Key 20th-century world history topics and terms from the IB History syllabus, including authoritarian states and the Cold War. Front: the term, event, or figure. Back: a one to two sentence explanation of its significance.
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- Totalitarianism
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A system of government in which the state controls all aspects of society and individuals have no freedom; a defining characteristic of authoritarian regimes like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.- Lebensraum
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German concept meaning living space, used by Hitler to justify territorial expansion and the conquest of Eastern Europe for German settlement.- Blitzkrieg
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German military tactic meaning lightning war, combining rapid tank and air assault; used successfully by Hitler in Poland, France, and early Soviet campaign.- Munich Agreement
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1938 agreement between Britain, France, Germany, and Italy allowing Hitler to annex parts of Czechoslovakia without military opposition, exemplifying the failed policy of appeasement.- Appeasement
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British and French policy of giving in to Hitler's demands to avoid war; it failed to prevent WWII and allowed Nazi Germany to grow stronger.- Nazi-Soviet Pact
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Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement signed in August 1939 between Hitler and Stalin, which included secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.- Collectivization
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Stalin's policy of forcing peasants to give up individual farms and join collective farms; it caused widespread famine and resistance.- Great Purge
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Stalin's campaign of terror from 1936-1938 in which thousands of Communist Party members, military leaders, and ordinary citizens were executed or imprisoned.- Five-Year Plans
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Soviet economic programs initiated by Stalin to industrialize the USSR through central planning and forced labor; they prioritized heavy industry over consumer goods.- Gulag
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Soviet system of forced labor camps where political prisoners, dissidents, and others were imprisoned and worked to death; instrument of Stalin's terror.- Cult of Personality
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State promotion of an authoritarian leader as a heroic, infallible figure through propaganda; used extensively by Stalin in USSR and Mao in China.- Fascism
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Authoritarian ultranationalist political ideology emphasizing the state above the individual, strong leadership, and often racial hierarchy; adopted by Mussolini and Hitler.- The Holocaust
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Nazi genocide of approximately six million Jews, along with millions of others deemed undesirable by the regime, between 1941 and 1945.- Pearl Harbor
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Japanese naval and air attack on the American military base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, which brought the United States into World War II.- D-Day
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June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France at Normandy; largest amphibious invasion in history and beginning of Western liberation of Europe.
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