The Search for Peace and Nazi Germany Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering international relations between 1919-1946, Nazi social and cultural policies, and the origins of WWII.

Treaty of Versailles

Official settlement signed on June $28$, $1919$, that ended WWI and attempted to organize the reconstruction of Europe and maintain hard-fought peace.

League of Nations (LoN)

The brainchild of US President Woodrow Wilson, this organization was created to resolve international disputes through the concept of collective security.

Washington Naval Conference

Held in $1921$-$22$, this agreement limited naval construction and arms among the US, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan.

Locarno Treaty

A $1925$ peace agreement between the nations of Western Europe.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Also known as the Pact of Paris ($1928$), this international agreement effectively outlawed war.

Appeasement

A policy adopted in the $1930$s to deal with the militaristic ambitions of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy by making concessions to maintain peace.

Fifteen Year War

The conflict beginning in $1931$ with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Anti-Comintern Pact

A $1936$ pledge between Germany and Japan (later joined by Italy) to work together against the Soviet Union’s Comintern.

Nanking Massacre

A mass atrocity occurring in $1937$ during the Japanese invasion of China.

Munich Conference

A $1938$ meeting where Czechoslovakia was handed over to Germany as part of the policy of appeasement.

Pact of Steel

The $1939$ military alliance signed between Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

A $1939$ agreement where Germany and the USSR pledged not to go to war for $10$ years, including a secret clause to divide Poland and the Baltic states.

Tripartite Pact

Signed in $1940$, this pact formally made Germany, Japan, and Italy allies (the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis).

Moscow Declaration

An October $1943$ declaration by the US, UK, Soviet Union, and China calling for an international organization to maintain general security.

Tehran Conference

The first meeting of the 'Big Three' (Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt) in $1943$ to discuss anti-Nazi strategy and post-war peace.

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

A $1944$ meeting where the structure of the United Nations (UN) was first proposed by China, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US.

Yalta Conference

A $1945$ meeting of the Big Three where they agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and began plans for the post-war period.

Potsdam Conference

A July-August $1945$ conference that failed to settle most important issues, helping set the stage for the Cold War.

Nuremberg War Crimes Trials

A series of $13$ trials beginning in $1946$ against Nazi officials for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against peace.

Collective Security

The LoN principle that an attack on one member nation would be treated as an attack on all, prompting mutual aid via military force or trade sanctions.

Volksgemeinschaft

The Nazi 'people’s community' based on traditional German values and racial purity, implying a classless society for those deemed 'racially pure'.

Lebensraum

Hitler's policy of 'Living Space,' involving territorial expansion into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to benefit the Aryan race.

Herrenvolk

The Nazi term for the master race, specifically the Aryan race, described as tall, blond, blue-eyed, and athletic.

Untermenschen

Nazi term for 'sub-humans,' referring to groups such as Slavs, gypsies, and Jews.

Pimpfen

The 'Little Fellows' group for boys under the age of $10$ within the Nazi youth structure.

Hitler Jugend (HJ)

The 'Hitler Youth' organization for boys aged $14$ to $18$, where membership became compulsory in December $1936$.

Bund Deutscher Madel (BDM)

The 'League of German Maidens' for girls aged $14$ to $18$, designed to prepare them for roles as mothers and housewives.

Kinder, Kirche, Kuche

The Nazi slogan meaning 'Children, Church, and Kitchen,' clarifying the expected domestic sphere for women.

Law for the Encouragement of Marriage

A $1933$ law providing newlyweds a loan of $1000$ marks, reducing the debt by $250$ marks for each child produced.

Lebensborn

Clinics or homes established for unmarried women to meet 'racially pure' SS men to become pregnant to increase the Aryan population.

German Labour Front (DAF)

The Nazi organization led by Robert Ley that replaced banned trade unions on May $2$, $1933$.

Strength Through Joy (KdF)

An organization within the DAF that provided workers with state-sponsored leisure, including cruises, concerts, and cheap holidays.

Concordat

A July $1933$ agreement between the Vatican and the Nazi government where the church promised to stay out of politics in exchange for protected rights.

Gleichschaltung

The process of 'coordination' or 'Nazification' by which the Nazi regime took control over all aspects of German social, political, and cultural life.

Eugenics

The science of selective breeding used by Nazis to produce 'better' humans and justify the sterilization of those deemed 'unsuitable' for reproduction.

Nuremberg Laws

Passed on September $15$, $1935$, these laws stripped Jews of citizenship and forbade marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans.

Kristallnacht

The 'Night of Broken Glass' (November $9$-$10$, $1938$), a state-sponsored pogrom involving the destruction of synagogues and Jewish property.

T4 Programme

A Nazi program beginning in $1939$ to 'mercy kill' or euthanize children and adults with severe mental or physical disabilities.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japan's concept of a self-sufficient coalition of Asian nations led by Japan, free from Western colonial influence.

Edelweiss Pirates

Working-class youth gangs (including Navajos and Kittelbach Pirates) who resisted the regimentation of the Hitler Youth.

White Rose Movement

A resistance group led by Munich University students Hans and Sophie Scholl, who were executed in $1943$ for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets.