AP World Units 1-9

Yalta Conference

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war

Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years. 1947-1991

Hydrogen Bomb (H-Bomb)

A type of nuclear weapon at least one thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb. Truman ordered the development of it to surpass the Soviets' weapons supply.

military-industrial complex

The close association of the federal government, the military, and defense industries

Iron Curtain

An imaginary barrier dividing Eastern and Western Europe due to Cold war tension

Satellite Countries

Smaller states that are economically or politically dependent on a larger and more powerful state

Containment

George Kennan's idea of preventing communism from spreading any further

Truman Doctrine

A speech given by Truman in which he laid out plans to stop the spread of Communism especially in Greece and Turkey in 1947

Marshall Plan

The US plan to rebuild Europe's economy by giving each Western European country $12 billion in 1947

Non-Aligned Movement

Organization of states that did not want to formally ally with either the US or the Soviet Union during the Cold War created in 1961

Berlin Airlift

An operation in which the the US, Britain, and France flew supplies into the western zone of Berlin which had been blockaded by the Soviet Union from 1948-49

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

A collection of western states' military and political alliance with one another against the Soviet Union in 1949

Warsaw Pact

A collection of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union's military and political alliance against the United States in 1955

Korean War

War between communist North backed by Soviet Union and democratic South backed by the US from 1950-1953

Vietnam War

War between communist North Vietnam backed by Soviet Union and democratic South Vietnam backed by US from 1955-1975

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

13 day confrontation between US and Soviet Union after US found nuclear weapons in Cuba from the Soviet Union

Mao Zedong

Communist ruler of People's Republic of China from 1893-1976

Great Leap Forward

Land reform policy in China in which peasant lands were made into communes and collectively worked in 1958

Cultural Revolution

Mao's effort to instill China's commitment to Communism which involved revolutionary Red Guards and reeducation camps for those who were not revolutionary enough in 1966

White Revolution

Shah Muhammad Pahlavi's set of peaceful reforms involving woman's suffrage, welfare, literacy funding, and land reform in 1963

Mengistu Haile Mariam

Ethiopian soldier and leader from 1977 to 1991

Muslim League

An organization that advocated for a separate nation for Muslims in India in 1906

Algerian War for Independence

Algerian fight for independence from French following WWII and led by FLN from 1954-1962

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970)

Second president of Egypt who helped to establish it as a republic

Suez Crisis

Invasion of Egypt by Israel after Nasser attempted to nationalize the Suez Canal, angering Britain in 1956

Biafran Civil War

Fought between northern Nigerian government and southern Christian tribe who tried to secede from 1967-1970

Zionist Movement

Nationalist movement of Jewish people urging for an independent Jewish state

Six-Day War

3rd Arab-Israeli war fought between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in 1967

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

The Palestinian Liberation Organization is a group of Arab states that rejected peace treaties with Israel in hopes of reclaiming Palestine for themselves formed in 1964

Khmer Rouge

A communist guerilla organization in Cambodia that ruled from 1975-1979 using extreme violence against civilians

Kashmir

A northern border region between Pakistan and India that led to conflict when both claimed it as part of their own country

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)

Former prime minister of India who implemented economic policies to help India's economy

Metropole

A large city of a former colonial ruler

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Prominent African American civil rights activist in America

Prague Spring

Protest movement in Czechoslovakia for increased political freedom and democracy in 1968

Shining Path

Revolutionary communist party of Peru known for violence

Al Qaeda

Islamic extremist group from Saudi Arabia known for acts of terrorism

Idi Amin (1925-2003)

Ugandan military officer who who served as president of Uganda and known for violence against civilians

SALT Treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

freeze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles that Soviets and US could keep

Soviet-Afghan War

Soviets fight against Islamic Afghanistan fighters after they invade to support a communist leader in Afghanistan in 1979

Strategic Defense Initiative

System to destroy Soviet nuclear weapons that target the US

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-1990)

More progressive communist leader of Soviet Union until its collapse

Berlin Wall

The wall dividing western Berlin from eastern Berlin that fell as the Cold War ended in 1991

Bolsheviks

A political party founded by Lenin that represented the revolutionary working class of Russia

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925)

First president of the Republic of China and first leader of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party)

Ataturk (1881-1938)

Meaning "father of the Turks," Mustafa Kemal was the first president of Turkey after it won independence from British attempts

Mexican Revolution (November 20th 1910-1920)

A civil war meant to overthrow the Mexican dictator and to create more rights for the poor and peasants

Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914)

Heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne until he was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist

Militarism

Government belief or policy of aggressive military preparedness, involving massive weapons and military build up

Triple Entente

An alliance of Britain, France, and Russia that saw Germany as a rival before WWI broke out

