World History II Final Exam Study Guide - June 2026

VOCABULARY flashcards covering key figures, events, and concepts from World War I, the Russian Revolution, Interwar Years, Nationalism in India and China, and World War II based on the Final Exam Study Guide.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

The leader of Germany during World War I who was forced to abdicate at the end of the conflict.

Franz Ferdinand

The Archduke of Austria-Hungary whose assassination in Sarajevo served as the immediate trigger for World War I.

Balkans/Balkan Peninsula

A region in Southeast Europe known as the “powder keg” of Europe due to intense ethnic nationalism and political instability.

Western Front

The deadlocked region of fighting in northern France characterized by trench warfare.

Eastern Front

The region of fighting along the German and Russian border.

militarism

One of the M.A.I.N. causes of WWI, referring to the policy of glorifying military power and keeping an army prepared for war.

Triple Alliance/Central Powers

The alliance originally consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (later known as the Central Powers including the Ottoman Empire during the war).

Triple Entente/Allies

The alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia (later known as the Allied forces or Allies).

Schlieffen Plan

The German military strategy to avoid a two-front war by quickly defeating France in the west before rushing to the east to fight Russia.

trench warfare

A form of combat where soldiers fought each other from parallel systems of excavations in the ground, leading to massive casualties and very small land gains.

First Battle of the Marne

A critical WWI battle in 1914 that resulted in an Allied victory and effectively ruined the Schlieffen Plan.

Gallipoli Campaign

Successive Allied attacks against the Ottoman Empire to secure the Dardanelles and establish a supply line to Russia.

unrestricted submarine warfare

The German policy of sinking any ship in the waters around Britain without warning.

Lusitania

A British passenger ship sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, resulting in the deaths of 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.

Zimmermann Telegram

A secret message from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance and promising to help Mexico regain territory from the U.S.

total war

A conflict in which participating countries devote all their resources to the war effort.

rationing

A system where people could buy only small amounts of those items that were also needed for the war effort.

propaganda

One-sided information designed to persuade and to keep up morale and support for the war.

conscription

The practice of mandatory enrollment of individuals into the military service.

armistice

An agreement to stop fighting, specifically the one signed on November 11, 1918, ending WWI.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson's plan for a just and lasting peace after WWI.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty signed between Germany and the Allied powers on June 28, 1919, which punished Germany and created the League of Nations.

League of Nations

An international association formed after WWI with the goal of keeping peace among nations.

self-determination

The principle of allowing people to decide for themselves under what government they wished to live.

Romanovs

The ruling family of Russia (including Czar Nicholas II) who were overthrown during the Russian Revolution.

Rasputin

A self-described “holy man” who claimed to have magical healing powers and gained influence over the Czarina Alexandra.

Vladimir Lenin

The leader of the Bolsheviks and the first leader of the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Joseph Stalin

The totalitarian leader of the Soviet Union who took power after Lenin and implemented Five-Year Plans and the Great Purge.

Bloody Sunday

A 1905 event where soldiers fired on a crowd of workers petitioning for reforms at the Czar's Winter Palace, sparking widespread unrest.

Duma

Russia's first parliament, established by Czar Nicholas II after the 1905 revolution but quickly dissolved.

Bolshevik Revolution

The 1917 uprising in which the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power from the provisional government.

Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)

The first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) who helped overthrow the Qing Dynasty.

Mao Zedong

A founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who became China’s greatest revolutionary leader.

Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)

The leader of the Kuomintang after Sun Yat-sen who fought against the Communists in the Chinese Civil War.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

The leader of the Indian independence movement known for using civil disobedience and non-violence.

Long March

A hazardous 6,000-mile journey undertaken by Chinese Communists fleeing from Nationalist forces.

civil disobedience

The deliberate and public refusal to obey an unjust law and use of non-violence to achieve independence.

Amritsar Massacre

The 1919 killing by British troops of nearly 400 Indians gathered at a religious festival to protest the Rowlatt Acts.

Weimar Republic

The democratic government of Germany set up in 1919 that was weakened by inflation and economic crisis.

Fascism

A militant political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader, famously practiced by Mussolini.

Nazism

The German brand of fascism, based on extreme nationalism and antisemitism, led by Adolf Hitler.

Nuremberg Laws

A set of laws passed in 1935 that deprived Jews of their rights to German citizenship and forbade marriages between Jews and non-Jews.

Kristallnacht

“Night of Broken Glass,” a 1938 attack on Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany.

totalitarianism

A government that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life.

command economy

A system in which the government makes all economic decisions, as seen in Stalin’s Five-Year Plans.

appeasement

The policy of giving in to an aggressor to keep peace, practiced by Britain and France before WWII.

Munich Conference

A 1938 meeting where Britain and France allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland).

nonaggression pact

An agreement in which nations promise not to attack one another, famously signed between Stalin and Hitler in 1939.

blitzkrieg

“Lightning war,” a German military strategy using fast-moving airplanes and tanks followed by massive infantry forces.

“Final Solution”

Hitler's program of systematically killing the entire Jewish people.

Nuremberg Trials

The international military tribunal that tried Nazi leaders for “crimes against humanity.”

demilitarization

The process of breaking down a nation's armed forces to ensure they cannot wage war, as seen in Japan after WWII.