Modern World History 2026 FEX Review Flashcards

Exam Format and Global Overview

Total Content: Approximately $50$ questions in total.
Maps, Charts, Graphs, Political Cartoons, and Documents: Approximately $25$ questions focus on interpreting visual and primary source evidence.
Chronology: $5$ questions dedicated to the sequence of historical events.
Historical Geography: $10$ questions regarding the location and spatial context of historical developments.

Comparative Systems of Government and Economics

Communism: A social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of a communist society, which is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state.
Socialism: A range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of production and democratic control or worker self-management of enterprises.
Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Key features include private property, capital accumulation, and competitive markets.
Democracy: A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.
Fascism: A far-right, authoritarian ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.
Totalitarianism: A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state, exercising total control over both public and private life.

Origins and Key Figures of World War II

Adolf Hitler: The leader of the Nazi Party and Führer of Germany who initiated World War II in Europe.
Mein Kampf: An autobiographical manifesto written by Adolf Hitler while in prison, detailing his political ideology and future plans for Germany.
Benito Mussolini: The Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party, ruling as the Prime Minister of Italy from $1922$ to $1943$ .
Mao Zedong: The Chinese communist revolutionary who became the founding father of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
Neville Chamberlain and "Peace in our time": A statement made by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in $1938$ following the Munich Agreement, which he believed had averted a war with Nazi Germany.
Appeasement Policy: The diplomatic policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid a threatened conflict. Chamberlain's strategy toward Hitler is the primary historical example.
Hitler-Stalin Pact: Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ( $1939$ ), this was a non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which included secret protocols to divide Poland and the Baltic states.
Invasion of Poland: Commencing on September $1$ , $1939$ , this action by Germany served as the immediate trigger for the start of World War II in Europe.
Failure of the League of Nations: The international organization's inability to prevent aggression by major powers (such as Italy in Ethiopia and Japan in Manchuria) led to its ultimate collapse as a peacekeeping body.
Japanese Imperialism: Driven by a need for raw materials and a desire for regional dominance, Japan's expansionist policies in Asia and the Pacific directly led to its involvement in World War II and conflict with the United States.
Kamikaze: Meaning "divine wind," these were Japanese suicide pilots who crashed their planes into Allied ships during the later stages of the war.

Military Tactics and Total War

Blitzkrieg: Meaning "lightning war," this was a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile, concentrated force and locally concentrated firepower.
Lend-Lease Program: A policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, Free France, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel between $1941$ and $1945$ .
D-Day: June $6$ , $1944$ , the day on which Allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in history on the beaches of Normandy, France, opening the Western Front.
Lebensraum: Meaning "living space," it was a core ideological tenet of the Nazi Party, advocating for the expansion of German territory to the east to provide resources and space for the "Aryan" race.

The Holocaust and Nazi Crimes

Final Solution: The Nazi plan for the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II.
Groups Targeted by the Nazis: While Jews were the primary target, other groups included Romani people, individuals with disabilities, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, political dissidents, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.
Nuremberg Trials: A series of military tribunals held after World War II to prosecute prominent members of the political, military, judicial, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

War's End and Post-War Conferences

Yalta Conference (February $1945$ ): A meeting between the "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill) to discuss the post-war reorganization of Germany and Europe. Results included the plan to divide Germany into occupation zones and the Soviet promise to join the war against Japan.
Potsdam Conference (July $1945$ ): A meeting between Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (later Attlee) to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. It established the Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Control Council for the administration of Germany.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The two Japanese cities destroyed by American atomic bombs in August $1945$ , leading to Japan's unconditional surrender.
Casualties: The Soviet Union (USSR) is recognized as the country that lost the most men and suffered the highest overall losses during World War II.

