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Interwar Period & WWII - AP Euro

Terms in this set (77)

Interwar period
Time between two wars
Essential understanding of the interwar period.
After WWI, international organizations & agreements were established to avoid future conflicts, such as the League of Nations & the Mandate System.
League of Nations
· international cooperative organization created by the Paris Peace Conference that ended WWI.
· Woodrow Wilson's idea.
· Created to prevent future wars.
· Created the Mandate System (stopped arms, drugs, & human trafficking) adopted from the middle East.
· U.S. was not a part of the League of Nations
· Failed due to lack of military power to enforce its decisions.
The Mandate System
· During WWI, Great Britain & France agreed to divide large portions of the Ottoman Empire in the middle East. MEMORY TOOL: "SeLF" → Syria & Lebenon go to France. "I like PB & J" → Iraq, Palestine, Britain, Jordan.
· 1916 Sykes: pivot agreement, agreement that created the Mandate System.
· The division of the Ottoman Empire through the Mandate System planted the seeds for future conflicts in the middle East.
1916 Sykes
Picot agreement. Agreement that created the Mandate System.
What followed a period of uneven prosperity in the decade following WWI (1920s)?
A worldwide depression (1930s).
The Great Depression
→ CAUSES:
· German reparations
· High protective tariffs
· Overproduction & dominance of the US in the global economy.
· Excessive expansion of credit: ppl were buying goods they couldn't afford on credit.
· Stock Market Crash: 1929. Black Tuesday October 29th, 1929 - when people started selling their stocks.

→ IMPACT OF WORLDWIDE DEPRESSION:
· High unemployment in industrial countries.
· Bank failures & collapse of credit.

→ NAZI PARTY'S GROWING IMPORTANCE IN GERMANY:
· Blames European Jews for economic collapse.
Depression weakened Western democracies making it difficult for them to challenge the threat of...
Totalitarianism
When did the Holocaust occur?
WWII
Kristallinacht
The "Night of Broken Glass" - Riots against Jewish businesses throughout Germany bc one Jewish teen killed one German person.
Elements that led to the Holocaust
· Totalitarianism leading to nationalism
· anti-Semitism history
· defeat in WWII & economic depression blamed on German Jews.
· Hitler's ambition for a master (Aryan) race.
The Final Solution
Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews out of European using extermination camps & gas chambers. Genocide was used.
Genocide
The systematic and purposeful destruction of a racial, political, religious, or culture group.
Nuremberg Laws
Legal anti-Semitism. Restricted rights of Jews.
D-Day Invasion
· Led by Dwight D. Eisenhower: allied commander in Europe.
· June 6th, 1944!!!!
· Allied troops land on Normandy.
· Goal = take France back from the axis powers by making Germany fight a two front war.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Led the D-Day Invasion. U.S. president. Was an allied commander in Europe.
Allied powers WWII
U.S., Britain, France, USSR, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia
Axis powers WWII
Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria
Liberation of France
· France is liberated by allied forces
· Direct result of the invasion of Normandy.
Totalitarianism
Control of everything you do (what you read, hear on the radio, etc) ran on total fear (like kidnapping people or shooting random people).
Stalin & Lenin...
Communism.
Mussolini & Hitler
Fascism
Mussolini
· Started Fascism
· from Italy
· Father of Fascism. Fascism started in Italy.
· Wanted to restore the Glory of Rome & the Roman Empire to Italy. Indoctrinated citizens to obey him without question.
Hitler
German dictator. Came to power when Germany was in an economic repression. Fascist.
Stalin
· USSR
· Communist
· Five Year Plans
· The Great Purge
Lenin
· Founder of the Russian Communist party.
· leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
· Architect, builder, and first head of the Soviet Union.
Five Year Plans
Stalin imposed control over the economy. Goals of the five year plans: build heavy industry (worked), increase farm output (didn't work - millions starved)
Command Economy
Government officials make all basic economic decisions.
Stalin's policies
- Collectively: farms are collectively owned and run by peasants.
- State industrialization: oil, coal, & steel production increases.
The Great Purge
Stalin's large scale "cleaning" of the Communist Party & government officials in the USSR. How Stalin became dictator.
Stalin's Entrenchment of Communism
(made communism stronger in the Soviet Union) - schools & media used for propaganda, single party dictatorship, police replies, unquestioned obedience to a single leader.
Where was Stalin from?
Just South of Russia.
Mussolini's Italy
Wanted to restore the glory of Rome & the Roman Empire to Italy. Indoctrinated citizens to obey him without question.

