Power and Authority in the Modern World, 1919–1946 Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the interwar period, the rise of dictatorships, the Nazi regime, and international security efforts for for peace and security.

11 Nov 1918

The date the Armistice was signed, ending the fighting on the Western Front of World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

Signed on $28$ Jun $1919$ with Germany; included the War Guilt Clause, reparations of $132$ billion gold marks, and military restrictions.

Article 231

The War Guilt Clause in the Treaty of Versailles that forced Germany to accept sole responsibility for starting World War I.

Treaty of St Germain

Signed on $10$ Sep $1919$ with Austria; dissolved the Austro-Hungarian Empire and forbade union with Germany.

Treaty of Trianon

Signed on $4$ Jun $1920$ with Hungary; resulted in the loss of territory to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.

Treaty of Neuilly

Signed on $27$ Nov $1919$ with Bulgaria; involved the loss of territory to Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

Treaty of Sèvres

Signed on $10$ Aug $1920$ with the Ottoman Empire; lost Arab territories like Iraq and Palestine, and was later replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne in $1923$.

John Maynard Keynes

Author of 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace' who argued that harsh reparations would cause future instability and conflict.

Self-determination

A principle introduced in Woodrow Wilson's '14 Points' stating that ethnic groups should have their own nations, though it was inconsistently applied.

Mutilated victory

The Italian sentiment after WWI that they were betrayed and denied territorial gains promised in the Treaty of London $1915$.

Blackshirts

The paramilitary wing of Mussolini’s Fascist Party used to suppress opposition and execute the March on Rome.

Lateran Treaty 1929

An agreement between Mussolini and the Vatican that recognized Catholicism as the state religion and gave the regime legitimacy.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

A program introduced by Lenin in $1921$ that allowed for partial capitalism to stabilize the Russian economy.

Socialism in One Country

Stalin’s ideological shift toward building socialism within the USSR before attempting to spread global revolution.

Holodomor

A man-made famine in Ukraine during $1932$–$33$ caused by Stalin’s collectivisation of agriculture.

Great Purge

A period of state terror in Russia from $1936$–$1938$ led by Stalin, involving millions executed or sent to labor camps.

Bushido

The 'way of the warrior'; a traditional code of honor and discipline utilized by Japanese militarists and ultranationalists.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japan's imperialist vision for an Asian empire built on conquest, marketed as a 'New Order in East Asia'.

Ebert-Groener Pact

A $10$ Nov $1918$ agreement where the German army supported the new republic in exchange for maintaining order and avoiding radical reforms.

Article 48

The 'Suicide Clause' of the Weimar Constitution that allowed the President to use emergency powers to rule by decree.

Dolchstosslegende

The 'Stabbed in the back' myth; the belief that the German army was betrayed at home by Jews, socialists, and politicians.

Dawes Plan

A $1924$ economic plan involving US loans to Germany to stabilize its economy and assist with reparations payments.

Beer Hall Putsch

A failed coup attempt by Hitler and the NSDAP in Munich in Nov $1923$, leading to Hitler's imprisonment.

Reichstag Fire Decree

Issued after the $27$ Feb $1933$ fire; it suspended civil liberties and allowed for a police state in Germany.

Enabling Act

A law passed on $23$ Mar $1933$ giving Hitler the power to make laws without the Reichstag's approval.

Night of the Long Knives

The purge of SA leadership and other political rivals by the SS between $30$ Jun and $2$ Jul $1934$.

Gleichschaltung

The systematic process of 'coordination' used by Nazis to bring all aspects of German life and institutions under party control.

Führerprinzip

The 'leadership principle' stating that authority flows downward from Hitler and must be obeyed without question.

Lebensraum

The Nazi foreign policy goal of 'living space' to be acquired in Eastern Europe through conquest.

Volksgemeinschaft

The concept of a 'national people's community' based on racial purity and social solidarity for all 'Aryan' Germans.

Nuremberg Laws

Issued on $15$ Sep $1935$, these laws stripped Jewish people of their German citizenship and prohibited marriage with non-Jews.

Kristallnacht

The 'Night of Broken Glass' on $9$–$10$ Nov $1938$, involving state-sponsored violence against Jewish synagogues and businesses.

Anschluss

The annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in Mar $1938$, fulfilling the goal of Grossdeutschland.

Munich Agreement

A $1938$ pact where Britain and France agreed to let Hitler annex the Sudetenland in exchange for a promise of peace.

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The $1939$ Nazi-Soviet non-aggression agreement that secretly divided Poland between Germany and the USSR.

Security Council

The organ of the United Nations responsible for international peace, featuring $5$ permanent members with veto power.