World History Final Exam Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering key topics for the World History 2nd Semester Final Exam, covering Industrialization, World War I, World War II/Holocaust, the Cold War, and the Modern Era.

Industrial Revolution

A period marked by major causes, new inventions, and significant social effects including the specific conditions of life in the factories.

Causes of the industrial Revolution

People had to move to cities in search of work(Urbanization). Britain was the place that people went the perfected conditions for industrial growth due to access to natural resources, capital for investment, and a favorable political environment.

Inventions

The Steam Locomotive (George Stephenson, 1814): Railways connected coal mines to factories and factories to ports, while also creating a global culture of mass travel.The Spinning Jenny (James Hargreaves, 1764): Revolutionized textile manufacturing by enabling multiple spools of thread to be spun simultaneously. The Water Frame (Richard Arkwright, 1769): Used water power to drive spinning wheels.

Social, effects (Life in the Factories)

The Industrial Revolution led to significant changes in the working conditions of factories, including long hours, low pay, and hazardous environments. This period also saw the rise of labor movements advocating for workers' rights and improved conditions.

White Man’s Burden

A concept used as a justification for imperialism during the era of industrialization and global expansion. How white men are trying to help black people because they think they can’t do anything themselves because their dumb.

Imperialism in India

The practice by which a more powerful nation extended its control over India, featured in the study of unit 1.

Causes of WW1

The root causes of World War I included nationalism(devotion to ones country), militarism (secret large standing armies), imperialism(powerful nations dominate economy of another country) ,assassination(heir to Austro Hungarian throne killed), and the complex system of alliances that developed in Europe(mutual defense treaties try no war). These factors created tensions that ultimately led to the outbreak of the war in 1914. MANIA

Allied vs. Central powers

Allied- France invasion from Germany, Great Britain entered because of violation of Belgian neutrality, Russia protect Serbia, US maintain neutral until 1917 because of stupid telegram interception from Germany. Central Powers- Germany face two front battle, Austria-Hungary declare on Serbia because of assassination, Ottoman Empire cut off Russia’s supply, Bulgaria tried to get territory from Serbia.

Gallipoli

The Gallipoli Campaign (1915–1916) was a disastrous Allied military offensive during World War I aimed at knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war and opening a sea route to Russia. Instead, Allied troops—including many Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZACs)—became trapped in a brutal, months-long trench warfare stalemate on the rugged Turkish cliffs. The campaign ended in a decisive Ottoman victory, resulting in massive casualties on both sides and profoundly shaping the national identities of Australia, New Zealand, and modern Turkey.

Trench Warfare

A specific style of land warfare widely used in World War I involving occupied fighting lines consisting of large ditches.

Treaty of Versailles

The formal peace document that brought World War I to an end. Also taking away a lot from Germany making them want to have another war.

Policy of Appeasement

A diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid conflict, used prior to World War II. Prime minister of UK went to go talk to Hitler to make sure he wasn’t starting a war and he lied.

The Atomic Bomb

A powerful weapon that played a decisive role in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The US dropped 2 bombs on Japan, Hiroshima and Nigwasakhi this made it so Japan signed the end of the war.

European vs. Pacific Theater..

The European Theater was primarily a massive land and air war fought across Europe and North Africa to defeat Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, culminating in a two-front squeeze by the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States. In contrast, the Pacific Theater was a vast naval and amphibious war fought across Asia and the Pacific Ocean to defeat the Empire of Japan, largely defined by the American strategy of island hopping. While Europe was prioritized by the Allies, the war in the Pacific ultimately ended months later following the dropping of the atomic bombs.

Methods used to target undesirables

During the Holocaust, Nazi Germany targeted "undesirables"—primarily Jews, but also Roma, people with disabilities, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals—who were viewed as racial, political, or biological threats to the Aryan state. The regime used methods ranging from dehumanizing propaganda, discriminatory laws (like the Nuremberg Laws), and forced ghettoization to mass shootings by mobile killing squads and systematic extermination in industrial concentration and death camps.

Resistance

Resistance is taught through acts of defiance against oppressive regimes, such as the armed Jewish uprisings in ghettos (like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) and secret partisan networks fighting Nazi occupation. It also encompasses nonviolent civil disobedience led by figures like Mahatma Gandhi against British imperial rule, and anti-colonial rebellions across Africa and Asia. These topics emphasize that even under total domination, individuals and groups actively fought to reclaim their freedom, dignity, and human rights.

Liberation

Allied freeing of Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II, which exposed the full horrors of the Holocaust to the world. It also encompasses the mid-to-late 20th-century decolonization movement, where nations across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East successfully broke free from European imperial rule to reclaim their independence. This theme emphasizes the profound global shift toward restoring human rights, self-determination, and justice following eras of intense oppression.

The Final Solution

The Nazi program for the systematic genocide of those they categorized as “Undesirables” during the Holocaust.

Nuremberg Trials

A series of military tribunals held after World War II to prosecute prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany.

Communism

Communism is an economic and political system where everyone owns everything together, factories and farms are shared by the community rather than private bosses, and the goal is for everyone to be completely equal.

Stalin’s Totalitarian State

The form of government in the Soviet Union characterized by absolute control by the central state, studied under the Cold War unit. The government controls everything.

The Truman Doctrine

An American foreign policy whose stated purpose was to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War by providing support to nations threatened by communism.

South Africa’s Apartheid System

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

Partitioning India

The 1947 division of British India which led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India. Basically there were Muslims and Hindus they didn’t want to live together so there governments or leaders decided to split India leading to millions upon millions of people migrating.

NATO Members

The various nations that belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, studied as part of the Modern Era. 32 NATO member countries in alphabetical order:Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Globalization

A modern era phenomenon involving the increasing interaction and integration between people, companies, and governments worldwide, noted for having various global benefits.

Global innovations

Modern global innovation focus’s on how breakthroughs in personal computing, the internet, and mobile communication created a hyper-connected global economy. It also highlights advancements in biotechnology and green energy, illustrating how these innovations have dramatically increased global standards of living while simultaneously presenting new challenges in climate change, resource management, and digital inequality.

Elements of terrorism

The elements of terrorism are taught as the systematic use of violence, terror, and intimidation by non-state actors or extremist groups to achieve specific political, ideological, or religious goals. The curriculum focuses on how these groups deliberately target civilians to maximize fear, gain global media attention, and destabilize governments, as seen in late 20th and 21st-century examples like Al-Qaeda and the events of September 11.

Benefits of globalization

The benefits of globalization are taught through the rapid expansion of international trade, which lowered the cost of goods and raised the material standard of living for billions of people worldwide. The curriculum also emphasizes how increased global connectivity fostered unprecedented cultural exchange, accelerated technological innovation, and encouraged international cooperation to tackle shared global challenges.