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| The Russian revolutionary who helped lead a revolution in February 1917 and who led a second revolution in October, bringing the communists to power. Led the communists in a civil war and set up a dictatorship to enforce communist rule in Russia. |
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| Russian socialists who allied with the Bolsheviks in the February 1917 Revolution to overthrow the czarist government. |
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| Elected in 1792, it broke from the Estates General and called for a constitutional assembly. Served as the major legislative body of France until it was replaced by the Directory in 1795. |
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| A Marxist term to describe the working class. |
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| Those who tried to bring democracy to all classes. They sought a more equitable distribution of wealth throughout all economic classes, believing that concentrated wealth and class inequities prevented societies from becoming truly democratic. |
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| The name given to the repressive period in France 1794\-1795. The revolutionary government accused thousands of French nobles and clergy of plotting to restore the monarchy. Executions began in Paris and spread through the countryside. Large mobs attacked and terrorized nobles in rural areas. Summary executions without trial were quite common. |
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| Radical democrats who sought wealth equality in capitalist societies. Some socialists sought governmental guarantees of living standards. Others believed that the state should control industry and divide profits among all members of society. Others believed that people would form cooperative relationships on their own with no need of a government. |
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| The dictator who succeeded Lenin. Solidified communist control of Russia through a secret-police organization. He purged the government of all suspected opponents in the 1930s, killing thousands of people. |
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| A war beginning as a dispute between Protestants and Roman Catholics in Prague and eventually pitting the north of Europe against the south. The war was savage and devastated the German states. France ended the war by leaving the Catholic alliance to fight against Austria. At the end of the war, Lutherans (and eventually Calvinists) and Roman Catholics agreed to tolerate each other's faith. |
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| A Russian revolutionary who led foreign affairs in Stalin's government and later became the commander of the Red Army. He espoused terrorism as a means for spreading revolution. He was thrown out of the Communist Party for opposing Stalin and assassinated by communist agents in Mexico City in 1940. |
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| Workers Councils (or Soviets) |
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| The lowest-level legislative body in the Soviet Union following the October Revolution. Soviet is the Russian word for council. |
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| As used by Raul Sendic, the historical point where a series of ideas come together and force change. |
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| A three-step process as described by Che Guevara: (1) revolutionaries join the indigenous population to form guerrilla foco, as Guevara called them, (2) small forces form columns and control rural areas, and (3) columns unite for a conventional offensive to overthrow government. |
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| The guerrilla revolution led by Fidel Castro. Castro initially failed in 1956 and left for Mexico after a brief prison sentence. He returned with a small group of guerrillas and built a large guerrilla army. He overthrew the Cuban government in 1959, embracing communism shortly after taking power. |
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| A writer, psychiatrist, and revolutionary theorist. He was also one of the most influential philosophers in the awareness of colonialism. Believing that mental illness was a result of imperialism, he campaigned against racism and colonialism. He supported Algerian rebels in their struggle with France and advocated for violent revolution. |
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| Fidel Castro's assistant and guerrilla warfare theorist. He advocated guerrilla revolutions throughout Latin American after success in the Cuban Revolution. He was killed in Bolivia in 1967 when trying to form a guerrilla army. |
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| Also known as Mao Tse Tung, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. He seized power in a revolution in 1949 and ruled China until his death in 1976. |
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| A Brazilian communist legislator and a revolutionary theorist. He popularized urban terrorism as a method for ending repression and eliminating U.S. domination of Latin America. He was killed in a police ambush in São Paulo in 1969. |
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| A Uruguayan revolutionary leader. Founded the Movement of National Liberation (MLN), popularly known as the Tupamaros. Following governmental repression in 1973, he fled the country. He died in Paris in 1989. |
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| A four-stage process described by Carlos Marighella: (1) unorganized violence accompanied by passive disruption, (2) governmental repression to stop violence, (3) massive uprising in response to repression, and (4) toppling of government. |
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| The second Arab and Muslim dynasty ruling from Baghdad from 750 to 1258. They lost influence and power to Turks after 950, and their empire collapsed to Mongol conquest. |
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| the first caliph selected by the Islamic community (umma) after Mohammed's death in 632. Sunnis believe he is the rightful heir to Mohammed's leadership, and they regard him as the first of the Rishidun, or Rightly Guided caliphs. He led military expeditions expanding Muslim influence to the north of Mecca. |
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| the son of Mohammed's uncle Abu Talib and married to Mohammed's oldest daughter Fatima. He was Mohammed's male heir because he had no surviving sons. His followers are known as Shiites. Most Shiites believe that Mohammed gave a sermon while perched on a saddle, naming him the heir to Islam. Differing types of Shiites accept authority from diverse lines of his heirs. Sunni Muslims believe he is the fourth and last Rightly Guided caliph. Both Sunnis and Shiites believe he tried to return Islam to the purity of Mohammed's leadership in Medina. |