1935: Italy invaded Ethiopia in northeastern Africa as an opportunity to expand his empire. Used chemical weapons on the helpless people in Africa. League of Nations had no power to enforce the sanctions, Italy took Ethiopia by 1936.
Meiji Restoration
Called for the mass industrialization & militarization of Japan after commodore Perry forced them to open in 1853 (Gun Boat Diplomacy)

Emperor Hirohito of Japan
Commodore Perry
Forced Japan to open for trade. Gun Boat Diplomacy
Industrialization​ in Japan
- Shipyards
- Iron factories
- textile mills
- builds great military led by general & prime minister Hideki Tojo
- Leads to a drive for raw materials
Hideki Tojo
Japanese general who ordered the war on America. Decided to bomb Pearl Harbor.
Japan's Militarism
- strength of the nation = the strength of the military
- nation wide conscription (drafting) men to build an army & navy.
Rape of Nanking
Japan kills many in China. They wanted materials so Japan invaded Korea, Manchuria, & the rest of China.
What happened to Japan after WWI?
They emerged as a world power & conducted aggressive imperialistic policies in Asia.
Emperor Hirohito of Japan
- was emperor during the Meiji Restoration
Weimar Republic
- created a new democratic government that quickly weakens.
- gave women the right to vote
Rise of National Socialism in Germany (Nazi Party)
· runs on the platforms of:
- bread & work for all Germans
- party to restore Germany and end reparations
- lead by Hitler
Hitler & the Nazi Party
· wins dominate party election in the Reichstag (Parliament)
· Hitler becomes Chancellor
· the depression Germany was in after WWI allowed for Hitler to rise to power using extreme nationalism and anti semitism
Lebensraum
"Living space" Hitler wanted to unite all Germanic people in central Europe.
Reichstag
German Parliament
What nearby countries did Germany annex?
Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia), Austria, Rhineland, Danzing.
Hitler's advances
- entered the Saar region
- remilitarized the Ruhr & Rhineland
- Anschluss: Germany annexed Austria
- Munich Conference: gained the Sudetenland (1938)
Anschluss
Germany annexed Austria
Munich Conference
1938
Germany gained the Sudetenland
Nazi Soviet Pact
Hitler and Stalin make an agreement. It stated that in case of war, the other would remain neutral, & they would split Poland & the Balkans (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) at a later date.
What started WWII?
Invasion of Poland by Germany.
Invasion of Poland
Sept. 1st, 1939
Germany invaded Poland, starting WWII. France and Britain declare war on Germany because they didn't like their aggression.
Fall of France
May 1940
Germany invades France. France surrenders in 2 months.
Vichy government
Puppet government set up in France as a tool for the Germans. Led by general Petain.
General Petain
Led Vichy government in France.
Battle of Britain
July 1940
Germany attempts to annihilate Britain before the U.S. joins the war. British invents radar which greatly helps them. Winston Churchill. England won
Winston Churchill
Was dead set on defending Britain. He was amongst the people and this helped public morale. England would never surrender.
Germany invades Russia
June 1941
- Germany attacks Soviet Union.
- reneges of Nazi Soviet pact in an attempt to gain oil resources in the Soviet Union.
- battle of Stalingrad
- massive tank warfare: Erwin Rommel (Nazi General): "the desert fox"
Battle of Stalingrad
Prolonged battle. The winter began, Germans had metal helmets. Russians had tips and tricks to keep their guns working well. Russians won.
Erwin Rommel
Nazi general. "The desert fox" Massive tank warfare. Killed himself bc his name was tied to a plot to kill Hitler.
The Pacific Theatre
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor Dec 7th, 1941. Sends the US into WWII.
Douglas MacArthur
- Pacific front
- US general who leads war in the Pacific
- develops the island hopping technique
Island hopping
US takes little islands until they reach the main island of Japan.
2 major battles of the Pacific front
Twojima: feb-march 1945
Okimwa: april-june 1945
Turning points of the Pacific front?
Midway & Guadalcanal
August 1945
Dropping of the atomic bombs, ordered by Harry Truman.
The Manhattan Project
US recruits the smartest people to work on the atomic bombs.
Harry Truman
Orders bomb dropping of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. 1945
European Theatre
V-E Day: May 7th 1945. Germans surrender to Soviets after the fall of Berlin.
Pacific Theatre
Dropping of the bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Nuremberg Trials
142 German & Austrian. Nazi officials found guilty. Charges brought against the people on trial were:crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes,
Who lost Empires as a result of the Nuremberg trials
Loss of European empires.
Establishment of two major powers in the world
US & Soviet Union (USSR)
George Marshall
US general. Marshall plan
Marshall plan
Plan to rebuild Europe. Economic and political win/win.
Miracle of Dunkirk
The evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940, during World War II. Saved many lives.
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