across Germany and annexed lands where synagogues, Jewish homes, and businesses were attacked, and thousands of Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.

The Holocaust (1939–1945)

The wartime escalation of Nazi persecution across occupied Europe involving forced displacement, ghettos, deportation, and the systematic mass murder of Jewish people.

The Nuremberg Trials (1945–1946)

Post-World War II legal proceedings conducted by an International Military Tribunal that tried leading Nazi officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, establishing a major precedent for international justice.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws and practices in the American South from the late 1800s to the 1960s that enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement, denying African Americans equal access to public facilities, transport, education, and voting.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956)

A sustained community-led protest in Alabama sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks in December 1955, led by figures including Martin Luther King Jr., which exerted economic pressure and successfully challenged segregated city buses.

Greensboro Sit-ins (February 1960)

A nonviolent direct action initiated by four Black college students at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in North Carolina, challenging discrimination in commercial spaces and sparking similar sit-ins across the South.

Freedom Rides (1961)

A campaign where integrated groups of Black and white civil rights activists travelled together on interstate buses across the South to test whether federal desegregation rulings were being enforced.

March on Washington (August 1963)

A massive civil rights demonstration in Washington, DC, calling for jobs, freedom, and civil rights legislation, highlighted by Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" speech.

NOTICE → INFER → CONNECT

A three-step source analysis routine: observing specific visible details, inferring the creator's purpose or viewpoint, and connecting those details to historical knowledge to answer a question.

Persuasion (Nazi Method)

The use of propaganda posters, radio broadcasts, public speeches, schooling, and youth organisations to actively spread and enforce Nazi ideology.

Information Control (Nazi Method)

The suppression of dissent and reinforcement of ideology through state censorship of newspapers, published books, radio programming, and opposing political viewpoints.

Legal Control (Nazi Method)

The manipulation of the justice and legislative systems, using instruments such as the Reichstag Fire Decree, Enabling Act, and Nuremberg Laws to suppress rights and enforce ideology.

Fear and Punishment (Nazi Method)

The enforcement of regime compliance through apparatuses of terror, including the Gestapo, SS, arbitrary arrests, political persecution, and organized violence.