Events Leading to World War II

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the aftermath of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, the economic collapse of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Armistice

The agreement signed on 11 November 1918 in a railway carriage at Compiegne, France, that ended the combat of the Great War.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

The leader of the Second Reich who abdicated on 9 November 1918 and fled to Holland.

The Great War

The original term used by the English-speaking world for World War I before the name was changed decades later.

Influenza

An epidemic that, alongside other diseases, raised the death toll following World War I by at least an additional $20\,million$ people.

League of Nations

An international organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded to ensure that war would never break out again through the use of diplomacy.

Woodrow Wilson

The US President who proposed the Fourteen Points, including the formation of a general association of nations for mutual political independence.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 peace agreement dominated by the Big Three that imposed extremely harsh conditions and punishments on Germany.

The Big Three

The leaders of the main victorious Allies: George Clemenceau of France, Lloyd George of the United Kingdom, and Woodrow Wilson of the USA.

War Guilt Clause

A specific term in the Treaty of Versailles that forced Germany to accept full blame and responsibility for causing the war.

Reparations

Financial payments Germany was forced to make to Allied powers for war damages, with a bill set at $£6600\,million$ in 1921.

Diktat

The term used by German representatives to describe the Treaty of Versailles as a "dictated peace" because they were not consulted on the terms.

Weimar Republic

The democratic republic system established in Germany after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated, led by a Chancellor and a President.

Hyperinflation

An economic crisis in the early 1920s Weimar Republic where the German currency (the Mark) decreased in value daily.

Wall Street Crash

The October 1929 collapse of the US stock exchange that triggered the global Great Depression and deeply affected the German economy.

DAP (German Workers Party)

A racialist political party founded in Munich in 1919 that Adolf Hitler joined and eventually led.

NSDAP

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, commonly shortened to the Nazi Party, which was led by Adolf Hitler from 1921.

Sturmabteilung (SA)

Also known as Storm Troopers or brown shirts, these were armed groups within the Nazi Party that used violence to disrupt political opponents.

Mein Kampf

The book, meaning "My Struggle," written by Hitler while in prison, outlining his autobiography, anti-Semitism, and plans for Germany.

Lebensraum

A German term meaning "living room," referring to the territory Hitler intended to gain to expand the German nation.

Aryan race

The master race Hitler aimed to create as part of his ideology of racial purity.

SS (Schutzstaffel)

A ruthless private bodyguard group under Heinrich Himmler that wore black uniforms and murdered political opponents.

Gestapo

The feared secret police of the Nazi Party that worked with the SS to eliminate political opposition.

Reichstag Fire

An arson attack on the German Parliament building blamed on a communist, which Hitler used to eliminate his political competition.

Enabling Act

A 1933 law that effectively dismantled the power of the Reichstag and established Hitler’s legal dictatorship.

Fuhrer

The title Hitler took in 1934 after merging the offices of President and Chancellor following the death of von Hindenburg.

Night of the Long Knives

A purge occurring from 30 June to 2 July 1934, where Hitler executed the SA leadership, including Ernst Rohm, to consolidate his power.

Fascist State

A totalitarian system of government characterized by rule through terror, a single dictator, and extreme nationalism, where the people serve the state.

Anti-Semitism

The policy of hatred and discrimination against Jewish people, who were treated as scapegoats for all of Germany’s problems.