| Term
|
Definition
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| Christian population
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steadily increased from 0% of the world when Jesus was born, to about 33%, or approximately 2.2 billion, of the world today
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| Age of Revolution
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1763-1848: the time period during which nations rebelled against monarchies and attempted to replace them with republican/constitutional governments.
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| Bill of Rights in England
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1689: passed by the British Parliament and agreed to by William and Mary, the English Bill of Rights stated that the monarchy could not deny citizens the right to petition, infringe on freedom of speech in Parliament, suspend a law created by Parliament, or impose taxes without Parliament's consent.
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| Joint Sovereigns
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Sovereigns who share power equally, as opposed to one person who holds all of the monarchial authority. An example is the joint sovereignty of William and Mary, who ruled England together from 1689 to 1694 (William ruled alone until 1702, after Mary died).
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| Estates of France
|
the social rankings that led to the French Revolution: the First Estate was clergy, only 1% of population but in control of 10% of the land; the Second Estate was the nobility, only 2% of the population but in control of 20% of the land; and the Third Estate was the peasants, laborers and merchants, which was 97% of the population.
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| Simón Bolívar
|
Known as "el Gran Libertador," or the Great Liberator, Bolívar fought for the independence of South America, including the countries of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Argentina. He was born in Caracas on July 24, 1783 and was educated in political philosophies in Europe during his youth. Bolívar died on December 17, 1830.
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| Winston Churchill
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Prime Minister of the UK during World War II (1940-1945), and again from 1951 to 1955. A fabulous writer and inspirational leader who gave the British people the willpower to resist Nazi Germany in 1940 and 1941, leading to the invasion of Italy (1943), the D-Day invasion of Normandy (1944) and ultimately victory over Hitler (1945).
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| European Union
|
1993-today: an economic and legal partnership among 28 nations in Europe. In 2002 it instituted a single currency, the euro. It has a common court system that can order a member nation to change its laws. Its roots began as a free trade area (1958), known as the Common Market, which became a single European market in the 1980s with extensive socialist-style regulation of business.
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| Reconquista
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(AD 722-1492) the Christian retaking of Spain and Portugal from Muslim control, after the Islamic takeover of the peninsula in 1711-18. This is the only territory taken back by Christianity from Islam.
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| Siege of Vienna
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1529: Christian Europeans defeated the Muslim Ottoman Turks
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| 9/11/1683, Gates of Vienna
|
an alliance of Christian armies, led by the Polish King Jan III Sobieski, defeated a massive Muslim army; some say that the "9/11" attack in 2001 which destroyed the World Trade Center towers was timed for this anniversary
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| Dunkirk
|
1940: the harbor town, located on the northernmost tip of France, from where more than 300,000 British, French and Belgian soldiers were miraculously rescued by a ragtag assembly of boats, big and small, and taken back to England amid constant bombing by Germany during World War II; Winston Churchill called this success the "miracle of Dunkirk."
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| Forbidden City
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elaborate imperial palace in Beijing, China, which was used by twenty-four emperors during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties; the public was kept out for 500 years
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| slave trade
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(1455-1800s) In England, slave trade was ended in 1807 by Christian reformers William Wilberforce and John Wesley; in North America, slave trade ended by a provision in the U.S. Constitution, and slavery ended with the American Civil War (1861-1865); in Brazil, slavery continued until 1888
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| King Henry VIII
|
(lived 1491-1547, reigned beginning in 1509) founded the Church of England (the Anglican Church) due to his dispute with the Catholic Church over its denial of his request to obtain a divorce
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| Rene Descartes
|
(1596-1650) a French mathematician and philosopher who discovered analytical geometry and defined existence by “I think, therefore I am.”
