Historical Terms
Terms
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- caste
- One of the four hereditary classes of society in Hinduism
- Geneva Conference
- Conference held in 1954 that divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel
- Huns
- A nomadic group from central Asia who undertook a mass migration to the Roman Empire in the 400s CE
- blitzkrieg
- "Lighting War" in which surprise attacks by aircraft are immediately followed by massive attacks by ground forces, as in Hitler's 1939 invasion of Poland
- Communist Manifesto
- Seminal work by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel in which the basic principles of communism are outlined
- Five-Year Plan
- Economic plans to increase industrial and agricultural productivity in the Soviet Union, China, and India
- Declaration of Independence
- Written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, this document proclaimed the American colonies' independence from Great Britain
- Marshall Plan
- Plan put forth by US Secretary of State George C. Marshall describing how to rebuild Europe after the conclusion of WW II
- Allies
- Nations that united against the Germans, Italians, and Japanese forces during WW II. Mainly comprised of US, England, and France. Russia joined later.
- Waterloo
- Site where Napoleon suffered his greatest defeat
- Lend-Lease Act
- A policy passed by the US Congress in 1941 allowing FDR to give arms and other supplies to any nation considered vital to the security of the US
- 13th Amendment
- abolished slavery in 1865
- Magna Carta
- Document drafted in 1215 that specifies English political and civil liberties. It forms the basis of English common law
- Constitution
- The US Constitution, "the law of the land," was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1789
- czar
- A Russian emperor
- detente
- A cooling of Cold War tensions initiated during the administrations of Nixon and Brezhnev
- republic
- Government in which citizens are ruled by elected representatives
- New Deal
- Set of domestic programs set forth by FDR's administration to help the US overcome the Great Depression
- domino theory
- An idea prevalent during the Cold War that if one nation fell to Communism, neighboring nations would likewise fall
- bourgeoisie
- According to Marx and Engels. the middle class; in pre-revolutionary France, a portion of the Third Estate comprised of a middle class of artisans and merchants
- 19th Amendment
- granted the women to vote in 1920
- Yalta
- Island where Churchill, FDR, and Stalin met to discuss the partitioning of Europe at the conclusion of WW II
- Axis
- Nations opposed to the Allies during W II, including Germany, Italy, and Japan
- Code of Hammurabi
- Babylonian legal code that established governmental responsibility for criminal justice
- NATO
- A 1949 defense alliance initiated by the US, Canada, and 10 Western European nations
- dictator
- A sole ruler with absolute power
- apartheid
- A former policy of South Africa in which the races were separated by law
- imperialism
- The political, economic, or social domination of a strong nation over another nation or territory
- abolitionism
- the movement to abolish slavery in the US
- cuneiform
- Sumerian system of writing
- 18th Amendment
- enforced the prohibition of alcohol in 1919
- hieroglyphics
- Ancient Egyptian picture writing
- Cold War
- Long-term period of poor relations between the US and the Soviet Bloc from the end of WW II until the early 1990s
- Fourteen Points
- Post-World War I peace plan proposed by Woodrow Wilson; major points included the principle of self-determination and the establishment of an association of nations
- suffrage
- The right or privilege of voting; franchise
- Warsaw Pact
- A 1955 defense alliance organized by the Soviet Union and several Eastern European nations
- 14th Amendment
- restored and protected the rights of freed slaves in 1868
- teetotaler
- one pledged to entire abstinence from all intoxicating drinks
- Cyrillic alphabet
- The alphabet of the Russian language and other Slavic languages
- diaspora
- The scattering of specific ethnic groups throughout various parts of the world
- Versailles
- Palace near Paris that was the seat of power for many French kings, including Louis XIV. Also the site of the Treaty of Versailles that marked the conclusion of WW I
- Balfour Declaration
- Great Britain's 1917 proclamation supporting the establishment of a separate homeland for Jews in Palestine
- Cultural Revolution
- Campaign carried out by the Chinese Red Guards from 1966-1976, with the goal of revitalixing the Chines Communist Party and consolidating Mao Zedong's leadership
- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Resolution passed by the US Congress in 1964 authorizing President Johnson to send troops in Vietnam
- Prussia
- Old name for current-day Germany. Ruled by Frederick the Great at its height of power
- totalitarianism
- one-party political system with the goal of supporting the welfare of the state above all else
- laissez-faire capitalism
- Economic system in which no governmental regulation of the market is advocated
- Manifest Destiny
- Belief first articulated in the mid-1800s that it was the destiny of the US to continue to expand to the West and the Pacific Ocean
- communism
- Economic system in which the workers control the means of production
- colony
- A territory under direct control of a stronger country
- glasnost
- A Soviet policy introduced in 1985 by Mikhail Gorbechev emphasizing "openness" in the sharing of information and ideas
- Manhattan Project
- The US plan to develop an atomic bomb
- Bill of Rights
- the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution