must knows newwww

Conferences at Yalta, Potsdam, and Tehran

Allied meetings held toward the end of World War II meant to both plan an end to the war and make proposals for a post war world. Led to tensions between western capitalist nations and the communist Soviets.

Containment theory

Cold War foreign policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism by allowing communism to remain where it existed but not allowing it to spread.

Crimes against humanity

Certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population. The first prosecution for this took place at the Nuremberg trials.

Czar Nicholas II

(1868-1918) Last emperor of Russia under Romanov rule (r. 1894-1917). He had very little experience in governing. His poor handling of the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, and Russia's role in World War I led to his abdication and execution.

David Ben-Gurion

(1886-1973) Zionist statesman and political leader, the first prime minister (1948-53, 1955-63) and defense minister (1948-53; 1955-63) of Israel. On May 14, 1948, at Tel Aviv, he delivered Israel's declaration of independence. His charismatic personality won him the adoration of the masses, and, after his retirement from the government and, later, from the Knesset (the Israeli house of representatives), he was revered as the "Father of the Nation."

D-Day

Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to it, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Decolonization/national liberation

After World War II, European countries lacked the wealth and political support necessary to suppress far-away revolts. They could not oppose the new superpowers the U.S. and the Soviet Union's stands against colonialism. Between 1945 and 1960, three dozen new states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European colonial rulers. One of the most important effects of this is the instability of the post-colonial political systems, deep economic problems, inhibiting growth and widening disparities between the northern and southern part of the globe.

Deng Xiaoping

(1904-1997) Leader of the Communist Party of China, was a reformer who led China towards a market economy. His economic policies were at odds with the political ideologies of Chairman Mao Zedong. As a result, he was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution but regained prominence in 1978 by outmaneuvering Mao's chosen successor.

Desmond Tutu

(1931-2021 ) A vocal and committed opponent of apartheid in South Africa, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. In the transition to democracy in South Africa, he was an influential figure in promoting the concept of forgiveness and reconciliation. He has been recognized as the 'moral conscience of South Africa' and frequently speaks up on issues of justice and peace.

Détente

The easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. Between the late 1960s and the late 1970s, there was a thawing of the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. This easing took several forms, including increased discussion on arms control.

Domino Theory

Cold War idea that suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(1929-1968)American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1954 through 1968. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience.

Duma

Russian national assembly created as one of the reforms following the Revolution of 1905; progressively stripped of power during the reign of Nicholas II. Failed to forestall further revolution.

Embargo

The partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Considered a strong diplomatic measure imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is imposed.

Emiliano Zapata

(1879-1919) A leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican revolution. He and his followers never gained control of the central Mexican government, but they redistributed land and aided poor farmers within the territory under their control. On April 10, 1919, he was ambushed and shot to death by government forces. His influence has endured long after his death, and his agrarian reform movement remains important to many Mexicans today.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

(1928-1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. He believed that communism would save the impoverished people of Latin America. He was a prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution (1956-59) who went on to become a guerrilla leader in South America. Executed by the Bolivian army in 1967, he has since been regarded as a martyred hero by generations of leftists worldwide. His image remains a prevalent icon of leftist radicalism and anti-imperialism. Others however, still remember that he could be ruthless and ordered prisoners executed without trial in Cuba.

Ethnic cleansing

The attempt to get rid of (through deportation, displacement or even mass killing) members of an unwanted group in order to establish a homogenous geographic area. Though these campaigns have existed throughout history, the rise of extreme nationalist movements during the 20th century led to an unprecedented level of brutality, including the Turkish massacre of Armenians during World War I; the Nazis' annihilation of some 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust; and the forced displacement and mass killings carried out in the former Yugoslavia and the African country of Rwanda during the 1990s.

European Union

(1993- ) Created in an effort to integrate Europe since World War II. At the end of the war, several western European countries sought closer economic, social, and political ties to achieve economic growth and military security and to promote a lasting reconciliation between France and Germany. This international organization is comprised of 28 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies. It was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012, in recognition of the organization's efforts to promote peace and democracy in Europe.