Triple Alliance

An alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy before WWI broke out

Self-determination

The idea that people of the same ethnicity, language, political ideals, and culture should unite and have the right to form their own free nation state

Trench warfare

A type of land warfare common in WWI in which opposing troops fought each other from inside their own trenches

Zimmerman Telegram (1917)

A message sent by Germany to Mexico stating that Germans would help Mexico to take back the land they had lost in Mexican American War if Mexico allied with Germany in WWI

Total war

Commitment of entire nation including civilian efforts to the war cause

Propaganda

Communication meant to influence the attitudes and opinions of a community about a subject by spreading biased or inaccurate information

Treaty of Versailles(June 28, 1919)

Peace treaty that ended WWI and now recognized as lead up to WWII and other problems of the 20th century

Great Depression (1929-1939)

Worldwide worst economic downturn in history of the industrialized world

New Deal (1933-1939)

A series of programs, public work projects, and government regulation enacted by Franklin Roosevelt in America to counteract the Great Depression

Five-Year Plan (1928-1932)

Stalin's plan to transform the USSR into an industrial nation by focusing on collectivizing agriculture and heavy industry

Gulags

Soviet Union labor camps where many dissidents and political opponents died

PRI (1929-2000)

The single Mexican political party that held power for most of the 20th century

Fascism

Far right political system known for its militarism, authoritarianism, violence, and suppression of peoples' rights

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

Nationalists led by Franco fought against the newly elected Popular Front who advocated for land reform and were supported by peasants and Loyalists

Mandate system

League of Nations policy that allowed imperial states to rule the colonies and territories that were formerly owned by the Central Powers

Balfour Declaration (1917)

British government decision that Palestine would be given to Jewish people

Indian National Congress (late 1800s to 1900s)

Formed by Indians to air grievances and fight against injustices of British imperial rule

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Indian lawyer who is known for fighting peacefully against India's independence from Britain, spreading a civil rights movement globally

Salt March (1930)

A peaceful demonstration against British rule in which Gandhi led thousands of Indians to collect their own salt, breaking a law

Pakistan

Part of the two state plan for India in which the Hindu majority would stay in India and the Muslim minority would go to Pakistan

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

The name of the empire Japan was creating before WWII including places like the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Burma, and some of the Pacific Islands

Weimar Republic (1919-1933)

The government of Germany established after WWI

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice against Jews

Nuremberg Laws (1935)

A series of laws from Hitler's Germany that forbade marriage between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans and stripped Jewish people of their citizenship

Axis Powers

The alliance between Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy during WWII

Munich Agreement (September 1938)

The agreement between Nazi Germany, Italy, Britain, and France that allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for ending his land grab

German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (August 1939)

Germany and Soviet Russia promising not to attack each other during the course of WWII

Blitzkrieg

An intense military campaign meant to bring about a swift victory

Battle of Britain (July-October 1940)

A battle in WWII in which Germany attacked Britain mostly through air raids on civilian cities in attempts to conquer it

Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)

Japanese surprise attack of neutral US naval base in Hawaii

Island-hopping

A strategy created by US General MacArthur to seize Japanese controlled islands in the Pacific by taking weak ones and skipping strong ones

Battle of Midway (June 1942)

Battle in the Pacific between Allies and Japan, resulting in Allied victory

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Allied invasion of Normandy (Northern France) to push Hitler's forces out of France

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945

Two Japanese cities largely populated with soldiers and civilians where US dropped nuclear bombs

Armenian genocide (1915-1917)

Systematic mass murder and expulsion of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman government

Holocaust

Genocide of European Jews during WWII by Nazi Germany and its collaborators

Rape of Nanking (1938)

Mass murder and rape committed by the Japanese troops against Chinese civilians and soldiers during the 2nd Sino-Japanese War

Bosnian genocide (1995)

Over 300,000 Muslims from Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo killed due to ethnic cleansing by Serbs

Rwandan genocide (1994)

Mass slaughter of Tutsis by Hutu majority in Rwanda

Lateen sail

triangular sail that made it possible to sail against the wind

Compass

navigational instrument for finding directions

Primogeniture Laws

English laws that only led eldest sons inherit land, leading younger sons to search for money via things like exploration and joint-stock companies

Caravel

A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

Italian explorer who received sponsorship from Spain to travel across the Atlantic to the Americas in 1492

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, found in East Virginia in 1607

Trading post empire

A specific nation's trade network that contains a number of small outposts with forts throughout the world rather than one large territory

Northwest passage

A sailing route from Europe to east Asia by going through North America's Arctic archipelago

Columbian Exchange

Widespread exchange of crops, animals, plants, humans, technology, and disease between the Eastern and Western hemispheres between the 1400s and 1500s