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Anarchism
Belief that society should be a free association of its members, not subject to government, laws, or police.
Anglo-Boer War
(1899 - 1902) Anticolonial struggle in South Africa between the British and the Afrikaners over the gold-rich Transvaal. In response to the Afrikaners' guerrilla tactics and in order to contain the local population, the British instituted the first concentration camps. Ultimately, Britain…
Boxer Uprising
(1899 - 1900) Chinese peasant movement that opposed foreign influence, especially that of Christian missionaries; it was put down after the Boxers were defeated by an army composed mostly of Japanese, Russians, British, French, and Americans.
Mexican Revolution
(1910) Conflict fueled by the unequal distribution of land and by disgruntled workers; it erupted when political elites split over the succession of General Porfirio D’az after decades of his rule. The fight lasted over ten years and cost one million lives, but it resulted in a widespre…
Modernists
A generation of exuberant young artists, writers, and scientists in the late nineteenth century who broke with older conventions and sought new ways of seeing and describing the world.
Pan movements
Groups that sought to link people across state boundaries in new communities based on ethnicity or, in some cases, religion (e.g., pan-Germanism, pan-Islamism, pan-Slavism).
Popular culture
Affordable and accessible forms of art and entertainment available to people at all levels of society.
Progressive reformers
Members of the U.S. reform movement in the early twentieth century that aimed to eliminate political corruption, improve working conditions, and regulate the power of large industrial and financial enterprises.
Shanghai School
Late-nineteenthcentury style of painting characterized by an emphasis on spontaneous brushwork, feeling, and the incorporation of western influences into classical Chinese pieces.
Sun Yat-sen
(1866 - 1925) Chinese revolutionary and founder of the Nationalist Party in China.
Syndicalism
Organization of workplace associations that included unskilled labor.
Allied Powers
Name given to the alliance between Britain, France, Russia, and Italy, who fought against Germany and Austria-Hungary (the Central powers) in World War I. In World War II the name was used for the alliance between Britain, France, and America, who fought against the Axis powers (Germany, …
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
(1881 - 1938) Ottoman army officer and military hero who helped forge the modern Turkish nation-state. He and his followers deposed the sultan, declared Turkey a republic, and constructed a European-like secular state, eliminating Islam's hold over civil and political affairs.
Bolsheviks
Former members of the Russian Social Democratic Party who advocated the destruction of capitalist political and economic institutions and started the Russian Revolution. In 1918 the Bolsheviks changed their name to the Russian Communist Party.
Central Powers
Defined in World War I as Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Chiang Kai-shek
(1887 - 1975) Leader of the Guomindang following Sun Yat-sen's death who mobilized the Chinese masses through the New Life movement. In 1949 he lost the Chinese Revolution to the communists and moved his regime to Taiwan.
Fascism
Mass political movement founded by Benito Mussolini that emphasized nationalism, militarism, and the omnipotence of the state.
Great Depression
Worldwide depression following the U.S. stock market crash on October 29, 1929.
Great War (World War I)
(August 1914 - November 1918) A total war involving the armies of Britain, France, and Russia (the Allies) against those of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers). Italy joined the Allies in 1915, and the United States joined them in 1917, helping tip the ba…
Adolf Hitler
(1889 - 1945) German dictator and leader of the Nazi Party who seized power in Germany after its economic collapse in the Great Depression. Hitler and his Nazi regime started World War II in Europe and systematically murdered Jews and other non-Aryan groups in the name of racial purity.
League of Nations
Organization founded after World War I to solve international disputes through arbitration; it was dissolved in 1946 and its assets were transferred to the United Nations.
Mass consumption
Increased purchasing power in the early-twentieth-century prosperous and mainly middle-class societies, stemming from mass production.
