Mid terms

⭐ ONE‑PAGE U.S. HISTORY CRAM SHEET

Progressive Era → Imperialism → WWI → 1920s → Great Depression → WWII

Important Dates

  • 1914 – Assassination of Franz Ferdinand → WWI starts

  • 1918 – WWI ends

  • 1929 – Stock market crash

  • 1941 – Pearl Harbor → U.S. enters WWII

Progressive Era

Big Ideas: Fix problems, regulate business, expand democracy.

Key Terms:

  • Progressivism – Government fixes problems

  • Muckrakers – Exposed corruption

  • Initiative / Referendum / Recall – More power to voters

  • Direct primary – Voters choose candidates

  • Triangle Fire – Workplace safety laws

  • 16th income tax • 17th direct senators • 18th Prohibition • 19th women vote

  • The Jungle → Pure Food & Drug Act

  • NAACP – Civil rights

  • NAWSA / NWP – Women’s suffrage groups

Presidents: Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson → more gov regulation.

Imperialism

Why? Markets, military bases, competition, nationalism.

Key Terms:

  • Imperialism – Strong nations control weaker ones

  • Monroe Doctrine – Europe stay out

  • New Manifest Destiny – Expand overseas

  • Mahan – Strong navy

  • Yellow Journalism – Exaggerated news

  • USS Maine – Sparks Spanish‑American War

  • Spanish‑American War – U.S. wins; gets Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines

  • Big Stick (TR) • Dollar (Taft) • Moral (Wilson)

World War I

Causes: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism + assassination.

Why U.S. joined:

  • Unrestricted submarine warfare

  • Lusitania

  • Zimmerman Note

Key Terms:

  • Selective Service – Draft

  • CPI – Propaganda

  • WIB – Controls industry

  • Espionage/Sedition Acts – Limits speech

  • Great Migration – African Americans move North

  • Armistice – Ceasefire

  • Fourteen Points / League of Nations – Wilson’s peace plan

  • Reparations – Germany pays

Why Senate rejected Treaty: Wanted isolationism.

1920s

Themes: Business boom, consumer goods, fear of radicals.

Key Terms:

  • Consumer revolution – New goods + credit

  • Prohibition – 18th Amendment

  • Volstead Act – Enforced it

  • 21st Amendment – Repealed it

  • Red Scare – Fear of communism

  • Ohio Gang – Harding scandals

  • Kellogg‑Briand Pact – Outlawed war

  • Dawes Plan – Helped Germany pay reparations

Harding/Coolidge: Pro‑business, less gov regulation.

Great Depression & New Deal

Key Terms:

  • Black Tuesday – Crash

  • Hoovervilles – Shantytowns

  • Localism / Volunteerism – Hoover’s approach

  • Dust Bowl – Drought + storms

  • New Deal – FDR’s programs (relief, recovery, reform)

  • Court‑packing – Add justices

What ended Depression: WWII production.

World War II

Dictators: Stalin (USSR), Mussolini (Italy), Hitler (Germany), Tojo (Japan), Franco (Spain)

Key Terms:

  • Totalitarianism – Dictator controls everything

  • Appeasement – Giving in

  • Anschluss – Germany takes Austria

  • Munich Pact – Gave Hitler Sudetenland

  • Blitzkrieg – Lightning war

  • Axis – Germany, Italy, Japan

  • Allies – U.S., Britain, USSR

  • Cash & Carry / Lend‑Lease – U.S. helps Allies

  • Pearl Harbor – Japan attacks U.S.

  • Bataan Death March – Brutal POW march

  • Coral Sea – Stops Japan’s advance