WAR - The World at War Module Overview

The World at War

Introduction

The War to end all wars....maybe? Icon Considering all of the heads that rolled in the last unit, you probably thought the topic of a world at war had been covered. But those were domestic disputes, for the most part. In this unit, we look at what happens when the world goes to war with itself - not once, but twice - culminating in the explosion of the atomic bomb - not once, but twice. (Clearly the world needs a learning curve.) Here we delve into the causes and effects of "the war to end all wars" and learn that one of those effects was, alas, another war. Brace yourself—it will get ugly—and eventually...cold.

Essential Questions

Why were nationalism, alliances and militarism so important in leading up to World War I?
How did World War I alter the atlas?
Were all of the conditions outlined in the Treaty of Versailles met?
What signs of impending doom were overlooked leading up to World War II?
How did Hitler's vision for Germany and the Third Reich come to fruition? How did it end?
What were the global effects of World War II?

Study Guide

Click here to download a study guide for this module. Links to an external site.

Key Terms

"Big Three" —label given to the three leading Allied nations during World War II: Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States
"Big Four" — label given to the main leaders of the Paris Peace Conference following the Great War (WW1); U.S./Woodrow Wilson, France/ Georges Clemenceau, Great Britain/ David Lloyd George, Italy/ Vittorio Orlando
"Powder Keg of Europe" — refers to the Balkans in the early part of the 20^th Century CE preceding World War I
"Sick Man of Europe" — label given to the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19^th Century CE based on its economic difficulty and impoverishment
"The Great War " — world war between the Allied and Central Powers from 1914 to 1918 CE; also known as World War I
Adolf Hitler — (1889-1945) Führer of Nazi Germany
Anglo-Boer War — (1899-1902) war between the Dutch Orange Free State and Transvaal against Great Britain in South Africa; also known as the Boer War or South African War
Annex — to officially add a territory to a country
Anschluss — German term used to describe the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938; literally means "union" or "joining" in German
Appeasement — policy of giving an aggressor nation what they want in the hopes of avoiding war; official British policy towards Germany in the years leading up to World War II
Armistice — an agreement to stop fighting (not necessarily an agreement to end a war)
Axis Powers — war alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany during World War II (later included Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia); opposition to the Allied Powers
Benito Mussolini — (1883-1945) Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party; totalitarian Prime Minister of Italy 1922-1943
Bolsheviks — a member of the Russian Communist Party following the Russian Revolution in 1917
Bourgeoisie — (in Marxist terms) the capitalist class that owned the majority of a society's wealth and means of production
Chiang Kai-shek — (1887-1975 CE) China's nationalist leader during the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War — (1927-1936; resumed 1946-1950 CE) a civil war fought within China between Guomindang (Kuomintang) nationalist government of the Republic of China and the Chinese forces loyal to the Communist Party of China
Cold War — the state of political hostility between the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc nations and the United States-led western nations from the end of World War II to 1991 CE
Communist Manifesto — an 1848 CE political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that provided the first statements of the principals of communism
Concentration Camps — imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups and without trial; most associated with the German use during World War II and the Holocaust
Decolonization — the act of getting rid of colonization; the freeing of a country from its colonial government
Eastern Bloc — the communist nations of central and eastern Europe following World War II
Fascism — a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power with focus on the state's rights over individual rights
Five Year Plan — a series of nation-wide centralized exercises in rapid economic development in the Soviet Union implemented by Joseph Stalin
Fourteen Points — U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's plan for peace following the Great War (WW1)
Genocide — the attempt to wipe out an entire race of people
Gold-Standard — the system by which the value of a currency was defined in terms of gold
Great Depression — severe worldwide economic depression preceding World War II
Great Purge — campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union (USSR) in the 1930s as the extreme means used by Joseph Stalin to eliminate alleged political rivals; also known as the Great Terror
Holocaust — the mass murder of more than 6 million Jews along with millions of other targeted populations (gypsies, homosexuals, communists...) conducted by the Nazi government of Germany during World War II; usually capitalized and preceded with "the"
Iron Curtain — a name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War in 1991; term symbolizing the isolation of the Eastern Bloc nations from Western Europe during the Cold War
Jawaharlal Nehru — (1889-1964 CE) central figure in Indian politics during and after the British Raj; first Prime Minister of India following the end of British rule
Jingoism — extreme patriotism; especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy