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| Thirty Years’ War
|
(1618-1648) a religious conflict in Germany between Bohemian Protestants and Hapsburg Catholics; this war also engulfed Spain, Holland, Denmark, France, Switzerland and the Holy Roman Empire, before the Protestants (and Catholic France) won
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| Treaty of Westphalia
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(1648) ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe, leaving a weaker Germany and Holy Roman Empire; France emerged strengthened and more unified
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| nation-state
|
(beginning in the 1400s) a single country comprised of people unified in language and culture, such as England, France, Spain and, much later, Germany
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| Decline of the Holy Roman Empire
|
1600s-1700s: weakened by the Ottoman Muslims, the Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, the growth of nation-states, and how the Italian and German cultures grew apart
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| Age of Exploration
|
(1450-1650) a time period when European nation-states (mainly England, France, Portugal and Spain) explored distant lands, including the American continents
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| caravel
|
a small, highly maneuverable, lightweight ship developed by the Portuguese, often used to carry cargo
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| Ferdinand and Isabella
|
The King and Queen of Spain in the late 1400s, who expelled non-Christians (Muslims and Jews) from Spain and then funded Columbus's voyages
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| Prince Henry the Navigator
|
founded the School of Navigation in Portugal in 1419, to train sailors to explore the West African coast with a goal of eventually finding sea routes to India
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| Bartholomew Diaz
|
a Portuguese navigator who sailed around the southern tip of Africa (the Cape of Good Hope) in 1487 to establish a sea route to India
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| Christopher Columbus
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(1451-1506) a phenomenal navigator and Italian explorer who was funded by Spain to sail in four voyages across the Atlantic ocean in search for a trade route to India; he discovered the "New World" by reaching the Caribbean
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| Columbian Exchange
|
plants and animals were brought from colonial America to Europe and vice-versa; Columbus brought from Europe to America wheat, melons, onions, grapes, sugar cane and horses. America had new fruits and vegetables, the white potato, peanuts, pumpkins, squash and chili peppers, which were then exported from America back to Europe.
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| Treaty of Tordesillas
|
1494: established an 1100-mile long "Line of Demarcation," giving one side to Portugal and the other side to Spain for controlling the New World (Western Hemisphere)
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| Line of Demarcation
|
a north-to-south line giving Portugal trading rights in India, China, the East Indies, East Brazil and the Spanish Americas, and giving Spain control of the remaining, vast majority of the Americas
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| Vasco da Gama
|
the first explorer to reach India by sailing eastward around Africa (1497-1499), with the help of the powerful monsoon winds; this established trade with India.
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| John Cabot
|
a British explorer (who had been born in Genoa, Italy, like Columbus) who discovered Newfoundland and the New England coast in 1497-1498, making that land the property of England
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| Jacques Cartier
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1534 and 1541: French explorer who discovered Canada and the Mississippi Basin, including Louisiana; the lack of gold and silver in North America made it less interesting to Europeans than South America
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| Ferdinand Magellan
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1519-1522: led the first successful voyage to go around the world, going through the Straits of Magellan near the southern tip of South America. Magellan himself was killed by Philippine natives prior to completing the last leg of the journey.
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| Results of Magellan's voyage
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Spain gained control of many South American territories, including Peru, plus the Philippines in the Far East
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| Hernando Cortes
|
aided by superior weapons and horses, he led the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519 and conquered the Aztec empire, capturing the Aztec ruler known as Montezuma; Cortes burned the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City in its place
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| Francisco Pizzaro
|
with only 180 men and 37 horses, this Spanish soldier conquered 30,000 Incas in Peru in 1531; he also discovered the greatest silver mine in the Americas.
