Final Exam Review Guide: Nationalism, Imperialism, and the World Wars

A comprehensive vocabulary review of key historical figures, movements, and policies from European nationalism through the Cold War era.

Autonomy

Self-rule or independence from external control.

Recession

A period of reduced economic activity.

Toussaint L’ Ouverture

Leader and key figure in the Haitian revolution for independence.

Father Miguel Hidalgo

Mexican priest who led the early independence movement in Mexico.

Simon Bolivar

South American revolutionary leader known as "The Liberator."

Otto Von Bismarck

Prussian statesman who architected the unification of Germany.

Second Reich

The name of the unified German Empire established under the leadership of Bismarck.

Young Italy Movement

A movement founded with the goal of creating a unified, independent Italian republic.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the United States was destined to expand across the entire North American continent.

Zionist Movement

A movement focused on establishing a Jewish homeland, sparked in part by the events of the Dreyfus Affair.

Bloody Sunday

An event involving a massacre of peaceful protesters in Russia that contributed to revolutionary sentiment.

Imperialism

The domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country or region.

Sepoy Rebellion

An uprising of Indian soldiers against the British East India Company.

Opium War

A conflict between China and Britain sparked by trade disputes involving the drug opium.

Open Door Policy

A US-proposed policy that suggested equal trading rights in China for all nations.

Boxer Uprising

An anti-foreign and anti-Christian movement in China.

Meiji Restoration

A period in Japan marked by rapid modernization and industrialization to resist Western imperialism.

Monroe Doctrine

A policy stating that the Americas were no longer open to European colonization.

Triple Alliance

The alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy prior to WWI.

Triple Entente

The alliance between France, Great Britain, and Russia prior to WWI.

Archduke Francis Ferdinand

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination triggered the start of WWI.

Truman’s 14 points

A set of principles intended to serve as a blueprint for world peace and negotiation after WWI.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that ended WWI and imposed strict penalties and reparations on Germany.

Rasputin

A Siberian mystic who influenced the Russian royal family and contributed to the government's instability during WWI.

Vladimir Lenin

The leader of the Bolshevik party and the first leader of the Soviet Union.

Bolshevik party

The radical socialist group that seized power in Russia during the October Revolution.

Leon Trotsky

A key Russian revolutionary and commander of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.

Good Neighbor Policy

A US policy toward Latin America focused on non-interference and improved relations.

Apartheid

A system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination practiced in South Africa.

Pan-Africanism

A movement that emphasized the unity and common interests of Africans and people of African descent.

Mohandas Gandhi

The leader of the Indian independence movement known for practicing nonviolent civil disobedience.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

The leader of the Muslim League who pushed for the creation of a separate state for Muslims, Pakistan.

Amritar Massacre

A 1919 incident where British troops fired on a crowd of nonviolent Indian protesters.

Homespun movement

A protest movement led by Gandhi to boycott British-made cloth in favor of locally produced Indian textiles.

Mao Zedong

The leader of the Chinese Communist Party who led the Long March.

Fascism

A political ideology characterized by authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, and suppression of opposition.

Benito Mussolini

The fascist dictator of Italy who came to power after WWI.

Totalitarianism

A government system where the state has total control over every aspect of public and private life.

Command economy

An economic system in which the government makes all major economic decisions.

Collectives

State-owned farms in the Soviet Union where peasants were forced to work together.

Weimar Republic

The democratic government of Germany that faced failure and instability after WWI, prior to the rise of the Nazis.

Third Reich

The official name of the Nazi regime in Germany.

Nuremberg Laws

Antisemitic laws enacted in Nazi Germany that deprived Jews of citizenship and basic rights.

Appeasement

The policy of giving in to an aggressor's demands in order to maintain peace.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

A non-aggression agreement between Hitler and Stalin to divide Poland and avoid war with each other.

Lend-Lease Act

A US law that allowed the government to provide war materials to Allied nations while remaining technically neutral.

Concentration camp

Detention centers established by the Nazis for those considered enemies of the state.

Death camp

Specialized camps designed for the mass murder of prisoners, primarily during the Holocaust.

Heinrich Himmler

The high-ranking Nazi official who oversaw the SS and the implementation of the Holocaust.

Yalta Conference

A meeting between Allied leaders to discuss the postwar reorganization of Europe.

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international cooperation and prevent future conflicts.

Satellite nation

A nation that is formally independent but heavily influenced or controlled by a more powerful neighbor, such as the USSR.

Containment

The US Cold War strategy to prevent the further spread of communism.

Iron Curtain

A term describing the political and ideological barrier between democratic Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe.

Truman Doctrine

The US policy of providing economic and military aid to countries threatened by communism.

Marshall Plan

A massive US aid package designed to help Western Europe rebuild after WWII.

Domino theory

The belief that if one nation fell to communism, neighboring nations would inevitably follow.

Pol Pot

The leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia who oversaw a genocidal regime.

Nelson Mandela

Anti-apartheid leader who became the first black president of South Africa.

al Qaeda

An international terrorist organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

Taliban

An Islamic fundamentalist group that gained power in Afghanistan.