Untitled Flashcards Set

Lost generation

A term for the generation that came of age during or after World War I, marked by disillusionment, loss of purpose, and rejection of pre-war values due to the war’s trauma and societal upheaval.

Albert Einstein

A German-born physicist who developed the theory of relativity, revolutionizing concepts of time, space, and energy, and contributing to the era’s intellectual uncertainty.

Sigmund Freud

An Austrian neurologist and founder of psycho-analysis, who explored the unconscious mind, influencing views on human behavior, sexuality, and mental health.

Psycho-analysis

A therapeutic method and theory developed by Freud, focusing on unconscious drives and repressed memories to explain human behavior and treat psychological disorders.

Dadaism

An avant-garde art movement emerging during World War I, rejecting traditional aesthetics with absurd, chaotic works to reflect the era’s disillusionment.

Great Depression

A severe global economic downturn from 1929 to the late 1930s, triggered by the U.S. stock market crash, leading to mass unemployment, poverty, and political instability.

Black Thursday

October 24, 1929, the day the U.S. stock market crashed, marking the start of the Great Depression with massive sell-offs and financial panic.

Economic Nationalism

A policy emphasizing domestic economic control, often through tariffs and trade barriers, to protect national interests, prominent during the Great Depression.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

A 1930 U.S. law raising tariffs on imports, intended to protect American industries but worsening global trade and deepening the Great Depression.

John Maynard Keynes

A British economist who advocated government intervention (e.g., spending) to stimulate demand and combat economic downturns, influencing New Deal policies.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

U.S. President (1933–1945) who implemented the New Deal to address the Great Depression, using government programs to provide relief, recovery, and reform.

New Deal

A series of U.S. government programs and reforms under Roosevelt in the 1930s to combat the Great Depression, focusing on economic recovery and social welfare.

War Communism

Lenin’s harsh economic policy (1918–1921) during the Russian Civil War, centralizing production and requisitioning resources to support the Bolshevik effort.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Lenin’s 1921 policy allowing limited private enterprise and market mechanisms to revive the Soviet economy after War Communism’s failures.

Joseph Stalin

Soviet leader (1924–1953) who enforced rapid industrialization, collectivization, and totalitarian control, marked by purges and repression.

First Five Year Plan

Stalin’s 1928–1932 economic initiative to industrialize the Soviet Union rapidly, prioritizing heavy industry over consumer goods, often with forced labor.

Collectivization of agriculture

Stalin’s policy to consolidate small farms into state-controlled collectives, aiming to boost food production but causing widespread resistance and famine.

Kulaks

Wealthier peasants targeted by Stalin during collectivization, accused of hoarding grain; many were executed, exiled, or stripped of property.

Great Purge

Stalin’s campaign (1936–1938) of political repression, executing or imprisoning millions to eliminate perceived threats to his power.

Fascism

A far-right, authoritarian ideology promoting nationalism, militarism, and a strong centralized state, rejecting democracy and socialism.

Chauvinism

Excessive, aggressive patriotism or belief in national superiority, often linked to fascist ideologies like those of Mussolini and Hitler.

Xenophobia

Fear or hatred of foreigners or outsiders, a key element in fascist and Nazi propaganda against minorities and immigrants.

Benito Mussolini

Italian dictator (1922–1943) and founder of Fascism, who established a totalitarian regime promising national revival through aggression and control.

National Socialism

The ideology of the Nazi Party in Germany, blending fascism, racism (e.g., Aryan supremacy), and anti-Semitism under Hitler’s leadership.

Eugenics

A pseudo-scientific belief in improving human populations through selective breeding, adopted by Nazis to justify racial policies.

Anti-Semitism

Hostility or prejudice against Jews, central to Nazi ideology and policies like the Holocaust.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 Nazi laws stripping Jews of citizenship and banning intermarriage with Aryans, institutionalizing anti-Semitism in Germany.

Kristallnacht

"Night of Broken Glass" (November 9–10, 1938), a Nazi-orchestrated pogrom against Jews, with widespread violence, arrests, and destruction of Jewish property.

Pogrom

An organized massacre or violent attack, often against Jews, as seen in Kristallnacht and earlier anti-Semitic events.