Mass culture
Distinctive form of popular culture that arose in the wake of World War I. It reflected the tastes of the working and the middle classes, who now had more time and money to spend on entertainment, and relied on new technologies, especially film and radio, which could reach an entire natio…
Mass production
System in which factories were set up to produce huge quantities of identical products, reflecting the early-twentieth-century world's demands for greater volume, faster speed, reduced cost, and standardized output.
Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi
(1869 - 1948) Indian leader who led a nonviolent struggle for India's independence from Britain.
Benito Mussolini
(1883 - 1945) Italian dictator and founder of the fascist movement in Italy. During World War II, he allied Italy with Germany and Japan.
Nazis
German organization dedicated to winning workers over from socialism to nationalism; the first Nazi Party platform combined nationalism with anticapitalism and anti-Semitism.
New Deal
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's package of government reforms that were enacted during the 1930s to provide jobs for the unemployed, social welfare programs for the poor, and security to the financial markets.
Nonviolent resistance
Moral and political philosophy of resistance developed by Indian National Congress leader Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi believed that if Indians pursued self-reliance and self-control in a nonviolent way, the British would eventually have to leave.
Joseph Stalin
(1879 - 1953) Leader of the communist party and the Soviet Union; sought to create 'socialism in one country.'
Allied powers
Name given to the alliance between Britain, France, Russia, and Italy, who fought against Germany and Austria-Hungary (the Central powers) in World War I. In World War II the name was used for the alliance between Britain, France, and America, who fought against the Axis powers (Germany, …
Apartheid
Racial segregation policy of the Afrikaner-dominated South African government. Legislated in 1948 by the Afrikaner National Party, it had existed in South Africa for many years.
Arab-Israeli War
(1948-1949) Conflict between Israeli and Arab armies that arose in the wake of a U.N. vote to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish territories. The war shattered the legitimacy of Arab ruling elites.
Axis powers
The three aggressor states in World War II: Germany, Japan, and Italy.
Berlin Wall
Wall built by the communists in Berlin in 1961 to prevent citizens of East Germany from fleeing to West Germany; torn down in 1989.
Fidel Castro
(1926 - ) Cuban communist leader whose forces overthrew Batista's corrupt regime in early January 1959. Castro became increasingly radical as he consolidated power, announcing a massive redistribution of land and the nationalization of foreign oil refineries; he declared himself a sociali…
Civil rights movement
Powerful movement for equal rights and the end of racial segregation in the United States that began in the 1950s with court victories against school segregation and nonviolent boycotts.
Cold war
(1945 - 1990) Ideological conflict in which the Soviet Union and eastern Europe opposed the United States and western Europe.
Decolonization
End of empire and emergence of new independent nation-states in Asia and Africa as a result of the defeat of Japan in World War II and weakened European influence after the war.
First World
Term invented during the cold war to refer to western Europe and North America (also known as the 'free world' or the West); Japan later joined this group. Following the principles of liberal modernism, First World states sought to organize the world on the basis of capitalism and democra…
Holocaust
Deliberate racial extermination of the Jews by the Nazis that claimed around 6 million European Jews.
Martin Luther King
Jr. (1929 - 1968) Civil rights leader who borrowed his most effective weapon -- the commitment to nonviolent protest and the appeal to conscience -- from Gandhi.
Korean War
(1950 - 1953) Cold war conflict between Soviet-backed North Korea and U.S.- and UN-backed South Korea. The two sides seesawed back and forth over the same boundaries until 1953, when an armistice divided the country at roughly the same spot as at the start of the war. Nothing had been gai…
Mao Zedong
(1893 - 1976) Chinese communist leader who rose to power during the Long March (1934). In 1949, he defeated the Nationalists and established a communist regime in China. Although many of Mao's efforts to transform China, such as the industrialization program of 1958 (known as the Great Le…
Neocolonialism
Contemporary geopolitical policy or practice in which a politically, economically, and often militarily superior nation asserts control over a country that remains nominally sovereign.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
International organization set up in 1949 to provide for the defense of western European countries and the United States from the perceived Soviet threat.
