Chapter 27 Flashcards
totalitarianism
a radical dictatorship the exercises “total claims” over the beliefs and behaviors of its citizens by taking control of the economic, social, intellectual, and the cultural aspect of society
fascism
a movement characterized by extreme, often expansionist nationalism, anti-socialism, a dynamic and violent leader, and glorification of war and the military
eugenics
a pseudo-scientific doctrine that maintains that the selective breeding of human beings can improve the general characteristics of a national population, which helped inspire Nazi ideas about “race and space” and ultimately contributed to the Holocaust
five-year plan
a plan launched by Stalin in 1928, and termed the “revolution from above,” aimed at modernizing the Soviet Union and creating a new Communist society with new attitudes, new loyalties, and a new socialist humanity
New Economic Policy, (NEP)
Lenin’s 1921 policy tore-establish limited economic freedom in an attempt to rebuild in the face of economic disintegration
collectivization of agriculture
the forcible consolidation of individual peasant famrs into large state-controlled enterprises in the Soviet Union under Stalin
kulaks
the better-off peasants who were stripped of land and livestock under Stalin and were generally not permitted to join collective farms; many of them starved or were deported to forced-labor camps for “re-education”
Black Shirts
Mussolini’s private militia that destroyed socialist newspapers, union halls, and Socialist Party headquarters, eventually pushing Socialists out of the city governments of northern Italy
Lateran Agreement
a 1929 agreement that recognized the Vatican as an independent state, with Mussolini agreeing to give the church heavy financial support in return for public support from the people
National Socialism
a movement and political party driven by extreme nationalism and racism, led by Adolf Hitler;its adherents ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 and forced Europe into World War II
Enabling Act
an act pushed through the Reinchstag by the Nazis that gave Hitler absolute dictatorial power for four years
appeasement
the British policy towards Germany prior to WWII that aimed at granting Hitler whatever he wanted, including western Czechoslovakia, in order to avoid war
New Order
Hitler’s program based on radical imperialism, which gave preferential treatment to the Nordic peoples; the French, an “inferior” Latin people. occupied a middle position; and Slavs and Jews were treated harshly as “subhumans”
Holocaust
The systematic effort of the Nazi state to exterminate all European Jews and other groups deemed racially inferior during the Second World War
