Key Terms: The "Second Thirty Years' War": World Wars I and II Flashcards
Fourteen Points
President Woodrow Wilson’s idealistic peace aims. Stressed national self-determination, rights of small countries, freedom of the seas, and free trade.
Bolsheviks
Party of revolutionary Marxists, led by Vladimir Lenin, who seized power in Russia in 1917.
New Economic Policy
Program initiated by Lenin to stimulate economic recovery of the Soviet Union in early 1920s. The New Economic Policy utilized a limited revival of capitalism in light industry and agriculture.
Existentialism
Philosophy that God, reason, and progress are myths. Humans must accept responsibility for actions. Causes overwhelming sense of dread and anguish. Reflects sense of isolation and alienation in 20th century.
Relativity
Scientific Theory associated with Einstein. Holds that time and space do not exist separately. They are a combined continuum whose measurement depends as much on the observer as on the entities being measured.
Totalitarianism
Political system where the government has total control over the citizens.
Fascism
Political system that combines an authoritarian government with a corporate economy. Glorify leaders, appeal to nationalism, control the media, and repress individual liberties.
Kulaks
Prosperous landowning peasants in czarist Russia. Stalin accused them of being enemies of the peasants. Stalin executed them and expropriated their land to form collective farms.
Keynesian Economics
Economic theory based on ideas of 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes. Governments can spend their economies out of a depression by using deficit-spending to encourage employment and stimulate economic growth.
Appeasement
Policy of making concessions to an aggressor in the hopes of avoiding wars. Associated with Neville Chamberlain’s policy of making concessions to Adolf Hitler.
