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Key Terms and Topics for Exam 

Boom and Bust

Key Terms and Definitions

1. Economic Boom
A period of rapid economic growth, increased production, and rising prosperity. In the 1920s, the USA experienced an economic boom due to industrial growth, technological innovation, and increased consumer spending.


2. Mass Production
The manufacture of large quantities of standardized products, often using assembly lines. Henry Ford famously used mass production to make cars more affordable.


3. Assembly Line
A production process where a product moves along a conveyor belt, and each worker performs a specific task. This made production faster and cheaper.


4. Consumer Society
A society in which buying and using goods and services is a major part of people’s lives. The 1920s saw the rise of consumerism in the USA.


5. The Roaring Twenties
A nickname for the 1920s, highlighting the decade’s social, cultural, and economic dynamism, especially in the USA.


6. Jazz Age
A term describing the 1920s, when jazz music and new cultural trends became popular, symbolizing freedom and change.


7. Flappers
Young women in the 1920s who challenged traditional norms by wearing new fashions, cutting their hair short, and behaving more independently.


8. Prohibition
A period (1920–1933) in the USA when the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol was illegal. It led to the rise of illegal bars (speakeasies) and organized crime.


9. Bootleggers
People who illegally made, transported, or sold alcohol during Prohibition.


10. Speakeasies
Secret, illegal bars that operated during Prohibition.

11. Gangsters
Criminals involved in organized crime, especially those who profited from Prohibition (e.g., Al Capone).


12. Wall Street Crash (1929)
A major stock market crash in October 1929 that marked the beginning of the Great Depression.


13. The Great Depression
A severe worldwide economic downturn during the 1930s, following the Wall Street Crash. It led to mass unemployment, poverty, and social hardship.


14. Disposable Income
Money left over after taxes and essential expenses, which people can spend on leisure and luxury items.


15. Stock Market
A place where shares of companies are bought and sold. The US stock market is located on Wall Street, New York.


16. Shares/Stocks
Units of ownership in a company. Their value can rise or fall, and they are traded on the stock market.


17. Temperance Movement
A social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages, which led to Prohibition in the USA.

Key Topics to Study

  1. Causes of the Economic Boom in the 1920s

    • Industrial growth and new technologies

    • Impact of World War I on the US economy

    • Rise of consumerism and advertising

  2. Social and Cultural Changes in the 1920s

    • The Jazz Age and popular culture

    • Changing roles and rights of women (e.g., flappers, voting rights)

    • Growth of cities and suburbia

  3. Prohibition and its Impact

    • Reasons for introducing Prohibition

    • Effects on society: crime, corruption, and organized crime

    • Reasons for its failure and repeal

  4. The Boom and Bust Cycle

    • What caused the Wall Street Crash?

    • How did the crash lead to the Great Depression?

    • Effects of the Great Depression on people’s lives (unemployment, poverty)

  5. Entertainment and Leisure in the 1920s

    • Growth of radio, film, and sports

    • The influence of Hollywood

  6. Technological and Industrial Developments

    • Mass production and the assembly line

    • Rise of the automobile and its effects






































War in the Pacific



Key Terms and Definitions: War in the Pacific


1. Pacific War

The theater of World War II fought between the Allies (primarily the United States, Australia, and Britain) and Japan across the Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands from 1941 to 1945.


2. Pearl Harbor

A major U.S. naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, resulting in heavy American losses and prompting the United States to enter World War II.


3. Singapore

A key British stronghold in Southeast Asia that fell to Japanese forces on February 15, 1942, marking one of the most significant Allied defeats and leading to the capture of thousands of Allied troops.



4. Prisoners of War (POWs)

Allied soldiers captured by Japanese forces, notably after the fall of Singapore and in the Philippines. Many POWs suffered harsh conditions, forced labor, and high death rates, such as during the Bataan Death March.


5. Kokoda 

Kokoda refers to a key World War II campaign in 1942 where Australian and Papuan forces fought Japanese troops along the rugged Kokoda Track in Papua. This battle was crucial in stopping the Japanese advance toward Australia and marked a significant turning point in the Pacific War.


Key Topics to Study


  • Japanese Expansionism

  • Reasoning

  • Response from other powers


  • American Isolationism

  • Political hesitancies

  • Potential reasons for shift


  • Attack on Pearl Harbor

  • Causes and consequences of the attack


Fall of Singapore

-Importance of Singapore to the Allies

-Reasons for its rapid fall and impact on Allied morale

-Fate of captured Allied troops


Australia’s Role and Experience


- Threats to Australia (bombing of Darwin, submarine attacks)

- Australia as a base for Allied operations

- Australian military campaigns in New Guinea (Kokoda)


Prisoners of War (POWs)


-Capture and treatment of Allied POWs by Japan

-Conditions in POW camps (e.g., Changi, Burma-Thailand Railway)