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| A member of the pan-national Arab Baath Party. They were secular socialists seeking to unite Arabs in a single socialist state. |
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| The site of a battle between the Muslims of Medina and the merchants of Mecca in 624. Mohammed was unsure whether he should resist the attacking Meccans, but decided God would allow Muslims to defend their community. After victory, Mohammed said that (this site) was the Lesser Jihad. Greater Jihad, he said, was seeking internal spiritual purity. |
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| The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was murdered by agents of the Egyptian government. |
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| A peace treaty between Egypt and Israel brokered by the United States in 1979. Signed by Anwar Sadat and Manachim Begin |
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| Mohammed's grandson and Ali's second son. Twelver Shiites believe that he is the Third Imam, after Imam Ali and Imam Hasan, Ali's oldest son. |
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| a Muslim religious reformer in the time of the Crusades and a massive Mongol invasion. |
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| A war fought after Iraq invaded Iran over a border dispute in 1980. Many experts predicted an Iraqi victory, but the Iranians stopped the Iraqi Army. The war produced an eight-year stalemate and more than a million casualties. The countries signed an armistice in 1988. |
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| The 1979 religious revolution that toppled Mohammed Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and transformed Iran into an Islamic republic ruled by Shiite religious scholars. |
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| The Shiite grand ayatollah who was the leading figure in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Khomeini toppled the shah's government and consolidated power by destroying or silencing his enemies, including other Shiite Islamic scholars. Iran transformed into a theocracy under his influence. |
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| The Islamic name given to a religious council that councils a government or a leader. |
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| The British Mandate for Palestine, was in effect from 1920 to 1948. Created by the League of Nations, the mandate gave the United Kingdom the right to extend its influence in an area roughly equivalent to modern Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority. |
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| A Pakistani reformer who saw jihad as both a spiritual struggle and the basis for political activism against European colonialism. Sought to reform Islamic counties without revolution. |
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| An organization founded by Hassan al Banna designed to recapture the spirit and religious purity during the period of Mohammed and the four Rightly Guided caliphs. Seeks to create a single Muslim nation through education and religious reform. A militant wing founded by Sayyid Qutb sought the same objective through violence. |
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| A Turkish empire that lasted for 600 hundred years, until 1924. The empire spanned southeastern Europe, North Africa, and southwest Asia, and it reached its zenith in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. |
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| Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979. The shah led a rigorous program of modernization that turned Iran into a regional power. He left the throne and accepted exile as a result of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. |
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| Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941. He was forced from power by a British and Soviet invasion. |
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| An Egyptian educator who called for the overthrow of governments and the imposition of purified Islamic law based on the principles of previous puritanical reformers. He formed a militant wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. |
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| Mohammed Pahlavi's secret police empowered after the 1953 downfall of the democratic government. |
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| A war between Israel and its Arab neighbors fought in June 1967. Israel launched the preemptive war in the face of an Arab military buildup, and it overwhelmed all opposition. At the end of the war Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank of the Jordan River. It also occupied the city of Jerusalem (al Quds to Muslims). |
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| A Christian militia closely allied with and supported by Israel. It operated with Israeli support from 1982 to 2000. |
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A British diplomat who signed a secret agreement with Francois Georges-Picot in May 1916.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement divided the Middle East into spheres of French, British, and Russian influence. |
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| Also known as the second Rightly Guided caliph, according to Sunnis. Under his leadership the Arab empire expanded into Persia, the southern part of the Byzantine empire, and Egypt. His army conquered Jerusalem in 637. |
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| The first Arab and Muslim dynasty ruling from Damascus from 661 to 750. They were Uthman's family. |
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| Also known as the third Rightly Guided caliph, according to Sunnis. He conquered most of the remaining parts of North Africa, Iran, Cyprus, and the Caucasia region. He was assassinated by his own soldiers for alleged nepotism. |
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| Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahhab |
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| A religious reformer who wanted to purge Islam of anything beyond the traditions accepted by Mohammed and the four Rightly Guided caliphs. He conducted campaigns against Sufis, Shiites, and Muslims who made pilgrimages or who invoked the names of saints. |
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| A war between Israel and its Arab neighbors fought in October 1973. Also known as the Ramadan War, hostilities began with a surprise attack on Israel. After initial setbacks, Israel counterattacked and regained its positions. |
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| The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command; is a Palestinian nationalist and Marxist organization, backed by Syria and Iran; The U.S. lists it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as does the European Union and Canada |
