Glossary of all Terms

A

Agent Orange: Poisonous chemical used by US forces in Vietnam to defoliate forest areas, depriving the enemy of cover.
Alliance: Arrangement between two countries for mutual help or defense, usually in trade or war.
Anschluss: Joining of Austria and Germany as one state, forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) but carried out by Hitler in 1938.
Anti-Comintern Pact: Alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan in 1936 to combat the spread of communism.
Antisemitism: Prejudice against Jewish people.
Appeasement: Policy of Britain and France in the 1930s, allowing Hitler to break the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Armistice: End to fighting.
Arms Race: Competition to build stockpiles of weapons.
Article 10: Article of the League of Nations Covenant promising security to League members from attack by other states.
Assembly: Main forum of the League of Nations for discussing important issues.
Assembly Line: System of producing cars where each worker has only one job.
Atomic Bomb/H-Bomb: Nuclear weapons used in the Second World War by the USA against Japan and a constant threat in the Cold War.
Autobahns: High-speed motorways built by the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s to create jobs.
Autocracy: Rule by one individual with total power.
Bauhaus: German design movement incorporating sleek lines and modern materials.
Bay of Pigs: Bay in Cuba; site of a failed invasion by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro, backed by the USA, causing humiliation for the USA.

B

Beauty of Labour: Nazi movement to improve conditions for industrial workers and try to win their support.
Berlin Airlift: Operation in 1948–49 using aircraft to transport supplies to West Berlin, which had been cut off by the USSR.
Berlin Blockade: Action by the USSR to cut road, rail, and canal links between West Berlin and the rest of Germany, aiming to force the USA and allies to withdraw from West Berlin.
Berlin Wall: Barrier constructed by the communist East German government to block movement between East and West Berlin, including walls, fences, dogs, and armed guards.
Big Three:
- Leaders at the Versailles Peace Conference 1919: Lloyd George (Britain), Wilson (USA), Clemenceau (France).
- Leaders at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences 1945: Roosevelt/Truman (USA), Churchill/Atlee (Britain), Stalin (USSR).
Blitzkrieg: An intense military campaign aimed at achieving a quick victory.
Blockade: Tactic involving cutting off supplies to a city or country, usually by sea but can also be land or air.
Bolshevik/Bolshevism: Russian political movement led by Lenin and following communist ideas developed by Karl Marx and further developed by Lenin.
Boom: Period of high economic prosperity.
Boycott: Refusing to have anything to do with a person or group.
Brezhnev Doctrine: Policy of the USSR from 1968, meaning no Eastern European states would be allowed to have a non-communist government.
Budget: The spending plans of a government, can refer to a particular policy or the whole government spending plan.
Capitalism/Capitalist: Political, social, and economic system centered on democracy and individual freedoms like free speech, political beliefs, and freedom to do business.

C

Censorship: System of controlling information to the public, usually employed by governments, referring to paper, radio, TV, or online information.
CENTO (Central Treaty Organisation): Alliance of countries including Britain, Turkey, and Pakistan designed to resist the spread of communism.
Chancellor: Head of the government.
Checkpoint Charlie: Famous point where travel between communist East Berlin and US-controlled West Berlin was possible.
Chemical Weapons: Weapons employing poisonous gas to kill enemies.
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency): A US government department formed in 1947 that gathers intelligence about threats to the USA and funds direct action to support American foreign policy.
Civil War: War between two sides within the same nation or group, e.g., Russia 1919–21 and Spain 1936–37.
Coalition: A government made up of two or more political parties.
Co-existence: Living side by side without threatening the other side, famously put forward by Soviet leader Khrushchev suggesting East and West could live in peaceful co-existence.
Co-operation: Working together – political, economic, or legal.
Cold War: Conflict from c.1946 to 1989 between the USA and the USSR and their allies, using propaganda, spying, and sponsoring regional wars instead of direct fighting.
Collective Security: Key principle of the League of Nations, expecting all members to be secure because other members would defend them from attack.
Collectivisation: Policy to modernize agriculture in the USSR 1928–40, succeeding to some extent but with terrible human cost.
Comecon: Organisation to control economic planning in communist countries of eastern Europe.
Cominform: Organisation to spread communist ideas and ensure communist states followed the USSR's communism.
Commissions: Organisations set up by the League of Nations to tackle economic, social, and health problems.
Communism/Communist: Political, economic, and social system involving state control of the economy and less emphasis on individual rights than capitalism.
Communist Bloc: Eastern European states controlled by communist governments from the end of the Second World War to 1989.
Competition: Pressure from rivals, usually in business and often rivals in other countries.
Concentration Camps: Camps used by Nazis to hold political opponents in Germany.
Concordat: A deal between the state and the Catholic Church.
Conference of Ambassadors: Organisation involving Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, which met to sort out international disputes alongside the League of Nations.
Conscription: Compulsory service in the armed forces.
Consolidation: Making a position more secure, usually when a political party has just taken power.
Constitution: A system of government.
Containment: US policy in the Cold War to stop the spread of communism.
Conventional Weapons: Non-nuclear weapons, referring to ground, air, or sea weapons, including missiles.
Cossacks: Elite troops of the Russian tsars.
Council: Influential body within the League of Nations, containing the most powerful members.
Coup: Revolution.
Covenant: Agreement or set of rules.
Crash: Collapse in value of US economy in 1929, leading to economic depression in the 1930s.
Credit: Borrowing money, usually from a bank.

