| A | B |
|---|
| Treaty of Versailles | Peace treaty ending World War I that had imposed a number of harsh military, economic, and territorial terms on Germany. Many Germans resented this treaty, and supported Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party, which promised to defy the treaty when it came to power. |
| Reparations | Payments for war damage, paid by the country seen to have started the war. Under the "war guilt clause" of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was held responsible for starting the war and was compelled to pay back Britain, France, and the other Allided countries for the damage that the war had caused. |
| Nazi Party | Short for the National Socialist German Workers Party, the right-wing nationalist movement led by Adolf Hitler that took power in Germany in 1933. The Nazis opposed the Treaty of Versailles, blamed Germans Jews and communists for the country's problems, and promised to make Germany strong, prosperous, and repsected in the world. |
| Fascism | An authoritarian movement with strong right-wing and totalitarian principles. Fascist parties emerged in many European countries after World War I, and were successfulin gaining power in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and some eastern European nations by the 1930's. |
| Propaganda | Information designed to inspire and spread particular beliefs and opinions. The German Nazi Party used propaganda very effectively in its efforts to persuade Germans to support its policies and give power to its leader, Adolf Hitler. |
| Holocaust | The systematic destruction of the Jewish population of Europe, instituted by Hitler's Nazi regime in the areas it conquered during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately six million Jews were killed in death camps. |
| Democracies | Countries in which the government is elected by the people to exercise power on their behalf. Britain, France, the United States, Canada, and other western democracies did not oppose Hitler's Nazi regime from acting in an aggressive and anti-democratic way after it came to power in 1933. |
| Pacifist | A believer in non-violence who opposes war. Many pacifists in Canada and other countries did not want a repetition of World War I and were unwillingto support strong actions to prevent aggression by Germany, Italy, and Japan during the 1930's. |
| Refugees | People who flee their homes to seek refuge from war, persecution, or natural disaster. After the Nazis gained power in Germany, many of that country's Jews fled ani-Semitic persecution there and sought refuge in Canada, for the most part unsuccessfully. |
| Appeasement | The granting of concessions in order to maintain peace. During the 1930s, Britain, France, and Canada all supported this policy in their dealings with Nazi Germany, and did not protest Hitler's aggressive actions in Europe for fear of causing another world war. |
| Non-Aggression Pact | A deal between two countries not to fight each other. Hitler's Germany and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union made such an agreement in 1939, permitting Germany to invade Poland and split the country with the Soviets. |
| War Measures Act | Emergency law first introduced during World War I that gave the government special powers to arrest and detain suspected enemies, censor news information, and regulate sections of the economy. It was re-imposed during World War II. |
| British Commonwealth Air Training Program (BCATP) | A program established in 1939 to train pilots, navigators, and other flight personnel from all over the British Commonwealth in Canada. It made a significant contribution to the Allied war effort during World War II. |
| National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) | This act gave the government special emergancy powers to mobilize all the resources of the nation to defeat the enemy. As a result, the government became involved in all aspects of the economy. |
| Total War | Term used in World War II to refer to Canada's mobilization of all its resources, human and material, to wage war. Total war required a large amount of government involvement in the national economy, including the regulation of production, prices, and wages. |
