Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919-1946 – Key Vocabulary

A comprehensive set of 65 vocabulary flashcards covering the key treaties, concepts, individuals, organisations and ideological terms discussed in the lecture notes on Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919-1946.

Treaty of Versailles

1919 peace settlement that imposed harsh territorial losses, disarmament, reparations and the War-Guilt clause on Germany.

War Guilt Clause (Article 231)

Provision in the Treaty of Versailles that placed sole responsibility for World War I on Germany.

League of Nations

International organisation formed in 1919 to maintain collective security; weakened by the absence of the USA and lack of enforcement power.

Self-determination

Principle that national groups should govern themselves and choose their own political status.

Treaty of Saint-Germain

1919 treaty that dismantled the Austro-Hungarian Empire, reduced Austria’s territory and limited its army to 30,000 men.

Treaty of Neuilly

1919 treaty that forced Bulgaria to cede land, pay reparations and restrict its army to 20,000 troops.

Treaty of Trianon

1920 treaty removing about two-thirds of Hungary’s territory and population and capping its army at 35,000 soldiers.

Treaty of Sevres

1920 treaty breaking up the Ottoman Empire, limiting Turkish forces and placing finances under Allied control (later revised at Lausanne).

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1918 peace between Bolshevik Russia and the Central Powers; Russia ceded vast land, 75 % of iron and coal and one-third of its people.

Hyperinflation (Germany 1923)

Runaway price rise that destroyed the value of the German mark, wiping out savings and undermining faith in the Weimar Republic.

Great Depression

Worldwide economic collapse beginning in 1929; caused mass unemployment and radicalised politics in inter-war Germany.

Weimar Republic

Democratic German state (1919-1933) created after WWI and ended by Hitler’s rise to power.

Article 48

Emergency clause of the Weimar Constitution allowing the President to rule by decree, weakening parliamentary democracy.

Proportional representation

Weimar electoral system that produced many small parties and unstable coalition governments.

Stab-in-the-Back Myth

Belief that Germany’s 1918 defeat was caused by civilian betrayal (especially Jews and socialists) rather than military failure.

Dawes Plan

1924 US-backed scheme that re-scheduled German reparations and provided loans to stabilise the economy.

Young Plan

1929 agreement further reducing and extending German reparations payments.

Locarno Treaties

1925 accords guaranteeing Germany’s western borders and paving the way for its League of Nations admission.

Beer Hall Putsch

Failed 1923 Nazi coup in Munich that led to Hitler’s arrest and the writing of Mein Kampf.

Mein Kampf

Hitler’s autobiography and ideological manifesto written during his imprisonment in 1924.

Gleichschaltung

Process of ‘synchronising’ all German institutions under Nazi control.

Enabling Act (1933)

Law allowing Hitler’s cabinet to legislate without the Reichstag, establishing a legal dictatorship.

Reichstag Fire Decree

27 February 1933 emergency decree suspending civil liberties and enabling arrests of communists and socialists.

Gestapo

Nazi Secret State Police that hunted political and racial enemies and sent them to concentration camps.

SS (Schutzstaffel)

Elite Nazi organisation that provided security, ran concentration camps and eventually controlled all police forces.

SA (Sturmabteilung)

Nazi ‘Brownshirt’ paramilitary group that intimidated opponents and aided Hitler’s early rise.

Night of the Long Knives

30 June 1934 purge in which Hitler eliminated SA leaders and other rivals, securing army support.

Führerprinzip

Nazi leadership principle asserting Hitler’s absolute, unquestioned authority over party and state.

Cult of Personality

Propaganda technique portraying a leader as an infallible, heroic saviour (used by Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini).

Propaganda Ministry

Nazi government department led by Joseph Goebbels controlling press, radio, film and the arts.

Censorship

Suppression or editing of opposing views; under Nazism all media required state approval.

Volksgemeinschaft

Nazi ideal of a unified ‘people’s community’ transcending class in service of the nation.

Lebensraum

Nazi concept of acquiring ‘living space’ in Eastern Europe for German expansion.

Aryan Race

Mythical racially pure Germanic people whom Nazis deemed superior to all others.

Autarky

Policy of achieving national economic self-sufficiency, pursued by Nazi Germany from 1936.

Four Year Plan

1936 economic programme directed by Hermann Göring to prepare Germany for war and autarky.

Strength Through Joy

Leisure organisation that provided holidays, sports and culture to German workers while controlling them politically.

German Labour Front (DAF)

Nazi body that replaced trade unions, regulating wages and working conditions.

Hitler Youth

Compulsory Nazi youth organisation (boys 14-18) designed to indoctrinate and militarise German youth.

Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM)

Female branch of Hitler Youth aimed at preparing girls for motherhood and loyalty to the Reich.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 statutes stripping Jews of citizenship and banning marriage or sex between Jews and ‘Aryans’.

Kristallnacht

State-sanctioned pogrom of 9-10 Nov 1938 that destroyed Jewish property and sent 20,000 Jews to camps.

Anti-Semitism

Hatred of Jews; a core element of Nazi ideology and policy.

Social Darwinism

Idea that struggle between races or nations leads to survival of the fittest; used to justify Nazi expansionism.

Totalitarianism

Political system in which the state seeks total control over public and private life.

Fascism

Far-right authoritarian ideology glorifying nation, militarism and a single leader; originated in Mussolini’s Italy.

Militarism (Japan)

Ideology giving the Japanese armed forces dominant political power and promoting aggressive expansion.

Communism

Ideology advocating classless society and common ownership of production; implemented in the USSR.

Collectivisation

Stalin’s policy of merging individual farms into large state-controlled collectives.

Five Year Plans

Series of Soviet industrialisation programmes setting production targets for heavy industry.

Blackshirts

Mussolini’s Fascist paramilitary squads that intimidated political opponents in Italy.

Corporate State

Italian Fascist economic system organising industry into state-supervised corporations to end class conflict.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japanese vision of an Asia led by Japan and free of Western influence.

Anglo-German Naval Agreement

1935 treaty allowing Germany a navy 35 % the size of Britain’s, violating Versailles limits.

League of Nations Mandates

Former German and Ottoman colonies administered by Allied powers under League supervision after WWI.

Cult of Romanità

Mussolini’s glorification of ancient Roman heritage to foster Italian nationalism.

NKVD

Soviet secret police responsible for political repression and running the Gulag system under Stalin.

Purges

Stalin’s campaign of arrests, show trials and executions to eliminate perceived enemies (≈ 3.7 million sentenced).

Kempeitai

Japanese military police notorious for brutal repression in occupied territories.

Edelweiss Pirates

Working-class German youth groups that resisted Nazi cultural control and sometimes aided deserters.

Swing Movement

Middle-class German youths who embraced American jazz and rejected Nazi conformity.

Gestapo Informers

Ordinary citizens who secretly reported dissent to the Gestapo, spreading fear and self-censorship.

Article 25 (Weimar)

Clause letting the President dissolve the Reichstag and call new elections.

Concordat (1933)

Agreement between the Vatican and Nazi Germany promising church freedom in exchange for political neutrality (soon broken).

Appeasement

1930s British-French policy of conceding to Hitler’s demands to avoid another war.