AP World History: 1900-PRESENT

Iranian Revolution

1941: Muhammad Reza Pahlavi declared himself shah. Backed by the United States and Britain, he modernized and westernized Iran.

Deng Xiaoping

1976: Replaced Mao Zedong as leader of communist China; introduced new economic reforms but little extension of individual political rights.

Iran-Iraq War

1979: Saddam Hussein became the leader of Iraq and seized control over a disputed border area.

Jomo Kenyatta

A Kenyan nationalist leader who led a movement to gain independence from Great Britain. He was jailed in 1953 by the British government in its efforts to suppress all nationalist movements.

Panama Canal

A canal built through the Isthmus of Panama connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Chinese Civil War

A conflict between the Kuomintang and the Communist parties.

Warsaw Pact

A defensive military alliance of communist nations designed to counter the collective defense formed by the democratic nations of NATO.

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

A group that has no connection to a government; not funded by a government.

Nelson Mandela

A leader of the ANC (African National Congress), arrested for military protests against apartheid and sentenced to jail for life.

Mao Zedong

A nationalist leader in China, he successfully defeated the Kuomintang in a civil war in large measure because of the support of the peasants.

Nazi-Soviet Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)

A nonaggression treaty signed between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 in which the two nations publicly agreed to avoid armed conflict with one another.

Chinese Revolution, 1911

A revolution in 1911 led to the abdication of the last emperor of China and the end of the Qing Empire.

V. I. Lenin

A student of Marxism, Lenin saw in revolutionary Russia the seeds of a communist revolution.

Machine Gun

A weapon invented by Sir Hiram Maxim an 1884. The Maxim used energy from recoil force to expel the spent cartridge and insert the next one. It could fire 400 to 600 rounds per minute, but it was heavy and cumbersome. Also, it required a team of men to operate it and needed a constant supply of water to prevent it from overheating and shutting down.

U.S. Occupation of Japan

After Japan's unconditional surrender in WWII, Japan was occupied by U.S. forces under General Douglas MacArthur.

Korean War

After WWII, Korea, which had been annexed by Japan, was occupied by both the Soviet Union and the United States - the Soviet Union north of the 38th parallel and the United States south of it. The occupation was to be for a limited time while the terms of uniting the country were negotiated.

Indian Independence

After WWII, overseas empires became increasingly difficult to maintain. Great Britain held on, but election of the Labour Party ushered in a movement toward home rule.

Marshall Plan

Also known as the European Recovery Program, a massive economic aid package, part of the containment policy, designed to strengthen democracy and lessen the appeal of communism (developed after WWII).

Mandate System

An Article in the covenant of the League of Nations stated that colonies and territories needed assistance as the prepared for self-government and that mire advanced nations would act as guides for the less experienced ones.

Mohandas Gandhi: Early Years

An Indian Nationalist leader who fought for India;s independence from Great Britain.

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

An organization of producers of oil, established in 1960. Member nations include Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

Nuclear Arms Race

As the Cold War progressed, a new reality emerged: The struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union to claim political hegemony across the globe led to an expensive arms race and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Origins of WWII

Axis powers: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Japan; Allied powers: France and its empire, Great Britain and its empire, Commonwealth allies (Canada, Australia, New Zealand), Soviet Union, China, and the United States.

Background Causes of WWI

By 1900 nationalism was a powerful global force, at some times urging people to unite for a common purpose and at others acting to break groups up. Ethnic minorities living in the multinational empires of the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary were seeking independence.

Results of WWI

Cities throughout Europe were destroyed and millions were dead, injured, or homeless.

Geneva Conference

Cold War peace conference held in 1954.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Controlled the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.

League of Nations

Created after WWI, the League of Nations was the first permanent international organization dedicated to maintaining peace.

United Naitons

Created at the end of WWII as a coalition dedicated to maintaining world peace and security. Had more power than the League of Nations, which had been ineffective in preventing WWII.

Fall of the Qing

Despite the Qing's enacting of a series of reforms in the second half of the 19th century, the sign ing of a number of unequal treaties and numerous internal rebellions has left the ruling family weak, and in 1911 revolution broke out in China.

Commercial Cellular/Mobile Phones

Developed with radio technology from WWII, cell phones (as they are popularly called) are divided into four generations to mark changes/technological developments.