Prague Spring
(1968) Program of liberalization under a new communist party in Czechoslovakia that strove to create a democratic and pluralist socialism.
Second World
Term invented during the cold war to refer to the communist countries, as opposed to the West (or First World) and the former colonies (or Third World).
Sexual revolution
Increased freedom in sexual behavior, resulting in part from the advances in contraception, notably the introduction of oral contraception in 1960, which allowed men and women to limit childbearing and to have sex with less fear of pregnancy.
Superpowers
Label applied to the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II because of their size, their possession of the atomic bomb, and the fact that each embodied a model of civilization (capitalism or communism) applicable to the whole world.
Third World
Nations of the world, mostly in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, that were not highly industrialized like First World nations or tied to the Soviet Bloc (the Second World).
Vietnam War
(1965 - 1975) Conflict that resulted from concern over the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The United States intervened on the side of South Vietnam in its struggle against peasant-supported Viet Cong guerrilla forces, who wanted to reunite Vietnam under a communist regime. Faced w…
Warsaw Pact
(1955 - 1991) Military alliance between the Soviet Union and other communist states that was established in response to the creation of the NATO alliance.
Zionism
Political movement advocating the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Caste War
(1847 - 1901) Conflict between Mayan Indians and the Mexican state over Indian autonomy and legal equality, which resulted in the Mexican takeover of the Yucatan peninsula.
Chartism
(1834 - 1848) Mass democratic movement to pass the Peoples' Charter in Britain, granting male suffrage, secret ballot, equal electoral districts, and annual parliaments, and absolving the requirement of property ownership for members of the parliament.
Usman dan Fodio
(1754 - 1817) Fulani Muslim cleric whose visions led him to challenge the Hausa ruling classes, whom he believed were insufficiently faithful to Islamic beliefs and practices. His ideas gained support among those who had suffered under the Hausa landlords. In 1804, his supporters and alli…
Fourierism
Form of utopian socialism based on the ideas of Charles Fourier (1772 - 1837). Fourier envisioned communes where work was made enjoyable and systems of production and distribution were run without merchants. His ideas appealed to middle-class readers, especially women, as a higher form of…
Liberalism
Political and social theory that advocates representative government, free trade, and freedom of speech and religion.
Marxism
Form of scientific socialism created by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that was rooted in a materialist theory of history: what mattered in history were the production of material goods and the ways in which society was organized into classes of producers and exploiters.
Mfecane movement
African political revolts in the first half of the nineteenth century that were caused by the expansionist methods of King Shaka of the Zulu people.
Millenarian
Convinced of the imminent coming of a just and ideal society.
Proletarians
Industrial wage workers.
Rebellion of 1857 (Great Rebellion)
Indian uprising against the East India Company to bring religious purification, an egalitarian society, and local and communal solidarity without the interference of British rule.
Restoration period
(1815 - 1848) European movement after the defeat of Napoleon to restore Europe to its pre-French revolutionary status and to quash radical movements.
Taiping Rebellion
Rebellion by followers of Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom against the Qing government over the economic and social turmoil caused by the Opium War. Despite raising an army of 100,000 rebels, the rebellion was crushed.
Tecumseh
(1768 - 1813) Shawnee who circulated Tenskwatawa's message of Indian renaissance among Indian villages from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. He preached the need for Indian unity, insisting that Indians resist any American attempts to get them to sell more land. In response, thousands o…
Tenskwatawa
(1768 - 1834) Shawnee prophet who urged disciples to abstain from alcohol and return to traditional customs, reducing dependence on European trade goods and severing connections to Christian missionaries. His message spread to other tribes, raising the specter of a pan-Indian confederacy.…
Utopian socialism
The most visionary of all Restoration-era movements. Utopian socialists like Charles Fourier dreamed of transforming states, workplaces, and human relations and proposed plans to do so.
