Chapter 29 - Collapse of the Old Order 1929-1949 Flashcards
Joseph Stalin
Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communist Party after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush all opposition.
Five- Year Plans
Plans that Joseph Stalin introduced to industrialization the Soviet Union rapidly, beginning in 1928. They set goals for the output of steel, electricity, machinery, and most other products and were enforced by the police powers of the state. They succeeded in making the Soviet Union a major industrial power before WWI.
Gulags
Labor camps people were sent to without trial.
Benito Mussolini
Fascist dictator of Italy. He led Italy to conquer Ethiopia, joined Germany in the Axis pact, and allied Italy with Germany in WWII. He was overthrown in 1943.
Fascist Party
Italian political party created by Benito Mussolini during WWI. It emphasized aggressive nationalism and was Mussolini’s instrument for the creation of a dictatorship in Italy from 1922-1942.
Adolf Hitler
Bron in Austria, Hitler became a radical German nationalist during WWI. He led the National Socialist German Workers’ Party–the Nazis–in the 1920s and became dictator of Germany n 1933. He led Europe into WWII.
Nazis
(actual name: National Socialist German Worker’s Party) German political party led by Adolf Hitler that emphasized nationalism, racism, and war. Was an instrument of Hitler’s absolute rule.
Appeasement
The weakness of the democracies
Chiang Kai-shek
Chinese military and political leader, Succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang in 1925. Fought against the Chinese Communists and Japanese invaders.
Mao Zedong
Leader of the Chinese Communist party. He led the Communists on the Long March and rebuilt the Communist Party and Red Army during the Japanese occupation of China. After WWII, he led the communists to victory over the Guomindang. Ordered Cultural Revolution in 1966.
Long March
The 6000mi. flight of Chinese Communists from southeastern to northwestern China. THe Communists, led by Mao Zedong, were pursued by the Chinese army under orders from Chiang Kai-shek.
Blitzkrieg
A flight tactic: fighter planes scattered enemy troops and disrupted communications, tanks punctured the enemy’s defenses, and then with the help of the infantry, they encircled and captured enemy troops.
Stalingrad
City in Russia, site of a Red Army victory over the German army in 1942-1943. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. Today Volgograd.
El Alamein
Town in Egypt, site of the victory of Britain’s Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery over German forces led by General Erwin Rommel in 1942-1943.
Pearl Harbor
Naval base in Hawaii attacked by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941. The sinking of much of the US Pacific Fleet brought the United States into WWII.