Terms : Hide Images
| 63988930 | cominterm | This was an association of all Communist parties founded by Lenin in 1919. It was created so that the Soviet Union would have power over the world's communists. Stalin ended it in 1943 to assuage the fears of his allies in WWII that Communists would take control of other European nations. | 0 | |
| 63988931 | Great Purge | (1936-1938) This was when Stalin persecuted all those in Russia who he perceived to be a threat, and deemed "enemies of the people". There were millions of deaths, in addition to imprisonment, censorship, and other forms of oppression. | 1 | |
| 63988932 | Leon Trotsky | This Russian leader was an architect, along with Lenin and Stalin, of the Soviet Union. He was a follower of Marxist ideas and Communism. Lenin wanted this man to succeed him, but Stalin seized control and had this man hunted down and assassinated in Mexico. | 2 | |
| 63988933 | March on Rome | (1922) This was originally in order to force King Victor Emmanuel III to give Mussolini power in the government. In the end, however, the Fascists completely conquered Rome, including the Squadristi, and so the march became a show of power for Mussolini, who became Prime Minister shortly thereafter. | 3 | |
| 63988934 | Squadristi | This extreme group of Italian Fascist were known for their black shirts and their brutality towards anyone whom they perceived as a threat to Fascism. | 4 | |
| 63988935 | Il Duce | Literally, The Leader. This was Musolini's title in Fascist Italy, and was also the title of a painting of Musolini by Gerardo Dottori . | 5 | |
| 63988936 | Invasion of Ethiopia | Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia, also known as Abyssinia, in 1935, and conquered it by 1936. This demonstrated to the world that the League of Nations had no control over its members, and was essentially a powerless council. | 6 | |
| 63988937 | Rome-Berlin Axis | (1936-End of WWII) This was an alliance between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, which grew to include Japan and came to be called the Axis Powers. | 7 | |
| 63988938 | Lebensraum | Literally, "growing space", this was how Hitler justified the invasion of places other countries, such as Sudentenland and Poland. It demonstrated an enormous lack of regard for non-German-speaking people. | 8 | |
| 63988939 | Triumph of the Will | This Nazi propaganda film was created in 1936 by Leni Riefenstahl to show the might of the Nazi party at a rally in Nuremberg. | 9 | |
| 63988940 | Kristallnacht | Literally, "night of broken glass," this was a terrible night for German and Austrian Jews during which they were terrorized by Nazis and their sympathizers. It was November 9, 1938, and was coordinated by all Nazis and occurred in all German-speaking places. | 10 | |
| 63988941 | Axis powers | This consisted of several very different powers, specifically Germany (with Austria annexed to it), Fascist Italy, and Japan | 11 | |
| 63988942 | allied powers | - Originally just Great Britain, Russia, and France, this later included the US. They also got some help from Canada, and from China in the Pacific. | 12 | |
| 63988943 | appeasement | This was Neville Chamberlain's ineffective strategy to deal with Nazi Germany. He satisfied their wishes and demands in order to avoid confrontation, which reflected his country's overwhelmingly pacifist sentiments at the time. Unfortunately, allowing Germany to do as they wished, even when this meant taking over Sudentenland and parts of the Rhinelands, only meant that once Great Britain did declare war on Germany, they had a lot more resources and a lot more military experience. | 13 | |
| 63988944 | anschluss | (1938) This was the annexation of Austria into Germany under the Nazis. The Austrian leader instituted a plebiscite in an attempt to keep Austria independent, but Nazism and the unification of German-speaking people was popular in Austria, and the Austrian Nazi party had control of Austria's government. The combining of Austria and Germany was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles, but Italy, France and Great Britain did nothing to oppose the Nazis. | 14 | |
| 63988945 | blitzkrieg | Literally, "lightening war," this was the Nazi's form of warfare, which they tested while helping Franco conquer Spain. It was relatively simple, and involved amassing all parts of the armed forces - tanks, aircraft, infantrymen, etc - in one place to quickly break through enemy lines, then proceed quickly without protecting it's flank. It was often overwhelming to the opposition, which was the intent. | 15 | |
