W Terms

What’s the Term?

#1) A sacred location, monument, or object in Andean cultures.

Waka (huaca)

#1) A sacred location, monument, or object in Andean cultures.

What’s the Term?

#2) The application of the total-war concept to a civil conflict. During the Russian Revolution (1918-1921), the Bolsheviks seized grain from peasants, introduced rationing, nationalized all banks and industry, and required everyone to work.

War communism

#2) The application of the total-war concept to a civil conflict. During the Russian Revolution (1918-1921), the Bolsheviks seized grain from peasants, introduced rationing, nationalized all banks and industry, and required everyone to work.

What’s the Term?

#3) The part of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) that assigned blame for World War I (1914-1918) to Germany and forced the Germans to make monetary reparations. The clause was the source of much resentment in Germany, a fact the Nazi Party was able to use in bolstering its rise to power in the 1930s.

War guilt clause

#3) The part of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) that assigned blame for World War I (1914-1918) to Germany and forced the Germans to make monetary reparations. The clause was the source of much resentment in Germany, a fact the Nazi Party was able to use in bolstering its rise to power in the 1930s.

What’s the Term?

#4) An organization set up by the German government to ration and distribute raw materials during World War I (1914-1918) as part of the total-war effort. The board launched an aggressive recycling campaign, succeeded in the production of substitutes for rubber and nitrates and strictly rationed food.

War Raw Materials Board

#4) An organization set up by the German government to ration and distribute raw materials during World War I (1914-1918) as part of the total-war effort. The board launched an aggressive recycling campaign, succeeded in the production of substitutes for rubber and nitrates and strictly rationed food.

What’s the Term?

#5) The period of Chinese history between 403 and 221 B.C.E., when there was no central authority and political chaos reigned.

Warring States Period

#5) The period of Chinese history between 403 and 221 B.C.E., when there was no central authority and political chaos reigned.

What’s the Term?

#6) A cold war alliance formed in 1955 among the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite states (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) as a counter to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It ceased to exist in 1991 after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Warsaw Pact

#6) A cold war alliance formed in 1955 among the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite states (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) as a counter to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It ceased to exist in 1991 after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

What’s the Term?

#7) A machine, invented by Richard Arkwright around 1765, that used water power to spin coarse, strong thread and required large, specialized mills. The growth of these cotton mills marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England.

Water frame

#7) A machine, invented by Richard Arkwright around 1765, that used water power to spin coarse, strong thread and required large, specialized mills. The growth of these cotton mills marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England.

What’s the Term?

#8) The weak government that replaced the German imperial state at the end of World War I (1914-1918). Its failure to take strong action against war reparations and the Great Depression provided an opportunity for the Nazi Party’s rise to power.

Weimar Republic

#8) The weak government that replaced the German imperial state at the end of World War I (1914-1918). Its failure to take strong action against war reparations and the Great Depression provided an opportunity for the Nazi Party’s rise to power.

What’s the Term?

#9) A system comprising state-sponsored programs for citizens, including veterans’ pensions, social security, health care, family allowances, and disability insurance. Most highly developed after World War II (1939-1945), the welfare state existed on both sides of the cold war; it intervened in society to bring economic equality by setting a minimum standard of well-being.

Welfare state

#9) A system comprising state-sponsored programs for citizens, including veterans’ pensions, social security, health care, family allowances, and disability insurance. Most highly developed after World War II (1939-1945), the welfare state existed on both sides of the cold war; it intervened in society to bring economic equality by setting a minimum standard of well-being.

What’s the Term?

#10) The effort to remake a country’s government, economy, culture, and society in the image of Western European countries or the United States. Countries that attempt Westernization often meet with strong resistance from traditionalists, who want their native values to remain the same.

Westernization

#10) The effort to remake a country’s government, economy, culture, and society in the image of Western European countries or the United States. Countries that attempt Westernization often meet with strong resistance from traditionalists, who want their native values to remain the same.

What’s the Term?

#11) An international institution of credit created in 1945 with the intention of regulating the global economy, preventing another Great Depression, and stimulating economic growth, especially in the poorer nations. With the increasing globalization of finances and national economies and the dominance of capitalist nations, it has imposed free-market and pro-business conditions on poorer countries that want to qualify for loans.

World Bank

#11) An international institution of credit created in 1945 with the intention of regulating the global economy, preventing another Great Depression, and stimulating economic growth, especially in the poorer nations. With the increasing globalization of finances and national economies and the dominance of capitalist nations, it has imposed free-market and pro-business conditions on poorer countries that want to qualify for loans.

What’s the Term?

#12) An international body representing 149 nations that negotiates the rules for global commerce and is dedicated to the promotion of free trade. However, it has become a target of globalization critics who argue that the organization represents only the interests of global corporations.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

#12) An international body representing 149 nations that negotiates the rules for global commerce and is dedicated to the promotion of free trade. However, it has become a target of globalization critics who argue that the organization represents only the interests of global corporations.

What’s the Term?

#13) Also called the “Great War” (1914-1918); in essence a European civil war with global implications that was marked by unprecedented casualties, the expansion of offensive military technology beyond tactics and means of defense, and the massive mobilization of both troops and civilians on either side. This “total war” was ended by the Treaty of Versailles, the conditions of which only set the stage for World War II (1939-1945).

World War II

#13) Also called the “Great War” (1914-1918); in essence a European civil war with global implications that was marked by unprecedented casualties, the expansion of offensive military technology beyond tactics and means of defense, and the massive mobilization of both troops and civilians on either side. This “total war” was ended by the Treaty of Versailles, the conditions of which only set the stage for World War II (1939-1945).

What’s the Term?

#14) A war (1939-1945) with two major fronts: one in Asia, where China and the United States fought to contain Japanese imperial expansion, and one in Europe, where a coalition of allies including Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States fought to contain German imperial expansion. Significant advances in military technology and blurred lines between civilian and military targets resulted in 60 million deaths, more than half of them civilians.

World War II

#14) A war (1939-1945) with two major fronts: one in Asia, where China and the United States fought to contain Japanese imperial expansion, and one in Europe, where a coalition of allies including Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States fought to contain German imperial expansion. Significant advances in military technology and blurred lines between civilian and military targets resulted in 60 million deaths, more than half of them civilians.