Wahhabism
Early-eighteenth-century reform movement organized by Muhammad Ibn abd al-Wahhab, who preached the absolute oneness of Allah and a return to the pure Islam of Muhammad.
Charles Darwin
(1809 - 1882) British scientist who became convinced that the species of organic life had evolved under the uniform pressure of natural laws, not by means of a special, one-time creation as described in the Bible.
Imperialism
Acquisition of new territories by a state and the incorporation of these territories into a political system as subordinate colonies.
Limited-liability joint-stock company
Company that mobilized capital from a large number of investors, called shareholders, who were not to be held personally liable for financial losses incurred by the company.
Manifest Destiny
Belief that it was God's will for the American people to expand their territory and political processes across the North American continent.
Meiji Restoration
Reign of the Meiji emperor, which was characterized by a new nationalist identity, economic advances, and political transformation.
Natural selection
Charles Darwin's theory that populations grew faster than the food supply, creating a 'struggle for existence' among species. In later work he showed how the passing on of individual traits was also determined by what he called sexual selection -- according to which the 'best' mates are c…
Orientalism
Genre of literature and painting that portrayed the nonwestern peoples of North Africa and Asia as exotic, sensuous, and economically backward with respect to Europeans.
Raj
British crown's administration of India following the end of the East India Company's rule after the Rebellion of 1857.
Self-Strengthening movement
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, a movement of reformist Chinese bureaucrats that attempted to adopt western elements of learning and technological skill while retaining their core Chinese culture.
Steel
A metal more malleable and stronger than iron that became essential for industries like shipbuilding and railways.
AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome)
Virus that compromises the ability of the infected person's immune system to ward off disease. First detected in 1981, AIDS was initially stigmatized as a 'gay cancer,' but as it spread to heterosexuals, public awareness about it increased. In its first two decades, AIDS killed 12 million…
Developing world
Term applied to countries collectively called the Third World during the cold war and seeking to develop viable nation-states and prosperous economies.
European Union (EU)
International body organized after World War II as an attempt at reconciliation between Germany and the rest of Europe. It initially aimed to forge closer industrial cooperation. Eventually, through various treaties, many European states relinquished some of their sovereignty, and the coo…
Feminist movements
Movements that called for equal treatment for men and women -- equal pay and equal opportunities for obtaining jobs and advancement. Feminism arose mainly in Europe and in North America in the 1960s and then became global in the 1970s.
Globalization
Development of integrated worldwide cultural and economic structures.
Global warming
Release into the air of human-made carbons that contribute to rising temperatures worldwide.
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Agency founded in 1944 to help restore financial order in Europe and the rest of the world, to revive international trade, and to support the financial concerns of Third World governments.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomein
(1902 - 1989) Iranian religious leader who used his traditional Islamic education and his training in Muslim ethics to accuse the shah's government of gross violations of Islamic norms. He also identified the shah's ally, America, as the great Satan. The shah fled the country in 1979; in …
Nelson Mandela
(1918 - ) Leader of the African National Congress (ANC) who was imprisoned for more than two decades by the apartheid regime in South Africa for his political beliefs; worldwide protests led to his release in 1990. In 1994 Mandela won the presidency in South Africa's first free mass elect…
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
Term used to refer to private organizations like the Red Cross that play a large role in international affairs
Silicon Valley
Valley between the California cities of San Francisco and San Jose, known for its innovative computer and high-technology industries.
Supranational organizations
International organizations such as NGOs, the World Bank, and the IMF.
Tiananmen Square
Largest public square in the world and site of the pro-democracy movement in 1989 that resulted in the killing of as many as a thousand protesters by the Chinese army.
Truth commissions
Elected officials' inquiries into human rights abuses by previous regimes. In Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, and South Africa, these commissions were vital for creating a new aura of legitimacy for democracies and for promising to uphold the rights of individuals.
World Bank
International agency established in 1944 to provide economic assistance to war-torn and poor countries. Its formal title is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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