Fascism

This is used to describe a variety of nationalist movements that existed in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Followers view violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality. This authoritarian form of government is anti-communist, anti-democratic, anti-individualist, anti-liberal, anti-parliamentary, anti-bourgeois and anti-proletarian, anti-conservative on certain issues, and in many cases anti-capitalist.

Fidel Castro

(1926-2016) Established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading the overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until handing off power to his younger brother Raúl in 2008. During that time, his regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms. His Cuba also had a highly antagonistic relationship with the United States-most notably resulting in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two nations officially normalized relations in July 2015, ending a trade embargo that had been in place since 1960, when U.S.-owned businesses in Cuba were nationalized without compensation.

Five Year Plans

Method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through the use of quotas, used first in the Soviet Union and later in other socialist states. In the Soviet Union, the first of these (1928-32), implemented by Joseph Stalin, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods. The second (1933-37) continued the objectives of the first. Collectivization led to terrible famines, especially in the Ukraine, that caused the deaths of millions. The third (1938-42) emphasized the production of armaments. The fourth (1946-53) again stressed heavy industry and military buildup, angering the Western powers. In China, the first (1953-57) stressed rapid industrial development, with Soviet assistance; it proved highly successful. Shortly after the second began in 1958, the Great Leap Forward was announced; its goals conflicted with the plan, leading to failure and the withdrawal of Soviet aid in 1960.

Fourteen Points

(1918) A statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson.

Francisco Franco

(1892-1975) Ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death. He rose to power during the bloody Spanish Civil War when, with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, his Nationalist forces overthrew the democratically elected Second Republic. Adopting the title of "El Caudillo" (The Leader), he persecuted political opponents, repressed the culture and language of Spain's Basque and Catalan regions, censured the media and otherwise exerted absolute control over the country. Some of these restrictions gradually eased as he got older, and upon his death the country transitioned to democracy.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

(1882-1945) He was elected as the nation's 32nd president in 1932. With the country mired in the depths of the Great Depression, he immediately acted to restore public confidence, proclaiming a bank holiday and speaking directly to the public in a series of radio broadcasts or "fireside chats." His ambitious slate of New Deal programs and reforms redefined the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans. Reelected by comfortable margins in 1936, 1940 and 1944, he led the United States from isolationism to victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II. He spearheaded the successful wartime alliance between Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and helped lay the groundwork for the post-war peace organization that would become the United Nations. The only American president in history to be elected four times, he died in office in April 1945.

Gamal Nasser

(1918-1970) He was a pivotal figure in the recent history of the Middle East and played a highly prominent role in the 1956 Suez Crisis. He has been described as the first leader of an Arab nation who challenged what was perceived as the western dominance of the Middle East. He remains a highly revered figure in both Egypt and the Arab world.

Gavrilo Princip

(1894-1918) South Slav nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his consort, Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg, at Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914. His act gave Austria-Hungary the excuse that it had sought for opening hostilities against Serbia and thus precipitated World War I. In Yugoslavia—the South Slav state that he had envisioned—he came to be regarded as a national hero.

Glasnost

(1986) Means "openness" and was the name for the social and political reforms to bestow more rights and freedoms upon the Soviet people. Its goals were to include more people in the political process through freedom of expression. This led to a decreased censoring of the media, which in effect allowed writers and journalists to expose news of government corruption and the depressed condition of the Soviet people. It also permitted criticism of government officials, encouraging more social freedoms like those that Western societies had already provided. Yet, the totalitarian state present since 1917 was difficult to dismantle, and when it fell apart, citizens were not accustomed to the lack of regulation and command. The outburst of information about escalating crime and crimes by the government caused panic in the people. This caused an increase in social protests in a nation used to living under the strictest government control, and went against the goals of Gorbachev.

Good Neighbor Policy

(1933) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office determined to improve relations with the nations of Central and South America. Under his leadership the United States emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the hemisphere. Represented an attempt to distance the United States from earlier interventionist policies, such as the Roosevelt Corollary and military interventions in the region during the 1910s and 1920s.

Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere

(1930-45) This is remembered largely as a front for the Japanese control of occupied countries during World War II, in which puppet governments manipulated local populations and economies for the benefit of Imperial Japan.

Green Revolution

A period (1950-60) when the productivity of global agriculture increased drastically as a result of new advances. During this time period, new chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides and pesticides were created. The chemical fertilizers made it possible to supply crops with extra nutrients and, therefore, increase yield. The newly developed synthetic herbicides and pesticides controlled weeds, deterred or kill insects, and prevented diseases, which also resulted in higher productivity.

Hamas

A Palestinian Islamist political organization and militant group that has waged war on Israel since the group's 1987 founding, most notably through suicide bombings and rocket attacks. It seeks to replace Israel with a Palestinian state. It also governs Gaza independently of the Palestinian Authority.

Harry Truman

(1884-1972) He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's vice president for just 82 days before Roosevelt died and he became the 33rd president. In his first months in office he dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. His policy of communist containment started the Cold War, and he initiated U.S. involvement in the Korean War. He left office in 1953.

Hezbollah

Meaning Party of God in Arabic, is a major force in the Middle East politics. It started off, in 1982, as an Islamic struggle movement and now enjoys the status of one of most influential military, political and social organizations in the Arab context. Based in Lebanon, it gets support of Iran, Syria and other Arab nations for its anti-Israel stand while some Western countries consider it a terrorist organization. It follows the Shi'ite Islamist ideology and enjoys a massive support in Lebanon as well as in many other Arab countries.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over this Japanese city. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb, on another city, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

Ho Chi Minh

(1890-1969) Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule. The leader of the North Vietnamese when war with the United States broke out. In Vietnam today, he is regarded by the Communist government with god-like status in a nationwide cult of personality, even though the government has abandoned most of his economic policies since the mid-1980s.

Holocaust

Historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. Since 1945, the word has taken on a new and horrible meaning: the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews (as well as millions of others, including Gypsies and homosexuals) by the German Nazi regime during the Second World War. To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler's "final solution" came to fruition under the cover of world war, with mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland.

Indian National Congress

A movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government. Its membership was middle class, and its demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Mohandas K. Gandhi, it appealed increasingly to the poor, and it organized mass protests demanding self-government and independence.

Intifada

Arabic word which literally means "shaking off," though it is usually translated into English as "uprising" or "resistance". Modern examples usually include Palestinian uprisings against the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian Territories.

Iron Curtain

A term that received prominence after a Winston Churchill speech. He was referring to the boundary line that divided Europe in two different political areas: Western Europe had political freedom, while Eastern Europe was under communist Soviet rule. The term also symbolized the way in which the Soviet Union blocked its territories from open contact with the West.

ISIS

Started as an al Qaeda splinter group. The group is implementing Sharia Law, rooted in eighth-century Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the region's ancient past. Known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts. It uses modern tools like social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism. Fighters are destroying holy sites and valuable antiquities even as their leaders propagate a return to the early days of Islam.

Isolationism

During the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward one that advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics.

Jawaharlal Nehru

(1889-1964) An influential leader in the Indian independence movement and political heir of Mahatma Gandhi, he became the nation's first prime minister in 1947. Although faced with the challenge of uniting a vast population diverse in culture, language and religion, he successfully established various economic, social and educational reforms that earned him the respect and admiration of millions of Indians. His policies of non-alignment and principles of peaceful coexistence guided India's international relations until the outbreak of the Sino-Indian War in 1962, which contributed to his declining health and subsequent death in 1964, ending his 17-years in office.

John F. Kennedy

(1917-1963) 35th president of the United States, the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic to hold that office. As president, he confronted mounting Cold War tensions in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. He also led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. His assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, sent shockwaves around the world.

Joseph Stalin

(1878-1953) The dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. He transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. Born into poverty, he became involved in revolutionary politics, as well as criminal activities, as a young man. After Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) died, he outmaneuvered his rivals for control of the party. Once in power, he collectivized farming and had potential enemies executed or sent to forced labor camps. He aligned with the United States and Britain in World War II, but afterward engaged in an increasingly tense relationship with the West known as the Cold War.