D

Dawes Plan: Financial aid package provided by the USA to Germany in 1924.
De-Stalinisation: Policy of Soviet leader Khrushchev in the 1950s to move away from the policies of Stalin.
Demilitarised Zone: Area of land where troops cannot be stationed, e.g., the Rhineland area of Germany after the First World War.
Democracy: Political system in which the population votes for its government in elections held on a regular basis.
Democrat: Member of one of the main US political parties.
Depression: Period of economic hardship with poor trade, leading to problems such as unemployment and possibly political unrest.
Dictator: Leader of a state who has total control and does not have to listen to opponents or face elections.
Dictatorship: System in which one person runs a country.
Diktat: Term used in Germany to describe the Treaty of Versailles because Germany had no say in the terms of the Treaty.
Diplomatic Relations: How countries discuss issues with each other; breaking off diplomatic relations can sometimes be a first step toward war.
Disarmament: Process of scrapping land, sea, or air weapons.
Domino Theory: Policy in which the USA believed it had to stop countries becoming communist, otherwise they would fall to communism like dominoes.
Draft: US term for compulsory military service.
Duma: Russian Parliament established after the 1905 revolution in Russia and a source of opposition to the tsar 1905–17.

E

Ebert: President of Germany 1919–25; the first democratically elected president.
Economic Depression: Period of economic downturn where trade between countries and inside countries declines, often leading to unemployment.
Edelweiss Pirates: Youth groups in Germany who opposed the Nazis, especially during the war years.
Enabling Act: Law passed in 1933, giving the government powers to arrest opponents.
Federal: A system where power is shared between central and state governments.
Final Solution: Nazi plan to exterminate Jewish people and other races in Europe, generally thought to have begun in 1942.
Five-Year Plan: Programme of economic development in the USSR from 1928 onwards, achieving considerable progress in industry but with heavy human cost.
Flappers: Young women in the 1920s, especially in the USA, who had greater freedom due to job opportunities and changing attitudes.
Freedom of Speech: Ability to publish or speak any religious or political view without being arrested.
Freikorps: Ex-soldiers in Germany after the First World War.
Führer: Leader (German).

G

Gangster: A criminal.
General Strike: Large-scale co-ordinated strike by workers designed to stop essential services like power, transport, etc.
Gestapo: Secret police in Nazi Germany.
Glasnost: Openness and transparency – policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s designed to allow people to have their views heard and criticise the government.
Gleichschaltung: Process of making sure that all organisations were controlled by Nazis.
Guerrilla Warfare: Type of warfare which avoids large-scale battles and relies on hit-and-run raids.
Gulag: Prison camp in a remote area where prisoners were put to work.

