AP World History Vocabulary 1900-Present
European Economic Community
A Common Market organized in 1958 which reduced tariffs among member nations and created a common tariff policy for other world nations
Pan-Slavic movement
A Russian attempt to unite all Slavic nations into a commonwealth relationship under the influence of Russia.
British commonwealth
A political community consisting of the United Kingdom, its dependencies, and former colonies of Great Britain that are now sovereign nations; currently called the Commonwelath of Nations
Guomindang
China's Nationalist political party founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 and based on democratic principles; in 1925, the party was taken over by Jiang Jieshi, who made it into a more authoritarian party.
containment
Cold War policy of the United States whose purpose was to prevent the spread of communism
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Organization formed in 1950 by oil-producing countries to regulate oil supplies and prices (OPEC)
Kulaks
Russian peasants who became wealthy under Lenin's New Economic Policy
Afrikaners
South Africans who were descended from the Dutch who settled in south Africa in the 17th century
Hubble space telescope
Telescope able to peer deep into space
New Deal
U.S. President Roosevelt's program to relieve the economic problems of the Great Depression; it increased government involvement in the society of the United States
National Organization For Women
U.S. organization founded in 1969 to campaign for women's rights
Cartels
Unions of independent businesses in order to regulate production, prices, and the marketing of goods
Korean Conflict
Wars between Communist North Korea, aided by China, and Capitalist South Korea, aided by the United States
Cuban missile crisis
When in 1962, the Soviets constructed nuclear missiles in Cuba which brought days of tense confrontation between Khrushchev and the U.S. President Kennedy. Khrushchev ultimately backed down, and the missiles were removed.
May fourth movement
a 1919 protest in China against the Treaty of Versailles and foreign influence
Tehran conference
a 1943 meeting of leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union; it agreed on the opening of a second front in France
Potsdam conference
a 1945 meeting of the leaders of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union in which it was agreed that the Soviet Union would be given control of eastern Europe and that Germany would be divided into zones of occupation
Geneva Conference
a 1954 conference that divided Vietnam at the seventh parallel
Helsinki accords
a 1975 political and human rights agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland, by Western European countries and the Soviet Union
cultural revolution
a Chinese movement from 1966 to 1976 intended to establish an egalitarian society of peasants and workers.
Marshall plan
a U.S. plan to support the recovery and reconstruction of Western Europe after WWII
Spanish civil war
a conflict from 1936-1939 that resulted in the installation of fascist dictator Francisco Franco as ruler of Spain; Franco's forces were backed by Germany and Italy, whereas the Soviet Union supported the opposing republican forces
Kabuki theater
a form of Japanese theater developed in the 17th century that features colorful scenery and costumes and an exaggerated style of acting
Coalition
a government based on temporary alliances of several political parties
Yalta conference
a meeting of the leaders of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States in 1945; the Soviet Union agreed to enter the war against Japan in exchange for influence in the Eastern European states. The Yalta Conference also made plans for the establishment of a new international organization.
Iron curtain
a metaphorical description of the divide between the Communist East and Democratic Western Europe
Welfare state
a nation in which the government plays an active role in providing services such as social security to its citizens
Fascism
a political movement that is characterized by extreme nationalism, one-party rule, and the denial of individual rights
Alliance for progress
a program of economic aid for Latin America in exchange for pledge to establish democratic institutions; part of U.S. President Kennedy's international program
Cubism
a school of art in which persons and objects are represented by geometric forms.
Al-Qaeda
a terrorist group based in Afghanistan in the late 20th and early 21st centuries
Ayatollah
a traditional Muslim religious ruler
Russification
a tsarist program that required non-Russians to speak only Russian and provided education only for those groups loyal to Russia
Mandate
a type of colony in which the government is overseen by another nation, as in the Middle Eastern mandates placed under European control after WWI
international space station
a vehicle sponsored by 16 nations that circles the earth while carrying out experiments
Berlin wall
a wall, built by the East German Communist government, to separate the Democratic Western Berlin
world bank
an agency of the United Nations that offers loans to countries to promote trade and economic development
import substitution industrialization
an economic system that attempts to strengthen a country's industrial power by restricting foreign imports
World Trad Organization
an international organization begun in 1995 to promote and organize world trade
International Monetary fund
an international organization founded in 1944 to promote market economies and free trade
European Union
an organization designed to reduce trade barriers and promote economic unity in Europe; it was formed in 1993 to replace the European Community.
North American Free Trade Organization
an organization that prohibits tariffs and other trade barriers between Mexico, the United States, and Canada (NAFTA)
central powers
in WWI, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and other nations who fought with them against the Allies
Allied powers
in WWI, the nations of Great Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and others that fought against the Central Powers; in WWII, the group of nations including Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, that fought against the Axis Powers
League of nations
international organization founded after WWI to promote peace and cooperation among nations
service industries
occupations that provided a service rather than a manufactured or agricultural product
evangelical
pertaining to preaching the Gospel (the good news) or pertaining to theologically conservative Christians.
five year plans
plans for industrial production first introduced in the Soviet Union in 1928 by Stalin; they succeeded in making the Soviet Union a major industrial power by the end of the 1930s
Appeasement
policy of Great Britain and France of making concessions in Hitler in the 1930s
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
the 1918 treaty ending WWI between Germany and the Soviet Union
Treaty of Versailles
the 1919 peace treaty between Germany and the Allied nations; it blamed the war on Germany and assessed heavy reparations and large territorial losses on the part of Germany
Glasnost
the 1985 policy of Mikhail Gorbachev that allowed openness of expression of ideas in the Soviet Union
Persian gulf war
the 1991 war between Iraq and a U.S. led coalition to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion
government of India Act
the British law passed in 1935 which increased suffrage and turned provincial governments over to Indian leaders
Brinkmanship
the Cold War policy of the Soviet Union and the United States of threatening to go to war at a sign of aggression on the part of either power
Anschluss
the German annexation of Austria prior to WWII
Holocaust
the Nazi program during WWII that killed 6 million Jews and other groups considered undesirable
Apartheid
the South African policy of separation of the races
Deoxyribonucleic acid
the blueprint of heredity
No theater
the classical Japanese drama with music and dances performed on a simple stage by elaborately dressed actors
Collectivization
the combination of several small farms into a large government controlled farm
Great leap forward
the diasastrous economic policy introduced by Mao Zedong that proposed the implementation of small scale industrial projects on individual peasant communities
Sputnik
the first man-made satellite, launched by the Soviet Union
United Nations
the international organization founded in 1945 to establish peace and cooperation among nations
Reparations
the payment of war debts by the losing side
Great depression
the severe worldwide economic downturn that began in the late 1920s and continued into the 1930s throughout many regions of the world
McDonaldization
the spread of American culture and values around the world
Euro
the standard currency introduced and adopted by the majority of members of the European Union in January 2002
Genocide
the systematic killing of an entire ethnic group
Cold war
the tense diplomatic relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II
Mass consumerism
trade in products designed to appeal to a global market