Juan Perón

(1895-1974) Trained as a military officer, he rose to political power following a coup. His three-term presidency led to the reshaping of the Argentine economy; preaching industrialization and government intervention; he promoted a "Third Way" that was neither capitalist or communist. He also severely restricted existing constitutional liberties.

Kashmir conflict

A territorial struggle primarily between India and Pakistan over the northernmost geographic region of the Indian subcontinent. It started after the partition of India in 1947 as a dispute over land and escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. China has also been involved in the conflict in a third-party role.

Khmer Rouge

Name given to the followers of the Communist Party who were ruled in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide.

Kim Il Sung

(1912-1994) His parents took the family to Manchuria in the 1920s to flee the Japanese occupation of Korea. During the 1930s, he became a Korean freedom fighter, working against the Japanese. He eventually relocated to the Soviet Union for special training, where he joined the country's Communist Party. He remained in the Soviet Union from 1940 until the end of World War II. He returned to Korea in 1945, and in 1950, led an invasion into the south looking to unify the country under northern control, thereby initiating the Korean War.

League of Nations

Was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. A precursor to the United Nations, it achieved some victories but had a mixed record of success, sometimes putting self-interest before becoming involved with conflict resolution, while also contending with governments that did not recognize its authority. It effectively ceased operations during World War II.

Lech Walesa

(1943- ) Labor activist who helped form and led (1980-90) communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity. The charismatic leader of millions of Polish workers, he went on to become the president of Poland (1990-95). He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983.

Lend-Lease Program

(1941) Was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. It authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to "the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." By allowing the transfer of supplies without compensation to Britain, China, the Soviet Union and other countries, the act permitted the United States to support its war interests without being overextended in battle.

Leon Trotsky

(1879-1940) His revolutionary activity as a young man spurred his first of several ordered exiles to Siberia. He waged Russia's 1917 revolution alongside Vladimir Lenin. As commissar of war in the new Soviet government, he helped defeat forces opposed to Bolshevik control. As the Soviet government developed, he engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin, which he lost, leading to his exile again and, eventually, his murder, with a mountaineering ice ax, that punctured his skull. For decades, he was discredited in the Soviet Union, the result of Stalin's hatred and his totalitarian control. However, 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet government, in 2001, his reputation was officially "rehabilitated" by the Russian government. His legacy of being the most brilliant intellect of the Communist Revolution and his reputation as a tireless worker, rousing public speaker and decisive administrator was restored.

Leonid Brezhnev

(1906-1982) Soviet leader who came to power in 1977. He suppressed democratic reform in Czechoslovakia and other Soviet Bloc nations, but promoted closer relations with the United States and the West. The last five years of his rule were marked by the USSR's costly invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and a return of Cold War tensions.

Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) erupted across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank this British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the more than 1,900 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,100 perished, including more than 120 Americans. Nearly two years would pass before the United States formally entered World War I, but the sinking of this ship played a significant role in turning public opinion against Germany, both in the United States and abroad.

Manhattan Project

The code name for the American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon during World War II. The controversial creation and eventual use of the atomic bomb engaged some of the world's leading scientific minds, as well as the U.S. military—and most of the work was done in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was started in response to fears that German scientists had been working on a weapon using nuclear technology since the 1930s—and that Adolf Hitler was prepared to use it.

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) A Chinese communist leader and founder of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death. He was responsible for the disastrous policies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Marshall Plan

Also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. It was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors - as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.

May 4th Movement

(1919) Chinese student leaders demonstrated against the Chinese government's perceived submission to the whims of Western powers at the Treaty of Versailles. More specifically, China had joined the First World War on the side of the allies with the expectation that German holdings on its territory would be returned to China in a postwar settlement. None of China's demands were taken seriously by representatives of the allied powers. China demanded an end to extraterritoriality for foreign powers on its soil, a cancellation of Japan's exploitative 'Twenty-One Demands,' and the return of Shandong from the Germans. (At the end of the war, Shandong fell under Japan's administration after it defeated the Germans at Shandong.)