H

Hindsight: Looking back on historical events with the ability to see what happened since.
Hire Purchase: System of paying for goods in instalments so they could be enjoyed straight away.
Hitler Youth: Youth organisation in Nazi Germany designed to prepare young people for war and make them loyal Nazis.
Ho Chi Minh Trail: Route in Cambodia used by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces to supply forces fighting South Vietnamese and US forces.
Hollywood: Suburb of Los Angeles, home of the US film industry.
Holocaust: The mass murder of Jewish people and other racial groups by the Nazis in the Second World War.
Hooverville: Shanty town made up of temporary shacks, common in the economic depression of the 1930s in the USA and named after President Hoover.
Hundred Days: The initial period of President F.D. Roosevelt in 1933, in which he passed a huge range of measures to help bring economic recovery.
Hyperinflation: Process of money becoming worthless, most notable instance was in Germany in 1923.

I

ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile): Nuclear missiles capable of travelling through space and almost impossible to stop.
Idealist: Person motivated by particular beliefs, e.g., commitment to the right of peoples to rule themselves.
Immigration: Entry into a country to settle.
Indochina: Former name for Vietnam.
Industrialisation: Building up factories, coal, electricity, etc.
Inflation: Rising prices.
Intelligence: (as in CIA) Secret services of states, e.g., CIA in the USA or KGB in the USSR.
Iron Curtain: Term used by Churchill in 1946 to describe the separation of eastern and western Europe into communist and non-communist blocs.
Isolationism: Policy in the USA in the 1920s which argued that the USA should not get involved in international disputes.

J

Jazz: Type of music which became extremely popular from the 1920s, generally associated with African American musicians.

K

Kaiser: Ruler of Germany.
Kapp Putsch: Attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government in Germany in 1920.
Kerensky: Leader of the Provisional Government which governed Russia after the first revolution in 1917.
Kolkhoz: Large farms created by merging smaller farms under the policy of collectivisation.
Kristallnacht: Night of Broken Glass – attack on Jewish properties across Germany in November 1938.
Ku Klux Klan: Secret Society in the USA which aimed to keep white supremacy in the USA and terrorised African Americans and other groups.
Kulak: Prosperous peasant farmer.

L

Laissez-faire: Philosophy based on the idea that governments should not get involved in the economy, business, or people’s lives.
Landlord/Peasant: Key figures in farming, particularly in Russia c.1900. Landlords owned land but also maintained the Tsar’s authority. Peasants worked for the landlords.
League of German Maidens: Organisation in Nazi Germany for girls designed to get girls to embrace Nazi beliefs and values.
League of Nations: Organisation set up to manage international disputes and prevent wars after the First World War; brainchild of US President Woodrow Wilson.
Lebensraum: Living Space – became part of Hitler’s plans to conquer an empire for Germany in the 1930s.
Left-wing: Groups or individuals whose political beliefs are rooted in socialism or communism.
Lenin: Leader of the Bolshevik/Communist Party in Russia and a key figure in bringing them to power in 1917 and keeping power until his death in 1924.
Lynch: Murder, usually by a mob and carried out on African Americans.

M

MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction): The idea that no state would ever use nuclear weapons because they would themselves be destroyed by retaliation.
Mail Order: Popular type of shopping in the USA in the 1920s in which customers ordered from catalogues.
Manchurian Crisis: International crisis sparked off when Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. Despite investigating, the League of Nations failed to stop Japanese aggression.
Mandates: System by which Britain and France took control of territories ruled by Germany and Turkey, which had been on the losing side in the First World War.
Marshall Aid: Programme of US economic aid to western Europe 1947–51. Aim was to aid economic recovery but also to prevent more states becoming communist.
Marshall Plan: The plan behind Marshall Aid. Although it was an economic programme, it was also political. Some commentators argued it was an economic form of imperialism designed to allow the USA to dominate western Europe.
Martial Law: Rule by the military rather than a civil police force.
Martyr: Person who dies for a cause they believe in.
Marxist: Person who follows the ideas of Karl Marx, a political commentator who believed that societies would eventually become communist as workers overthrew bosses and took control of wealth and power.
Mass Consumption: Buying of goods by a large proportion of the population.
Mass Production: System of producing goods in factories using production lines in which workers specialised in one task. Made production quick, efficient, and relatively cheap.
Mein Kampf: 'My Struggle': the autobiography of Adolf Hitler, in which he set out his theories about power and racial superiority.
Mensheviks: Opposition party in Russia in the early 1900s, part of the Social Democratic Party before it split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
Military Force: Use of armed force (e.g., troops, bombing by aircraft) as opposed to political or economic methods.
Missile Gap: Term to describe the alleged advantage of the USSR over the USA in nuclear missiles. Historians doubt whether the missile gap was as real as was claimed.
Mobilised: Armed forces told to prepare for war.
Monkey Trial: Trial of teacher John Scopes for teaching about evolution in Tennessee in 1925.
Moral Condemnation: Criticism of a state for actions against another state – prelude to stronger action such as economic sanctions or military force.
Munich Agreement: Agreement in October 1938 in which Britain and France agreed to Hitler’s demands to control the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia. This is generally seen as the final stage of the policy of Appeasement.
Munich Putsch: Attempted revolt by Hitler and Nazis in 1923, aiming to overthrow the government.

