CHC 2D History Exam Review

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the major figures, events, and historical concepts for the CHC 2D exam review.

Gavrilo Princip

A Bosnian Serb member of Young Bosnia who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, triggering the start of World War I.

Allies v Central Powers

The two main opposing coalitions during World War I; the Allies included Britain, France, and Russia, while the Central Powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

No 2 Construction Battalion

The first and only all-Black battalion in Canadian history, formed during World War I to provide labor and logistical support.

Robert Borden

The Prime Minister of Canada who served throughout World War I and led the country during the conscription crisis.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

The first labor union led by Black workers to be recognized by the American Federation of Labor, representing railway porters including those in Canada.

Flappers

A subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.

Frederick Banting

A Canadian medical scientist and doctor who was the co-discoverer of insulin, used to treat diabetes.

Mackenzie King

The longest-serving Canadian Prime Minister, who led the country during the Great Depression and World War II.

RB Bennett

The Prime Minister of Canada during the peak of the Great Depression from 1930 to 1935.

Hitler

The leader of the Nazi Party and dictator of Germany who initiated World War II and the Holocaust.

Axis v Allies

The two major alliances of World War II; the Axis powers included Germany, Italy, and Japan, while the Allies included Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Canada.

Cairine Wilson

The first woman to be appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1930.

Lester B Pearson

A Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped resolve the Suez Crisis with the creation of the UN Emergency Force.

Kim Campbell

A Canadian politician who served as the first and only female Prime Minister of Canada.

Pierre Trudeau

A long-serving Canadian Prime Minister known for the repatriation of the Constitution and the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The FLQ

Front de libération du Québec; a separatist paramilitary group in Quebec that used violence to promote independence, culminating in the October Crisis.

Igor Gouzenko

A Soviet cipher clerk who defected to Canada in 1945 and exposed a massive Soviet spy ring, marking a significant start to the Cold War.

Battle of the Somme

One of the largest and deadliest battles of World War I, where Canadian soldiers earned a reputation as elite shock troops despite heavy losses.

Battle of Vimy Ridge

A 1917 World War I battle where, for the first time, all four Canadian divisions fought together, resulting in a major victory often seen as a defining moment for Canadian nationhood.

The Halifax Explosion

A massive 1917 explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia, caused by the collision of two ships in the harbor, resulting in the largest man-made explosion prior to atomic weapons.

1918 Pandemic

A global H1N1 influenza outbreak known as the Spanish Flu that killed millions of people worldwide at the end of World War I.

Winnipeg General Strike

A massive 1919 strike by over 30,000 workers in Winnipeg demanding better wages, collective bargaining, and improved working conditions.

Prohibition

The legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, storage in barrels or bottles, transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol.

The Persons Case

The 1929 legal decision that ruled women were legally considered persons and were eligible to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.

The Harlem Renaissance

An intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, literature, and fashion centered in Harlem, Manhattan, during the 1920s.

The On to Ottawa Trek

A 1935 protest where hundreds of unemployed men left relief camps and traveled by train toward Ottawa to demand work and better conditions.

The Battle of Britain

A major air campaign of World War II in which the Royal Air Force successfully defended the United Kingdom against the Nazi German air force.

The Battle of Stalingrad

A turning point in World War II where Soviet forces defeated the German army on the Eastern Front, ending German advances into the USSR.

The Battle of Dieppe

A 1942 Allied raid on the French coast that resulted in a heavy defeat and high Canadian casualties, but provided vital lessons for the later D-Day invasion.

D-Day

The largest seaborne invasion in history, launched on June 6, 1944, by Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy, France.

Japanese Internment

The forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Canadians into camps during World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Final Solution

The Nazi policy of exterminating European Jews, resulting in the murder of six million Jews in concentration and death camps.

The Suez Crisis

An international crisis in 1956 sparked by the nationalization of the Suez Canal, leading to the first UN peacekeeping mission.

The Cold War

A period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies following World War II.

Ecole Polytechnique Tragedy

A 1989 anti-feminist mass shooting in Montreal where 14 women were killed by a gunman targeting female engineering students.

Quiet Revolution

A period of rapid social, economic, and political change in Quebec during the 1960s that led to increased secularization and provincial autonomy.

The Space Race

The 20th-century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for dominance in spaceflight capability.

The Summit Series

The 1972 eight-game ice hockey series between Canada and the Soviet Union, a significant cultural event during the Cold War.

Primary v secondary sources

Primary sources are direct, first-hand accounts of an event (e.g., diaries); secondary sources are interpretations or analyses created after the fact (e.g., textbooks).

M.A.I.N. causes of WW1

An acronym for the four underlying causes of World War I: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism.

The Schlieffen Plan

Germany's military strategy at the outbreak of World War I to conduct a quick invasion of France through neutral Belgium before turning to fight Russia.

Trench warfare

A type of combat in which opposing troops fight from relatively permanent systems of excavations dug into the ground.

The War Measures Act

A Canadian law that gave the federal cabinet emergency powers to govern by decree when it perceived the existence of war, invasion, or insurrection.

The Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that ended World War I, imposing harsh reparations and territorial losses on Germany.

The Dust Bowl

A period of severe dust storms and drought on the Canadian and American prairies during the 1930s that caused massive agricultural damage.

Residential Schools

A system of mandatory government-sponsored religious schools for Indigenous children designed to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture.

Fascism v Communism

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power; Communism is a far-left ideology seeking a classless society with communal ownership.

Appeasement

The policy of making concessions to dictatorial powers, such as Nazi Germany, in order to avoid conflict.

Statute of Westminster

The 1931 British law that established full legal freedom for the Dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and others.

Blitzkrieg

A German term for lightning war, a military tactic involving fast-moving armored units supported by air power.

The United Nations

An international organization founded in 1945 to maintain international peace and security and foster cooperation among nations.

M.A.D.

Mutual Assured Destruction; a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms

A part of the Canadian Constitution established in 1982 that guarantees certain political and civil rights to all citizens.

Proxy Wars

Conflicts where opposing superpowers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly, typical of the Cold War.