AP World History: Modern · Global Conflict

Flashcard deck · Test Prep · AP World History: Modern · History

WWI and WWII concepts across 144 cards, including the Schlieffen Plan, War Guilt Clause, Fourteen Points, Zimmermann Telegram, fascism, and the mandate system.

Terms in this deck

Stalemate

A military deadlock in which neither side can gain a decisive advantage, characteristic of the Western Front in WWI.

War of Attrition

A military strategy aimed at wearing down the enemy through continuous losses of personnel and resources rather than decisive battles.

Imperialism as a WWI Cause

European competition for overseas colonies created rivalries and resentments that intensified tensions leading to WWI.

Poison Gas

A chemical weapon used in WWI trenches that caused blindness, lung damage, or death, representing new industrial-age warfare.

Militarism

The policy of building up strong armed forces and glorifying military power, which heightened tensions among European nations before WWI.

Self-Determination

The principle that peoples of a common culture or ethnicity should have the right to form their own independent nation.

Rationing

Government-imposed limits on civilian consumption of food, fuel, and goods to redirect resources to the military during total war.

No Man's Land

The deadly, shell-cratered ground between opposing trenches where soldiers faced machine-gun fire and artillery during WWI.

Nationalism as a WWI Cause

Intense pride in one's nation or ethnic group fueled desires for independence and rivalry, destabilizing Europe before 1914.

Women in Total War

Women filled industrial, medical, and administrative roles vacated by soldiers, expanding their economic presence during WWI and WWII.

War Guilt Clause

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which assigned full blame for WWI to Germany, justifying heavy reparations.

Pan-Slavism

A movement promoting unity among Slavic peoples, fueling tensions in the Balkans before WWI and threatening Austria-Hungary.

Triple Alliance

The pre-WWI pact among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy pledging mutual military support against enemies.

Pan-Germanism

An ideology asserting the unity and superiority of German-speaking peoples, used by Nazi propagandists to justify territorial expansion.

Tank

An armored fighting vehicle introduced in WWI to cross trenches and break through enemy lines.

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

The 1914 killing of the Austro-Hungarian archduke by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, which directly triggered the outbreak of WWI.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany's WWI strategy to quickly defeat France through Belgium, then shift forces east to fight Russia.

Propaganda

Government-produced media designed to build public support for war and dehumanize the enemy during both World Wars.

Home Front

The civilian population and domestic economy mobilized to support military operations during the World Wars.

Submarine Warfare

Germany's use of U-boats to blockade Britain by sinking Allied and neutral ships, drawing the U.S. into WWI.

Mobilization

The process of assembling and organizing a nation's military forces and resources for war on a massive scale.

League of Nations

An international organization created by the Treaty of Versailles to maintain peace, weakened because the U.S. never joined.

Reparations

Financial payments Germany was forced to make after WWI under the Treaty of Versailles, totaling billions of dollars.

Zimmermann Telegram

A 1917 German message proposing a military alliance with Mexico against the U.S., helping bring America into WWI.

Mandate System

A post-WWI arrangement placing former German and Ottoman territories under British or French administration on behalf of the League of Nations.

Fourteen Points

President Wilson's 1918 peace proposal emphasizing self-determination, open diplomacy, and a League of Nations to prevent future wars.

Alliance System

A network of treaties binding European nations to defend one another, turning a regional dispute into a world war in 1914.

Ethnic Nationalism

A form of nationalism based on shared ethnicity or culture, often used to justify territorial claims and exclusion of minorities.

Machine Gun

A rapid-fire automatic weapon that made WWI infantry charges across open ground catastrophically deadly.

Triple Entente

The alliance of France, Russia, and Britain formed before WWI to counterbalance German power in Europe.

War Industries

Civilian factories converted during WWI to produce weapons, ammunition, and military supplies, making economies fully focused on war production.

Western Front

The main battle line in WWI stretching across Belgium and France where opposing armies faced each other in trenches for years.

Mussolini

Italian fascist dictator who came to power in 1922, pioneering totalitarian techniques and allying with Nazi Germany in WWII.

Battle of the Somme

A devastating 1916 WWI battle on the Western Front that resulted in over one million casualties with minimal territorial gain.

Nazi Party

The National Socialist German Workers Party that used propaganda, fear, and antisemitism to seize and maintain total control of Germany.

Ottoman Empire in WWI

A weakening empire that joined the Central Powers in WWI, opening new fronts in the Middle East and accelerating its own collapse.

