World History II Final Exam Study Guide Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering World War One, the Russian Revolution, interwar years, and World War Two, based on the June 2026 World History II Final Exam Study Guide.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

The ruler of Germany during World War One.

Franz Ferdinand

The Archduke whose assassination served as the immediate cause of World War One.

Woodrow Wilson

The President of the United States during World War One who proposed the Fourteen Points.

Balkans/Balkan Peninsula

A region known as the "powder keg" of Europe due to its intense nationalistic tensions.

Western Front

The region of fighting in Northern France characterized by a long bloody stalemate and trench warfare.

Eastern Front

The region of fighting along the German and Russian border.

militarism

The policy of glorifying military power and keeping an army prepared for war.

Triple Alliance/Central Powers

The wartime alliance that primarily included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

Triple Entente/Allies

The wartime alliance that primarily included Great Britain, France, Russia, and later the United States and Italy.

Schlieffen Plan

The German battle strategy to quickly defeat France in the west and then rush east to fight Russia.

trench warfare

A type of combat in which opposing troops fight from parallel trenches, resulting in huge losses of life for pitifully small land gains.

unrestricted submarine warfare

The German policy of sinking any ship in British waters without warning.

Zimmermann Telegram

A message from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance against the United States, which helped draw the US into World War One.

total war

A conflict in which participating countries devote all their resources to the war effort.

rationing

The system where people could buy only small amounts of those items that were also needed for the war effort.

propaganda

One-sided information designed to persuade and keep up morale and support for the war.

conscription

The compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service.

armistice

An agreement to stop fighting; signed on November 11, 1918, to end World War One.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson's plan for achieving a just and lasting peace after World War One.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty signed by Germany and the Allied powers after World War One which included the "war guilt" clause.

League of Nations

An international association formed after World War One with the goal of keeping peace among nations.

self-determination

The freedom of a people to decide under what form of government they wish to live.

Czar Nicholas II

The last Czar of Russia who was forced to abdicate during the Russian Revolution.

Rasputin

A self-described "holy man" who heavily influenced Czarina Alexandra and the Russian government.

Vladimir Lenin

The major leader of the Bolsheviks and the first leader of the Soviet Union.

Joseph Stalin

The totalitarian leader of the Soviet Union who launched the Great Purge and Five-Year Plans.

soviet

Local councils consisting of workers, peasants, and soldiers.

Bolshevik Revolution

The 1917 coup in which the Bolsheviks took control of the Russian government.

Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)

The first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) in China.

Mao Zedong

A founder of the Chinese Communist Party who led the Red Army during the Long March.

Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)

The leader of the Kuomintang who fought against the Communists in the Chinese Civil War.

Long March

A 6,000-mile journey made by Chinese Communists fleeing from the Nationalist forces.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

The leader of the Indian independence movement who used non-violence and civil disobedience.

civil disobedience

The deliberate and public refusal to obey an unjust law.

Amritsar Massacre

The killing by British troops of nearly 400 Indians gathered at Amritsar to protest the Rowlatt Acts.

Benito Mussolini

The Fascist leader of Italy known as "Il Duce."

Adolf Hitler

The Nazi leader of Germany whose expansionist policies led to World War Two.

Weimar Republic

The democratic government set up in Germany in 1919 that was blamed for the country's postwar problems.

Fascism

A militant political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader.

Nazism

The German brand of fascism that included a belief in racial superiority.

antisemitism

Prejudice, hatred, or discrimination against Jewish people; a key part of Nazi ideology.

lebensraum

The "living space" that Hitler promised to acquire for the German people by conquering eastern Europe and Russia.

totalitarianism

A government that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life.

Great Purge/purges

A campaign of terror in the Soviet Union directed at eliminating anyone who threatened Stalin's power.

command economy

A system in which the government makes all economic decisions.

appeasement

The policy of making concessions to an aggressor in order to avoid war.

Munich Conference

A 1938 meeting where Britain and France agreed to let Nazi Germany annex the Sudetenland.

Winston Churchill

The British Prime Minister who led Great Britain during World War Two.

Harry S. Truman

The US President who made the decision to use atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

blitzkrieg

A German military strategy, meaning "lightning war," involving fast-moving airplanes and tanks followed by massive infantry forces.

Holocaust

The systematic mass slaughter of Jews and other groups judged inferior by the Nazis.

Final Solution

Hitler's program of systematically killing the entire Jewish people.

kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who crashed bomb-filled planes into Allied ships.

island hopping

The Allied strategy in the Pacific of seizing islands that were not well defended but were closer to Japan.

Nuremberg Trials

The court proceedings held in Germany after World War Two to try Nazi leaders for war crimes.