A History of the World: Chapter 25: World War II and the Cold War

To help ensure Germany's recovery, the U.S. and European nations created the Dawes Plan in 1924.

A depression is a time of reduced economic activity during which businesses often fail and many people lose their jobs. The economic crisis of the 1930s was so severe it became known as the Great Depression.

Roosevelt's New Deal restored Americans' hope for the future.

In a totalitarian state, political leaders try to totally control the way citizens live and think. During the 1930s, totalitarian leaders used print, radio, film, and the arts to enforce their views. People who disagreed were harshly punished.

Taking a chance that France and Britain would not intervene, Hitler ordered German troops into the Rhineland in March 1936.

British leaders thought they could avoid conflict by accepting Hitler's demands—a policy known as appeasement.

Hitler then demanded control of Danzig, a German city located in Poland that was under League of Nations protection. Britain responded by promising to support Poland if the Germans invaded its territory.

At first, the United States was determined to stay neutral, or not taking sides in the war.

Allied leaders Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt decided to focus first on defeating Hitler. They would turn their attention to Japan later.

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin convened in Tehran, the capital of Iran, in late 1943. At this Tehran Conference, the leaders agreed to divide up Germany after Hitler was defeated.

The consequences of Nazi brutality made people aware of the importance of defending human rights and combating prejudice.

Meanwhile, Allied soldiers were transported from the ships to the beaches.

Still Stalin did not hold free elections in Eastern Europe. Instead, the Soviets set up Communist governments there and kept troops in the region.

The British leader Winston Churchill was concerned about widespread Soviet control.

Kennan's policy, called containment, stated that the U.S. had to "contain," or hold back, communism. This meant using military and other methods.

To contain the Soviets, the United States, Canada, and ten Western European countries established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. NATO is still in force today to police world situations.

Guards on the wall shot anyone who tried to escape communist rule. For nearly 30 years, the Berlin Wall was an important symbol of the divisions of the Cold War.

Kennedy also warned that the U.S. would launch a nuclear attack on the Soviets if they fired the missiles.

From 1945 to 1952, Allied military forces under General Douglas MacArthur occupied and ruled Japan.

The American-led government greatly reduced Japan's military.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against racial segregation, or separation of the races, in public schools.

He opposed the British with non-violent civil disobedience—the refusal to obey unjust laws using peaceful protest. Gandhi's followers led strikes and boycotted British goods, and were imprisoned many times.

Most of Indonesia's people are Muslim, but they live on scattered islands and belong to different ethnic groups.

The communists were overthrown in Cambodia, but the country still had not recovered from their rule. Meanwhile, Vietnam remained communist but faced a declining economy.

White South Africans, however, established a system known as apartheid. The policy of apartheid, or "apartness," separated ethnic groups and limited the rights of blacks.