N

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People): Organisation whose aim was to promote and support the cause of African Americans in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s.
Napalm: Highly explosive chemical weapon that spread a fireball over a large area. Used extensively in the Vietnam War.
National Community: Key idea of Nazis in Germany in the 1930s – they wanted people to become part of and promote a ‘National Community’.
Nationalism: Strong sense of pride in your own country, sometimes directed aggressively towards other countries or minority groups.
Nationalities: Racial groups within larger states, e.g., Poles in the Russian Empire or Hungarians in the Austrian Empire.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation): Alliance formed by the USA and other Western states that promised to defend members against any attack, particularly from the USSR.
Nazism: National Socialism, the political belief of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, based on aggressive expansion of German lands and the superiority of the Aryan race.
Nazi–Soviet Pact: Agreement in 1939 between Hitler and Stalin not to attack each other and to divide Poland between them.
Negative Cohesion: Term coined by historian Gordon Craig to describe the way different groups in Germany supported the Nazis because they feared the opponents of the Nazis (particularly the Communists).
NEPmen: Traders and small businessmen who took advantage of the private trade established by the NEP.
New Deal: Policies introduced by US President Roosevelt from 1933 onwards to try to tackle US economic problems.
New Economic Policy: Policy introduced by Lenin in the USSR after the Russian Civil War. Basically allowed limited amounts of private enterprise, which went against communist theory but was an emergency measure to help the economy recover from war.
Night of the Long Knives: Attack on Ernst Rohm and other leading figures in the SA in June 1934.
NKVD: Secret police in the USSR, later becoming the KGB.
Nobel Peace Prize: Prize awarded to politicians who have made a major contribution to bringing an end to a conflict.
Normalcy: Term used by US President Warren Harding in the 1920s to describe the return to normal life after the First World War.
November Criminals: The German politicians who signed the Treaty of Versailles. This was a term of abuse exploited by extreme parties in Germany, especially the Nazis, to undermine democracy.
Nuclear Deterrent: Term that referred to the nuclear weapons owned by each side in the Cold War. The fact that each side had these weapons stopped the other side from using theirs.
Nuremberg Laws: Series of laws passed in Germany in 1935 discriminating against Jewish people and other racial groups in Germany.
Nuremberg Rally: Huge political meeting held every June from 1923 to 1938.

O

Okhrana: Secret police force of the Russian Tsars.
One-Party State: State where only one political party is permitted by law, such as Nazi Germany or the USSR under communism.
Operation Rolling Thunder: Huge-scale bombing campaign by the USA against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Over-Production: Usually in agriculture – growing too much food so that demand is filled and prices fall.