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| El Greco
|
(1541-1614) a painter, architect and sculptor best known for his paintings of saints and martyrs, and his painting of a storm over a Spanish town (“A View of Toledo”)
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| Diego Velázquez
|
(1599-1660) a Spanish painter of portraits of the royal family and scenes from daily life at court
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| Miguel de Cervantes
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(1605) wrote the novel Don Quixote, an influential work of Spanish literature
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| divine right of kings
|
belief they were given power by God; this belief lasted until religious conflict in England in the 1600s and the French Revolution in the late 1700s
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| Philip II
|
(reigned 1556-1598) King of Spain and a descendant of Isabella and Ferdinand; his mighty navy the Spanish Armada was crushed by a quicker English fleet in 1588
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| William of Orange
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(1579) led the Netherlands in a revolt against their Spanish masters; this (along with the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English) weakened Spanish power
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| England
|
A nation-state based in the British isles off the western coast of Europe; it established the largest non-contiguous empire in history in the late 1800s but, due to its atheism and socialism, is much weaker than the U.S. today
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| mercantilism
|
an economic system whereby a mother country (e.g., England) accumulated gold by exporting more goods than it imported, and by using her colonies (e.g., the American colonies) to ship it raw materials that could be manufactured in the mother country and exported for profit
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| Queen Elizabeth
|
(1558-1603) was known as the "Virgin Queen" of England and her 45-year reign was the “Elizabethan Age”; the State of Virginia was named in her honor
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| James Stuart
|
cousin of Queen Elizabeth who took over the English throne as James I and authorized the King James Version of the Bible; unlike Queen Elizabeth, King James I argued often with Parliament
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| Oliver Cromwell
|
(1599-1658) an English soldier, statesman, and controversial leader of the Puritan revolution who overthrew the King
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| William Prynne
|
(1600-1669) an English lawyer, author, political figure and prominent Puritan who was imprisoned for his religious beliefs
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| Jamestown settlement
|
(1607) the first successful English settlement in the New World, in what is now Virginia
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| King James Bible
|
(1611) the magnificent English translation of the Bible, authorized by King James, which was so influential that it improved the English language itself
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| Glorious Revolution
|
revolution that took place in England in 1688, which replaced the Catholic King James II with the Anglican King and Queen, William and Mary.
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| Ivan IV “the Terrible”
|
(reigned 1547-1584) first czar of Russia, who executed many innocent people; Ivan was succeeded by his son Feodor, whose repeated failures led Russia into a “Time of Troubles.”
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| Mikhail Romanov
|
(1613) the first of a long line of Romanov Russian czars; under Romanov rule serfs lost almost all of their freedoms
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| Peter the Great
|
a Romanov who ruled Russia from 1682-1696 and instituted sweeping reforms in Russian government and society; he built St. Petersburg and tried to make European traditions a part of Russia.
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| Maria Theresa
|
(1717-1780) a Holy Roman empress who was the last ruler of the House of Habsburg dynasty, ruling over Austria
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| Frederick the Great
|
(1712-1786) an absolutist King of Prussia, who built it into a powerful nation (before it became a key part of the future Germany)
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| War of the Austrian Succession
|
(1740-1748) a broad conflict among many European nations, with the result that Prussia defeated Austria to win the territory of Silesia
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| Seven Years’ War
|
(1756-1763) France, Russia, Sweden, Poland and Austria were allied against Britain and Prussia, fighting over part of Eastern Europe. Britain and France also fought in North America (called the French & Indian War here). Britain won due to the genius of William Pitt ("Pittsburgh" is named after him), gaining Canada and India as a result; France was humiliated, leading to the French Revolution decades later.
