TTU HIST 2301 Final Exam Review

Great Depression

A massive unemployment and declining wages in the 1920s.

Herbert Hoover

Who: presidet who was an orphan as a child, redistributed his salary to charity, worked hard to get where he was.

What: Believed in voluntary cooperation, built the Dam to give jobs

When: 1928

Where: America

Why: president during the Great Depression

3 Major causes of the Great Depression

1. the stock market crash

2. Internal weakness in the American economy

3. The European Economy

"Hoovervillles"

popular name for a shantytown built by homeless Americans during the Great Depression

Dust Bowl

Who: crop states

What: dust storms and droughts were punishing

When: early 1930s- early 1940s

Where: Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas

Why: crop losses sent farmers deeper into debt than before, and everyone moved out of the rural regions to the Far West

Franklin Roosevelt

Who: Democratic president who served the longest

What: fireside chats, and promised relief, recovery and reform

When: 1932

Where: America

Why: president who got us out of the Great Depression

The New Deal

Who: Roosevelt

What: a series of dramatic measures meant to reorganize the country's financial system and raise the living standards of all americas, especially working Americans. Relief, Recovery, Reform.

When: during the Great Depression

Where: America

Why: plan to get american out of the GD

Bank Holiday

business day when banks are closed; used strategically by Roosevelt immediately after assuming the presidency

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

Federally funded department creating economic programs to employ the unemployed

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

New Deal program that enlisted unemployed young men ages 18-25 in building and repairing highways, forest service sites, flood control projects, and national park buildings.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

New Deal act that instituted programs to regulate industry, establish labor rights and improve working conditions.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

a transformative act of the New Deal that established an agency that, among other things, paid farmers not to grow crops in order to curb supply; was one of the most influential federal agencies in the south and west

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Department created in May 1933 to build a series of dams on the Tennessee River in order to improve river navigations and create electricity for the area's rural residents

Second New Deal

Who: Roosevelt

What: attempt to gain support from the working and lower-middle classes.

When: after the 1st new deal

Where: America

Why: Even if it cost him the support of the wealthy, he wanted to co-opt the ideas of some of his leftist critics by pressing for more jobs, strengthening the position of labor, and providing a greater social safety net.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

New Deal agency whose workers built roads, dams, schools, subways, housing projects; it also sponsored cultural programs for unemployed artists and writers.

National Youth Administration (NYA)

provided work relief programs, job training, and part-time work for men and women 16-25, including high school and college students.

Wagner Act

Legislation passed in July 1935, also known as the National Labor Relations Act; strengthened the legal position of trade unions.

Social Security Act

Most far-reaching element of all 1930s legislation, passed in August 193; intended to provide a "safety net" for citizens who could not financially support themselves.

Court Packing

Roosevelt's plan to get people into Court that supported the new deal; forced judges to retire at 70. This failed and unemployment skyrocketed

Causes of World War 2

the treaty of versailles, and the great depression.

Benito Mussolini

Who: dictator of Italy

What: invaded and conquered Ethiopia in 1935 and Albania in 1939. Helped found the National Fascist Party

Why: he had seen Germany doing it so he wanted to do it too.

Fascism

Political system in which individual freedoms are denied and complete power is given to the government headed by a dictator. It is characterized by extreme nationalism, racism and no tolerance of opposition.

Adolph Hitler

Nazi dictator of Germany who attempted world domination during World War II (1889-1945). Leader of the National Socialist Party

Nazi Party

National Socialist party that ascended to power and ruthlessly consolidated its control of the states.

Hirohito

Who: Emperor of Japan

What: attacked China and briefly occupied it.

When: 1930s

Where: China

Why: he wanted to bring all of Asia under Japanese control

Tojo

Prime minister of Japan who ran the country

Munich Agreement

treaty in which the leading powers of western Europe allowed Hitler to annex strategic areas of Czechoslovakia in order to satisfy his territorial aspirations (strategy of appeasement)

Jospeh Stalin

Dictator of the Soviet Union and head of the communist party in Russia

Soviet Union (USSR)

part of the grand alliance, lost 23 million civilians during the war, our opponents during the cold war

Non-Agreession Pact

1939 agreement between Stalin and Hitler that divided Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union and said the two nations would not attack each other

"Good Neighbor" Policy

American strategy of renouncing military intervention in Latin American affairs.

Blitzkrieg

"lightning wars"; fast and brutal attacks staged by Germany on its neighbors starting in 1940

Vichy

City in central France, headquarters of the pro-German French regime installed in 1940

Holocaust

systematic killing of 11 million jews, gypsies, and other societal scapegoats in Nazi concentration camps all over Europe.

Battle of Britain

Who: British and Germans

What: Hitler attempted to break Britain's air power by bombarding British cities and by deliberately targeting British civilians, hoping to sap their will to fight.

When: 1940

Where: Europe

Why: This caused America to get involved

America First Committee

Organization created to oppose U.S. involvement in WW2; committee leaders argued that the Nazis were unstoppable and that the US should negotiate with them

Charles Lindbergh

aviator who argued that the Nazis were unstoppable so we should negotiate rather than fight, and was the most notable spokesman for the American First Committee.

Lend-Lease Act

Legislation passed in March 1941 empowering the president to lend weapons and supplies to nations fighting the Germans or the Japanese

Atlantic Charter

Set of aims issued by Roosevelt and Churchill stating that the war was being waged in the name of national self determination and was not a war of conquest

Pearl Harbor

Who: Japan against America

What: Japanese bombers

When: December 7, 1941

Where: hawaii

Why: Japan wanted to take out the American fleet before we could rebuild

Grand Alliance

US, Britain and the Soviet Union teamed together to fight Hitler

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy and Japan

Pacific Theater

Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway, Guadalcanal, and atomic bombs. The fight against Japan

Battle of the Coral Sea

During the pacific theater when Americans slowed the advances of Japan

Battle of Midway

turing point of the pacific battle when the Allies finally stopped the expansion of japan

U-boat

German, sunk more than 400 American ships in the atlantic and were in control of almost all of western Europe.

Erwin Rommel

helped Hitler sweep across North Africa and by 1942 all of Africa was in Nazi hands. He was loyal to Germany but not Hitler.

Battle of Stalingrad

Battle when the Soviets stopped the German advance in the titanic. Bloodiest battle since warfare

Guadalcanal

one of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, the location of a 1943 battle that gave the US and its allies a foothold in the Pacific.

"Island-hopping"

a strategy in which it flew over heavily defended outer islands and attacked less defended islands, isolation Japanese strongholds.

Tehran Conference

Who: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

What: meeting to talk about the opening of the 2nd front against Vichy France

When: November 1943

Where: Iran

Why: set a launch date in mid 1944, Stalin agreed to open a front against Japan once Germany had been defeated.

D Day

military euphemism for "designation day", also known as Operation Overlord. After this day, 1 million allied troops poured into France and struck eastward, taking Caen and St. Lo en route to securing Paris. June 6, 1943

Battle of the Bulge

largest battle of the western front ended when the Germans failed to capture the Allied stronghold of Bastogne, Belgium and allowed Soviet forces to advance on Germany from the east

Yalta Agreement

Who: Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin

What: statement that promised independent regimes in Poland and Eastern Europe

When: February 1945

Why: conceded that pro-soviet parties would have a large role in creating and sustaining these regimes.

V-E Day

when German forces surrendered on May 8 (Victory in Europe Day)

Battle of Iwo Jima

took a month for American forces to eliminate Japanese resistance on this island, cost 6,800 american lives and about 21,000 Japanese

Harry Truman

President after Roosevelt's death and during the Cold war.

Potsdam Conference

Who: Stalin, Churchill and Truman

What: meeting between these countries for the last time during the war

When: August 1945

Where: Germany

Why: negotiate terms for the end of WW2

Manhattan Project

American project during WW2 designed to harness the power of the atom and create and atom bomb. Robert Oppenheimer was the scientist in charge.

Enola Gay

a B-29 bomber who dropped the bomb, destroying Hiroshima and killed nearly 160,000 people.

Hiroshima

town in Japan that the atomic bomb got dropped on when 160,000 people died

Nagasaki

town in Japan that the atomic bomb got dropped on when 60-80,000 people died

WACs

Women's Army Corps, branch of the military specifically for women

WAVES

Women accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services, formed by the navy

WASPs

Women's Air Service Pilots, first women in america to fly american military aircrafts.

