Unit 3 (International Peace) - Key terms

From the IGCSE endorsed textbook guide

Anschluss

Joining of Austria and Germany as one state which was forbidden by the ToV in 1919 and was stopped by Mussolini in 1934 but carried out by Hitler in 1938

Anti-Comintern Pact

Alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan in 1936 to combat the spread of communism

Appeasement

The policy of Britain and France in the 1930s which allowed Hitler to break the terms of the ToV to avoid another world war

Communism/Communist

The political, economic and social system involving total state control of the economy and less emphasis on individual rights than capitalism

Conscription

Compulsory service in the armed forces

Lebensraum

“Living space” → became part of Hitler’s plans to conquer an empire for Germany in the 1930s

Mein Kampf

“My Struggle” → the autobiography of Adolf Hitler in which he set out his theories about power and racial superiority

Munich Agreement

An agreement in October 1938 which Britain and France agreed to Hitler’s demands to control the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia (This is generally seen as the final stage of the policy of Appeasement)

Nazi-Soviet Pact

An agreement in 1939 between Hitler and Stalin to not attack each other and to divide Poland between them

November Criminals

Refers to the German politicians who signed the ToV → used as a term of abuse exploited by extreme parties in Germany, especially the Nazis, to undermine democracy

Polish Corridor

A strip of land which, under the ToV in 1919, gave Poland access to the sea but separated East Prussia (a part of Germany) from the rest of Germany

Rearmament

Building up arms and armed forces, usually as a means to fight unemployment by many states in the 1930s after the economic depression, including Nazi Germany and Britain

Remilitarisation

Reintroduction of armed forces into an area → The Rhineland of Germany in 1936, even though this was banned by the ToV

Spanish Civil War

Conflict in Spain which was seen as a rehearsal for the Second World War when German and Italian forces intervened to support General Franco

Sudetenland

An Area of Czechoslovakia which bordered Germany and contained many Germany speakers → taken over by Hitler in 1938 as part of the Munich Agreement