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| American Revolution
|
a revolution against the British in the American Colonies beginning in 1776 with the American Declaration of Independence, caused by over-taxation by England; Americans won with the help of the French; the Treaty of Paris (1783) resulted
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| George Washington
|
(1732-1799) Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army; presided over Constitutional Convention to draft the Constitution; first President of the United States (1789-1797); voluntarily gave up power after two terms
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| Isaac Newton
|
(1643-1727) the English physicist who, inspired by daily readings of the Bible, developed calculus and discovered the invisible force of gravity
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| Gottfried Leibniz
|
(1646-1716) a German Lutheran mathematician and philosopher who developed calculus independent of Isaac Newton, and whose Christian-based philosophy was opposed by Voltaire. Leibniz invented the curly "S" notation for the integral (ignore the grids around it): 
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| The Enlightenment
|
a philosophical movement in Europe in the 1700s that challenged traditional views and preferred reason over faith; thinkers included Rousseau, Voltaire, Hume, Kant, Jefferson, Locke, and Diderot
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| William Blackstone
|
(1723-1780) the leading legal authority on English law, upon which American law is based; wrote the book The Rights of Englishmen, in which he described the source of the rights of the people
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| Charles-Louis Baron de Montesquieu
|
(1689-1755) a Frenchman who proposed the concept of separation of powers, and checks and balances, in government, which inspired key parts of the U.S. Constitution; wrote a book, The Spirit of the Laws, that explained essential aspects of good government
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| Denis Diderot
|
(1713-1784) a French writer during the Enlightenment who edited an encyclopedia of scientific and social knowledge known simply as Encyclopedia (in French: Encyclopédie)
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| Jean Jacques Rousseau
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(1712-1778) his ideas led to the French Revolution and hostility to churches; he was a Swiss-born political philosopher who criticized private property and declared that government's goal should be to provide freedom, equality and justice
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| John Locke
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(1632-1704) English philosopher during the Enlightenment who created the idea of a "social contract" between the people and their government, which became the philosophical basis of rebellion in England and the American Revolution when people felt that government had broken this contract
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| Voltaire
|
(1694-1778) a French philosopher, prominent during the Enlightenment, who favored absolute freedom, and his ideas led to the French Revolution; famous for defending a right of free speech even by people with whom he disagreed
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| monarch
|
a person who rules over a kingdom or empire; he may be above the law (absolute monarch) or subject to it (constitutional monarchy)
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| Louis XIV
|
(ruled 1643-1715) the absolute (all-powerful) monarch of France who said, “L’etat c’est moi!” (“I am the state”)
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| capitalism
|
the American system based on private ownership of property to give maximum incentives to people and businesses to be productive; capitalism is the opposite of socialism
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| Nicolaus Copernicus
|
(1473-1543) a Polish Catholic scientist who started the "Scientific Revolution" with his discovery that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and published his discovery in a book at the end of his life ("On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres")
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| Johannes Kepler
|
(1571-1630) a German Protestant scientist who built on Copernicus's work and discovered that planets orbit the sun in ellipses rather than circular orbits.
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| Galileo
|
(1564-1642) a Catholic Italian astronomer who improved the telescope but was punished by the Church for publishing Copernicus's theory and saying the Church approved it; the Church then banned Galileo's book ("Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World - Ptolemaic and Copernican," published in 1632)
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| Rasputin
|
Russian peasant-turned-monk who helped Czar Nicholas II's son survive hemophilia, until he was murdered by rivals in 1916 (a year before the Communist Revolution)
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| Czar (Tsar)
|
Absolute emperor of Russia since the 1500's, the first being Ivan IV "The Terrible."
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| Neo-Confucianism
|
More of a philosophy than a religion, Neo-Confucianism is a combination of Confucianism and Buddhism, and was the primary practice of the Chinese nation in the 1600s.
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| Robert Fulton
|
American engineer and inventor who created the first commercial steamboat service in 1807.
