(warmup thursday 10/15/26) Interwar Period: Western Democracies and Dictatorial Regimes

Vocabulary study cards covering the post-World War I Western democracies (United States, Great Britain, France) and the rise of dictatorial regimes in Italy.

Totalitarian state

A form of government in which the leader has total control over all aspects of life.

Italian discontentment after World War I

The dissatisfaction felt by Italians because the Allies did not give them all the land they were promised.

Fascist party

A party formed in $1917$ by Mussolini that held absolute authority in the hands of the state and preached that the needs of the nation were more important than the needs of the individual.

Mussolini

The founder of the Fascist party who promised employment for workers and protection of private property for land owners.

Black shirts

Mussolini's supporters who promoted fascism and got people to accept and vote for the party by threatening people.

General strike

A strike involving all workers or a large number of a nation's workers.

Labor Party

A British political party made up of workers that gained strength after World War I as factories closed and people were out of work.

Maginot Line

A series of forts $200\,\text{miles}$ long built by the French as added insurance against a future German invasion.

Creditor nation

The economic status achieved by the United States after World War I, shifting from a debtor nation and producing $40\%$ of the world's manufactured goods in the 1920s.

Black Tuesday

October 29, $1929$, the day the stock market crashed, which led to the Great Depression.

Herbert Hoover

The President of the United States when the stock market crashed who did nothing to help ease the depression.

New Deal

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

Washington Naval Conference

A $1921$ meeting hosted by the United States in which the U.S., Japan, and Great Britain agreed to limit their number of ships.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

An agreement in which the United States and France denounced war as a means for settling disputes.