AP Euro Unit 6

Militarism

One of the leading causes of WWI; the second wave of the Industrial Revolution created more sophisticated weapons and exacerbated tensions between BR and GR.

Alliances

Increased distrust between powers led to military alliances and created chain reactions across the continent. Bismarck’s main goal was isolate France from other powers.

Keiser Wilhelm II

Wilhelm II took control of Germany after forcing Bismarck to resign. He made a series of poor foreign policy choices that led to the isolation of Germany and the creation of the Triple Entente (BR+FR+RU).

Balkan “Powder Keg”

With a long history of nationalist uprisings because of a huge assortment of ethnic groups, this territory was expected to be volatile.

Panslavism

An idea that there should be one slavic state.

Franz Ferdinand

Archduke and heir presumptive to the throne in Austria. Assassinated on June 28th, 1914, during a parade.

The Black Hand

A known terrorist organization that used terrorist methods in attempts to gain freedom for Serbia. Famous member, Gravilo Princip murdered Franz Ferdinand.

Triple Entente

Alliance between RU/BR/FR in response to Germany and Wilhelm II.

Ultimatum (blank check)

With the full support of the German army, AU/HU issued an ultimatum to Serbia which must be met in 48 hours, or facing war.

1. All affairs managed by AU/HU

2. Outlawed all “harmful” rhetoric around Austria/Hungary

3. Austrian officials to be sent to Serbian land for investigation

Triple Alliance/Central Alliance

A pre-war defensive pact between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, designed to isolate France.

Schlieffen Plan

A strategy that called for attacking and defeating FR in the West and then rushing East to fight RU. Counted on the slow mobilization of RU forces due to lack of a railroad.

First Battle of The Marne (1914)

First battle of the war; ends in a stalemate, essentially a loss for Germany. Schlieffen Plan failed because Germany was forced to fight a two front war.

Total War

War that is unrestricted in terms of methods used. Combatants utilize all available resources including civilians. What the two World Wars are known for.

Trench Warfare (Western Front)

Trenches were originally constructed to defend against machine guns, created cover and defense. This then became counterproductive as neither side left the trenches-led to chemical warfare.

• Extremely unsanitary, new weapons only led to more deaths.

• Sometimes, the trenches became so perilous that rations couldn’t reach them. Used rats as food.

• Very minimal land gains vs huge amounts of casualties

Gallipoli Campaign (Eastern Front) 1915

BR Winston Churchill’s plan to try to capture Ottoman Dardanelles strait. Hoped to defeat the Ottomans who were allied with the Central Powers. Ends in a massive failure, forcing Churchill to resign and live in disgrace.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

German method of warfare that was generally frowned upon, eventually Germany sunk a British ship (Lusitania) that was transporting about 100 Americans who all died. This greatly changed public opinion in the war.

Zimmerman Telegram

Effort by Germany to get Mexican alliance in the war against the U.S. Intercepted by the British, American troops are sent into the war.

Second Battle of the Marne (1918)

Caused German withdrawal.

Stabbed-in-the-Back Theory

A prominent, false conspiracy theory in post-WWI Germany claiming the army was undefeated on the battlefield but betrayed on the home front

Armistice

Germany seeks peace under Wilson’s 14 points. Germans lay down arms, end of fighting, signed treaty of Versailles.

Self determination

Treaty of Versailles

Article 231

League of Nations

Wilsonian Idealism

V.I. Lenin

Established as the Bolshevik leader and wanted more centralized leadership for the revolution. Beliefs: Capitalism should be destroyed violently, revolution was possible in Russia, history is the story of human leadership; need for full time revolutionaries.

• “Peace, Land, and Bread.”

Bolshevik Revolution

Nov, 1917, workers take control of government.

Communist Party

New name for the Bolsheviks. Advocated for collective ownership, a classless society, and a vanguard party to lead the proletariat.

Soviets

A socialist state that profoundly shaped 20th-century European history through communist ideology, centralized economic planning (Five-Year Plans), and authoritarian rule.

Wilsonian Idealism

A foreign policy philosophy based on President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, emphasizing liberal internationalism, collective security, democratic self-determination, and open diplomacy.

• self determination, open trade

League of Nations

Championed a balance of power. The security of one nation is the responsibility of all nations. Deemed unconstitutional by America, never a part of the League of Nations.

• Often extremely docile and hesitant to actually put a stop to foreign attacks. Ex. Condemning IT attack on Ethiopia but did nothing.

Treaty of Versailles

• FR wanted reparations for the casualties of the war lost to Germany and payback for the domination of Bismarck.

