WW1 and WW2 and Russian Revolution

What caused World War I, besides the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?

Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism created tension that led to the war.

How did the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand start World War I?

It caused Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia, which led to other countries joining in because of alliances.

How did trench warfare affect World War I?

It caused a stalemate with lots of casualties and little progress, as soldiers lived in terrible conditions.

What parts of the Treaty of Versailles made Germany angry?

Germany had to take blame for the war, pay reparations, lose land, and limit their military.

What did the Balfour Declaration promise?

It promised to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which later caused conflicts between Jews and Arabs.

What was the March 1st Movement in Korea?

It was a protest against Japan’s control over Korea, showing Koreans wanted independence.

Why was the Bolshevik Revolution important?

It led to the rise of the Soviet Union with Lenin in charge, ending Russia’s involvement in World War I.

What did the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk do for Russia?

It took Russia out of World War I and gave land to Germany.

What was Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP)?

It allowed some private businesses to help recover the Russian economy after the Civil War.

What were Stalin’s Five Year Plans?

They were plans to quickly grow the Soviet Union’s industry and economy.

What were Stalin’s Great Purges?

They were mass killings of people who Stalin saw as a threat to his power, including many leaders and citizens.

What is totalitarianism?

It’s a government where the leader controls everything in life, with no freedom or opposition allowed.

What were the Nuremberg Laws?

Laws that discriminated against Jews in Nazi Germany, taking away their rights and freedom.

What happened during Kristallnacht?

It was a violent attack against Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues, marking a shift to more violent anti-Semitic policies.

What was the Final Solution?

It was the Nazi plan to kill all Jews, leading to the Holocaust and the deaths of 6 million Jews.

What did the SS and Gestapo do in Nazi Germany?

The SS ran the concentration camps, and the Gestapo enforced Nazi laws and hunted down enemies of the state.

What was the Munich Agreement of 1938?

It allowed Hitler to take parts of Czechoslovakia in exchange for peace, which failed to stop the war.

What was the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939?

It was an agreement between Hitler and Stalin not to fight each other, allowing Hitler to invade Poland.

What is Blitzkrieg?

A fast and powerful German military strategy to quickly defeat enemies by attacking with tanks, planes, and soldiers.

What happened during the Battle of Britain in 1940?

Germany tried to bomb Britain into surrendering, but Britain resisted and won, preventing a German invasion.

How did the attack on Pearl Harbor change the U.S. involvement in World War II?

The attack made the U.S. declare war on Japan, bringing them into World War II.

Why was the Battle of Midway important?

The U.S. defeated Japan and gained control of the Pacific, changing the course of the war in the Pacific.

What was Island Hopping?

A strategy where the U.S. took over weaker islands and skipped over stronger Japanese positions to get closer to Japan.

What were Kamikaze attacks?

Suicide attacks by Japanese pilots who crashed their planes into enemy ships during World War II.

Why was the Battle of Stalingrad important?

It was a turning point in the war, as the Soviet Union stopped the German army and began pushing them out of Russia.

What is V-E Day?

It’s the day Nazi Germany officially surrendered in 1945, marking the end of the war in Europe.

How did dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki end the war?

The bombs forced Japan to surrender, ending World War II in the Pacific.

What happened at the Potsdam Conference in 1945?

The Allies decided how to divide Germany after its defeat and laid the groundwork for the post-war world.

How did the Soviet Union’s actions in Eastern Europe lead to the Cold War?

The Soviet Union took control of Eastern Europe, refusing to allow democracy, which angered the West.

What was the Marshall Plan?

A U.S. program that gave billions of dollars to help rebuild Western Europe after World War II to prevent the spread of communism.

How did the Soviet Union respond to the Marshall Plan?

The Soviet Union rejected it and instead created their own economic group to control Eastern Europe.

Why did the Soviet Union block West Berlin in 1948?

They tried to force the Allies out of West Berlin, but the Allies responded by airlifting supplies to the city.

What was NATO and why was it formed in 1949?

NATO was a military alliance formed to defend Western Europe from Soviet aggression during the Cold War.

What was the Warsaw Pact?

A military alliance formed by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies to oppose NATO.

What is the Iron Curtain?

It was the division between communist Eastern Europe and democratic Western Europe, as described by Winston Churchill.

What was the Berlin Wall, and why was it built?

The Berlin Wall was built by East Germany in 1961 to stop people from fleeing to West Berlin, symbolizing the Cold War division.

What was the U.S. role in the Korean War?

The U.S. led the United Nations forces to defend South Korea from a communist invasion by North Korea.

How did the Cuban Missile Crisis affect U.S.-Soviet relations?

It brought the world close to nuclear war, but both sides agreed to remove missiles from Cuba and Turkey to avoid further conflict.

What was the space race, and why was it important during the Cold War?

It was a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to dominate space exploration, symbolizing their technological rivalry.

How did the Cold War affect Vietnam?

The U.S. fought to stop the spread of communism in Vietnam, leading to the Vietnam War, which divided the country and the world.

What were the main goals of the United Nations after World War II?

To promote peace, prevent future wars, and support human rights worldwide.

How did the Cold War end?

It ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, due to economic problems and pressure from democratic movements in Eastern Europe.