| 63988946 | Josip Broz (Tito) | This man was the Yugoslavian Premier from 1945 to 1953, and President from 1953 to 1980. He was a member of the Russian Bolshevik party around the time of WWI, but later created a unified socialist Yugoslavia separate from the Soviet Union. | 16 | |
| 63988947 | Great Patriotic War | This was what Russia called World War Two. Thus their triumph became a symbol of national pride. This was ironic, however, because 20 million Russians were killed in the war, the Russians could not have won the war without help from the other Allied powers, and the Nazis were the ones who initiated it by invading Russia. | 17 | |
| 63988948 | Yalta Conference | (Feb, 1945)- This was a meeting of the Soviet Union, the US, and Britain (the three main Allied powers) which was called in order to discuss the strategy for Germany's defeat. Stalin and Roosevelt made an agreement that Russia would ally with the US against Japan. They also planned what would occur afterwards regarding the German people, disarmament, punishment for war crimes, and reparations. The goal was to avoid repeating the Treaty of Versailles. This was also the beginning of the creation of the United Nations. | 18 | |
| 63988949 | Potsdam Conference | (July-August 1945) This was a meeting near Berlin shortly after Germany surrendered, held to make decisions related to the end of the war in Europe. The US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union discussed how they would handle the occupation of Germany, and decided to divide it into sectors that they would each occupy. | 19 | |
| 63991514 | Geneva Summit | France, England, US (Eisenhower) and USSR met in Switzerland in 1955. Goal: communication, friendliness | 20 | |
| 63991515 | Wladlislaw Gomulka | Polish communist who achieved reforms in post-Stalin era | 21 | |
| 63991516 | Glasnost | Policy introduced by Gorbachev in which government actions would be transparent and public. Thus, in the 1980's, there was more freedom of information and less censorship in the USSR. | 22 | |
| 63991517 | Perestroika | a reform by Gorbachev that allowed multi-party elections | 23 | |
| 63991518 | Boris Yeltson | The first president of the Russian Federation, who was actually elected by a popular vote and promised to bring a free-market economy to Russia. He also promised privatization of land, but the economy in the 1990's went terribly in Russia, and he was blamed. | 24 | |
| 63991519 | Boris Pasternak | author of Dr. Zhivago in the USSR, about the USSR, who was part of the dissident movement against Communist control/censorship (published in Italy in 1957) | 25 | |
| 63991520 | non-proliferation treaty | agreement to prevent spread & use of nuclear technology; India, Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea are not members, and Isreal is very private about their nuclear abilities | 26 | |
| 63991521 | Brezhnev Doctrine | This Soviet policy of military intervention in other Communist countries/Soviet allies to prevent anyone from having a counter revolution against Communism. | 27 | |
| 63991522 | 1956 Hungarian Revolution | Student and worker revolt that succeeded, at first, in getting rid of all Soviet troops. It was led by liberal Communists. Kruschev proceeded to send in troops to wipe out all dissidents. US didn't get involve, because a) they were occupied with Vietnam and Korea and b) Russia had the bomb | 28 | |
| 63991523 | Prague Spring | January through summer of 1968, Czechloslovakia became more liberal, until, in August, Gorbachev sent Soviet tanks into Prague. The only reform that remained (some reforms had been freedom in media, travel, etc) was the dividing of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. | 29 | |
| 64001440 | Treaty of Brest-Litovsk | As a result of the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia signed this peace agreement with Germany in 1917. | 30 | |
| 64002054 | Christmas 1991 | Gorbachev, who had brought great reforms to the USSR, such as perestroika ("free elections") and glasnost ("freedom of information, specifically regarding the govt), resigned from office. | 31 | |
| 64002636 | Pope John Paul II | This Polish Pope brought the world's attention to the solidarity movement of the Polish, calling for human rights. He became a hero of the Polish nation. | 32 | |
| 64002637 | Paris Accords | 1990: this agreement led 22 countries, including the US and the USSR, to agree not to change current borders, and to reduce weapon stockpiles, which they did. | 33 | |
| 64006909 | Munich Conference | Chamberlain gave the Sudentenland to Hitler as part of his policy of appeasement | 34 |
