Unit 8 Vocabulary - Global Conflict

Militarism

The belief in maintaining a strong military and using it to achieve national goals, often leading to arms races and tensions between nations.

Neutrality

The state of not supporting or helping either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.; impartiality.

Fascism

An authoritarian political ideology characterized by dictatorial power, extreme nationalism, and the suppression of opposition.

Kristallnacht

The 'Night of Broken Glass,' was a violent, state-sponsored pogrom carried out by the Nazi regime and its collaborators against Jewish people and their property throughout Nazi Germany.

Munich Conference

The pivotal meeting where Britain, France, and Italy allowed Nazi Germany to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

Nationalism

A strong sense of loyalty and devotion to one's nation, often leading to competition and conflict between nations.

Reparations

The act of making amends or compensating individuals or groups for past injustices, usually through monetary payments, goods, services, or symbolic gestures.

Totalitarianism

A political system where one leader and their party have complete control. People have limited freedoms, like not being able to say what they want or read certain things. The government often controls what people can know and punishes those who disagree.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

A 1939 treaty where Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union pledged not to attack each other, secretly dividing Eastern Europe, including Poland, into German and Soviet 'spheres of influence' to allow Germany to invade Poland without Soviet interference.

Blitzkrieg

An intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory.

Stalemate

A situation in which further action or progress by opposing or competing parties seems impossible.

Disarmament

The reduction or withdrawal of military forces and weapons.

Anti-Semitism

Hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people.

Annex

A state forcibly or legally adds another country's territory to its own, incorporating it as part of its domain, often through conquest, treaty, or unilateral declaration.

Lend-Lease Act

A 1941 law that allowed the United States to lend or lease war supplies, such as weapons, vehicles, and food, to Allied nations for defense during World War II.

Total War

A military conflict in which the warring sides use all available resources to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war.

Great Depression

A severe, global economic collapse from 1929 to the late 1930s, triggered by the U.S. stock market crash.

Nuremberg Laws

Race-based laws depriving Jews of rights, designed by Adolf Hitler and approved by the Nazi Party at a convention in Nürnberg on September 15, 1935.

Appeasement

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

Yalta Conference

A 1945 meeting between the 'Big Three' Allied leaders—Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin—to discuss the post-war reorganization of Germany and Europe.