Period 4 Vocabulary Review

Vocabulary Study Guide for Period 4

Self-Determination

  • Definition: Belief popular in WW1 and after that every people should have the right to determine their own political destiny.
  • Significance: Often cited but ignored by the Great Powers, sparked various wars.

Central Powers

  • Definition: Term for the alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire during WW1.
  • Significance: Declared war on Serbia, which sparked the war of 1914.

Triple Entente

  • Definition: Pre-WW1 alliance of England, France, and Russia.
  • Significance: Backed Serbia after Austria-Hungary declared war on it.

Schlieffen Plan

  • Definition: Germany's strategic plan at the beginning of the war to rapidly defeat France and then attack Russia.
  • Significance: It was a failed plan leading to prolonged warfare.

Trench Warfare

  • Definition: A form of warfare where opposing armies fight from trenches dug into the battlefield.
  • Significance: Allowed soldiers some protection from the enemy but also hindered troops from advancing.

Armenian Genocide

  • Definition: Campaign of extermination undertaken by the Ottomans against 2 million Armenians living in Ottoman territory during WW1.
  • Significance: Allowed Turkey to become a more homogenous state.

Balfour Declaration

  • Definition: British declaration from 1917 that supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
  • Significance: The English never carried through with the promise.

Vladimir Lenin

  • Definition: Leader of the Bolshevik party who returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland in 1917.
  • Significance: Led the revolt against the tsars, influencing Soviet history.

Fourteen Points

  • Definition: The plan presented by Woodrow Wilson to establish long-lasting peace at the end of WW1.
  • Significance: Served as the guidelines for rebuilding the postwar world.

Ataturk

  • Definition: Mustafa Kemal, known as the "Father of the Turks"; a Turkish army officer, reformer, and the first president of the Republic of Turkey after WW1.
  • Significance: Unified Turkey into a modern nation-state.

League of Nations

  • Definition: Forerunner of the United Nations; initiated by American president Woodrow Wilson.
  • Significance: Attempted to improve global welfare by settling disputes between countries but was limited by the refusal of the US to join.

Mandate System

  • Definition: System that developed post-WW1 when former colonies became mandates under European control.
  • Significance: Seen as a thinly veiled attempt at continuing imperialism.

Great Depression

  • Definition: An international economic crisis that began with the collapse of the stock market in 1929, following WW1.
  • Significance: The worst economic downturn in US history.

New Deal

  • Definition: The US response to the Great Depression, spearheaded by Franklin Roosevelt.
  • Significance: Implemented experimental reforms and public projects aimed at reducing unemployment.

New Economic Policy

  • Definition: Plan implemented by Lenin that included minor free-market reforms.
  • Significance: Represented a shift towards a more market-oriented economic policy.

Joseph Stalin

  • Definition: Bolshevik revolutionary who became the head of the Soviet Communists after 1924 and dictatorial leader of the Soviet Union from 1928-1953.
  • Significance: Led the Soviet Union with an iron fist.

Fascism

  • Definition: A political ideology aiming to regenerate social, political, and cultural life, often in contrast to liberal democracy and socialism.
  • Significance: Rose in prominence throughout Europe between 1919 and 1945.

Benito Mussolini

  • Definition: The Italian fascist leader after WW1.
  • Significance: Created the first fascist government based on aggressive foreign policies and new nationalist policies.

Adolf Hitler

  • Definition: Leader of the National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi Party) in the 1920s and became dictator of Germany in 1933.
  • Significance: Led Europe into WW2, instigating major conflicts.

Anti-Semitism

  • Definition: A term coined in the late 19th century related to prejudice against Jews, including various political, social, and economic actions taken against them.
  • Significance: Contributed to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Indian National Congress

  • Definition: A movement and political party founded in 1885 to advocate for greater Indian participation in government.
  • Significance: Principal leader of the Indian independence movement.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

  • Definition: A Muslim nationalist in India, originally a member of the National Congress, who became the leader of the Muslim League.
  • Significance: Facilitated Muslim support for the British during WW2 in exchange for assurances of a separate Muslim state; first president of Pakistan.

Sun Yat-sen

  • Definition: Head of the revolutionary alliance that led the 1911 revolt against the Qing dynasty in China.
  • Significance: Named the first president of China in 1911.

May Fourth Movement

  • Definition: A Chinese movement beginning May 4, 1919 aimed at eliminating imperialist influences.
  • Significance: Promoted national unity and cultural pride.

Mao Zedong

  • Definition: Became the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and later the founding leader of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
  • Significance: Advocated for the Chinese peasantry and established a communist regime.

Chiang Kai-shek

  • Definition: A military officer who succeeded Sun Yat-sen as the leader of the Nationalist party in China.
  • Significance: Emerged as the most powerful leader in China during the early 1930s.

