interwar years

Beer Hall Putsch

Failed armed uprising by Hitler and the Nazis in Munich in 1923 to seize power, leading to Hitler's arrest, trial for treason, and imprisonment for 5 years.

Mein Kampf Themes

Extreme nationalism, anti-semitism, anti-communism, the need for struggle, the concept of lebensraum (living space).

Shift in Nazi Strategy

Transition from attracting city workers to targeting middle and lower-class voters in rural areas for gaining power.

Reichstag Fire & Enabling Act

Reichstag fire blamed on communists, leading to the Enabling Act granting emergency powers to the government, suspending citizen rights.

Aryan State

Hitler's vision of developing a Germanic/Scandinavian master race to dominate Europe and the world.

SS

Elite Nazi Protection Squads indoctrinated in racial ideology, later controlling regular and secret police forces.

Heinrich Himmler

Leader of the SS.

Nazi Youth Organizations

Hitler Youth for boys, German Girls Association.

Nazi View of Women

Emphasized as child bearers, wives, and mothers to drive them out of jobs hindering childbearing.

Nuremberg Laws

Excluded German Jews from citizenship, forbade marriages between Jews and Germans, legally separated Jews from Germans.

Kristallnacht

Nazi-led destructive rampage against Jews in Germany after a Polish Jew murdered a German secretary.

Lenin's New Economic Policy

Modified capitalist system allowing peasants to sell openly, saved Russia's economy.

Stalin's Role in Politburo

Party General Secretary appointing key party positions, eliminating opposition.

Stalin's First 5-Year Plan

Aimed at transforming the Soviet Union into an industrial state, with social and political costs.

Collectivization of Agriculture

Stalin's push to create agricultural surpluses by eliminating private farms and forcing people into collective farms.

Kulaks

Wealthy farmers sent to Siberian camps for resisting collectivization.

Stalin's Purges

Elimination of Old Bolsheviks, army officers, diplomats, union officials, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens.

Communist View of Women

Emphasized as child bearers and mothers.