Russia, Italy & Japan - Terms

Question 1

Liberal Democracy

Answer 1

A form of democratic government where liberal freedoms - meaning freedom of religion, freedom of the press and free enterprise - are valued and protected

Question 2

Representative Government

Answer 2

Government run by elected officials

Question 3

Cold War

Answer 3

A state of geopolitical tension that arose after the Second World War between powers in the Communist nations of the Eastern Bloc and capitalist-democratic powers in the West

Question 4

Great Depression

Answer 4

A period of severe economic downturn that began in the United State and quickly spread around the world during the 1930s & 40s

Question 5

Socialism

Answer 5

Belief in a society where wealth is shared through public ownership instead of private ownership of property

Question 6

Tsarist

Answer 6

Relating to the monarchial government of Russia

Question 7

Government Camps

Answer 7

Camps set up to house political prisoners who were thought to be a threat to Tsarist Russia, often in remote regions

Question 8

Elite

Answer 8

A small, select group of leaders in their field

Question 9

Provisional

Answer 9

Temporary, subject to change

Question 10

Autocrat

Answer 10

A ruler who has absolute power

Question 11

Collectivisation

Answer 11

The Stalinist plan to bring all farmland under collective communist government control

Question 12

Stalinism

Answer 12

The authoritarian dictatorship established by Joseph Stalin in Russia; also describes any harsh & repressive form of government

Question 13

Cult of Personality

Answer 13

A term that became associated with the political leadership in a number of regimes where faith in the greatness and wisdom of the leader was the key to holding power

Question 14

Gulag

Answer 14

An acronym for the agency in charge of the Soviet labour camps; the term has come to also refer to the camps themselves

Question 15

Purge

Answer 15

To remove opponents or potential opponents by force

Question 16

Central Committee of the Communist Party

Answer 16

The high-level governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, from which the Inner Politburo drew its members

Question 17

Capitalism

Answer 17

An economic system in which businesses and industry are run for profit by private owners, with minimal government involvement; this ideology was characteristic of Western economies

Question 18

Executive Power

Answer 18

Power that rests with a small group

Question 19

Meiji Restoration

Answer 19

The return of imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji; part of the modernisation of Japan

Question 20

Factionalism

Answer 20

Arguments/disputes between two or more small groups within a larger party or organisation

Question 21

Oligarchy

Answer 21

A small group of people having control of a country

Question 22

Bureaucracy

Answer 22

Any group of administrators; they can be part of the government or the administration of any large organisation

Question 23

Vilify

Answer 23

A propaganda technique where an opponent is presented as a complete villain and figure of evil

Question 24

Comintern

Answer 24

an international agency set up by the Russians in 1919 to coordinate the activities of the Communist parties throughout the world; otherwise known as the ‘Third International’

Question 25

Bolsheviks

Answer 25

The wing of the Russian Social Democratic Worker’s Party, led by Lenin, that seized control of the government in Russia in October 1917; they became the dominant political power in the early years of the Soviet Union

Question 26

Famine

Answer 26

Widespread scarcity of food that can be caused by factors such as inflation, war or government policies

Question 27

Marxism

Answer 27

A set of political and economic theories developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Marxism later formed the basis of communism

Question 28

Zaibatsu

Answer 28

‘Financial clique’; Japanese business conglomerates that were influential up to the end of World War 2

Question 29

Kwantung Army

Answer 29

The largest and most prestigious command of the Imperial Japanese Army