(test wednesday 10/21/26) Interwar Period: Dictatorships and Western Democracies

Vocabulary study cards covering the rise of dictatorial regimes in Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union, alongside post-WWI economic developments and foreign policy in Western democracies.

Totalitarian State

A form of government in which the leader has total control over all aspects of citizens' lives.

Fascism

A political philosophy where absolute authority is held by the state, preaching that the needs of the nation are more important than the needs of the individual.

Black Shirts

Followers and supporters of Benito Mussolini who promoted fascism and forced acceptance of the party by threatening people.

King Victor Emmanuel III

The King of Italy who appointed Benito Mussolini to the position of Prime Minister after Mussolini threatened to march on Rome.

Syndicates

Groups of employers and workers formed by Mussolini after the Fascist party took control of the Italian parliament.

OVRA

The secret police force established by Benito Mussolini in Italy.

Il Duce

A title meaning 'leader,' under which Benito Mussolini ruled Italy by the end of 1926.

Brown Shirts

The followers and supporters of Adolf Hitler in Germany.

Mein Kampf

A book written by Adolf Hitler while in prison, meaning 'My Struggle,' detailing an account of his movement and core ideas.

Lebensraum

A German term meaning 'living space,' describing the right Hitler believed superior nations had to expand territory.

Reichstag

The German parliament, in which the Nazi Party became the largest political party by 1932.

Black Tuesday

October 24, 1929, the date the United States stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression.

Herbert Hoover

The United States President in office when the 1929 stock market crashed who did nothing to help ease the crisis.

New Deal

Legislation introduced by Franklin Roosevelt during his first 100 days in office to reform banks and the stock market, help agriculture, and put people back to work.

Washington Naval Conference

A 1921 conference hosted by the United States where the U.S., Japan, and Great Britain agreed to limit their number of naval ships.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

An agreement between the United States and France denouncing war as a means for settling international disputes.

General Strike

A strike involving all or a large number of a nation's workers, such as the labor action that occurred in post-WWI Great Britain.

Labour Party

A British political party made up of workers that grew in strength following the economic downturn of World War I.

Maginot Line

A miles-long series of concrete fortifications built by France as insurance against a future German invasion.

Führer

The title assumed by Adolf Hitler in 1934 after abolishing the office of president following the German president's death.

Rome-Berlin Axis

The political and military alliance formed between Benito Mussolini of Italy and Adolf Hitler of Germany in 1936.

SS

The elite Nazi security organization directed by Heinrich Himmler to enforce control across the German nation.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 anti-Semitic laws that stripped Jews of German citizenship, required them to wear a yellow Star of David, forced them to carry ID cards, and forbade intermarriage with non-Jews.

Kristallnacht

Meaning 'night of broken glass,' the Nazi rampage on November 9, 1938, where Jewish businesses and places of worship were destroyed, at least 100 people were killed, and 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

A 1921 economic policy introduced by Vladimir Lenin permitting peasants to sell produce and small businesses to operate privately while the government retained control of banking and large industries.

USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Soviet Union, established by the Communists in 1922.

Joseph Stalin

The Communist Party's General Secretary who won the leadership power struggle following Lenin's death to become dictator of the Soviet Union.

Five-Year Plans

Economic programs instituted by Joseph Stalin that replaced the NEP and set strict economic goals over a five-year period.

Collectivization

A policy created by Stalin where private farmland was confiscated by the Soviet government and peasants were forced to work state-controlled collective farms.

Great Purge

Stalin's political campaign of persecution and execution targeting Old Bolsheviks, political opponents, and anyone who resisted his regime.