AP Euro Unit 9 Vocab

Totalitarianism

A government that exerts total control over the lives of its citizens through terror and propaganda.

Fascism

Nationalist, anti-communist ideology led by a dictator that glorifies the state and military.

Eugenics

The pseudo-scientific belief in "improving" the human race through selective breeding.

Five Year Plan

Stalin’s economic goals designed to quickly industrialize the USSR and catch up with the West.

New Economic Policy

Lenin's temporary compromise with capitalism to help the Soviet economy recover in the 1920s.

Lenin

The first leader of the Soviet Union; established the Bolshevik state.

Stalin

Soviet dictator who used Five Year Plans and purges to transform the USSR into a superpower.

Propaganda

Biased information used by governments to manipulate public opinion and maintain power.

Weimar Republic

The weak, democratic German government that existed between WWI and the rise of Hitler.

Hitler

Leader of the Nazi Party who established a totalitarian state and sparked WWII.

Communism

Socialist ideology calling for the abolition of private property and a classless society.

Mussolini

The "Duce" of Italy; the first fascist dictator who promised to restore Roman glory.

Spanish Civil War

Conflict between fascists and republicans (1936-1939); seen as a dress rehearsal for WWII.

Francisco Franco

Fascist dictator who took power in Spain after winning the Civil War.

Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister who led the nation against Nazi Germany during WWII.

Kulaks

Prosperous Russian peasants who were destroyed as a class during Stalin's collectivization.

Collectivization of Agriculture

Stalin's policy of seizing private farms and combining them into large state-run farms.

Black Shirts

Mussolini's paramilitary followers who used violence to silence political opponents.

Lateran Agreement

A 1929 deal where Mussolini recognized the Vatican as an independent state.

National Socialism

The ideology of the Nazi Party; combined extreme nationalism, racism, and anti-Semitism.

Enabling Act

German law that gave Hitler dictatorial power for four years.

Appeasement

The failed policy of giving in to Hitler's demands to avoid war.

New Order

Hitler's plan for a Europe organized based on Nazi racial hierarchies and economic exploitation.

The Holocaust

The systematic, state-sponsored murder of 6 million Jews and others by the Nazi regime.

Vichy France

The puppet government in southern France that collaborated with Nazi Germany.

Einsatzgruppen

Nazi mobile killing squads that followed the army to execute Jews and "undesirables."

Cold War

The long period of tension and competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Tehran Conference

1943 meeting where the "Big Three" planned the invasion of France and post-war borders.

Yalta Conferences

1945 meeting to discuss the occupation of Germany and free elections in Eastern Europe.

Potsdam Conference

Final wartime meeting where Truman and Stalin clashed over the future of Europe.

Truman Doctrine

U.S. policy of providing military/economic aid to countries resisting communism (containment).

Marshall Plan

Massive U.S. financial aid package to rebuild Europe and prevent the spread of communism.

COMECON

The Soviet-led economic organization for Eastern European communist states.

NATO

The Western military alliance formed to defend against Soviet aggression.

Warsaw Pact

The military alliance of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites.

Christian Democrats

New center-right political parties that led Western Europe’s post-war recovery.

Common Market

The European Economic Community (EEC); reduced trade barriers between member nations.

Secret Speech

Khrushchev’s 1956 speech denouncing Stalin’s crimes and cult of personality.

de-Stalinization

The period of political and social liberalization in the USSR after Stalin’s death.

Decolonization

The process by which European empires collapsed and former colonies gained independence.

Neocolonialism

A system where former colonial powers maintain economic influence over new nations.

Guest Worker Programs

Government schemes to bring foreign laborers into Western Europe to solve labor shortages.

Postcolonial migration

The movement of people from former colonies to their "mother countries" in Europe.

Detente

A period of lessened Cold War tensions during the 1970s.

Ostpolitik

West German policy of seeking "openness" and better relations with Eastern Europe.

Counterculture Movement

The 1960s youth movement that challenged traditional social and political norms.

Second Vatican Council

Meeting to modernize the Catholic Church and make it more relevant to the modern world.

Student Rebellions

1968 protests across the globe demanding social change and educational reform.

Brezhnev Doctrine

Soviet policy that the USSR had the right to intervene in any socialist country.

Stagflation

The 1970s economic crisis of high inflation combined with stagnant economic growth.

Post Industrial Society

A society where the service and technology sectors provide more jobs than manufacturing.

Neoliberalism

Economic policy of the 1980s (Thatcher/Reagan) focusing on free markets and privatization.

Privatization

The sale of state-owned businesses to private investors.

Margaret Thatcher

"The Iron Lady"; British PM who pushed for neoliberal reforms and weakened unions.

Simone de Beauvoir

Existentialist philosopher and feminist who wrote "The Second Sex."

"Developed Socialism"

The Soviet term for the slow, stable, but stagnant life under late-era communism.

Solidarity

The Polish labor union led by Lech Walesa that challenged communist rule.

Perestroika

Gorbachev’s policy of "restructuring" the Soviet economy toward more decentralization.

Glasnost

Gorbachev’s policy of "openness" that allowed for free speech and criticism of the government.

Berlin Wall

The symbol of the Cold War; its fall in 1989 signaled the end of communist control.

Velvet Revolution

The peaceful overthrow of the communist government in Czechoslovakia.

EU

The European Union; a political and economic union of 27 European member states.

Maastricht Treaty

The 1991 agreement that officially created the European Union and the Euro.

Kosovo

The site of ethnic conflict in the 1990s following the breakup of Yugoslavia.

WTO

World Trade Organization; international group that monitors and regulates global trade.