Global History II Final Exam Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering Global History II Modules 26 through 31, including the Russian Revolution, WWII, the Cold War, and decolonization.

Pogroms in Russia

Organized campaigns of anti-Semitism and violence against Jewish communities in Russia.

Bolsheviks

A group of revolutionary Russian Marxists who took control of Russia's government in November 1917.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The peace treaty signed in March 1918 between the Central Powers and Russia that ended Russian participation in World War I.

Soviets

Local representative councils formed by workers, peasants, and soldiers in Russia after the downfall of Czar Nicholas II.

Collective Farms

Large, government-controlled farms formed by combining many small farms in the Soviet Union.

Totalitarianism

A system of government, such as that led by Stalin, where the state has total, centralized control over every aspect of public and private life.

Great Purge

A campaign of terror in the Soviet Union during the 1930s, in which Joseph Stalin sought to eliminate all Communist Party members and other citizens who threatened his power.

Five-Year Plan

Economic goals set by Joseph Stalin for the development of the Soviet Union's economy.

Mao Zedong

The leader of the Chinese Communist Party who led the revolution and established the People's Republic of China.

Jiang Jieshi

The leader of the Chinese Nationalist forces (Kuomintang) during the Chinese Civil War.

Long March

A $6,000$-mile journey made in 1934-1935 by Chinese Communists fleeing from Jiang Jieshi’s Nationalist forces.

Japanese Invasion of Nanking ($1937$)

The military conquest of the Chinese city of Nanking where Japanese forces committed mass atrocities against civilians.

Young Turks

A coalition of various groups in the Ottoman Empire who favored reforming the administration of the Ottoman Empire.

Mustafa Kemal

The first president of the Republic of Turkey who led Turkish nationalists in overthrowing the last Ottoman sultan and modernized the nation.

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

Albert Einstein's ideas about the interrelationships between time and space and between energy and matter.

Cubism

A $20^{th}$ century art style that transformed natural forms into geometric shapes.

Expressionism

An artistic style that sought to depict the inner world of emotion and mind rather than external reality.

Surrealism

A $20^{th}$ century artistic movement that focuses on the workings of the unconscious mind.

FDR’s New Deal

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s economic reform program designed to solve the problems created by the Great Depression.

Fascism

A political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule.

Mussolini (Il Duce)

The fascist leader of Italy who came to power by promising to rescue Italy's economy and rebuild its armed forces.

Rise of Nazi Germany

The period when Hitler and the Nazi Party took control of Germany due to economic instability and national resentment after WWI.

Emperor Hirohito

The head of state of Japan during World War II.

Appeasement

The making of concessions to an aggressor in order to avoid war.

Guernica

A painting by Pablo Picasso that depicts the horrors of the German bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica.

Axis Powers

The nations of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which had formed an alliance in $1936$.

Third Reich

The Third German Empire, established by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

Munich Conference

A $1938$ meeting of representatives from Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, at which Britain and France agreed to allow Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.

Isolationism

A policy of avoiding political or military involvement with other countries, which was the American foreign policy before WWII.

Nonaggression Pact

An agreement in which nations promise not to attack one another, notably between Germany and the Soviet Union in $1939$.

Blitzkrieg

’Lightning war’—a form of warfare in which surprise attacks with fast-moving airplanes are followed by massive attacks with infantry forces.

Phony War/Sitzkrieg

A period early in World War II when there was little to no active warfare on the Western Front.

Maginot Line

A system of fortifications along France's border with Germany.

Miracle of Dunkirk

The massive evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, during the German invasion.

Battle of Britain

A series of battles between German and British air forces, fought over Britain in 1940-1941.

Winston Churchill

The Prime Minister of Great Britain who led the country through World War II.

Operation Barbarossa

The code name for the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

Atlantic Charter

A declaration of principles issued in August $1941$ by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, on which the Allied peace plan at the end of World War II was based.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii on December $7$, $1941$, described as a day that will live in infamy.

Battle of Midway

A $1942$ sea and air battle of World War II, in which American forces defeated Japanese forces in the central Pacific.

Battle of the Bulge

A 1944-1945 battle in which Allied forces turned back the last major German offensive of World War II.

Holocaust

The mass slaughter of Jews and other groups judged inferior by the Nazis.

Nuremberg Laws

Laws passed in $1935$ that deprived German Jews of their rights of citizenship and forbade mixed marriages.

Kristallnacht

’Night of Broken Glass’—the night of November $9$, $1938$, on which Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues throughout Germany.

Final Solution

Hitler's program of systematically killing the entire Jewish people.

Auschwitz

The largest of the Nazi extermination camps.

Battle of Stalingrad

A 1942-1943 battle of World War II, in which German forces were defeated in their attempt to capture the city of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union.

D-day

June $6$, $1944$, the day on which the Allies began their invasion of the European mainland during World War II.

Nuremberg Trials

A series of court proceedings held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II, in which Nazi leaders were tried for aggression, violations of the rules of war, and crimes against humanity.

Yalta Conference

A $1945$ meeting between the leaders of the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union to plan for the post-war world.

Iron Curtain

The phrase used by Winston Churchill to describe the division between the democratic nations of Western Europe and the Communist nations of Eastern Europe.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries.

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. policy of giving economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. program of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after World War II.

Berlin Airlift

A technical operation in 1948-1949 where U.S. and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviet Union blockaded the city.

NATO VS Warsaw Pact

The competition between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Western democratic alliance) and the Warsaw Pact (Soviet and Eastern European communist alliance).

Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedong's economic program intended to rapidly transform China into a modern industrial society through communes, which resulted in failure.

Cultural Revolution

A 1966-1976 uprising in China led by the Red Guards, with the goal of establishing a society of peasants and workers in which all were equal.

Demilitarized Zone

A buffer zone between North and South Korea, located along the $38^{th}$ parallel.

Khmer Rouge

A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in $1975$.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A $1962$ confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Détente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Salt March (India)

A peaceful protest against the British Salt Acts in $1930$ led by Mohandas Gandhi.

Apartheid

A South African policy of complete legal separation of the races, including the banning of all social contacts between blacks and whites.