World War I - Vocabulary

 

1. Lusitania - British passenger ship that was sunk by the Germans in 1915. Over 100 Americans were killed; the sinking of the Lusitania contributed to America entering World War I. 

 

2. Militarism - the opinions or actions of people who believe that a country should use military methods, forces, etc., to gain power and to achieve its goals

 

3. Alliance - a group of people, countries, etc., that are joined together in some activity or effort

 

4. Imperialism - a policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world

 

5. Nationalism - a feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country often with the belief that it is better and more important than other countries

 

6. Central Powers - (in World War I) Germany and Austria-Hungary, often with their allies Turkey and Bulgaria, as opposed to the Allies.

 

7. Allied Powers - The major Allied Powers in World War I were the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire

 

8. Archduke Franz-Ferdinand - In an event that is widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on this day in 1914.

 

9. Woodrow Wilson - 28th President of the United States; led the United States in World War I and secured the formation of the League of Nations (1856-1924)

 

10. Zimmerman Telegraph - telegraph sent from Germany to Mexico offering the country the opportunity for an alliance. Germany urged Mexico to attack the United States in return for territory lost during the Mexican-American War. 

 

11. Propaganda - information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view

 

12. Trench Warfare - warfare in which the opposing forces attack and counterattack from a relatively permanent system of trenches protected by barbed-wire entanglements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Depression Vocabulary

 

1. Boll Weevil - insect whose larvae feed on cotton crops; decimated cotton 

production in the southeastern United States.

 

2. Eugene Talmadge - (1884-1946) - four time Georgia governor that fought against Roosevelt’s New Deal policies.

 

3. New Deal - name given to a series of federal programs spearheaded by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to help the nation recover from the Great Depression.

 

4. Civilian Conservation Corps - a New Deal program that hired unemployed young men to work on public works projects. 

 

5. Rural Electrification - New Deal program designed to build the capabilities to bring electricity to rural areas. 

 

6. Agricultural Adjustment Act - a New Deal program that paid farmers a stipend not to grow.

 

7. Social Security - New Deal program that provided retirement and unemployment insurance for American taxpayers.

 

8. Stock Mark Crash of 1929 - a factor that led to the Great Depression. A major stock market collapse that led to investors losing over 40 billion dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World War II - Vocabulary

 

1. Bell Aircraft - factory located in Marietta, Georgia, that produced B-29 bombers for the U.S. 

 

2. Concentration Camps - Nazi camps where Jews, along with other people the Nazi called undesirable, were incarcerated; the camps later became extermination camps where over 6 million Jews along with gypsies, homosexuals, and political prisoners were executed. 

 

3. Holocaust – the genocide of over 6 million Jews along with gypsies, homosexuals, and political prisoners by Nazi Germany.

 

4. Lend-Lease Act (1941) - act that allowed the U.S. government to send billions of dollars in supplies and military equipment to allied countries in exchange for U.S. rights in their military military bases.

 

5. Liberty Ships - U.S. cargo ships made during World War II. In all 187 of these ships were made in Georgia.

 

6. Pearl Harbor - American Naval base in Hawaii; a surprise attack on the base by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941 resulted in the U.S. entering World War II. 

 

7. Russell, Richard (1897-1971) - Georgia governor and influential long term U.S. Senator. 

 

8. Vinson, Carl (1883-1981) - Georgia Congressman who was an advocate for a strong U.S. military; served 25 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, making him the longest serving Congressmen in U.S. history. 

 

9. World War II (1939-1945) - The most destructive war in human history; America entered the war in 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. 

 

10. Savannah and Brunswick Ship Yards - Georgia’s two deep water ports; during World War II, 187 Liberty Ships were constructed there. 

 

11. Island Hopping – the U.S. strategy during WWII of pushing Japan out of the Pacific one island at a time.

 

12. Dictator – a person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal way

 

13. Isolationism – the belief that a country should not be involved with other countries : a policy of not making agreements or working with other countries

 

14. Victory Gardens-a kitchen garden planted during wartime to relieve food shortages

 

15. Ration Cardsa card certifying the bearer's right to purchase rationed goods

 

16. War Bonds Government debt certificates, guaranteeing payment with 

interest, sold to help the war effort.

 

17. D-Day The unnamed day on which an operation or offensive is to be launched; 

the day on which the Allied forces invaded France during World War II (June 6, 

1944).

 

18. Atomic Bomb -An explosive weapon of great destructive power derived from the rapid release of energy in the fission of heavy atomic nuclei, especially of uranium-235 orplutonium-239. Also called A-bomb, atom bomb, fission bomb.