Hitler

Adolf Hitler was the Nazi dictator of Germany whose racist ideology and aggressive expansionism led directly to WWII and the Holocaust.

July Crisis

The rapid escalation of diplomatic conflicts in July 1914 following Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination that led directly to WWI.

Fascism

A far-right authoritarian ideology emphasizing extreme nationalism, dictatorial power, militarism, and suppression of opposition.

Mein Kampf

Hitler's 1925 autobiographical manifesto outlining his antisemitic ideology, extreme nationalism, and plans for German racial dominance.

Russian Revolution (1917)

The 1917 collapse of the Russian tsarist government and rise of the Bolsheviks under Lenin, leading Russia to exit WWI.

Totalitarianism

A system of government in which the state seeks complete control over all aspects of public and private life.

Over the Top

The WWI tactic of soldiers climbing out of trenches to charge across no man's land toward enemy lines, resulting in catastrophic losses.

Eastern Front

The WWI battleground between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia spanning Eastern Europe, characterized by more mobile but equally brutal fighting.

Shell Shock

A psychological trauma condition suffered by WWI soldiers exposed to prolonged combat, now understood as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mustard Gas

A particularly deadly chemical weapon used in WWI that caused severe blistering, blindness, and lung damage.

Conscription

Mandatory military service requiring civilian men to serve in the armed forces, used extensively by all major WWI powers.

Central Powers

The WWI alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria that fought against the Allied Powers.

Cult of Personality

Propaganda-driven glorification of a single leader presented as infallible and heroic, used by Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini to consolidate power.

Artillery Bombardment

Sustained heavy cannon fire used in WWI to weaken enemy trenches before infantry assaults, often ineffective at breaking defenses.

Allied Powers

The WWI coalition including Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and later the United States that opposed the Central Powers.

Gallipoli Campaign

A failed 1915 Allied attempt to capture the Dardanelles strait from the Ottomans, resulting in massive casualties and strategic failure.

Arms Race

The pre-WWI competition among European powers to build larger armies and more advanced weapons, increasing tensions and war readiness.

Barbed Wire

A defensive obstacle widely used in WWI trenches to slow enemy advances across no man's land.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The 1918 peace agreement between Russia and the Central Powers that removed Russia from WWI and ceded vast territories.

Blackshirts

Mussolini's paramilitary squads who used violence to intimidate political opponents and help fascists seize power in Italy.

Corporate State

The fascist economic system in Italy where government-controlled corporations replaced free-market competition and labor unions.

Irredentism

The desire of a nation to reclaim territories where its ethnic group lives but that are governed by another state.

Battle of Verdun

A grueling 1916 battle between France and Germany symbolizing the senseless slaughter of WWI trench warfare.

Dreadnought

A powerful type of battleship introduced by Britain that sparked a naval arms race with Germany before WWI.

Paris Peace Conference

The 1919 gathering of Allied leaders in Paris that produced the Treaty of Versailles and reshaped the postwar world order.

Entente Cordiale

A 1904 agreement between Britain and France that laid the groundwork for their alliance against the Central Powers in WWI.

Hyperinflation

The extreme and rapid rise in prices that devastated the German economy in the early 1920s, wiping out savings and undermining the Weimar Republic.

Territorial Redistribution

The post-WWI redrawing of borders that dissolved empires and created new nations, often ignoring ethnic boundaries and sowing future conflict.

Balkan Crisis

A series of conflicts in southeastern Europe that destabilized the region and created conditions that triggered WWI.

Rape of Nanjing

The 1937 Japanese mass atrocity in Nanjing China in which hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and women assaulted.

War of Attrition (WWI)

A grinding strategy aimed at exhausting the enemy's resources and manpower rather than winning through a single decisive battle.

Blank Check

Germany's unconditional promise of support to Austria-Hungary after Franz Ferdinand's assassination, escalating the July Crisis into full war.

Armenian Genocide

The Ottoman government's systematic massacre and deportation of Armenian Christians during WWI, killing an estimated 1 to 1.5 million people.

Moroccan Crises

Two diplomatic confrontations between France and Germany over Morocco that heightened European tensions before WWI.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Germany's policy of attacking all ships in British waters without warning, drawing neutral nations like the US closer to entering WWI.

War of Movement

The brief opening phase of WWI when armies advanced rapidly before the war settled into static trench warfare.

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, national, or religious group, as exemplified by the Holocaust and other 20th-century atrocities.

Death Camps

Nazi extermination facilities such as Auschwitz designed specifically for the systematic mass killing of Jews and other victims.

Dehumanization

The propaganda technique of portraying targeted groups as subhuman or dangerous, used to justify mass violence and genocide.

Wannsee Conference

A 1942 Nazi meeting where officials coordinated the Final Solution, the systematic plan to exterminate all European Jews.

Flamethrower

A weapon introduced in WWI that projected streams of burning fuel, used to clear enemy trenches at close range.

Big Four

The dominant leaders at the Paris Peace Conference: Wilson of the US, Lloyd George of Britain, Clemenceau of France, and Orlando of Italy.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 Nazi legislation that stripped German Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and non-Jews.

Lusitania

British ocean liner sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, killing 1,198 people and intensifying American anger toward Germany.

Kristallnacht

The November 1938 Nazi-organized pogrom in which Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues were destroyed across Germany and Austria.

Einsatzgruppen

Nazi mobile killing units that followed German armies into the Soviet Union and massacred over a million Jews by shooting.

Creeping Barrage

An artillery tactic in which a moving wall of shellfire advanced just ahead of infantry to suppress enemy defenses.

Zionism

A nationalist movement supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, gaining urgency amid growing European antisemitism.

Armistice (1918)

The ceasefire agreement signed on November 11 1918 that ended fighting in WWI with Germany's surrender.

Weimar Republic

The democratic German government established after WWI that struggled with economic instability, political extremism, and public resentment of the Versailles terms.

Stab-in-the-Back Myth

The false German nationalist claim that WWI was lost due to internal betrayal by Jews and socialists rather than military defeat.

War Debt

Massive financial obligations accumulated by nations during WWI that destabilized economies and contributed to the interwar economic crisis.

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice and discrimination against Jewish people, a deeply rooted ideology in Europe that the Nazis exploited to justify persecution and genocide.

Concentration Camps

Nazi detention and forced labor facilities where millions of Jews, political prisoners, and others were imprisoned under brutal conditions.

Great Depression

The catastrophic global economic collapse beginning in 1929 that caused mass unemployment and fueled political extremism worldwide.

Bank Failures

The widespread collapse of financial institutions during the Great Depression that wiped out savings and froze credit globally.

Home Front Mobilization

The organization of an entire civilian population's labor, resources, and morale to support the war effort.

Sudetenland

A German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia that Hitler demanded and received through the Munich Agreement in 1938.

Unemployment Crisis (1930s)

Mass joblessness that devastated economies worldwide during the Great Depression, creating social instability and demand for radical political change.

Salonika Front

An Allied military campaign in Greece intended to support Serbia and open a new front against the Central Powers.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

A 1930 US law that raised tariffs sharply, triggering retaliatory measures worldwide and worsening the Great Depression.

Aerial Warfare (WWI)

The first large-scale use of airplanes in combat, including dogfights and bombing raids that added a new dimension to WWI.

Espionage Act (1917)

US law that criminalized interference with military recruitment or operations, used to silence antiwar dissent during WWI.

Invasion of Poland (1939)

Germany's sudden attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, which prompted Britain and France to declare war and begin WWII.

Battle of Britain

Germany's sustained air campaign against Britain in 1940, the first major battle fought entirely in the air, which Britain ultimately won.

Phony War

The period of little active fighting on the Western Front from September 1939 to April 1940 after France and Britain declared war.

Dawes Plan

A 1924 international agreement that restructured German reparations payments and provided US loans to stabilize the German economy.

Young Plan

A 1929 revision of the Dawes Plan that reduced Germany's reparations total and extended the payment timeline.

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The 1939 non-aggression treaty between the USSR and Nazi Germany that secretly divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.

War Aims

The political and territorial goals each nation sought to achieve by fighting, which shaped peace negotiations after the war.

Blitzkrieg

German lightning-war tactics combining fast-moving tanks, aircraft, and infantry to overwhelm enemies before they could organize a defense.

Anschluss

The forced union of Austria with Nazi Germany in 1938, which violated the Treaty of Versailles and alarmed European powers.

Fall of France (1940)

Germany's rapid defeat of France in six weeks using Blitzkrieg tactics, resulting in German occupation and a French armistice.

Munich Agreement

The 1938 deal in which Britain and France allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for Hitler's promise of no further expansion.

