World War I Peace Settlements and Rise of Dictators

Vocabulary flashcards covering major individuals, treaties, concepts and institutions from the post-WWI peace settlements to the rise of interwar dictatorships.

Paris Peace Conference (1919)

International meeting that drafted five major treaties to end World War I and shape the post-war order.

Big Four

Key decision-makers at the Paris Peace Conference: Britain (David Lloyd George), France (Georges Clemenceau), Italy (Vittorio Orlando), and the United States (Woodrow Wilson). These leaders played a dominant role in drafting the treaties that ended World War I.

Armistice of 11 November 1918

Cease-fire that ended World War I hostilities on the Western Front.

Treaty of Versailles

Peace treaty between Germany and the Allied powers signed 28 June 1919, imposing reparations, territorial losses and military restrictions on Germany.

Article 231 (War Guilt Clause)

Clause of the Treaty of Versailles forcing Germany to accept responsibility for causing World War I.

League of Nations

International organisation created by the Versailles settlement to maintain collective security and prevent future wars.

Reparations

Payments demanded from Germany to compensate Allied nations for war damages after WWI.

Demilitarised Rhineland

Region along Germany’s western border where German troops were forbidden under the Versailles terms.

Alsace-Lorraine

Border territory returned from Germany to France by the Treaty of Versailles.

Anschluss

Forbidden union between Germany and Austria under the Versailles conditions.

Saar Basin

German coal-rich region placed under League of Nations control for 15 years after WWI.

Georges Clemenceau

French premier who demanded harsh measures against Germany at the Paris Peace Conference.

David Lloyd George

British prime minister at Versailles, balancing punitive terms with the need for German economic recovery.

Vittorio Orlando

Italian leader at Versailles whose failure to secure promised territory fuelled Italian resentment.

Woodrow Wilson

U.S. president whose Fourteen Points and League of Nations proposals shaped the post-war agenda.

Weimar Republic

Democratic German state established in 1919 following the Kaiser’s abdication.

Spartacist Uprising (1919)

Failed communist revolt in Berlin led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

Kapp Putsch (1920)

right-wing coup attempt in March 1920 by Wolfgang Kapp and elements of the Freikorps, aiming to overthrow the Weimar Republic and install an authoritarian regime. It collapsed after a general strike by Berlin workers.

Freikorps

Paramilitary units of WWI veterans who fought left-wing forces in post-war Germany.

Great Depression

Global economic collapse (1929-33) that devastated Germany and boosted extremist parties.

Beer Hall Putsch (1923)

failed Nazi coup attempt led by Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff on 8-9 November 1923 in Munich, aiming to overthrow the Bavarian government and then the Weimar Republic. It was quickly suppressed, leading to Hitler's arrest and imprisonment, where he wrote 'Mein Kampf', and gave his movement significant publicity.

NSDAP (Nazi Party)

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), formally refounded by Adolf Hitler in 1920 (having evolved from the DAP) and led by him from 1921. Hitler directed the party to promote extremist nationalism, antisemitism, and the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, seeking to establish a totalitarian state.

25-Point Programme

Ideological platform announced by the Nazi Party in 1920 outlining nationalism, anti-Semitism and expansionism.

Gleichschaltung

Nazis’ process of coordinating and centralising all institutions under party control.

Enabling Act (23 March 1933)

Law allowing Hitler to enact legislation without Reichstag approval, establishing legal dictatorship.

Reichstag Fire Decree

Emergency decree suspending civil liberties after the 1933 Reichstag fire.

SA (Sturmabteilung)

Nazi storm-trooper militia used to intimidate political opponents.

SS (Schutzstaffel)

Elite Nazi organisation under Heinrich Himmler responsible for security, surveillance and the Final Solution.

Gestapo

Secret State Police of Nazi Germany, specialising in political repression and terror.

Joseph Goebbels

Nazi Minister of Propaganda who controlled media, culture and the Fuhrer myth.

Hermann Göring

Head of the Luftwaffe and key economic planner in Nazi Germany.

Heinrich Himmler

Leader of the SS and architect of the Holocaust.

Martin Bormann

Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and controller of access to Hitler.

Fuhrerprinzip - ideology

Leadership principle asserting Hitler’s absolute authority over party and state.

Volksgemeinschaft - ideology

Nazi ideal of a unified racial people’s community excluding Jews and other minorities.

Lebensraum ideology

Nazi policy calling for territorial expansion into Eastern Europe for German “living space.”

Autarky - ideology

Economic goal of national self-sufficiency pursued by Nazi Germany.

Strength Through Joy (KdF)

Program of the German Labour Front providing leisure activities to win worker support.

German Labour Front (DAF)

State organisation replacing free trade unions under Nazi rule.

Hitler Youth

Compulsory Nazi youth organisation established to indoctrinate boys and girls in party ideology, preparing them for future roles in the 'Volksgemeinschaft' and the military. It focused on physical training, loyalty to Hitler, and Nazi doctrines, becoming increasingly mandatory for German youth.

Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Racial laws stripping German Jews of citizenship and banning inter-marriage.

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

Nation-wide pogrom on 9-10 Nov 1938 destroying Jewish property and arresting thousands.

Aktion T4

Nazi euthanasia program murdering disabled and mentally ill people deemed “life unworthy of life.”

Edelweiss Pirates

Youth resistance group opposing Nazi conformity and Hitler Youth discipline.

Swing Youth

Middle-class German teenagers who rejected Nazi culture in favour of American jazz.

Cult of Personality

Use of propaganda to portray a leader—Hitler or Stalin—as heroic and infallible.

Totalitarianism

System in which the state seeks total control over public and private life.

Fascism

Authoritarian, nationalist ideology first established under Mussolini in Italy.

Benito Mussolini

Founder of Italian Fascism and dictator of Italy (1922-1943). He rose to power with the support of his paramilitary 'Blackshirts', culminating in the 'March on Rome' in 1922, which pressured King Victor Emmanuel III to appoint him prime minister and laid the foundation for his totalitarian regime.

Hideki Tojo

Japanese general who became prime minister in 1941 and led Japan during World War II. As a staunch advocate of expansionism and military aggression, he served as Army Minister and later Prime Minister, consolidating power and making key decisions for the war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor which initiated war with the United States. He was a central figure in shaping Japan's wartime policies and promoting an ultranationalist agenda.

Kōdōha

Imperial Japanese Army faction advocating a radical coup and expansionism.

Tōseiha

Moderate Japanese army faction supporting military influence without overthrowing civilian government.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japanese vision of an Asian empire free of Western influence, justifying expansion.

Collectivisation

Stalin’s policy of merging individual farms into state-controlled collectives.

Five-Year Plan

Soviet economic program setting production targets for rapid industrialisation.

Great Purge (1936-38)

Stalin’s campaign of arrests, show trials and executions to eliminate rivals.

NKVD

Soviet secret police enforcing Stalinist terror and managing Gulag camps.

Gulag

Network of Soviet forced-labour camps for political prisoners and criminals.

Show Trial

Public court proceeding with predetermined verdict used by dictatorships to legitimise repression.

Cult of Lenin

Soviet veneration of Lenin’s legacy, exploited by Stalin to legitimise his rule.

Propaganda

Government-directed communication intended to influence attitudes and actions.

Censorship

Suppression or control of information deemed undesirable by a state.

Total War Economy

Organisation of national resources solely for military needs, as seen in Nazi Germany and Japan.

Article 48

Weimar Constitution clause allowing the president to rule by emergency decree.

‘November Criminals’

Derogatory Nazi term for German politicians who signed the WWI armistice and Versailles Treaty.

Stab-in-the-Back Myth

Right-wing claim that Germany was betrayed internally rather than defeated militarily in WWI.

Concordat (1933)

Agreement between the Vatican and Nazi Germany promising church non-interference in politics. Reich Church was created as an attempted Nazi controlled Protestant church

Degenerate Art

Label the Nazis gave to modern art they considered un-German or subversive.

Reichstag

German parliament whose powers were neutralised by Hitler after 1933.

Night of the Long Knives (1934)

Purge in which Hitler eliminated SA leaders and other rivals. This event solidified Hitler's control over the Nazi Party and demonstrated his ruthlessness in securing power.

Reich Citizenship Law

Part of the Nuremberg Laws defining citizenship by racial criteria.

Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour

Nuremberg statute prohibiting marriage between Jews and ‘Aryans.’

Marzahn Camp

Berlin site where Roma were interned before wider deportations.

Article 231 Reparations Figure

Final Allied assessment set in 1921 of 132 billion gold marks (≈US $32 billion) owed by Germany.

Reichstag Fire

Arson attack on the German Reichstag (parliament) building on 27 February 1933. The precise culprits remain debated, but the Nazis exploited it, claiming it was a communist plot. Hitler used the fire as a pretext to pressure President Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, drastically suspending civil liberties and enabling the suppression of political opponents, particularly communists. This event significantly solidified Hitler's power and paved the way for the establishment of a one-party state.

Nazi Impact on Women

Nazi policy that restricted women primarily to domestic roles—motherhood and homemaking—to increase the Aryan birthrate and support the 'Volksgemeinschaft' ideal, discouraging professional careers and public life.

Nazi Impact on Youth

The Nazis aimed to indoctrinate youth through the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, promoting loyalty to Hitler, physical training, and Nazi ideology, thereby controlling education and leisure to ensure future adherence to the regime.

Nazi Impact on Minorities

Nazis systematically persecuted various minority groups, including Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and the disabled, through discriminatory laws (e.g., Nuremberg Laws), forced sterilisation, internment, and ultimately extermination, based on racial and ideological purity within the 'Volksgemeinschaft'.