mobilization
the process of assembling troops and supplies and making them ready for war
propaganda
ideas spread to influence the public opinion for or against a cause
trench warfare
fighting from ditches protected by barbed wire, as in WWI
war of attrition
a war based on wearing down the other side with constant attacks and heavy losses such as WWI
reparations
a payment made to the victor by the vanquished to cover the costs of war
armistice
a truce or agreement to end fighting
Proletariat
class of factory and railroad workers, miners and urban wage earners
Bolshevik
a small group of people who lead in the name of all people
collective
large farms owned and operated by peasants in a group
command economy
economic system in which government officials made all basic economic decisions
atheism
belief that there is no God
totalitarian state
a government that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens
fascism
a political philosophy that glorifies the state above the individual by emphasizing the need for a strong central government led by a dictatorial ruler
nazi
shortened form of the German Nazional, or the National Socialist German Workers’ Party; a member of such party
concentration camp
a camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions
aryan
a term used to identify people speaking Indo-European languages; Nazis misused the term, treating it as a racial designation and identifying the Aryans with the ancient Greeks and Romans and twentieth-century Germans and Scandinavians
genocide
the deliberate mass murder or physical extinction of a particular racial, political, or cultural group
ethnic cleansing
a policy of killing or forcibly removing an ethnic group from its lands; used by the Serbs against the Muslim minority in Bosnia
Pan-Africanism
the unity of all black Africans, regardless of national boundaries
civil disobedience
refusal to obey laws that are considered to be unjust
guerrilla tactics
the use of unexpected maneuvers like sabotage and subterfuge to fight an enemy
appeasement
satisfying reasonable demands of dissatisfied powers in an effort to maintain peace and stability
isolationism
a policy of national isolation by abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations
collaborator
a person who assists the enemy
blitzkrieg
German for “lightning war”; a swift and sudden military attack; used by the Germans in World War II
Cold War
the period of political tension following World War II and ending with the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s
conscription
military draft