Lend-Lease Act

A 1941 US program that supplied Britain, the USSR, and other Allies with war materials without requiring immediate payment.

War Bond

Government-issued securities purchased by civilians to fund the war effort, a key tool of total-war economic mobilization.

Protectionism

Economic policy of imposing tariffs and trade barriers to shield domestic industries, which deepened the global depression in the 1930s.

Selective Service Act

1917 US law establishing the military draft, bringing millions of American men into the armed forces for WWI.

American Expeditionary Forces

The US military force sent to Europe under General Pershing, whose arrival in 1918 helped tip the balance toward the Allies.

Wall Street Crash (1929)

The sudden collapse of US stock prices that triggered a worldwide banking crisis and the onset of the Great Depression.

Appeasement

The British and French policy of making concessions to Hitler in the 1930s, hoping to satisfy his demands and avoid war.

New Deal

Franklin Roosevelt's program of economic relief and reform designed to lift the US out of the Great Depression.

Italian Front

The mountainous battleground between Italy and Austria-Hungary, marked by brutal fighting and Italian territorial ambitions.

Wartime Censorship

Government suppression or control of information to maintain public support and prevent strategic intelligence from reaching the enemy.

Potsdam Conference

The 1945 meeting of Allied leaders that finalized postwar arrangements for Germany, issued an ultimatum to Japan, and revealed emerging Cold War tensions.

Decolonization Pressures (WWII)

WWII weakened European empires and accelerated independence movements, as colonial subjects questioned why they fought for freedoms denied to them.

Stalingrad

A brutal 1942-43 battle on the Eastern Front where Soviet forces encircled and destroyed a German army, marking a major turning point in WWII.

United Nations (origins)

The international organization founded in 1945 to replace the failed League of Nations and promote peace, security, and cooperation among nations.

Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact

A 1941 agreement keeping the USSR and Japan from fighting each other, freeing the Soviets to focus on Germany and Japan to expand south.

Resistance Movements

Underground groups in occupied countries who sabotaged Axis forces, aided refugees, and kept opposition alive during WWII.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japan's ideological framework for its empire, claiming to liberate Asia from Western colonialism while actually imposing Japanese domination and exploitation.

Japanese Empire

Japan's expansionist imperial state that conquered large parts of East and Southeast Asia before and during WWII, justifying conquest through Pan-Asian ideology.

Vichy France

The collaborationist French government established after France's 1940 defeat, which cooperated with Nazi Germany and administered parts of France and its colonies.

War Crimes Trials (Nuremberg)

Postwar tribunals held in Nuremberg that prosecuted Nazi leaders for crimes against humanity, establishing international legal precedents for genocide accountability.

Chinese Nationalist Government

Chiang Kai-shek's government that fought both Japan and Communist forces during WWII, receiving Allied support but ultimately losing China's civil war afterward.

Free French Forces

De Gaulle's exile movement that continued fighting against the Axis after France's fall, rallying French colonials and resistance fighters worldwide.

Pacific Theater

The arena of WWII fought across Asia and the Pacific Ocean, primarily between Japan, the United States, and Allied nations.

Collaboration

The act of cooperating with an occupying enemy power, as when some European governments or individuals aided Nazi Germany.

Final Solution

The Nazi regime's systematic plan to murder all European Jews, carried out through mass shootings and extermination camps.

Pearl Harbor

Japan's surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, bringing the United States into World War II.

Firebombing

The Allied aerial tactic of dropping incendiary bombs on cities like Dresden and Tokyo, causing massive civilian casualties and destruction.

Atomic Bomb

A nuclear weapon dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing hundreds of thousands and ending the Pacific war.

D-Day (Normandy Invasion)

The Allied amphibious assault on Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944, opening a crucial Western Front against Germany.

Island Hopping

The Allied strategy in the Pacific of capturing select Japanese-held islands to advance toward Japan while bypassing heavily fortified ones.

Yalta Conference

The 1945 summit where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin negotiated postwar Europe's shape, including plans for Germany's occupation and the founding of the United Nations.

El Alamein

A 1942 battle in North Africa where Allied forces under Montgomery defeated Rommel's Afrika Korps, halting Axis expansion in the region.

Italian Campaign

The Allied military effort to push through Italy beginning in 1943, forcing Italy's surrender and tying down German forces.

Operation Barbarossa

Germany's massive 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the Eastern Front of WWII and breaking the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

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