Rosie the Riveter

an image crafted by advertising executives contracted by the federal government to showcase the involvement of women in the war work

Cold War

the postwar ideological, economic, and military contest between the United States and the soviet Union.

United Nations

International organization that fosters discussions among the world's nations and monitors the wellbeing of almost all individuals in the world.

George F. Kennan

drafted the "long telegram", senior American diplomat who is stationed in Moscow,

The "Long Telegram"

drafted in 1946 that stated that the soviets would do 4 things in order to win: 1. perpetually seek to expand their territory unless checked by economic, political, and military pressure 2. undermine western colonial development in Africa and the Middle east 3. develop their own economic bloc closed off to the rest of the world 4. attempt to penetrate western civil society to promote soviet interests

Containment

US strategy for dealing with the Soviet Union, with the intent of containing communism and not letting it advance any further than it already had

Domino Theory

Metaphor referring to unstable nations as dominoes, with the US being obligated to prevent the dominoes from "falling", which would begin a process of communist world domination

National Security Act

Who: Congress

What: created a unified Department of Defense, the US Air Force, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council.

When: 1947

Why: in the two years since the war, American leader had given up on promising peace through the UN and were preparing for a long confrontation with the Soviet Union

Truman Doctrine

US strategy of offering aid to nations that might be susceptible to communist infiltration

Marshall Plan

Truman Doctrine as it was administered in Europe by General George Marshall; the plan sent $13 billion to governments that promised to become or remain democracies.

Berlin Crisis

Who: Stalin

What: the four zones met in west Berlin to try and have the west german currency extend into Berlin and Stalin wasn't ready for this so the soviets blockaded West Berlin, preventing food and supplies from entering the non-soviet sections of the city

When: 1948

Where: Berlin

Why: First battle of the cold war

North Atlantic Treaty (NATO)

Act that cemented an alliance of Western nations; prompted by the Berlin Crisis

Mao Zedong

Chinese Communist leader who took over China

Chiang Kai-Shek

Chinese Leader who was defeated by Mao Zedong

NSC-68

Classified paper written by American diplomats that portrayed an uncontrollably aggressive Soviet Union and recommended stopping the threat through a massive military buildup, the creation of hydrogen bombs, and the rooting out of all communists on American soil

Korean War

North (controlled by Soviets) attacked the south (controlled by the US) and took the capital of Seoul, so the US took a stand and Truman sent troops.

Dougals MacArthur

Truman relieved him of command for his insubordination

Inchon

place where Douglas McArthur led a surprise attack, a port near Seoul, here he took down the North Korean supply lines allowing US to recapture Seoul

Seoul

capital of South Korea

38th Parallel

the line separating North and South Korea

Covert operation in Iran

america overthrew uncooperative governments through the CIA to protect the governments from being taken over by communist control. This caused a civil war in Iran

Ayatollah Khomeini

Islamic revolutionary

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

treaty the US government hoped would prevent a chain of "falling dominos" of countries succumbing to communism one at a time

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)

Soviets tested this in 1957 which could travel from one continent to another

Sputnik 1

soviets launched the world's first artificial satellite into orbit

Explorer 1

satellite the US launched

Fair Deal

Truman's 21 point postwar plan that provided increases in the minimum wage, federal assistance in building homes, federal support for education and health care, and jobs in public works; represented a renewal of the Fair Employment Practices Commission

Importance of Television

9/10 americans owned one, changed the way Americans relaxed, revolutionized news and politics and played a huge role in the 1960s election

Importance of Automobile

8/10 americans owned one, motels, drive-ins, and fast-food restaurants sprang up, people could now drive to jobs,

National Interstate and defense Highways Act

largest public works project in American history when it was passed; authorized $25 billion to build 41,000 miles of roads, greatly assisting the burgeoning car culture of the 1950s.

Religious revival of 1950s

when "Under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and "In God We Trust" was added to the US currency. Catholics and Jews were included this time.

Second Red Scare

began almost as soon as WW2 ended, focused on national and foreign communists influencing society, and/or infiltrating federal government

Loyalty Oaths

anyone hired as a federal employee was investigated and had to take one of these

Richard Nixon

congressman, charged Alger Hiss with espionage,

J. Edgar Hoover

FBI Director who refused to extend protection to civil rights activists.