P

Paris Peace Conference: Conference which ran 1919–23 to decide how to officially end the First World War. Resulted in the Treaty of Versailles with Germany and three other treaties.
Peasants: Poor farmers who worked their own small plots of land and usually had to work the lands of landlords as well.
People Power: Term to describe the rise of popular action against communist regimes in 1989, which contributed to the fall of communism.
Perestroika: Restructuring – the idea of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the later 1980s that the USSR needed to reform.
Polish Corridor: Strip of land, which under the Treaty of Versailles 1919 gave Poland access to the sea but separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany.
Politburo: Main decision-making group of the Communist Party in the USSR, similar to a British Cabinet.
Potsdam Conference: Conference held in August 1945 between President Truman (USA), Stalin (USSR), and Churchill, then Atlee (Britain), discussing major issues including the atomic bomb and the Soviet take-over of eastern Europe.
Prague Spring: Reform movement in Czechoslovakia to change communist rule in Czechoslovakia, eventually crushed by Soviet forces.
Prohibition: Amendment to the US Constitution passed in 1919 to ban the production of alcohol.
Propaganda: Method of winning over a population to a particular idea or set of beliefs. Also used in wartime to raise morale.
Provisional Government: Government headed by Alexander Kerensky which took control of Russia after the March 1917 revolution which overthrew the Tsar.
Public Opinion: View of the majority or large section of the population on an issue, most important in democracies where politicians often have to win over public opinion.
Purges: Policy pursued by Stalin in the USSR in the 1930s to remove potential opponents, involving arrests, torture, show trials, deportations to labour camps, and executions.
Putsch: Revolt designed to overthrow the existing government, most commonly associated with the Kapp Putsch in 1920 and the Nazis’ attempted Munich Putsch in 1923.

R

Radical: Term used to describe extreme political views.
Realist: Politician who accepts a particular course of action even though it is not what they would prefer to do.
Rearmament: Building up arms and armed forces, used as a means to fight unemployment by many states in the 1930s, including Nazi Germany and Britain.
Red Army: Armed forces of the Communists in the Russian Civil War 1918–21 and then the official forces of the Soviet Union.
Red Scare: Wave of fear about communist infiltration of American political and social life to undermine it, seen in the 1920s and also the 1940s and 1950s.
Reichstag: German parliament.
Remilitarisation: Reintroduction of armed forces into the Rhineland area of Germany in 1936, even though this was banned by the Treaty of Versailles.
Reparations: Compensation to be paid by Germany to France, Belgium, Britain, and other states as a result of the First World War.
Repeal: The overturning of a law.
Republic: System of government which does not have a monarch.
Republican: One of the two main political parties in the USA.
Reservation: Area of land set aside for Native Americans.
Reunification: The bringing back together of Germany in 1990 after the division of 1945.
Rhineland: Area of Germany that bordered France. Under the Treaty of Versailles, it was demilitarised – no German forces were allowed there.
Right-wing: Political groups or individuals with beliefs usually in national pride, authoritarian government, and opposed to communism.
Roaring Twenties: Refers to the 1920s in the USA, a period of major social and economic change for many Americans.
Ruhr: Main industrial area of Germany.

S

SA: The Brownshirts – Stormtroopers of the Nazi Party.
Saar: Region on the border between France and Germany. Run by the League of Nations from 1920 to 1935 when its people voted to become part of Germany.
Sanctions: Actions taken against states which break international law, most commonly economic sanctions, e.g., refusing to supply oil.
Satellite State: State that is controlled by a larger state, e.g., eastern European states controlled by the USSR after the Second World War.
Search and Destroy: Type of tactic used by the US military in Vietnam to locate Viet Cong fighters and kill them.
SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation): Alliance formed in 1954 designed mainly to block the spread of communism.
Second New Deal: Set of policies introduced by US President Roosevelt in 1935–36.
Secret Police: Police force specialising in dealing with threats to the state, e.g., political opponents rather than normal crimes.
Secretariat: The section of the League of Nations which carried out administrative tasks and also the agencies of the League.
Shares: System which allows large or small investors to own part of a company and get a share of its profits.
Show Trials: Trials of political opponents which were given great publicity – most prominent in the USSR under Stalin in the 1930s.
Social Democratic Party: Main left-wing (and generally most popular) political party in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Eventually banned by the Nazis when they came to power in 1933.
Socialism: Political system in which the government takes strong control of economic and social life. In theory, socialist societies would eventually become communist societies.
Socialist Revolutionaries: Opposition group in tsarist Russia, the most well-supported as they had the support of the peasants.
Solidarity: Polish trade union which emerged in the 1980s and opposed the communist government there.
Soviet Republics: The various smaller states which made up the USSR.
Soviet Sphere of Influence: Terms agreed at the Yalta Conference in 1945 – Western powers agreed that Poland and other parts of eastern Europe would be under Soviet influence.
Soviet Union: The former Russian empire after it became a communist state in the 1920s.
Soviets: Councils of workers.
Spanish Civil War: Conflict in Spain which was seen as a rehearsal for the Second World War when German and Italian forces intervened to support General Franco.
Spartacists: Communists in Germany in 1919 who wanted a revolution in Germany similar to the 1917 revolution in Russia.
Speculation: Buying shares in the hope that their price will rise when they can be sold at a profit.
SS: Organisation within the Nazi Party which began as Hitler’s bodyguard but expanded to become a state within a state.
Stakhanovite: A very hard and committed Soviet worker.
Stalin: Leader of the USSR from 1929 to his death in 1953.
Stock Market: Trading arena where investors can buy and sell shares in companies.
Stolypin: Minister of the Tsar in imperial Russia.
Strength Through Joy: Leisure programme run by the Nazis in Germany to improve the lives of ordinary people.
Sudetenland: Area of Czechoslovakia which bordered Germany and contained many German speakers. Taken over by Hitler in 1938 as part of the Munich Agreement.
Summit Meeting: Meeting of leaders to discuss key issues, e.g., US President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev’s meetings in the 1980s.
Sunni: One of the main branches of the Muslim faith.
Superpower: A country in a dominant international position that is able to influence events.
Supreme Court: Highest court in the USA, whose job was to rule if laws passed by the government were challenged as being unconstitutional.
Surveillance: Watching, usually by intelligence agencies or secret police.

