Key Historical Events and Terms of the 20th Century

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World War I

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A global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918.

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World War II

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A global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations.

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Reparations

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Compensation imposed during the Paris Peace Conference upon the Central Powers following their defeat in the First World War by the Allied and Associate Powers.

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Holocaust

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The genocide of European Jews during World War II.

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Cold War

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A period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies after World War II.

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Iron Curtain

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A term used to describe the boundary that separated the Warsaw Pact countries from the NATO countries from about 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

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Containment

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A geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States to prevent the spread of communism.

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Marshall Plan

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An American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe.

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NATO

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance of European and North American democracies founded after World War II.

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Warsaw Pact

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A collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War.