Long March

  • Definition: The 6,000-mile trek of the Chinese Communists to relocate the revolutionary base from southeast to northwest China.
  • Significance: Resulted in Mao Zedong emerging as the undisputed leader of the Communist Party.

Jomo Kenyatta

  • Definition: Leader of the nonviolent nationalist party in Kenya.
  • Significance: Organized the Kenya African Union to advocate for Kenyan rights.

Pan-Africanism

  • Definition: An organization that brought together intellectuals and political leaders from Africa and the African diaspora.
  • Significance: Aimed to unify all African peoples and cultures.

Fidel Castro

  • Definition: Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
  • Significance: Established a Communist state and served as prime minister of Cuba from 1959-1976.

Dollar Diplomacy

  • Definition: A diplomatic strategy by the United States to enhance its aims in Latin America and East Asia through economic leverage by guaranteeing loans to foreign countries.
  • Significance: Aimed to minimize military intervention and threats.

United Fruit Company

  • Definition: An American fruit company that wielded significant power over small Central American countries.
  • Significance: An embodiment of American imperialism and intervention in Latin America.

Axis Powers

  • Definition: The alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during WW2.
  • Significance: Fought against the Allied Powers during the global conflict.

Allied Powers

  • Definition: The alliance comprising Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States during WW2.
  • Significance: Opposed the Axis Powers and played a critical role in defeating them.

Rape of Nanjing

  • Definition: The Japanese conquest and destruction of the Chinese city of Nanjing in the 1930s.
  • Significance: Resulted in the deaths of approximately 150,000 war prisoners, 50,000 male civilians, and the brutal rape of 20,000 women and girls.

Munich Conference

  • Definition: A 1938 meeting between Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and France that agreed to German territorial expansion into Czechoslovakia.
  • Significance: A key moment in the policy of appeasement leading Hitler to believe he had free rein in Europe.

Dresden Bombings

  • Definition: British firebombing of the German city of Dresden from February 13-15, 1945.
  • Significance: Led to approximately 200,000 deaths in a single night, raising questions about the morality of such extensive bombing.

Hiroshima

  • Definition: The first city in Japan to be destroyed by an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
  • Significance: Helped hasten the end of WW2 and marked the introduction of nuclear warfare.

Final Solution

  • Definition: The Nazi plan for the mass murder of all Jews in Europe.
  • Significance: Brought an end to earlier policies aimed at encouraging or forcing Jews to emigrate from Germany and other parts of Europe.

Marshall Plan

  • Definition: Officially known as the European Recovery Program, it was a US initiative offering financial and economic aid to European states after WW2, including those in the Soviet bloc.
  • Significance: Aimed at stimulating economic recovery in war-torn Europe and preventing the spread of communism.

United Nations

  • Definition: The successor to the League of Nations, formed as an organization of sovereign nations seeking to address global issues.
  • Significance: Aims to maintain international peace, security, and promote social progress among nations.

NATO

  • Definition: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, established by the United States in 1949 as a military alliance against Soviet expansion.
  • Significance: Marked the first peacetime military alliance the United States engaged in outside of the western hemisphere.

Warsaw Pact

  • Definition: A military alliance formed by Soviet bloc nations in 1955 in response to the rearmament of West Germany and its inclusion in NATO.
  • Significance: Reinforced Communist dominance in Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

Nonaligned Movement

  • Definition: A movement by leaders of former colonial states to assert independence from both Soviet and US influence, initiated in 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia.
  • Significance: Encouraged cooperation among nations rather than competition during the Cold War.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

  • Definition: Egyptian colonel and statesman who deposed King Farouk in 1952 and President Muhammad Neguib in 1954.
  • Significance: Nationalized the Suez Canal, leading to military conflict with Britain, France, and Israel.

Pan-Arabism

  • Definition: A movement advocating for unification among the peoples and nations of the Arab world.
  • Significance: Asserts that Arabs constitute a singular nation with a common identity.

Perestroika

  • Definition: Meaning "restructuring"; a Russian term associated with Gorbachev’s efforts to reorganize the Soviet state.
  • Significance: Led to significant political, social, and economic tensions, resulting in shortages within the Soviet Union.

Great Leap Forward

  • Definition: A five-year plan initiated by the Chinese Communist Party in 1958, aimed at collectivizing agriculture and rapidly industrializing the rural economy.
  • Significance: Intended to transform China from an agrarian society into a modern socialist state urgently.

Green Revolution

  • Definition: A series of agricultural innovations from the late 1940s to the 1960s that dramatically increased food production.
  • Significance: Introduced high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, significantly impacting food security.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

  • Definition: A document that outlines a global framework for freedom and equality, protecting the rights of every individual.
  • Significance: Establishes that human rights are universal and should be enjoyed by all people, regardless of their background or circumstances.