AP World Unit 7 Vocab

Militarism

the belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests

Alliances

formal agreements, treaties, or pacts between nations to cooperate for specific goals, usually military defense or political support

Imperialism

the policy of industrial nations extending power and control over foreign territories, exploiting them for raw materials, markets, and strategic advantage

Nationalism

an ideology emphasizing intense loyalty, pride, and devotion toward a nation or ethnic group, prioritizing its interests above others

Gavrilo Princip

Bosnian Serb nationalist and member of the "Black Hand" secret society

• best known for assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip acted as the immediate trigger for World War I

Central Powers

a World War I (1914–1918) alliance—primarily Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria—that opposed the Allied Powers

Allied Powers

the coalition of nations, primarily France, Great Britain, and Russia, that opposed the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire)

Conscription

(draft) the mandatory, state-imposed enrollment of individuals into military service

Trench warfare

a type of defensive land warfare, most famous on the WWI Western Front, where opposing troops fight from, live in, and defend from deep, dug-in trenches, leading to static stalemate

Propaganda

the deliberate, systematic manipulation of information—posters, films, speeches—to influence public opinion, foster nationalism, and demonize enemies

Self Determination

the principle that a specific group of people, often defined by ethnicity or culture, has the right to determine their own political status, government, and economic/social development

Lusitania

British passenger liner torpedoed by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, during World War I, killing nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans

Zimmerman Telegram

a secret 1917 diplomatic proposal from Germany to Mexico, suggesting a military alliance if the U.S. entered World War I.

Total War

a military conflict where nations mobilize their entire population, economy, and resources to win, erasing the lines between combatants and civilians

Paris Peace Conference

the international meeting that established the terms of peace after WWI

Fourteen Points

a 1918 proposal by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson outlining a blueprint for lasting peace and postwar reconstruction after World War I

League of Nations

the first intergovernmental organization established in 1920 following WWI to maintain world peace through collective security, disarmament, and diplomacy

Treaty of Versailles

officially ended WWI, imposing harsh penalties on Germany—including massive reparations, territorial losses (e.g., Alsace-Lorraine), disarmament, and the "war guilt clause"

Reparations

compensation payments, in cash or kind, imposed on a defeated nation after a conflict to cover damages, losses, and civilian suffering.

Influenza Epidemic of 1919 [Spanish Flu]

a devastating, global H1N1 virus outbreak, infecting ~500 million people (one-third of the world) and killing an estimated 50–100 million

Weimar Republic

the democratic government of Germany established in 1919 following World War I, lasting until 1933

Russian Revolution

pair of revolutionary upheavals (February/March and October/November) that dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union

Vladimir Lenin

a Russian communist revolutionary, leader of the Bolsheviks, and the first premier of the Soviet Union. He orchestrated the 1917 October Revolution, shifting Russia from an empire to a communist state

Bolsheviks

a radical, far-left Marxist faction in Russia, led by Vladimir Lenin, that seized power during the 1917 October Revolution.

Totalitarian

a 20th-century political system where the state holds total authority, controlling both public and private life through coercion, propaganda, and surveillance

Joseph Stalin

totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death, transforming it into an industrial superpower. He implemented rapid industrialization via Five-Year Plans, enforced brutal agricultural collectivization, and utilized the "Great Purge"

Collectivization

the state-driven consolidation of individual farms into large, government-managed collective farms

Kulaks

a class of relatively wealthy peasants in the Russian Empire and early Soviet Union who owned larger farms and hired labor.

Great Purges

or "Great Terror," were a brutal campaign by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to eliminate alleged "enemies of the state," including Communist Party officials, military leaders, and citizens. Centered on consolidating totalitarian control, the purges resulted in roughly 700,000+ executions and millions sent to Gulag labor camps

Great Depression

a severe worldwide economic downturn triggered by the 1929 US stock market crash, characterized by massive unemployment, bank failures, and a collapse in global trade

New Deal

a series of U.S. government programs and policies implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s to combat the Great Depression. It focused on Relief, Recovery, and Reform

Fascism

a far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalist political ideology

• emphasizes the supremacy of the nation or race over the individual, led by a dictator, and features militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, and aggressive nationalism.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943, known as Il Duce. He founded the National Fascist Party, created a totalitarian state, and promoted aggressive nationalism and expansionism.

Adolf Hitler

totalitarian dictator of Germany (1933–1945), leader of the Nazi Party, and key instigator of World War II and the Holocaust.

Nazi Party

a far-right, totalitarian political party in Germany led by Adolf Hitler (1933–1945). It pushed extreme nationalism, anti-Semitism, scientific racism, and fascist ideology, aiming to restore German pride after WWI

Kristallnacht

or the "Night of Broken Glass," was a violent, state-sponsored pogrom (violent attack) against Jews in Nazi Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland on November 9–10, 1938

antisemitism

prejudice, hostility, or hatred directed toward Jewish people, functioning as a form of racism

Nuremberg Laws

two, antisemitic, and racist statutes enacted by the Nazi-controlled German parliament (Reichstag) on September 15, 1935, during the annual Nuremberg Rally. They institutionalized Nazi racial theories by legally distinguishing between "German" and "Jew,

Axis Powers

he coalition of nations—primarily Germany, Italy, and Japan—that fought against the Allied Powers during World War II

Allied Powers

the coalition of nations that opposed the Axis power during World War II. Primarily led by the "Big Three"—the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States—along with China

Appeasement

a foreign policy of making concessions to an aggressive power to avoid conflict

Third Reich

refers to Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, characterized as a totalitarian, fascist state that promoted Aryan supremacy, rapid expansionism, and the Holocaust

Munich Agreement

a diplomatic pact allowing Nazi Germany to annex the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland, a key example of the British/French policy of appeasement to avoid war

German Soviet Nonaggression Pact

a ten-year treaty signed on August 23, 1939, where Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to attack each other. This pact allowed Hitler to invade Poland without fear of a two-front war, triggering WWI

Lend Lease act

a pivotal U.S. policy allowing President Roosevelt to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States," effectively ending American neutrality

Hiroshima / Nagasaki

by the United States were the first, only use of nuclear weapons in war, killing an estimated 100,000–200,000+ civilians

Armenian Genocide

he systematic, state-sponsored annihilation of approximately 1.5 million Armenian Christians living within the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I. Often cited as the first genocide of the 20th century, it was orchestrated by the "Young Turks"

Holocaust

the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and annihilation of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime