Study 20th‑Century Global Conflicts

Topic: AP European History

cat: Russian Revolution
cat: Contextualizing 20th‑Century Conflicts
cat: Versailles & Peace Settlements
cat: World War I
cat: Global Economic Crisis
cat: World War II
cat: Interwar Europe
cat: Cultural, Intellectual, Artistic Developments
cat: Rise of Fascism & Totalitarianism
cat: Continuities in Conflict
cat: The Holocaust
World War I: (1914 - 1918) European war in which an alliance including Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States defeated the alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria.
Totalitarianism: a form of government that permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual's life to the authority of the government
Fascism: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism; ex: Mussolini
Benito Mussolini: Italian leader; founded the Italian Fascist Party, and sided with Hitler and Germany in World War II; in 1945 he was overthrown and assassinated by the Italian Resistance
Weimar Republic/Reichstag: The democratic government of Germany between the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the assumption of power by Adolf Hitler in 1933; Weimar, Germany, was where its constitution was written; it abolished the constitutional monarchies that had previously formed the German Empire.
Hyperinflation: a situation where price increases are excessive; affected the Weimar Republic leading to internal political instability and crippled Germany economy
Nazi Party: anti-Semitic political party led by Adolf Hitler; aka: National Socialist German Workers' Party
Anti-Semitism: a person who discriminates against or is prejudiced toward Jews; Nazi policy
Night of Broken Glass: Kristallnacht in German; in 1938 saw the organized destruction of Jewish businesses and homes in Munich
Munich Agreement: Failed 1938 pact between British PM Chamberlain and Hitler that Germany would not conquer any more land if it was given the Sudentenland (German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia); example of appeasement
Appeasement: the policy of acceding to the demands of a potentially hostile nation in the hope of maintaining peace; failed attempt to stop Hitler from invading European nations
Francisco Franco: Spanish general whose armies took control of Spain in 1939 and who ruled as a dictator until his death (1892-1975)
Spanish Civil War: 1936 revolt in which General Franco succeeded in overthrowing the republican government
Axis Powers: a group of countries that opposed the Allied powers in World War II, including Germany, Italy, and Japan as well as Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia
Allied Powers: a group of countries that opposed the Axis powers in World War II; Great Britain, France, Russia, U.S.
Blitzkrieg: A form of warfare used by German forces in World War II; troops in tanks, made quick surprise strikes with support from airplanes; tactics resulted in the swift German conquest of France in 1940
Battle of Britain: the series of aerial combats that took place between British and German aircraft during the autumn of 1940 and that included the severe bombardment of British cities
Winston Churchill: British Prime Minster during most of WWII; famous for his inspiring speeches, and for his refusal to give in, even when things were going badly
Winston Churchill: British Prime Minster during most of WWII; famous for his inspiring speeches, and for his refusal to give in, even when things were going badly
Pearl Harbor: surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. naval base and other military installations December 7, 1941; brought the U.S. into WWII
Battle of Stalingrad: successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad that was a turning point in favor of the Allies in World War II
Operation Overlord: code name given to the Allied invasion of France in June 1944; the commander of Operation Overlord was General Dwight Eisenhower
D-Day: June 6, 1944, on which the Allied invasion of Europe began during Operation Overlord
Dwight D. Eisenhower: United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany; 34th President of the United States (1890-1961)
Final Solution (Holocaust): the Nazi program of annihilating the Jews of Europe during the Third Reich; established at the Wannsee Conference in 1942
"New Racial Order": this term describes the plans of the Nazis to create a new hierarchy of races in Europe, with the Aryans leading over the "lesser" races whom they would conquer and eliminate
Auschwitz: a town in Poland: site of largest Nazi concentration camp during World War II
Island Hopping: A military strategy used during World War II in the Pacific that involved selectively attacking specific Japanese-held islands and bypassing others
Yalta Conference: second wartime meeting of British PM Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt; the three leaders agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world
Hiroshima and Nagaski: In August 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first atomic bomb over these Japanese cities; the explosion destroyed 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure
New Physics: the age of discovery in the fields of science and physics post-WWI which led to a universe even more strange and complex than science had once thought
Max Planck: German physicist whose explanation of black body radiation in the context of measurable "quanta" initiated quantum theory (1858-1947)
Albert Einstein: 20th century German physicist; developed theory of relativity; emigrated from Germany to the United States when the Nazis took power
Werner Heisenberg: A German physicist whose work broke down Newton's dependable laws to only probabilities
Weimar Republic: German republic founded after the WWI and the downfall of the German Empire's monarchy.
Treaty of Versailles: the treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1920 after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans
John Maynard Keynes: British economist who argued that for a nation to recovery fully from a depression, the govt had to spend money to encourage investment and consumption
reparations: As part of the Treaty of Versailles, money Germany was ordered to pay to the Allies to repay the costs of the war; opposed by the U.S., it lead to a severe depression in Germany.
Dawes Plan: successfully resolved the issue of World War I reparations that Germany had to pay; ended a crisis in European diplomacy following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles
Kellogg-Briand Pact: agreement attempting to eliminate war as an instrument of national policy; part of a series of peacekeeping efforts after World War I
Stock Market Crash: In October 1929, when value of stock fell so low, people were left with huge debts; banks ran out of money and closed, people lost jobs; start of Great Depression.
allowFeature: saq
allowFeature: dbq
allowFeature: leq
distribution: 2024, 13.1, 33.3, 25.2, 20.7, 7.7, 83266, 3.23, 71.6
weights:
type: AP Exam
summary: AP European History is a college-level course that examines the political, cultural, economic, and social developments in Europe from around 1450 to the present. Students explore major events and movements such as the Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, Industrialization, the World Wars, and the Cold War. The course emphasizes historical thinking skills—like analyzing sources, making historical arguments, and understanding change over time. Through primary documents, essays, and class discussions, students gain a deeper understanding of how Europe shaped—and was shaped by—the modern world. It prepares students to think critically about the past and its influence on today's global issues.
category: Social Sciences
icon: <i class="fa-solid fa-earth-europe" style="color: #ffba24;"></i>