Unit 7: Topic 6 - World War II - Causes Flashcards
Totalitarianism
A form of government that controls all aspects of individual life by prohibiting individual freedoms, usually under an absolute and oppressive single-party government. Some modern examples of totalitarian regimes include Mussolini’s fascist state in Italy, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong, and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.
Militarism
The state of belief by a government to establish and maintain a robust military capacity and aggressively use it to expand its territories. The general purpose of militarist governments includes shaping cultures, public opinions, and the press. Modern examples include the Kingdom of Prussia, Soviet Union, and German Empire prior to World War I.
Munich Agreement
Document signed by leaders of Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France on September 29, 1938, that forced Czechoslovakia to surrender its border regions (the Sudetenland) and defenses to Nazi Germany in exchange for a pledge of peace from Adolf Hitler.
Appeasement
A diplomatic policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power to avoid conflict. The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the UK governments, most notably Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy towards Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the late-1930s.
Invasions of Poland
Considered by most as the official start of World War II, German forces invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and quickly captured the Polish capital of Warsaw within a month. After the defeat of the Polish forces, German authorities began enforcing their racial policies in the occupied territories.
Second Sino-Japanese War
A major war fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan before and during World War II from July 1937 to September 1945. Considered to be the largest Asian war in the 20th century, the war was a result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy aiming to politically and militarily dominate China to secure its vast raw material reserves and other resources. Japanese occupation of China ended only with the surrender of Japan to Allied forces in 1945.
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
A war of aggression fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. The war characterizes the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations and the Axis powers. The Italian regime wins this war mostly due to their technological advancements compared to Ethiopia’s. The war is prolonged by Germany, who supplies Ethiopia with arms and munitions. In the end, Ethiopia is annexed, and Italy starts to economically rely more heavily on Germany.
Hideki Tojo
Prime minister of Japan and general of the Imperial Japanese Army for most of WWII. He is mostly known for his extreme violence in the name of Japanese ultranationalism, and though most was done by the state, he was personally involved. After WWII, he was forced to resign as prime minister and after Japan’s surrender, he was convicted to death by hanging.
Neville Chamberlain
The British prime minister who met with Hitler and leaders of France and Italy to discuss the Nazi party’s seizure and occupation of land. He decided that appeasement was the best way to keep peace and to satisfy Hitler. Then they agreed to the Munich Agreement, which would allow Hitler to have Sudetenland, but forbade him from having any other land.
Weimar Republic
A parliamentary style government that replaced the German kaiser after WWI. People saw this government as weak because it did not enforce strict policies to stem the tide of economic downfall and suffering of the German people. This led to a desire for a stronger central government that could solve the issues Germany was facing. This allowed for the Nazi party to legally be elected to power because of the widespread support for their platform.
Sudetenland
The little strip of land that bordered Germany and Czechoslovakia. Since most of the population in that land were German-speaking, Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany. It was given to Hitler and Germany after the Munich Agreement of 1938, in order to keep Europe “peaceful”.
Danzig
A port city in Poland. When Hitler set his sights on this city, Britain’s policy of appeasement and peace ended. Britain had agreed to defend Poland from German invasion, and to do this, Britain allies with France and Russia.
Nuremberg Laws
The first major legislative push against the Jewish in Germany. They were a set of discriminatory laws that pushed the Jewish to the margins of society. It made sure those with Jewish descendance could not hold German citizenship nor have political rights. It also banned the intermarriages and sexual relations between Jewish and people “of German or related blood’.
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht translated means “night of broken glass.” It was a series of antisemitic riots in which Germans would end up killing 90 Jews and destroying nearly every Jewish synagogue in the city. It also led to over 30,000 Jews being arrested and sent to concentration camps. Most were released and deported.
Lebensraum
Something from Hitler’s imagination of what his “purified” Germans needed. Translated to “living space”. Hitler wanted all the European continent for that living space, and it would lead to heightened tensions between Germany and other countries.
