Final Flashcards
Anti-Semitism
Prejudice against Jews, Jews was an inferior race and were responsible for problems of modern society.
Berlin airlift
Efforts by the US to fly in millions of tons of food and heating fuel to over two million isolated residents.
Berlin Wall
A 28 mile wall built by the soviet union in 1961 along the border of East and West berlin to prevent east Germans from leaving for the west. Soon replaced by a concrete wall with barbed wire.
The Big Three
leaders of the 3 major allied nations during WWII. The US president Roosevelt, British PM Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin.
Chernobyl
The worst accident in nuclear power plant history, over 8000 deaths.
Christian Democrats
Powerful center to center-right political parties that evolved in the late 1940s in Europe from former catholic parties of the pre-WWII period.
Cold War
The rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union following WWII that led to massive growth in nuclear weapons on both sides.
Concentration Camps
Internment centers for people imprisoned for their ethnicity or their political beliefs or actions rather for specific criminal offenses.
Council of Mutual Economic Assistance:
An organization established by the Soviet Union in 1949 to coordinate economic development and relations between the Soviet Union and its satellite nations.
Cuban Missile Crisis:
The cold war confrontation in 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over USSR installation of medium-range missiles in Cuba, just off the US coast.
Decolonization:
The process both violent and peaceful by which colonies gained their independence from the imperial powers, primarily after WWII.
Détente
From the French for “loosening or relaxing” an easing of tensions between rivals.
European Economic Community
A consortium of 6 European established to promote free trade and economic cooperation among its members.
European Union
A unified association of European countries formed in 1994 to end national distinctions in sphere of business activity, border controls, and transportation.
Battle of Britain:
1940 air assault on Britain by Nazi Germany during WWII, also known as Blitz.
Fascism
A doctrine advocated and named by Italian leader Benito Mussolini in 1922 that glorified the state over individual or civil rights.
Genocide:
Deliberate abolition of a group of people because of their race, religion or nationality often by the government. Slaughter of Tutsis in Rwanda.
Glasnost
Russian for openness or publicity. A policy instituted calling for greater openness in speech and in thinking. Reduction of censorship in publishing, radio, television and other media.
Guernica
A town in Spain that was bombed by German planes during the Spanish civil war. The 1st significant use of airplanes as bombers.
Kristallnacht:
: German for crystal night, the evening when Nazis staged a concerted attack on Jews and their property in Germany.
Lebensraum
German for living space a belief that emerged in the early 20th century that held that Germany needed space for the expansion of its peoples and culture.
Masstricht treaty
The agreement among the members of the European community to establish a closer alliance that would ideally prove economically beneficial including the use of common passports and the development of common currency.
Marshall Plan
A post-WWII loan program funded by the US to get Europe back on its feet economically. Reduce the appeal and threat of communism.
Nazi-Soviet pact
An agreement reached by Germany and the soviet union in which both agreed not to attack the other in case of war. Fell apart when Hitler invaded Russia.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
A security alliance formed in 1949 to provide a unified military force in the US, Canada and their allies in Western Europe and Scandinavia; Corresponds to Warsaw Pact.
Nuremberg
A city in Germany that was heavily bombed in WWII. Remaining Nazi leaders was put on trial for crimes against humanity.
Nuremberg Law
A Legislation that deprived Jewish Germans of their citizenship and imposed many other hardships on the; Forbidding marriage between Jews and no-Jews.
Ethnic cleansing
The mass murder genocide of people of different ethnicities during the wars that developed when states declared themselves independent from Yugoslavia. Any attempts at genocide.
Appeasement:
The strategy of preventing war by making concessions for seemingly legitimate grievances.
Anschluss:
German for union; the desire for the unification of German speaking lands of Austria and Germany. Took place in 1938
Appeasement
The strategy of preventing war by making concessions for seemingly legitimate grievances.
Battle of Stalingrad
1942 assault on the Russian city of Stalingrad by German forces during WWII. Seen as an opportunity by Germany to gain soviet oil.
Blitzkrieg
German for lighting war. A strategy for the conduct of war in which motorized firepower quickly and overwhelmingly attacks the enemy.
Pan Africanism
A movement beginning in the early twentieth century that sought both African unity and the removal of colonial powers from the African continent.
Perestroika
Russian for restructuring; an economic policy instituted in the 1980s that called for the introduction of market mechanisms and the achievement of greater efficiency in manufacturing.
Purges
The series of attacks instituted by Russian leader Stalin on citizens of the Soviet Union in the 1930s, a way of solidifying his power. Victims were accused of being wreckers of communism
Solidarity
Outlawed polish labor union of the 1980s that contested communist party programs.
Spanish Civil War
Control of the Spanish government that enveloped Spain for 3 yrs. Fought between the nationalist right and the popular front; Testing ground for new weapons.
Spheres of Influence
Sections of foreign countries in which European imperial powers sought to either establish a colony or economic and political monopoly, possibly without seeking political control.
Sputnik
Caught the US government and public off guard and led to increased funding for US space endeavors.
Suez Canal
A 100 mile canal in Egypt connecting the red sea and the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea; Designed by the French.
Thatcherism
Policies used to stimulate the economy and to cut income taxes on wealthy. These were designed to stimulate the growth from the top, then to the rest of society.
United Nations
An organization for collective security and deliberately set up as WWII closed. The mission includes developing friendly relations between countries and solving conflicts through operations. Headquarters located in NY.
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite communist nations set up as a counter to NATO. It ceased to exist in 1991 after the collapse of communism in the Soviet and Eastern Europe.
Weimar Republic
Parliamentary republic established in Germany to replace its previous imperial form of government. The republic helped Germany become a center for experimentation in the arts, even while it remained on politically unstable ground.
Welfare State
A system comprising state sponsored programs for citizens. It intervened in society to bring economic equality by setting a minimum standard of well being.