The Cold War: Ideology and Structure

Definition: A period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, lasting from approximately $1947$ to $1991$ .
Ideologies: Capitalism and Democracy (led by the US) versus Communism and Totalitarianism (led by the USSR).
Weapons of the Cold War: While direct military conflict between the superpowers was avoided, the war was fought through proxy wars, propaganda, espionage, the arms race, and the space race.
Iron Curtain: A term coined by Winston Churchill in $1946$ to describe the physical and ideological division between Western Europe and the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc.
Berlin Wall: A guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from $1961$ to $1989$ , symbolizing the Iron Curtain.
United Nations (UN): An international organization founded in $1945$ to promote international cooperation and maintain peace and security.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): A military alliance formed in $1949$ by Western nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
Warsaw Pact: A collective defense treaty signed in $1955$ among the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe as a balance of power to NATO.

Cold War Conflicts and Shifts

Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift: Following the Soviet blockade of West Berlin's land access, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin by air.
Truman Doctrine: An American foreign policy established by President Harry S. Truman, stating that the US would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian (communist) forces.
Marshall Plan: Officially the European Recovery Program, this was an American initiative to provide economic aid to rebuild Western European economies after World War II.
Arms Race: A competition between the US and USSR for supremacy in nuclear warfare and military technology.
Sputnik I: The first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in $1957$ , which triggered the Space Race.
Cuban Missile Crisis: A $13$ -day confrontation in $1962$ between the US and the USSR over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba; it is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
Korean War: * Who: North Korean (supported by China/USSR) vs. South Korea (supported by UN forces/US). * What: A conflict resulting from the division of Korea after WWII. * When: $1950 - 1953$ . * Where: Korean Peninsula. * Results: An armistice was signed, establishing the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) at the $38^{\text{th}}$ parallel; the war technically never ended in a peace treaty.
Vietnam War: * Who: North Vietnam (Communist) vs. South Vietnam (supported by the US). * What: A resistance war against the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. * Where: Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. * Results: US withdrawal and the eventual fall of Saigon, leading to the unification of Vietnam under a communist government.
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A failed military invasion of Cuba in $1961$ undertaken by a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-sponsored paramilitary group of Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro's government.
Communist Leaders of Cuba: The last two major long-term leaders were Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro.

Post-Colonialism and Regional Conflicts

Apartheid: A system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination that existed in South Africa from $1948$ until the early $1990$ s.
Nelson Mandela: A South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader who served as the first black president of South Africa after spending $27$ years in prison.
Genocide: The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.
Rwandan Genocide: * Groups: Hutu (majority/perpetrators) and Tutsi (minority/targets). * Conflict: A mass slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in $1994$ . * Results: Approximately $800,000$ deaths in $100$ days, massive displacement, and profound social/economic collapse.
Cambodian Genocide (Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot): A period from $1975$ to $1979$ during which the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot attempted to create an agrarian socialist society, resulting in the deaths of approximately $1.5$ to $2$ million people.
Tiananmen Square: A series of student-led demonstrations in Beijing in $1989$ calling for democracy and political reform, which ended in a violent military crackdown.

The Partition of India

World's Largest Democracy: India.
Partition of India: The process of dividing British India in $1947$ into the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan (which later split into Pakistan and East Pakistan/Bangladesh).
Muslim League: A political party established in British India that advocated for the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation (Pakistan).
Jawaharlal Nehru: The first Prime Minister of independent India and a central figure in Indian politics.
Muhammed Ali Jinnah: The founder of Pakistan and leader of the Muslim League.
Mahatma Gandhi: An Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead India's successful campaign for independence from British rule.

Critical Chronology (Official Dates)

World War II: $1939 - 1945$
Cold War: approximately $1947 - 1991$
Korean War: $1950 - 1953$
Vietnam War: Approximately $1955 - 1975$ (Significant US involvement $1964 - 1973$ )
Rwandan Genocide: $1994$
Cambodian Genocide: $1975 - 1979$

Historical Geography Reference

Example Clue: "This country was led by the Nazis in WWII."
Identified Location: Germany.