BPeople that work to abolish a specific practice or form of government. American abolitionists sought to abolish slavery; Indian abolitionists wanted to abolish British rule in India.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAgent Orange
BA chemical defoliant sprayed over the Vietnam jungles by U.S. war planes. The United States' intention was to kill off the thick foliage and reveal the hiding places of the Viet Cong. The chemical proved disastrous to Vietnamese civilians and American soldiers, causing birth defects Ec[000000]f[16]LFand cancer. The name IAgent OrangeI came from the color of the containers in which the chemical was kept.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAll-India Working Committee
BA group in India led by Gandhi prior to World War II. The committee coordinated the activities of the Indian National Congress when the Congress was not in session.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBalliance
BAn association between two or more nations who join forces to achieve a common goal. Alliances can be made during both peace and war. In World War II, Germany, Italy, and Japan formed an alliance against most of the nations of the world. The North Atlantic Treaty Ec[000000]f[16]LFOrganization (NATO) is a peacetime alliance formed for the common protection of the nations in the organization.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBamnesty
BA pardon for political offenses against a government.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBanarchy
BA state of lawlessness, confusion, or chaos; a society without a government or ruling authority.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBassassination
BThe murder of a political figure or government leader.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAtlantic Charter
BA joint declaration issued in August 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain. The charter set forth the aims of their respective governments for the post-World War II world.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBautocrat
BA ruler who holds total power over his or her people. An autocracy is a government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over the people of the nation.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBBlack Hole of Calcutta
BA hot, tiny prison cell in Calcutta, India, in which over one hundred British soldiers were imprisoned overnight by the nawab of Bengal in 1756. When the cell was opened the following morning, only twenty-three soldiers were still alive.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBboycott
BTo unite with others in refusing to purchase or use certain products. A boycott is usually mounted in an effort to punish or hurt the maker of the boycotted product.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBBritish East India Company
BThe private company chartered by the British government in 1600 and given authority to carry on trade in India. The company existed for more than two centuries and was the de facto ruling power in India until the mid-1800s.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBchauvinism
BZealous patriotism or prejudiced devotion to a country or cause.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcold war
BHostility and ideological conflict between nations that falls short of actual fighting and bloodshed. The cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted from the end of World War II until the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcollective farm
BA large farm or group of farms organized as a unit and worked by the community under the direction of the state.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcolonialism
BA policy by which a nation seeks to extend its authority over other nations or territories, often for economic gain.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBComintern
BAn international Communist organization, also called the Communist International or Third International. It was founded by the Soviet Union in 1919 to foster the spread of communism throughout the world and to unite countries under Communist rule.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcommunism
BAn economic and governmental system in which all property and means of production are owned and run by the state for the benefit of the population as a whole. The Communist system is based on the teachings of Marx and Lenin.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCommunist bloc
BA post-World War II designation for those nations with a Communist form of government. The United States believed these nations to be on a Soviet- and China-led drive to spread communism throughout the world.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconcentration camps
BGuarded prison compounds for the detention of aliens and political prisoners. Concentration camps were built in Nazi Germany during World War II for the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other "enemies" of the state.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconscription
BA draft; the act of calling people into compulsory military service.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconstitutional
BConsistent with the terms set forth in a constitution, or written document outlining the operation of government. Rights and privileges of citizens are usually part of any constitution.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcoup
BA sudden, forceful, and successful action by an individual or group; short for the French term Icoup d'etatI, which is the sudden, often violent, overthrow of a ruler or government.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdictatorship
BA government in which power is placed in the hands of a single person.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBDien Bien Phu
BThe 1954 battle in which the French in Vietnam were defeated by the Vietminh forces under Ho Chi Minh. It was a decisive victory for the Vietnamese and forced the French to leave Southeast Asia.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdiscrimination
BThe act of giving a person or group favorable or unfavorable treatment based on arbitrary bias for or against them.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdominion status
BHaving the power of self-government within a family or group of nations; the members of the British Commonwealth were formerly known as dominions.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdomino theory
BThe theory that groups of nations, like rows of dominoes, will fall if one domino in the line falls. This theory drove United States foreign policy, especially regarding Southeast Asia and Vietnam, in the 1950s. The United States and other non-Communist nations believed that if Ec[000000]f[16]LFVietnam fell under Communist rule, all of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and even Japan might also topple.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBemancipation
BThe act of granting freedom to a group of people or a nation.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBemigration
BThe act of leaving one's homeland to live in another country.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBEuropean Common Market
BThe popular name of the European Economic Community (EEC), an economic association created in 1958 to abolish barriers to free trade among member nations. Most of the countries in Western Europe now belong to the EEC.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBforeign aid
BAssistance, usually economic, given by one nation to another. Nations frequently give foreign aid in the hope of winning allies.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBGeneva Agreement
BThe agreement that resulted from the Geneva Conference, a 1954 meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, to determine the future of Vietnam. The agreement divided the country into northern and southern halves, but mandated that elections be held in two years to determine how the Ec[000000]f[16]LFnation would be united, and under which group--the National Liberation Front under Ho Chi Minh, or the Nationalist government in the south under Ngo Din Diem. Diem's refusal to hold the election sparked active conflict between north and south, and the United States entered on the side of South Vietnam.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgenocide
BThe deliberate and systematic extermination of a national or racial group.
B Ec[000000]f[16]BLGreen Berets
BThe nickname given to the United States Special Forces troops in Vietnam, who were trained in commando tactics and guerrilla warfare. The nickname came from the color of their headgear.