T

Tariffs: Taxes on imported goods which made them more expensive – often designed to protect makers of home-produced goods.
Temperance: Movement that opposed alcohol.
Tennessee Valley Authority: Organisation set up by President Roosevelt to help provide economic development in the Tennessee Valley. Most famous projects were giant hydroelectric dams.
Tet Offensive: Attack launched by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in 1968. Seen by many as the turning point in the Vietnam War as US public turned against the war.
Totalitarian: Complete control.
Trade Sanctions: Restricting the sale of goods to a nation or sales from a nation.
Trade Union: Organisation that represents workers.
Traditional Industries: Well-established industries such as textiles, coal, and agriculture.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Treaty between Germany and Russia in 1918 which ended war between the two. Germany took massive amounts of land and reparations.
Treaty of Versailles: Treaty that officially ended war between the Allies and Germany in 1919. Controversial because of the terms, which Germany claimed to be excessively harsh.
Trotsky: Leading figure in the Bolshevik Party, especially in the Russian Civil War 1918–21.
Truman Doctrine: Policy of US President Truman from 1947 to promise help to any state threatened by communism.
Trusts: Groups of businesses working together illegally to reduce competition.
Tsar: Ruler of Russia up until the revolution in 1917.
Tsarina: Wife of the tsar.

U

Unanimous: Agreed by all.
United Nations: Organisation that succeeded the League of Nations in 1945 and whose aim was to solve international disputes and promote humanitarian causes.
Universal Suffrage: Equal voting rights for all adults.
US Sphere of Influence: Areas seen as under the control or political or economic influence of the USA.

V

USSR: The former Russian empire after it became a communist state in the 1920s.
Viet Cong/Viet Minh: Underground army fighting against French rule in the 1950s and then the government of South Vietnam and its US allies in the Vietnam War.
Vietnamisation: Policy of handing over the Vietnam War to South Vietnam forces.
Volk: People (German).

W

Wall Street Crash: Collapse in the value of US companies in October 1929, which led to widespread economic collapse.
War Communism: Policy pursued by communist leader Lenin 1918–21 to try to build a communist society in Russia and also fight against his opponents. Caused major hardships and had to be temporarily replaced with the New Economic Policy.
War Guilt: Clause in the Treaty of Versailles which forced Germany to accept blame for the First World War.
Warsaw Pact: Alliance of the USSR and eastern European states to defend against attack and preserve communist control in eastern Europe.
Weimar: Small town in Germany, home of the German government in the 1920s.
West/Western Powers: Term generally used to refer to the USA and its allies in the Cold War.
WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction): Missiles, bombs, or shells which were armed with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

Y

Yalta Conference: Conference between the USA, USSR, and Britain in 1945 to decide the shape of the world after the Second World War ended.
Young Plan: American economic plan in 1929 to reorganise reparations payments to make it easier for Germany to pay.

Z

Zemstva: Local councils in tsarist Russia.