AP World 1900-Present

World War I

The “Great War” (1914–1918), in essence a European civil war with a global reach that was marked by massive casualties, trench warfare, and mobilization of entire populations. It triggered the Russian Revolution, led to widespread disillusionment among intellectuals, and rearranged the political map of Eastern Europe and the Middle East

total war

War that requires each country involved to mobilize its entire population in the effort to defeat the enemy

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 treaty that officially ended World War I; the immense penalties it placed on Germany are regarded as one of the causes of World War II

League of Nations

A new international peacekeeping organization committed to the principle of “collective security” and intended to avoid any repetition of the horrors that had just ended during World War I; proposed by American president Woodrow Wilson

Russian Revolution of 1917

Massive revolutionary upheaval in 1917 that overthrew the Romanov dynasty in Russia and ended with the seizure of power by communists under the leadership of Lenin

Joseph Stalin

1878-1953; Leader of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death

collectivization of agriculture

Communist policies that ended private ownership of land by incorporating peasants from small family farms into large-scale collective farms. Implemented forcibly in the Soviet Union (1928–1933), it led to a terrible famine and 5 million deaths; a similar process occurred much more peacefully in China during the 1950s

Great Depression

Worldwide economic contraction that began in 1929 with a stock market crash in the United States and continued in many areas until the outbreak of World War II

fascism

Political ideology that considered the conflict of nations to be the driving force of history; marked by intense nationalism and an appeal to post–World War I discontent. Fascists praised violence against enemies as a renewing force in society, celebrated action rather than reflection, and placed their faith in a charismatic leader. Fascists also bitterly condemned individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism

Benito Mussolini

1883-1945; Charismatic leader of the Italian Fascist Party who came to power in 1922 and ruled until his death

Nazi Party

German political party that established a fascist state dedicated to extreme nationalism, territorial expansion, and the purification of the German state

Adolf Hitler

1889-1945; Leader of the German Nazi Party and Germany’s head of state from 1933 until his death

Revolutionary Right

Also known as Radical Nationalism, this was a movement in Japanese political life during the Great Depression that was marked by extreme nationalism, a commitment to elite leadership focused around the emperor, and dedication to foreign expansion

World War II in Asia

A struggle to halt Japanese imperial expansion in Asia, fought by primarily Chinese and American forces

World War II in Europe

A struggle to halt German imperial expansion in Europe, fought by a coalition of allies that included Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States

Holocaust

Name commonly used for the Nazi genocide of Jews and other “undesirables” in German society

communism in Eastern Europe

Expansion of post–World War II communism to Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, imposed with Soviet pressure rather than growing out of domestic revolution

Ho Chi Minh

1890-1969; Leader of the Vietnamese communist movement that established control first in the north and then the whole of Vietnam after 1975

Chinese Revolution of 1949

An event that marks the coming to power of the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong, following a decades-long struggle against both domestic opponents and Japanese imperialism

Mao Zedong

1893-1976; Chairman of China’s Communist Party and de facto ruler of China from 1949 until his death

Guomindang

The Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek that governed from 1928 until its overthrow by the communists in 1949. (pron. GWOH-mihn-dahng)

European Economic Community (EEC)

An alliance formed in 1957 by six Western European countries dedicated to developing common trade policies and reduced tariffs; it gradually developed into the larger European Union

Marshall Plan

Huge U.S. government initiative to aid in the post–World War II recovery of Western Europe that was put into effect in 1948

Great Leap Forward

Communist push for collectivization that created “people’s communes” and aimed to mobilize China’s population for rapid development

Cultural Revolution

China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a massive campaign launched by Mao Zedong in the mid-1960s to combat the capitalist tendencies that he believed reached into even the highest ranks of the Communist Party; the campaign threw China into chaos

Cold War

Geopolitical and ideological conflict between communist regimes and capitalist powers after World War II, spreading from Eastern Europe through Asia; characterized by the avoidance of direct military conflict between the USSR and the United States and an arms race in nuclear weapons

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance, created in 1949, between the United States and various European countries; largely aimed at defending against the threat of Soviet aggression during the cold war

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance between the Soviet Union and communist states in Eastern Europe, created in 1955 as a counterweight to NATO; expressed the tensions of the cold war in Europe

Cuban missile crisis

Major standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba; the confrontation ended in compromise, with the USSR removing its missiles in exchange for the United States agreeing not to invade Cuba

decolonization

Process in which many African and Asian states won their independence from Western colonial rule, in most cases by negotiated settlement and in some cases through violent military confrontations

Indian National Congress

The political party led by Mahatma Gandhi that succeeded in bringing about Indian independence from Britain in 1947

Mohandas Gandhi

1869-1948; Often known as “Mahatma” or “Great Soul,” the political leader of the Indian drive for independence from Great Britain; rejected the goal of modern industrialization and advocated nonviolence

Muslim League

Political group formed in response to the Indian National Congress in India’s struggle for independence from Britain; the League’s leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, argued that regions of India with a Muslim majority should form a separate state called Pakistan

globalization of democracy

Late twentieth-century political shift that brought popular movements, multiparty elections, and new constitutions to countries around the world