| A | B |
|---|
| Taiga | A forest of evergreen trees growing south of the tundra in Russia |
| Steppe | A wide, flat grasslands region that stretches from Ukraine across southern Russia to Kazakhstan |
| Czar | Emperor of the Russian Empire |
| Abdicated | Gave up the throne |
| Allies | Friendly countries that support one another against enemies |
| Cold War | The rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from the 1940s to the early 1990s |
| Consumer goods | Products used at home and in everyday life |
| Smelter | Factories that process metal ores |
| Icebreaker | Ships that can break up the ice of frozen waterways, allowing other ships to pass through them |
| Serfs | People in Russia who were bound to the land and worked for a lord |
| Soviets | A council of Communists who governed republics and other places in the Soviet Union |
| Homogenous | Sharing the same characteristics, such as ethnicity |
| Agrarian | A society organized around farming |
| Secular | Kept separate from religion, as in a secular government or state |
| Diaspora | The scattering of the Jewish population from Palestine under Roman rule |
| Zionism | The movement to establish a Jewish country or community in Palestine |
| Mandate | Former territories of defeated World War I countries that were placed under the control of winning countries after the war |
| Fossil Water | Water that is not being replaced by rainfall |
| Muslims | Followers of Islam |
| Caliph | A religious and political ruler in the Muslim world |
| Sunni | The largest branch of Islam |
| Shia | The second-largest branch of Islam |
| Qur’an | the holy book of Islam |
| OPEC | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which tries to influence the price of oil on world markets |
| Embargo | A limit on trade |
| Shah | A king of Iran |
| Theocracy | A government ruled by religious leaders |