Mexican Revolution: Causes

Discontent after decades of limited social reform led Mexicans to demand change.

Feminism

Discrimination in the workplace was the catalyst for the women' movement.

Soviet Five-Year Plans

Economic policy initiated by Joseph Stalin that set high quotas in an attempt to improve Soviet agricultural and industrial output.

Truman Doctrine

Established March 12, 1947, by President Harry S. Truman, it was an economic and military program intended to help nations resist Soviet aggression and prevent the spread if communism.

Apartheid

Established by the Afrikaner National Party in 1948 in an effort to maintain control over the black African majority.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Established in 1949 as a military of democratic nations against Soviet aggression.

Fall of Soviet Union

Failed invasion of Afghanistan contributed to the decline as resources were strained to support an unpopular and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to expand Soviet influence.

Rise of Fascism

Fascism emerged in both Italy and Germany in the interwar period; both nations were faced with economic depression and in desperate need of strong leaders. Powerful dictators emerged, greatly influenced by fascist ideology.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Fidel Castro, leader of communist Cuba, formed an alliance with Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union after the Bay of Pigs incident and an attempted assassination by rebels funded by the United States.

Iron Curtain: Creation

First articulated in a 1946 speech by English prime minister Winston Churchill the term refers to the symbolic division of Europe after the end of WWII

Rape of Nanking

Following Japan;s invasion of mainland China in 1937, China experienced mass death and suffering; Japan began aerial bombing of major Chinese cities (especially Shanghai, where people died by the thousands).

Joseph Stalin

Following the death of V. I. Lenin, Stalin, the "man of steel," became the totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union.

European Community

Formed in 1957, six founding member nations: France, Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands; characterized by a common market and free trade.

Arab Nationalism

Former Arab colonies easily gained independence from their mother countries post - World War II.

Blitzkrieg ("Lightning War")

Germans invaded Poland unannounced on Sptember 1, 1939. Their strategy included a preemptive air attack, to weaken resistance, followed by land forces- Panzer ("armored") columns, which were fast and mobile.

Mohandas Gandhi: Indian Nationalist

He quickly became a popular leader among the ordinary citizens of India, and the support of an extensive segment of the population made the Non-Cooperation and the Civil Disobedience movements largely successful.

Asian Tigers

Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan enjoyed rapid growth rates and were major economic powers by the 1980s.

Russo-Japanese War

Imperial rivalries led to armed conflict between Russia and Japan for control of parts of Korea and Manchuria.

Bloody Sunday

In 1905 a peaceful demonstration at the Russian czar's winter palace in St. Petersburg turned violent when the czar's guards opened fire on the unarmed crowd.

Twenty-one Demands

In 1915, at war with Germany, invaded German-held territory in one of China's provinces.

Mexican Revolution: Results

In 1917 Mexico adopted a new constitution that established land reform through the government policy of land redistribution and granted rights to workers and women.

Great Depression

In 1929 economic depression spread across the world as the U.S. stock market crashed and European countries struggled to rebuild their damaged postwar economies.

Cuban Revolution

In 1959, Marxist leader Fidel Castro ousted Cuban dictator Fulgenico Batista and took control of Cuba.

Russian Revolution (March 1917)

In February 1917, Czar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne and ended nearly 300 years of Romanov rule.

Iron Curtain: Demise

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened, allowing people to travel freely from east to west. Soon the entire wall was torn down, symbolizing the end of the Cold War.

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

In an attempt to destroy American naval forces in the Pacific, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

New Deal

In response to the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt proposed legislation aimed at economic recovery.

Green Revolution

In the 1960s, new methods of farming were introduced in many developing countries, most notably India, to increase the production of staple crops such as rice and wheat. The success of such programs is known as the Green Revolution.

Adolf Hitler at War

In the late 1930's, Europe felt compelled to respond to the aggressive actions of Hitler, who had rearmed Germany and taken control of the Rhineland and Austria.

Decolonization

In the post - World War II world, mother countries could no longer maintain control of their colonies as they attempted to repair their own war-torn lands.

Nationalist Movements (I)

Influenced by Western ideas, struggling for self-determination and/or responding to European imperialism led to a rise in nationalism across the globe after WWI.

Globalization

Interdependence and interconnection of world economies.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Introduced to the USSR by V.I. Lenin, the policy provided for some private business.