Mikhail Gorbachev

(1931 - ) Communist leader of the Soviet Union he launched programs of restructuring and openness that introduced profound changes in economic practice, internal affairs and international relations. Within five years, His actions inadvertently set the stage for the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He resigned from office on December 25, 1991.

Militarism

When a country aggressively pursues the policy of a strong military to defend itself or to expand its territory in the name of national interests. Before World War I, it led to an arms race between countries that used industrial resources to mass produce the latest military technology, such as breech loading rifles, artillery, and machine guns.

Modern Welfare State

Refers to a type of governing in which the national government plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions of a good life. Social security, federally mandated unemployment insurance programs and welfare payments to people unable to work are all examples of it. Most modern countries practice some elements of it. That said, the term is frequently used in a derogatory sense to describe a state of affairs where the government in question creates incentives that are beyond reason, resulting in an unemployed person on welfare payments earning more than a struggling worker. It is sometimes criticized as being a "nanny state" in which adults are coddled and treated like children.

Mohandas Gandhi

(1869-1948) Revered the world over for his nonviolent philosophy of passive resistance. Known to his many followers as Mahatma, or "the great-souled one." He began his activism as an Indian immigrant in South Africa in the early 1900s, and in the years following World War I became the leading figure in India's struggle to gain independence from Great Britain. Known for his ascetic lifestyle-he often dressed only in a loincloth and shawl-and devout Hindu faith, He was imprisoned several times during his pursuit of non-cooperation, and undertook a number of hunger strikes to protest the oppression of India's poorest classes, among other injustices. After Partition in 1947, he continued to work toward peace between Hindus and Muslims. He was shot to death in Delhi in January 1948 by a Hindu fundamentalist.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

(1876-1948) Muslim statesman that led Pakistan's independence from India, and was its first governor-general and president of its constituent assembly. He was convinced that this was the only way to preserve Muslims' traditions and protect their political interests. His former vision of Hindu-Muslim unity no longer seemed realistic to him at this time.

Mujahedin

Anti-Communist Muslim guerrillas (translation is "strugglers") that saw much success in fighting the USSR in Afghanistan (1979-1989).

Munich Conference

(1938 ) The agreement to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudetenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. It also left the Czech nation open to complete domination by Germany. In short, the it sacrificed the autonomy of Czechoslovakia on the altar of short-term peace. The terrorized Czech government was eventually forced to surrender the western provinces of Bohemia and Moravia (which became a protectorate of Germany) and finally Slovakia and the Carpathian Ukraine. In each of these partitioned regions, Germany set up puppet, pro-Nazi regimes that served the military and political ends of Adolf Hitler. By the time of the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the nation called "Czechoslovakia" no longer existed. Signed by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Muslim League

A political party established during the early years of the 20th century in the British Indian Empire. Its strong advocacy, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, for the establishment of a separate Muslim-majority nation-state, Pakistan, successfully led to the partition of British India in 1947 by the British Empire.

Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)

(1881-1938) An army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. He then served as Turkey's first president from 1923 until his death, implementing reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country. Under his leadership, the role of Islam in public life shrank drastically, European-style law codes came into being, the office of the sultan was abolished and new language and dress requirements were mandated. But although the country was nominally democratic, at times he stifled opposition with an authoritarian hand.

Napalm

A flammable liquid that used in warfare. It is a mixture of a gelling agent and either gasoline (petrol) or a similar fuel. It was initially used as an incendiary device against civilian infrastructure and later primarily as an anti-personnel weapon, as it sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire.

Nationalism

A political, social, and economic ideology and movement characterized by the promotion of the interests of a particular nation, especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty over its homeland. It was a leading cause of World War I.

Nationalist Party/Kuomintang/Guomindang

Originally a revolutionary league working for the overthrow of the Chinese monarchy, they became a political party in the first year of the Chinese republic (1912). Governed all or part of mainland China from 1928 to 1949 and subsequently ruled Taiwan under Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi).

National Socialist Party (Nazis)

Founded in 1919 as the German Workers' Party, the group promoted German pride and anti-Semitism, and expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the 1919 peace settlement that ended World War I (1914-1918) and required Germany to make numerous concessions and reparations. Hitler joined the party the year it was founded and became its leader in 1921. In 1933, he became chancellor of Germany and his government soon assumed dictatorial powers. After Germany's defeat in World War II (1939-45), it was outlawed and many of its top officials were convicted of war crimes related to the murder of some 6 million European Jews.

NATO

(1949) Created by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. The collective defense arrangements served to place the whole of Western Europe under the American "nuclear umbrella." In the 1950s, one of the first military doctrines emerged in the form of "massive retaliation," or the idea that if any member was attacked, the United States would respond with a large-scale nuclear attack. The threat of this form of response was meant to serve as a deterrent against Soviet aggression on the continent. Although formed in response to the exigencies of the developing Cold War, it has lasted beyond the end of that conflict, with membership even expanding to include some former Soviet states. It remains the largest peacetime military alliance in the world.

Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

(1939) Two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. With Europe on the brink of another major war, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin viewed it as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the Soviet military. German chancellor Adolf Hitler used it to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed. It also contained a secret agreement in which the Soviets and Germans agreed how they would later divide up Eastern Europe. It fell apart in June 1941, when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union.

Nelson Mandela

A nonviolence anti-apartheid activist, politician and philanthropist who became South Africa's first black president from 1994 to 1999. Becoming actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in his 20s, he joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, nonviolent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. Beginning in 1962, he spent 27 years in prison for political offenses. In 1993, he and South African President F.W. de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle the country's apartheid system.

Neville Chamberlain

(1869-1940) He served as British prime minister from 1937 to 1940, and is best known for his policy of "appeasement" toward Adolf Hitler's Germany. He signed the Munich Agreement in 1938, relinquishing a region of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis. In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. He lost political support, resigned in 1940 and died a few months later.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

(1921-1928) Economic policy of the government of the Soviet Union, representing a temporary retreat from its previous policy of extreme centralization and doctrinaire socialism. Vladimir Lenin, saw the need to retreat from socialist policies in order to maintain the party's hold on power. Accordingly, in March 1921, measures were introduced. These measures included the return of most agriculture, retail trade, and small-scale light industry to private ownership and management while the state retained control of heavy industry, transport, banking, and foreign trade. Money was reintroduced into the economy in 1922 (it had been abolished under War Communism). The peasantry were allowed to own and cultivate their own land, while paying taxes to the state. It reintroduced a measure of stability to the economy and allowed the Soviet people to recover from years of war, civil war, and governmental mismanagement.

Ngo Dinh Diem

(1901-1963) Vietnamese political leader who served as president, with dictatorial powers, of what was then South Vietnam, from 1955 until his assassination. His imprisoning and, often, killing of those who expressed opposition to his regime—whom he alleged were abetting communist insurgents—further alienated the South Vietnamese populace, notably Buddhists, who increasingly protested the discrimination against them. Matters with the Buddhists came to a head in 1963 when, after government forces killed several people at a May rally celebrating the Buddha's birthday, Buddhists began staging large protest rallies, and three monks and a nun immolated themselves. Those actions finally persuaded the United States to withdraw its support from him, and his generals assassinated him during a coup d'état.

Nikita Khrushchev

(1894-1971) Led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from 1958 to 1964. Though he largely pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after he positioned nuclear weapons 90 miles from Florida. At home, he initiated a process of "de-Stalinization" that made Soviet society less repressive. Yet he could be authoritarian in his own right, crushing a revolt in Hungary and approving the construction of the Berlin Wall. Known for his colorful speeches, he once took off and brandished his shoe at the United Nations.

Nikola Tesla

(1856-1943) Serbian-American engineer and physicist that made dozens of breakthroughs in the production, transmission and application of electric power. He invented the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology. Though he was famous and respected, he was never able to translate his copious inventions into long-term financial success—unlike his early employer and chief rival, Thomas Edison.