• GR military limited to 100k, no planes.

• War guilt clause: Blamed the entire war on Germany. Puts Germany into billions of dollars of debt.

Hyperinflation

Post-Versailles agreement, Germany sees a huge inflation crisis. Weimar rep-GR democratic government formed in 1919. US helps revive German economy with the Dawes act.

• 1923: 87 trillion GR marks to buy an ounce of gold

Global Depression

Massive economic failures worldwide. Extreme even in places that had previous short term economic success, America. Worse in GR where there was less economic success.

Stalin

Replacement after the death of Lenin. Joseph Stalin was the cold, hard, communist party general. He seizes power after the death of Lenin and transforms the Soviet Union into a Totalitarian State.

Totalitarianism

The way that Stalin controlled Russia.

• Cult of personality: a reaction to Stalin being secretary, appointed offices all loyal to Stalin, those people appointed lower offices who were also loyal to Stalin.

• He glorified himself through total control of all media. “Great/Beloved Stalin”

Five Year Plans

Stalin’s plans for developing the economy. Prioritized capital goods over consumer goods for larger economic growth. Resulted in a large growth in industrial power, but a shortage on consumer goods. This creates a massive crisis among consumers and the majority of the country.

Collectivization 1928

Government creates large, government owned farms. Peasants resist this change and 10 million die in government crackdown. By 1938, more than 90% of all peasants lived on collective farms. Massive starvation because gov and factory workers get priority.

De-Stalinization

A political reform process in the Soviet Union (starting c. 1953, accelerating in 1956) initiated by Nikita Khrushchev to dismantle Joseph Stalin’s "cult of personality," denounce his crimes, and reform the Stalinist system. It involved releasing Gulag prisoners, reducing terror, easing censorship, and shifting toward a "collective leadership

Facism

Nationalistic, no classless society, aristocrats, war veterans, middle class. Mussolini, Italy.

Benito Mussolini

Promised to rescue IT economy and restore its military. Started socialist, turns Fascist, starts Fascist party.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany during the Nazi era. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor of Germany in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.

Nazi Party

The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party, was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism.

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany.

Collective Security

Security of one is the concern of all. If one country attacks another, the rest of the League will defend the member that was attacked.

Appeasment

Giving in to an aggressor in an effort to keep the peace.

Lebensraum

Hitler’s ideology and justification for imperialist fascism. He believed that he should conquer German speaking territories so Germans have more living space.

• Czechoslovakia and Austria (Versailles forbids unification of GR and AU)

Spanish Civil War

Despite Spain’s neutrality, Mussolini and Hitler support the rise of the fascist leader Francisco Franco. Soviet Union protests and sends Republican forces. When they collapse, Franco assumes power.

Munich Conference

BR prime minister Neville Chamberlain believed that he could preserve peace by giving into Hitler’s demand to unit Czech and Germans.

• Chamberlain AVOIDED WAR AT ALL COST, only declaring war when GR invaded Poland.

Winston Churchill

Directly opposed Hitler despite general public opinion that Hitler was not a threat. Advised BR not to give in because war was coming anyway.

Non-agression Pact

GR and RU agree not to fight each other in 1939

Blitzkrieg Warfare

Opposite of trench warfare, using overwhelming force to take out opponents and avoid a stalemate.

Nuremberg Laws

September 1935, foundational antisemitic codes in Nazi Germany that stripped Jews of citizenship and prohibited interracial marriage. Comprising the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood, these laws enforced "racial" purity, defining Jews by ancestry rather than religious practice.

The Holocaust

Hitler uses Jewish people as the scapegoats for personal failures and Germany’s defeat in WWI (blaming Jewish politicians for conditions in Treaty of Versailles)

• Hitler ordered all Jews in captured territories to be moved to Ghettos

• 1941-forced yellow armband with the star of David on them for public identification

• Final Solution: genocide plan to systematically kill an entire people, Hitler claimed to purify the Aryan race and tried to eliminate groups he saw as “subhuman.”

  • Jews, Roma (migrants), Poles, Russians, mentally ill, disabled, homosexuals, elderly.

Battle of Stalingrad

City in Russia named after Stalin, Hitler decides to take this city to make a point to Stalin. One of the bloodiest wars in the history of Warfare. 1.1 million casualties on the Soviet side, 800k+ on the German side. Germany is defeated in this battle, marked as the Eastern turning point of the war.

D-Day Invasion

June 6th, 1944. Allies plan invasion of Normand, FR to distract GR. Largest amphibious military invasion in the history of the world. The success allowed them to push further into France and liberate Paris in September.