Exam Review IV
What is fascism? – extreme, violent nationalism that celebrates the state ahead of individual interests
What is totalitarianism? What are some examples of totalitarian leaders during WWII? – a single party dictatorship which uses secret police, state-controlled economy, and censorship to maintain order; examples include Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR
Why did Japan try to create an empire by invading Manchuria? – needed natural resources
What is propaganda? – an attempt to influence public opinion through the use of half-truths and, sometimes, outright lies
What is appeasement? – giving an aggressor what they want to avoid fighting
What was the outcome of the Munich Conference? – Britain gave Hitler the territory he wanted (Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland) in order to avoid fighting
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? – the US had cut off all trade with Japan, angering the Japanese
What is genocide? What are some examples of genocide from the WWII era? – an attempt to wipe out an entire people due to their race, ethnicity, or religion; examples include the Holocaust, Japan’s “Rape of Nanjing” in China
What was D-Day? – June 6, 1944, the day Allied forces invaded France to open a western front against Germany in WWII
What happened to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? – they were destroyed by US atomic bombs
What is the purpose of the UN? – to maintain peace and promote cooperation between nations
What was the Cold War? – a competition for power and influence between the US and Soviet Union (1945-1991)
What were some of the key conflicts of the Cold War? – Korean War, Berlin Blockade & Airlift, Vietnam War, Cuban Missile Crisis
What was “domino theory”? – the belief that if you allowed even one nation to “fall” to communism, then its neighbors would fall as well
What new weapon represented the greatest threat of the Cold War? – nuclear missiles
How did the Cold War end? – the Soviet Union collapsed due to economic and political problems
What happened in Tiananmen Square (China) in 1989? – pro-democracy demonstrators were brutally suppressed by the Chinese government and basic freedoms became even more restricted
Where does the AIDS epidemic pose the greatest threat today? - Africa
What was apartheid? – a government system in South Africa wherein a white minority (15%) controlled the nation and legally discriminated against the African majority
Why are Iran and North Korea concerns today? – They both are trying to develop nuclear weapons
What is the focus of the Arab-Israeli conflict today? – land ownership rights and civil rights for Palestinians living in Israel
What has been a major criticism of the UN regarding its response to genocides in Africa? – the UN has been largely ineffective at stopping African genocides, prompting charges of racism against UN leaders
What countries did the US invade following the 9/11 attacks? – Afghanistan & Iraq
What was the “Arab Spring” of 2010-11? – a period of political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East that saw several long-standing totalitarian governments overthrown (Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria)