Chapter 30 – World Between Wars

Benito Mussolini

Fascist premier of Italy (r. 1922–1943); formed the fascio di combattimento in 1919.

fascism

political ideology that became predominant in Italy under Benito Mussolini during the 1920s; attacked the weakness of democracy and the corruption and class conflict of capitalism; promised vigorous foreign and military programs.

Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920

civil war; challenged Porfirio Díaz in 1910 and initiated a revolution after losing fraudulent elections

Mexican Constitution of 1917

promised land and educational reform, limited foreign ownership, guaranteed rights for workers, and restricted clerical education and property ownership; never fully implemented.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

initiated in 1921 by Lenin; combined the state establishing basic economic policies with individual initiative; allowed food production to recover.

Joseph Stalin

Lenin’s successor as leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.); strong nationalist view of communism; crushed opposition to his predominance; ruled U.S.S.R. until his death in 1953.

Comintern

Communist International, an organization under dominance of the U.S.S.R.; designed to encourage the spread of communism in the rest of the world.

Collectivization

creation of large, state-run farms replacing individual holdings; allowed mechanization of agriculture and more efficient control over peasants.

May Fourth Movement

acceptance at Versailles of Japanese gains in China during World War I led to demonstrations and the beginning of a movement to create a liberal democracy.

Mao Zedong

communist leader who advocated the role of the peasantry in revolution; led the communists to victory and ruled China from 1949 to 1976.

Guomindang (National Party)/Chiang Kai-shek

founded by Sun Yatsen in 1919; main support from urban businesspeople and merchants; led by Chiang Kai-shek after 1925.

Long March

communist retreat under Guomindang pressure in 1934; shifted center of communist power to Shanxi province.

Great Depression

international economic crisis following World War I; began with collapse of American stock market in 1929.

New Deal

President Franklin Roosevelt’s program to combat economic depression.

Totalitarian state

a 20th-century form of government that exercised direct control over all aspects of its subjects; existed in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and other communist states.

Spanish Civil War

civil war between republican and autocratic supporters; with support from Germany and Italy, the autocratic regime of Francisco Franco triumphed.

Lázaro Cárdenas

Mexican president (1934–1940); responsible for large land redistribution to create communal farms; also began program of primary and rural education.

Getúlio Vargas

became president of Brazil following a contested election of 1929; led an authoritarian state; died in 1954.

Juan Perón

dominant authoritarian and populist leader in Argentina from the mid-1940s; driven into exile in 1955; returned and elected president in 1973; died in 1974.

Five-year plans

Stalin’s plans to hasten industrialization of U.S.S.R.; constructed massive factories; led to state-planned industrialization at cost of availability of consumer products.

Socialist realism

attempt within U.S.S.R. to relate formal culture to the masses; fundamental method of Soviet fiction, art, and literary criticism.