World War I & Its Aftermath
In World War I, the nations of Great Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and others that fought against the Central Powers; in World War II, the group of nations including Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, that fought against the Axis Powers.
Allied Powers
Totalitarianism
Form of government that severely limits individual freedoms by exercising an extremely high degree of control over public and private life and seeks to subordinate all aspects of individual life to the authority of the state.
Great Depression
The severe worldwide economic downturn that began in the late 1920s and continued throughout the late 1930s throughout many regions in the world
A conflict in which the participating countries devote all their resources to the war effort.
Total War
Nationalism
Loyalty and devotion to a nation with a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations.
Kuomintang
(or Guomindang) China’s Nationalist political party founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 and based on democratic principles; in 1925, the party was taken over by Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), who made it into a more authoritarian party.
- In World War I, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and other nations who fought against the Allies.
Central Powers
A political movement that is characterized by extreme nationalism, one-party rule, and the denial of individual rights
Fascism
U.S. President Roosevelt’s program to relieve the economic problems of the Great Depression; it increased government involvement in the society of the United States
New Deal
Marshall Plan
A U.S. plan to support the recovery and reconstruction of Western Europe after World War II.
Afrikaners
South Africans who were descendants of the Dutch who settled in South Africa in the seventeenth century.
Manchukuo
Puppet state created in 1932 by Japan out of the three historic provinces of Manchuria (northeastern China).
League of Nations
International organization founded after World War I to promote peace and cooperation among nations
Propaganda
Information or material spread to advance a cause or to damage an opponent’s cause.
New Economic Plan/Policy
(NEP) Lenin’s policy that allowed some private ownership and limited foreign investment to revitalize the Soviet economy. Affluent peasants called “kulaks” benefited greatly from the NEP.
Tehran Conference
- A 1943 meeting of leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union; it agreed on the opening of a second front in France.
Apartheid
The South African policy of separation of the races.
May Fourth Movement
A 1919 protest in China against the Treaty of Versailles and foreign influence.
Reparations
The payment of war debts by the losing side
Purges
Joseph Stalin’s policy of exiling or killing millions of his opponents in the Soviet Union.
Weimar Republic
- The government established in Germany in 1919 and ending in 1933
Yalta Conference
A meeting of the leaders of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States in 1945; the Soviet Union agreed to enter the war against Japan in exchange for influence in the Eastern European states. The Yalta Conference also made plans for the establishment of a new international organization.
British Commonwealth
A political community consisting of the United Kingdom, its dependencies, and former colonies of Great Britain that are now sovereign nations; currently called the Commonwealth of Nations.
Twenty-One Demands
Instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug. 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German leasehold in Shandong prov., China. Disregarding the Chinese request to withdraw, Japan secretly presented (1915) President Yüan Shih-kai with an ultimatum comprising 21 demands divided into five sections
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The 1918 treaty ending World War I between Germany and Russia.
Plans for industrial production first introduced to the Soviet Union in 1928 by Stalin; they succeeded in making the Soviet Union a major industrial power by the end of the 1930s.
Five Year Plans
Appeasement
Policy of Great Britain and France of making concessions to Hitler in the 1930s.
Potsdam Conference
A 1945 meeting of the leaders of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union in which it was agreed that the Soviet Union would be given control of Eastern Europe and that Germany would be divided into zones of occupation
Government of India Act
The last pre-independence constitution of the British Raj. It granted Indian provinces autonomy with direct elections being introduced for the first time. The right to vote increased from seven million to thirty-five million.
Armenian Genocide
The forced deportation and extermination of Armenians, a Christian minority, in the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions from 1915-1923. Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians died, with many more forcibly removed from the country.
Mandate
A type of colony in which the government is overseen by another nation, as in the Middle Eastern mandates placed under European control after World War I.
Collectivization
The combination of several small farms into a large government-controlled farm. As a result of collectivization in the Soviet Union the “kulaks” (affluent peasant farmers) were targeted and eliminated by the Soviet government
Spanish Civil War
A conflict from 1936 to 1939 that resulted in the installation of fascist dictator Francisco Franco as ruler of Spain; Franco’s forces were backed by Germany and Italy, whereas the Soviet Union supported the opposing republican forces
The deadliest pandemic in modern history; it infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.
1918 Influenza Epidemic
Muslim League
Founded in 1906 to better support demands of Muslims for separate electorates and legislative seats in Hindu-dominated India; represented division within Indian nationalist movement.
Revolution of 1905
Strikes by urban workers and peasants in Russia prompted by shortages of food and by Russia’s loss to Japan in 1905