Nuremberg Laws

(1935) Were antisemitic and racial laws in Nazi Germany. They were enacted by the Reichstag at a special meeting convened during the annual a rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbade marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and Germans and the employment of German females under 45 in Jewish households; and the Reich Citizenship Law, which declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens; the remainder were classed as state subjects, without citizenship rights. A supplementary decree outlining the definition of who was Jewish was passed in November, and the Reich Citizenship Law officially came into force then. The laws were expanded to include Romani people. This supplementary decree defined Romanis as "enemies of the race-based state", the same category as Jews.

Nuremberg Trials

(1945-1949) A series of 13 tribunals, held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. Although the legal justifications for them and their procedural innovations were controversial at the time, they are now regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international court, and an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

OPEC

Created by five oil-producing developing countries in Baghdad in September 1960 occurred at a time of transition in the international economic and political landscape, with extensive decolonization and the birth of many new independent states in the developing world. Its objective is to coordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.

Operation Barbarossa

On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles. By this point German combat effectiveness had reached its peak; in training, doctrine, and fighting ability, the forces invading Russia represented the finest army to fight in the twentieth century. This was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources.

Operation Meetinghouse

Firebombing of Tokyo - On March 9, 1945, U.S. warplanes launched a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Masses of panicked and terrified Japanese civilians scrambled to escape the inferno, most unsuccessfully. The human carnage was so great that the blood-red mists and stench of burning flesh that wafted up sickened the bomber pilots, forcing them to grab oxygen masks to keep from vomiting. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.

Osama bin Laden

(1957-2011) When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, he joined the Afghan resistance. After the Soviet withdrawal, he formed the al-Qaeda network which carried out global strikes against Western interests, culminating in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On May 2, 2011, President Barack Obama announced that he had been killed in a terrorist compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

Founded in 1964 during a summit in Cairo, Egypt. Its initial goals were to unite various Arab groups and create a liberated Palestine in Israel. Over time, it has embraced a broader role, claiming to represent all Palestinians while running the Palestinian National Authority (PA). Although the it wasn't known to be violent during its early years, the organization became associated with controversial tactics, terrorism and extremism.

Pancho Villa

(1878-1923) He started off as a bandit who was later inspired by reformer Francisco Madero, helping him to win the Mexican Revolution. After a coup by Victoriano Huerta, he formed his own army to oppose the dictator, with more battles to follow as Mexican leadership remained in a state of flux. In January 1916 he kidnapped and killed 18 Americans. Only months later, on March 9, 1916, he led several rebels in a raid of Columbus, New Mexico, where they ravaged the small town and killed 19 additional people. General John Pershing was sent to Mexico in order to capture him. Despite the Mexican governments support in searching for him, the two hunts that occurred in 1916 and 1919 for the Mexican rebel produced no results. In 1920, Carranza was assassinated and Adolfo De la Huerta became the president of Mexico. In an effort to restore peace to the unstable nation, De la Huerta negotiated with the rebel for his withdrawal from the battlefield. He agreed and retired as a revolutionary in 1920. He was killed three years later on July 20, 1923, in Parral, Mexico.

People's Republic of China

(1949- ) On October 1, 1949, the communist revolutionary, Mao Zedong named himself head of state this new state. Zhou Enlai was named its premier. The proclamation was the climax of years of battle between Mao's communist forces and the regime of Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who had been supported with money and arms from the American government. The loss of China, the largest nation in Asia, to communism was a severe blow to the United States, which was still reeling from the Soviet Union's detonation of a nuclear device one month earlier.

Perestroika

Refers to major changes initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev to the structure and function of both political and economic controls in the Soviet Union. Politically, contested elections were introduced to reflect the democratic practices of Western society and allow citizens to have a slight say in government. Economically, it called for de-monopolization and some semi-private businesses to function, ending the price controls established by the government. The goal was to create a semi-free market system, reflecting successful capitalist practices in the economies of Germany, Japan, and the United States. Unfortunately, such an economy took time to thrive, and people found themselves stuck in a worn-out economy, which led to long-lines, strikes, and civil unrest. This and resistance to it are often cited as major catalysts leading to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Platt Amendment

(1901) This established the terms under which the United States would end its military occupation of Cuba (which had begun in 1898 during the Spanish-American War) and "leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its people." It stipulated the conditions for U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs and permitted the United States to lease or buy lands for the purpose of the establishing naval bases (the main one was Guantánamo Bay) and coaling stations in Cuba.