Joseph Stalin — (1878-1953 CE) dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from the 1920s to 1953
Korean War — a war fought in the early 1950s between the U.S.-led United Nations troops and the communist Democratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly known as North Korea) over the unification of the Korean Peninsula
League of Nations — a permanent meeting of member nations to prevent future wars; planned as part of Wilson's 14 Points
Mandate — an order that some areas be controlled by the United Nations
Mao Tse-Tung —(1893-1976) Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976
Marshall Plan — a program by which the United States gave large economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after the devastation of World War II
Marxism — the political and economic theories developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, later developed by their followers to form the basis for the theory and practice of communism
Militarism — when a country "glorifies" its military might; the concept that a strong national military can be used to promote national interests
Mobilize — to get troops and equipment in place for war
Modernism — a style or movement in the arts, philosophy and culture that aims to break with classical and traditional forms
Mohandas Gandhi — (1869-1948 CE) pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian Independence Movement
Muhammad Ali Jinnah — (1876-1948 CE) political leader of the Muslim League; first Governor-General of Pakistan following its formation at the end of the British Raj
Muslim Brotherhood — a Sunni Islamic religious and political organization that promotes strict following of Muslim traditions in opposition to Western Influence; originated in Egypt 1928
Mustafa Atatürk — (1881-1938 CE) founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey; "Atatürk" means "father of the Turks" in Turkish; also known as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Nativism — the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants
NATO — (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) a military alliance of North American and European nations founded after World War II to strengthen military ties between the member states; counter to the later Warsaw Pact
Non-Aggression Pact — Germany and Russia's agreement not to fight over Poland signed in 1939 before the start of World War II; also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Nuclear Warfare — a war in which nuclear weapons are used
Nuremberg Laws — anti-Jewish statutes enacted by Germany starting in 1935 that marked a major step in clarifying Nazi racial policy and removing Jewish influences from German culture and society
Paris Peace Conference — (1919) the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of the Great War (WW1) in France to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers; also known as the Versailles Peace Conference
Potsdam Conference — meeting held in Potsdam, Germany between July 17 through August 2, 1945 between the leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union to negotiate the terms of the peace treaty ending the war with Germany during World War II
Proletariat — (in Marxist terms) the workers or working-class people of a society that did not share in the society's wealth or ownership in the means of production
Propaganda — government sponsored information used to sway public opinion
Rape of Nanjing — (December 1937-January 1938) the episode of mass murder and rape committed by the Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing (China's capital); genocidal war crime
Recession — a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced
Reparations — money owed to another country for war damages
Satyagraha — a policy of passive political resistance especially encouraged by Gandhi against the British Raj in India; "non-violent resistance"
Second Sino-Japanese War — the second war between Japan and China that began in 1937 with the Japanese invasion of China and ended with the Japanese defeat during World War II
Sun Yat-sen — (1866-1925) the first president and founding father of the Republic of China in 1912 CE
Tehran Conference — a strategy meeting held in 1943 between the leaders of the Allied nations in the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran to agree upon an Allied plan of action to win World War II
Totalitarianism — absolute control by the state or a governing branch of a highly-centralized institution
Treaty of Versailles — the most important of the five peace treaties set during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919; ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers during the Great War (WW1)
Triple Alliance— the military alliance between Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary prior to WWI
Triple Entente— a "friendship" agreement between France, England and Russia prior to WWI
United Nations — an international organization formed in 1945 to increase political and economic cooperation between member nations; also works on economic and social development programs, improving human rights and reducing global conflicts
Vladimir Lenin — (1870-1924) architect of Russia's 1917 Revolution and first leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) following the Bolshevik victory during the revolution
Warsaw Pact — a military alliance of communist nations in eastern Europe formed in response to the creation of NATO
Yalta Conference — (February 4-11, 1945) a meeting between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to discuss preparations for a German defeat in World War II
Zimmerman Note—World War I; telegram sent by the Germans to Mexico inviting the latter to attack the U.S. in return for U.S. territory following the war

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