U.S. History and Global Conflicts Review

Historical vocabulary flashcards covering the Gilded Age, World Wars, Great Depression, Cold War, and Civil Rights Movement.

Andrew Carnegie

Steel industry leader who built a huge steel company and donated much of his wealth to libraries and education.

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil who became one of the richest businessmen in U.S. history.

Monopoly

Complete control of a product or industry by one company.

Vertical Integration

A company controls different steps of production and distribution.

Horizontal Integration

A company buys or merges with competing companies in the same industry.

Strike

A work stoppage by workers protesting conditions, wages, or treatment.

Scab

A worker who replaces striking workers during a strike.

Rebate

A partial refund or discount, often used by railroads to favor certain companies.

Salad Bowl Theory

The idea that immigrants keep their own cultures while living together in America.

Melting Pot Theory

The idea that different cultures blend together into one American culture.

Jane Addams

Social reformer who founded Hull House to help immigrants and the poor.

Ellis Island

Main immigration station for Europeans entering the U.S. from $1892-1954$.

Angel Island

Immigration station that mainly processed Asian immigrants.

Wave 1 of immigration to the U.S.

Early immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, especially England and Germany.

Wave 2 of immigration to the U.S.

Immigrants mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe, such as Italians and Poles.

Wave 3 of immigration to the U.S.

More recent immigrants from Latin America and Asia after $1965$.

Four long-term causes of World War I

Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism (often remembered as MAIN).

Short-term causes of World War I

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and rising tensions in Europe.

U.S. neutrality

America’s policy of staying out of World War I at first.

Arabic Pledge

German promise not to sink passenger ships without warning after the Arabic ship incident.

Sussex Pledge

Germany’s promise to stop unrestricted submarine warfare after attacking the Sussex ship.

Central Powers of World War I

Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

Allied Powers of World War I

Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and later the United States.

AEF

American Expeditionary Forces; U.S. troops sent to fight in Europe during World War I.

The Big Four

Leaders of the United States, Britain, France, and Italy who shaped the peace after World War I.

Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points

Wilson’s plan for peace after World War I, promoting self-determination and the League of Nations.

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty that ended World War I and placed heavy penalties on Germany.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

A stock market index that tracks major U.S. companies.

Buying on margin

Purchasing stocks with borrowed money.

Speculation

Risky investing hoping for quick profits.

Black Tuesday

October $29$, $1929$, when the stock market crashed badly.

Credit

Borrowed money that must be paid back later.

Years of the Great Depression

$1929-1939$.

World War II

A global war fought between the Axis and Allied powers.

Battle of Stalingrad

Major Soviet victory over Germany that turned the war in Eastern Europe.

D-Day

June $6$, $1944$, Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France.

Battle of Berlin

Final battle in Europe that led to Germany’s surrender in $1945$.

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

U.S. atomic bomb attacks that helped end World War II.

Appeasement

Giving in to aggressive demands to avoid conflict.

U.S. neutrality in World War II

America’s early policy of staying out of the war before $1941$.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

U.S. president during the Great Depression and most of World War II.

Cause of World War II

Aggressive expansion by Germany, Italy, and Japan, especially Germany’s invasion of Poland in $1939$.

Blitzkrieg

“Lightning war”; Germany’s fast attack strategy using planes, tanks, and troops.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Japanese surprise attack that brought the U.S. into World War II.

Nazi concentration camps

Camps where Nazis imprisoned and killed millions of people.

Holocaust

The murder of about $6 \times 10^{6}$ Jews and millions of others by the Nazis.

Victory Europe Day (VE Day)

May $8$, $1945$, celebrating Germany’s surrender.

Victory Japan Day (VJ Day)

August $15$, $1945$, celebrating Japan’s surrender.

Cold War

Long period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II.

Containment

U.S. policy of stopping the spread of communism.

Domino Theory

Belief that if one country became communist, nearby countries would follow.

Joseph McCarthy

Senator who accused many Americans of being communists without strong evidence.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Military alliance between the U.S., Canada, and Western European nations.

Marshall Plan

U.S. program that gave aid to rebuild Europe after World War II.

United Nations

International organization created to promote peace and cooperation.

Sputnik 1

First artificial satellite launched into space in $1957$ by the Soviet Union.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Dangerous Cold War conflict over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Korean War

War between communist North Korea and democratic South Korea from $1950-1953$, resulting in Korea remaining divided near the $38^{th}$ parallel.

Vietnam War

War between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam supported by the U.S. from $1955-1975$ where North Vietnam won.

Ho Chi Minh

Leader of communist North Vietnam.

Vietcong

Communist guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.

Napalm

Flammable chemical weapon used during the Vietnam War.

Civil Rights

Movement to gain equal rights and end racial discrimination.

Brown v. Board of Education

Supreme Court case that ended racial segregation in public schools.

Integration

Bringing different racial groups together equally.

Civil disobedience

Peacefully refusing to obey unfair laws.

Rosa Parks

Activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Leader who promoted nonviolent protest for civil rights.

Malcolm X

Civil rights leader who promoted Black empowerment and self-defense.