American History and Government: Essential Vocabulary: American History III

In the 1930s, U.S. foreign policy was characterized by isolationism. World War I and the Great Depression both took a toll on the United States, and leaders were hesitant to involve themselves in world affairs.

The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, imposed harsh penalties on Germany. Adolf Hitler drew upon German resentment of the treaty to gain support.

During World War II, Hitler allied himself with other fascist leaders, including Benito Mussolini of Italy.

Hitler and Mussolini were both dictators, rulers who had virtually unlimited power.

The Holocaust is the name for the systematic murder of Jewish people, as well as other minorities, by the Nazi regime in Germany.

The Holocaust was an attempt at genocide, a deliberate effort to kill off all members of an ethnic, racial, cultural, or religious group.

Blitzkrieg, which literally means "lightning war" in German, refers to a swift and intense attack designed to overwhelm an enemy. German forces used this tactic during World War II.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, President Roosevelt ordered the internment of people of Japanese descent. The majority of people sent to internment camps were American citizens.

In 1945, the United States used nuclear weapons against Japan, dropping atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in the course of a war.

After World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union were superpowers with tremendous influence on other nations.

The Cold War was a period of hostility between the Soviet Union and the United States (and their respective allies). The Cold War lasted from 1947 to 1991. A "hot war" involves actual fighting, while a cold war does not.

During the Cold War, the United States was concerned about the potential spread of communism, the form of government in the Soviet Union. The U.S. believed in the "domino theory" — that if one country became communist, its ideology would spread to nearby nations.

To prevent the spread of communism, the U.S. pursued a policy of containment, an attempt to stop the spread of communism worldwide and provide aid to other nations opposing communist regimes.

The U.S. believed that intervention was essential to stopping the spread of communism.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s aimed to end racial segregation in America. Segregation was enforced in schools, healthcare facilities, public transportation, many other aspects of American life.

Many civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., believed that nonviolence was the most effective tactic to end segregation and inequality. Nonviolent means of protest included sit-ins and marches.

In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Despite the ruling, many Southern states resisted integration.

During the conflict between North and South Vietnam, communist-leaning guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam began supporting the cause of communists in the North. Fearful of the spread of communism, the U.S. increasingly involved itself in the conflict.

During the Vietnam War, the United States implemented a military draft. Around two million American men were selected by random lottery to fight in the war.

The increased economic, informational, and technological interdependence of nations around the world in the late 20th and early 21st centuries is called globalization.