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| is an elite commando and special operations unit of the Palestinian Fatah movement and later of the Office of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority |
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| Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy; it is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel |
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| a jihadist group that emerged from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), it is based in Italy |
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| Kurdistan Workers' Party; is a militant organization founded in the 1970s and led by Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK's ideology is founded on revolutionary Marxism-Leninism and Kurdish nationalism; it’s goal has been to create an independent, socialist Kurdish state in Kurdistan |
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| is a group playing an active role in the Iraqi insurgency, initially led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until his death in 2006, the group is a direct successor of al-Zarqawi's previous organization, Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Group of Monotheism and Jihad); it declares allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network |
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| “Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine;” is a Palestinian militant group designated terrorist by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel; their goal is the destruction of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state |
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| is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, the strict application of Sharia law, and Jihad |
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| An Egyptian Islamist group active since the late 1970’s with origins in the Muslim Brotherhood; it is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations as an affiliate of al-Qaeda; since 1991 it has been led by Ayman al-Zawahiri |
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| a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization; responsible for 202 civilian deaths in the Bali Car Bombing in October 2002 |
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| is a coalition of Palestinian militias in the West Bank; the groups name refers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem; unlike other Palestinian militant groups, the brigades aren't Islamists, they have previously sympathized with Fatah. The group has been designated a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S., Canada, the European Union, and Japan |
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| “The Islamic Group;” is a militant Egyptian Islamist movement that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Egyptian governments; the group is (or was) dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state |
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| the leader of the Taliban; after the collapse of the Taliban government in 2001, he went into hiding |
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| “Party of God”; is a Shi'a Islamic political and paramilitary organization based in Lebanon |
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| freedom fighters; The mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are alleged to have been trained) by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Carter and Reagan administrations |
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| Armed Islamic Group; a Muslim terrorist organization that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state |
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| former Prime Minister of Afghanistan; is an Islamist Mujahideen leader and former warlord; he is the founder and leader of the Hezb-e Islami political party and paramilitary group |
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| son of Caliph Muawiya; took over caliphate after death of his father |
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| The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; is a Marxist-Leninist, secular, nationalist Palestinian political and military organization; it has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization (the largest being Fatah). It has generally taken a hard line on Palestinian national aspirations, opposing the more moderate stance of Fatah |
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| twelfth descendent of Mohammed, is in divine hiding, will return again at the end of time |
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| a military-political organization formed in Northern Afghanistan to fight the Taliban; during the early part of the Operation Enduring Freedom, the Northern Alliance fought closely with U.S. Special Forces |
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| Fatah is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a multi-party confederation; Fatah has maintained a number of militant groups since its founding; Fatah is not recognized as a terrorist organization by any government |
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| head of Saudi Intelligence; possible alliance with al Qaeda |
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| "Islamic Resistance Movement;" is a Palestinian Sunni paramilitary organization and political party which currently holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority |
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| the Islamicist group that governed Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 |
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| twelve descendents of Mohammed that are destined to lead the community |
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| governor of Demascus; assummed caliphate after assassination of Ali; fought against the fourth rightly guided caliph |
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| the real name of Abu Nidal, he was a founding member of Fatah, but later split with Arafat; founded militias in southern Lebanon, and he attacked Western and Israeli targets in Europe during the 1980s; in the 1990s he became a mercenary; he was murdered in Iraq, probably by the Iraqi government |
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| was an Egyptian Islamist, a known associate of al-Qaeda and the ringleader of the 19 hijackers in the September 11 attacks; he was at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11 which was the first plane to hit the World Trade Center |
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| was a Jordan militant Islamist who ran a militant training camp in Afghanistan; became famous for bombings and beheadings during the Iraq war; formed the group al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, which later became known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) |
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| current president of Afghanistan; became a prominent figure after the removal of the Taliban in 2001 |
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| the 12th and current Prime Minister of Israel and the former leader of Kadima |
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| was the hijacker who acted as pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, part of the September 11 attacks; believed to have taken over as pilot and made an unsuccessful attempt to crash the plane into the U.S. Capitol |
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| one of the aliases of a certain Egyptian senior member of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization |
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| president of the Palestinian National Authority (PLN); a leading politician in Fatah |
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| founder of al-Qaeda; took part in the 9/11 attacks on New York City in 2001 |
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| an army officer, revolutionary statesman, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first president |
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| was a Palestinian freedom fighter; a Palestinian Christian founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was the organizations secretary-general until 2000 |
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| an Iraqi ayatollah; leads the Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army |
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| at the height of his power was regarded as the world’s most dangerous terrorist leader; was a Palestinian political leader and the founder of Fatah |
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| a grand ayatollah and leader of Shiites in Lebanon; the spiritual leader of Hezbollah; he was the target of a 1985 U.S. assassination plot that killed 75 people |
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| the secretary-general of Hezbollah; he took over leadership of Hezbollah after Musawi’s death in 1992; lively speaker and charismatic leader |
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| current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) of Lebanon; the most prominent leader in the Druze community; anti-Syrian politician |
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| sixth and current president of the Islamic Republic of Iran |
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| was the founder and leader of the Zionist organization later known as Lehi, aka the “stern gang” |
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| prominent leader of al-Qaeda; also once the driving force behind a terrorist group in Egypt, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad |
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| the name assumed by Mohammed al Husseini; born in Cairo, he was a founding member of Fatah and the PLO; he merged the PLO and Fatah and ran a terrorist campaign against Israel; after renouncing terrorism and recognizing Israel’s right to exist he was president of the Palestinian National Authority from 1993 to 2004 |
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| was the president of Iraq; captured by U.S. Forces and executed by hanging |
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| Iranian Grand Ayatollah; currently the preeminent Shi’a cleric in Iraq |
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| current King of Jordan; son of King Hussein |
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| first king of Saudi Arabia; a founding member and spiritual leader of the PIJ; also known as Sheik Odeh and has several aliases |
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| was the foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Iraq, under President Saddam Hussein |
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| King of Jordan; drove the PLO from Jordan in September 1960; after his death his son Abdullah assumed his throne |
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| has been president of Egypt since 1981; ascended to the presidency after the assassination of President Sadat |
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| last prophet, God's final messenger, Gabriel reveals God's will to him in visions |
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| prime minister of Israel; took part in signing the “Camp David Peace Accord” |
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| was the third president of Egypt; was assassinated in 1981 |
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| daughter of Mohammed and Khadijah; marries Ali ibn Talib |
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| the second president of Egypt; led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952; played a major role in founding the Palestine Liberation Movement |
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| Prime Minister of Turkey; one of the major representative of the moderate Islamist movement in Turkey |
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| President of Syria from 1970 to 2000; he brutally suppressed a rebellion of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1982 |
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| first wife of Mohammed, mother of Fatima |
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| de facto leader of Libya since 1969; holds no public office or title |
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| last wife of Mohammed, wife of the govenor of Demascus |
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| son of Haffez Assad; assumed the presidency after father’s death |
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| mystical tradition; someone who seeks direct revalation from God; a mystic |
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| community or nation, "Community of Believers" |
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| "deep understanding" or "full comprehension" |
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| a spiritual leader of Islam, claiming succession from Muhammad |
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| the body of Muslim clergy who have completed several years of training and study of Islamic sciences, ie.) Mullah |
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| a member of one of the two great religious divisions of Islam that regards Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, as the legitimate successor of Muhammad, and disregards the three caliphs who succeeded him |
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| the era of Islam's ascendancy from the death of Mohammed until the 13th century |
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| one of the two great religious divisions of Islam, regarding the first four caliphs as legitimate successors of Muhammad and stressing the importance of Sunna as a basis for law |
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| a religious instructor, esp. in mystical sects |
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