Pol Pot

(1925-1998) He rose to power as leader of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia's Communist regime, which took control of the country in 1975. During its reign, which ended in 1979, he oversaw the deaths of an estimated one to two million people from starvation, overwork or execution. The mass graves he commanded his people to dig were often referred to as "the killing fields." He was arrested in 1997 and died under house arrest on April 15, 1998.

Pope John Paul II

(1920-2005) He extended support to the Solidarity movement in Poland and inspired his fellow Polish by pleading with them to, "not to be afraid," and stand for their freedom and dignity. This religious leader's influence helped in freeing the of parts of Europe from communism.

Prague Spring

(1968) Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček introduced more freedoms, including limited democracy. Warsaw Pact countries launched an invasion and put an end to these freedoms.

Quit India Movement

(1942) A civil disobedience campaign in launched in August 1942, in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for the immediate independence of India. Its aim was to bring the British government to the negotiating table through determined, but passive resistance. Unilaterally and without consultation, the British had entered India into World War II, arousing the indignation of large numbers of Indian people. On July 14, 1942, the Indian National Congress passed a resolution demanding complete independence from Britain and massive civil disobedience. In a speech entitled, "Do or Die," given on August 8, 1942, Gandhi urged the masses to act as an independent nation and not to follow the orders of the British. His call found support among a large number of Indians, including revolutionaries who were not necessarily party to Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence. Almost the entire Congress leadership was put into confinement less than twenty-four hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress leaders spent the rest of the war in jail. Despite lack of direct leadership, large-scale protests and demonstrations were held all over the country. The British responded with mass detentions, making over 100,000 arrests. Within a few months the campaign had died down, and when the British granted independence on August 15, 1947, they cited revolts and growing dissatisfaction among Royal Indian Armed Forces during and after the war as the driving force behind Britain's decision to leave India.

Rape of Nanjing

(1937) During the Sino-Japanese War, the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces, and the Chinese government flees further inland along the Yangtze River. To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city be destroyed. Much of the city was burned, and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians. The Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male "war prisoners," massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. Shortly after the end of World War II, Matsui was found guilty of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and executed.

Reichstag

It was the pseudo-Parliament of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. Following the Nazi seizure of power and the passing of the Enabling Act of 1933, it met only as a rubber stamp for the actions of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship — always by unanimous consent — and to listen to Hitler's speeches. In this purely ceremonial role, it convened only 20 times, the last on April 26, 1942, when it unanimously passed a decree proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People," officially allowing him to override the judiciary and administration in all matters.

Republic of China

(1912-1949) - Ruled the Chinese mainland between 1912 and 1949. It was established after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. Its government moved to Taipei in December 1949 due to the Kuomintang's defeat in the Chinese Civil War.

Ronald Reagan

(1911-2004) U.S. President whose first term in office was marked by a massive buildup of U.S. weapons and troops, as well as an escalation of the Cold War (1946-1991) with the Soviet Union, which the president dubbed "the evil empire." Key to his administration's foreign policy initiatives was a doctrine, under which America provided aid to anti-communist movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 1983, he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a plan to develop space-based weapons to protect America from attacks by Soviet nuclear missiles.

Saddam Hussein

(1937-2006) President of Iraq for more than two decades and is seen as a figurehead of the country's military conflicts with Iran and the United States. Under his rule, segments of the populace enjoyed the benefits of oil wealth, while those in opposition faced torture and execution. After military conflicts with U.S.-led armed forces, Hussein was captured in 2003. He was later executed.

Salvador Allende

(1908-1973) Chile's first socialist president in 1970. His regime was supported by working-class constituencies, but was opposed in covert actions by U.S. President Richard Nixon. Following a military coup led by General Augustine Pinochet, he took his own life on September 11, 1973.