The Interwar Period and WWII Flashcards

Flashcards covering the key vocabulary and concepts from the Interwar Period and World War II.

Age of Anxiety / Disillusionment

Post-WWI cultural mood; people questioned old beliefs, values, and institutions due to trauma from the war.

Versailles Treaty (1919)

Ended WWI; blamed Germany, imposed reparations, and created resentment that led to WWII.

League of Nations

International peacekeeping body formed after WWI; weak without U.S. involvement, failed to prevent aggression.

Weimar Republic

Germany’s democratic government post-WWI; faced instability, economic crises, and eventual collapse.

French occupation of the Ruhr (1923)

France invaded Germany’s industrial region when reparations weren’t paid.

Passive resistance

German workers protested by striking and sabotaging production during French occupation.

Hyperinflation (1923)

German currency became worthless due to overprinting money to pay reparations.

Beer Hall Putsch (1923)

Hitler’s failed coup in Munich; landed him in prison, where he wrote Mein Kampf.

Gustav Stresemann

Moderate German leader who stabilized the economy and improved foreign relations.

Dawes Plan (1924)

U.S.-backed plan to ease Germany’s reparations and stabilize its economy with loans.

Treaty of Locarno (1925)

Germany accepted its western borders; seen as a step toward European peace.

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)

Agreement signed by 60+ nations to outlaw war (symbolic, not enforced).

Stock market crash (1929)

Triggered global economic crisis.

FDR’s New Deal

U.S. programs to create jobs and regulate economy.

Britain

Chose balanced budgets and tariffs; didn’t follow Keynes, who proposed deficit spending.

France Popular Front

Leftist coalition that implemented labor reforms.

Scandinavian countries

Used democratic socialism; welfare states with high taxes, job programs.

Totalitarianism

Government controls all aspects of life: politics, economy, society, culture.

Fascist ideology

Nationalist, anti-communist, authoritarian, glorified the state, militarism.

March on Rome (1922)

Mussolini’s supporters threatened coup; king made him prime minister.

Fascio di combattimento (Squadristi)

Mussolini’s paramilitary (Blackshirts) that used violence against opponents.

Il Duce

Mussolini’s title, “The Leader.”

Lateran Agreement (1929)

Mussolini recognized Vatican as independent; Church backed Fascist regime.

Nazi Party (NSDAP)

Hitler’s far-right party.

Mein Kampf

Hitler's book outlining ideology: antisemitism, nationalism, anti-communism.

SA (Stormtroopers)

Nazi paramilitary; helped Hitler rise to power.

Lebensraum

Living space; justify German expansion eastward.

Great Depression

Economic chaos boosted Nazi support.

Reichstag fire (1933)

Blamed on communists; used as pretext for emergency powers.

Enabling Act (1933)

Gave Hitler dictatorial powers legally.

Gleichschaltung

Coordination; Nazis took control of all aspects of German life.

Night of the Long Knives (1934)

Hitler purged SA leaders, consolidated power with SS.

SS & Gestapo

SS = elite Nazi guards; Gestapo = secret police.

Third Reich

Nazi Germany (1933–1945).

Der Führer

Leader principle; absolute loyalty to Hitler.

Hitler Youth

Indoctrinated youth with Nazi ideology.

Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Stripped Jews of citizenship.

Kristallnacht (1938)

Night of anti-Jewish violence; businesses, synagogues destroyed.

War communism

Seized industry/agriculture during Civil War.

NEP

Reintroduced some capitalism to revive economy.

Kulaks

Wealthier peasants, targeted by Soviets.

Leon Trotsky

Lenin’s ally; lost power struggle to Stalin, exiled/killed.

Socialism in One Country

Focused on USSR, not global revolution.

Command economy

State-controlled economy.

Five-Year Plans

Rapid industrialization, quotas.

Propaganda

Promoted model workers like Alexei Stakhanov.

Collectivization

Forced peasants onto state farms.

Liquidation of Kulaks

Mass arrests/deaths of resisting peasants.

Great Purges

Stalin eliminated rivals, widespread terror.

Francisco Franco

Fascist leader, won the war.

Guernica

Bombed by Nazis; inspired Picasso’s famous painting.

Franco’s rule

Authoritarian dictator until 1975.

Dopolavoro

Organized leisure for workers.

KDF (Strength through Joy)

Promoted Nazi values through recreation.

Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will

Propaganda film glorifying Hitler.

Disillusionment in art

Reflected chaos, irrationality, emotional trauma.

Dada & Surrealism

Anti-art, absurdity; dreams and subconscious.

Functionalism

Architecture style focused on practical design.

Soviet socialist realism

Art had to promote communist ideals.

Atonal music

No clear key or harmony.

Literature

Stream-of-consciousness style (inner thoughts).

Carl Jung

Emphasized collective unconscious.

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

In quantum physics, you can’t precisely know both position and velocity.

Mein Kampf

Extreme nationalism and racial purity (Aryan supremacy), anti-Semitism, Lebensraum (living space) in Eastern Europe, anti-communism, rejection of Versailles Treaty

Anschluss

Annexed Austria (1938)

Sudetenland

Annexed part of Czechoslovakia after Munich Conference (1938)

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (1939)

Agreed not to fight each other and secretly divide Poland.

Appeasement

Western democracies let Hitler break rules to avoid war (seen at Munich).

Munich Conference (1938)

Britain & France gave Hitler Sudetenland to avoid war (Chamberlain's peace in our time)

Polish Guarantee

Britain and France promised to defend Poland if invaded

Japan's Goals In Asia

WWII in Asia began in 1937 with the invasion of China (Second Sino-Japanese War)

Neville Chamberlain

British PM who pursued appeasement; failed to stop Hitler

Maginot Line

French border defense; Germany bypassed it through Belgium.

Blitzkrieg

Lightning war; fast, surprise attacks.

Luftwaffe

German air force.

Wehrmacht

German armed forces.

Phony War

Period of no fighting in Western Europe after Poland’s fall (Fall 1939–Spring 1940)

Marshal Henri Pétain

Led Vichy government, which collaborated with Nazis in southern France

Winston Churchill

British PM after Chamberlain; inspired resistance

Battle of Britain (1940)

UK air force defended against German bombing.

The Blitz

Massive bombing of London and cities

Suez Canal

Key route to oil and colonies.

Afrika Korps

Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)

Battle of El Alamein (1942)

Allies stopped German advance; turning point in Africa

Operation Barbarossa (June 1941)

Hitler invaded Soviet Union; broke Nazi-Soviet pact

Grand Alliance

UK, USA, USSR

Unconditional surrender

Axis powers had to fully surrender with no deals

Midway (1942)

U.S. stops Japanese advance in Pacific

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Allied invasion of Normandy; opened Western Front

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe; led D-Day

Charles De Gaulle

Led Free French resistance from exile in Britain

Tito (Josip Broz)

Led strong partisan resistance in Yugoslavia

White Rose movement

German student group distributing anti-Nazi leaflets

Claus von Stauffenberg

Attempted to assassinate Hitler (July 1944)

Ghettos

Segregated Jewish areas in cities before deportation

Madagascar Plan

Abandoned Nazi idea to relocate Jews to Madagascar

Einsatzgruppen

Mobile killing squads that shot Jews in Eastern Europe

Wannsee Conference (1942)

Nazi officials planned the Final Solution

Asia for Asians

Propaganda slogan to justify Japanese imperialism

Bushido

Samurai code of honor.