Japanese Invasion of China (1937)

Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China in the hopes of gaining control of China's extensive natural resources.

Cultural Revolution

Known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, it was launched in China in 1966 by Mao Zedong in order to seek out and silence opposition to Mao's leadership and his vision of Communism.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

Muslim-controlled Afghanistan maintained a position of nonalighnment in the Cold War until 1978, when a pro-Soviet dragged the country into a civil war.

War Communism

Nationalization on a massive scale.

Jewish Holocaust

Nazi regime killed over 6 million Jews and an additional 5 million Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, communists, and other "undesirables" - human disaster on a previously unknown scale.

Mukden Incident (Manchurian Incident)

Occurred in Manchuria in September 1931, when Japanese troops blew up part of the South Manchurian Railway.

Pan-Africanism

Pan-Afican movements first emerged in the United States and the Caribbean and the spread to French West Africa as a movement known as Negritude ("Blackness")

Intifada

Part of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the struggle for control of Israel that began as a result of UN Resolution 181, in which the United Nations created Israel from lands claimed by Palestinians.

Indian National Congress (INC): In Action

Partnered with the Muslim League to lead a mass movement to gain self-rule from Great Britain for the Indian Subcontinent.

Detente

Policy adopted by the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War in an effort to reduce tensions between the two superpowers over the arms race and control of developing countries.

Global Problems

Poverty: Unequal distribution of basic resources (such as food, water, shelter) and income (scarcity). Occurs most often in underdeveloped areas of Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia. It is important to note that these areas are also often former colonies.

Red Guards

Red Guards were mostly young students trained in Marxist thought who sought out opposition to Mao and his policies.

Nonalignment

Represented a "third path," ab alternative to allying with either the United States or the Soviet Union.

Benito Mussolini

Responsible for the establishment of the world's first fascist state.

Adolf Hitler: Rise to Power

Rose to power in Germany in the 1920's and 1930's.

Persian Gulf War (1991)

Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait and took control of its oil fields.

Satellite Nations

Soviet-Occupied nations at the end of WWII: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. Soviets set up a communist government in Poland.

Paris Peace Conference

The Allied nations met in Paris in 1919 to settle peace terms with the Central Powers. Five treaties in all were negotiated; the most significant was the Treaty of Versailles, between the Allies and Germany.

Cold War: Origins

The Cold War was an ideological war between two ideologically opposed superpowers.

Internet

The Soviet launch of Sputnik led to the U.S. funding technological research in many important areas, such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the grandfather of a series of agencies that led to the creation of the Internet.

Vietnam War

The United States intervened in the conflict on the side of noncommunist South Vietnam after the French were defeated.

Creation of Israel

The Zionist movement, which originated in Eastern Europe during the late 19th century and was formally organized in 1897, called for the restoration of the Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

Immediate causes of WWI

The crisis sometimes referred to as the "spark" that started the war came on June 28, 1914. While on a visit to Sarajevo (in Bosnia) Archduke Francis Ferdinand heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. Almost immediately, Germany pledged its support to Austria-Hungary, who declared war on Serbia. A few days later, Russia mobilized forces against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia. A few days later, Germany declared war on Russia and then on France. Following the German invasion of Belgium, Britain declared War on Germany, and world war was well under way.

Genocide

The killing of a specific group of people based on specific ethnic, religious, or racial characteristics.

Armenian Genocide

The massive and deliberate killing of Armenian civilians by the Ottoman Turks.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace settlement negotiated by the Allies with Germany at the end of World War I focused on ensuring that Germany would never again be a threat to the security of Europe.

Age of Anxiety

The period after WWI when doubt was cast upon previously existing ways of life.

October Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution)

The second part of the Russian Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik Party.

Islamic Fundamentalism

The term is often by Western sources to describe an extreme movement to replace secular states with Islamic ones.

Dropping of Atomic Bomb

The war in Europe ended in May 1945 but waged on in the Pacific.

Technology of WWI

WWI was the world's first modern war; new weapons revolutionized warfare. Machine guns, heavy artillery, trench warfare, Poison gas grenades. etc.

Total War

When all of the nation's resources are dedicated to the war effort and both the civilian and military populations mobilize to defeat an enemy.

Nuclear Arms Race since the Fall of Soviet Union

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, both the United States and Russia dramatically reduced their nuclear weapons spending.