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| Bernhard Riemann
|
(1826-1866) an influential German mathematician who made lasting contributions to differential geometry and analysis, later used in physics
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| balance of power
|
first established by European nations after the final defeat of Napoleon: alliances called the Concert of Europe required nations to assist each other in order to defeat any one nation that became too powerful and started invading others
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| Constitution of the United States
|
(1787) the oldest working constitution in the world, which established a masterful design for government based on limitations in power
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| David Hume
|
(1711-1776) a Scottish philosopher who promoted materialism and naturalism rather than Christianity, which later influenced Charles Darwin; Hume wrote "A Treatise on Human Nature" and believed in relativism rather than absolute truth
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| Declaration of Independence
|
(1776) an American statement of "inalienable" (God-given) rights, asserting a right of the people to break their "social contract" with a king when he violates those rights, such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
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| Edmund Burke
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(1729-1797) a conservative Irish statesman in the British parliament who sided with the American colonies before the American Revolution, coined the phrase "salutary neglect" to support economic growth in the colonies, and criticized the misguided French Revolution while others were praising it
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| The Federalist Papers
|
(1788) brilliant essays encouraging ratification of the U.S. Constitution, written mostly (and anonymously) by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
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| Immanuel Kant
|
(1724-1804) a leading German philosopher, Kant felt that behavior is moral only if it would work as a rule if everyone did it (e.g., littering is immoral for one person to do it, because it would be a disaster if everyone littered); Kant's book "A Critique of Pure Reason" criticized the use of pure reason to determine morality
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| Industrial Revolution
|
technology-driven changes in society that began about 1760 in England and later in other countries, characterized chiefly by a shift from farming to factories and the use of power-driven machines, such as the steam engine
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| James Clerk Maxwell
|
(1831-1879) the greatest physicist of the 1800s, Maxwell was a devout Christian from Scotland who developed the modern unified electromagnetic theory. The "maxwell", a unit of magnetic flux, was named in his honor.
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| Johann Sebastian Bach
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(1685-1750) German classical music composer famous for Fugues and the "Passion according to St. Matthew"
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| Louis Pasteur
|
(1822–95) the greatest chemist in history, this Frenchman was a devout Christian who founded microbiology, invented pasteurization, and developed vaccinations for anthrax, rabies, and chicken cholera.
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| Matthew Perry
|
helped end the isolation of Japan by sailing into Edo harbor and enabling the Treaty of Kanagawa to be signed in 1854
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| steamboat
|
a waterborne ship useful to the Industrial Revolution, which was powered by a steam engine with the steam produced by burning coal (or less often, wood); today boats are powered by diesel gasoline
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| economies of scale
|
when increasing the size of a company enables it to lower its average costs due to improved efficiency, as big Wal-Mart stores do today. The Industrial Revolution benefited from economies of scale
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| enclosure movement
|
in the 1700s when wealthy farmers bought land from small farmers, to benefit from economies of scale in farming huge tracts of land
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| Adam Smith
|
(1723-1790) a Scottish political economist who discovered how the "invisible hand" of capitalism will create wealth and prosperity; his book describing this idea was the "Wealth of Nations" (1776)
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| David Ricardo
|
(1772-1823) a classical British economist who advocated the advantages of more trade between nations
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| Victor Hugo
|
(1802-1885) one of the greatest Romanticist poets, he was a Frenchman who wrote the classics "Cromwell" (1827), "The Hunchback of Notre Dame of Paris" (1831) and "Les Miserables" (1862)
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| Maximilian Robespierre
|
(1758-1794) a French Jacobin who was most responsible for the Reign of Terror; under the influence of the work of Rousseau, Robespierre unbendingly murdered moderates and all opponents, and was eventually killed by the guillotine himself in 1794.
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| French Revolution
|
began in 1789 by opening Bastille prison and freeing all its prisoners, and ended in 1794 with the killing of Robespierre.
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| Bastille Day
|
(July 14, 1789) when French peasants invaded the huge Bastille prison in Paris, freeing the prisoners. This started the Great Fear, with riots breaking out every day and peasants burning wealthy homes
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| Georges Jacques Danton
|
(1759–1794) a Jacobin during the French Revolution who joined and fully supported it until he saw the Reign of Terror and started to change his mind; then he was executed
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| Louis XVI
|
the extravagant King of France (1774-1792) until executed during the French Revolution by guillotine in early 1793
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| Marie Antoinette
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privileged wife of Louis XVI during the French Revolution who reportedly said to the peasants, "Let them eat cake!" upon hearing of the shortage of bread. She was killed too.
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| Reign of Terror
|
terrifying chaos after the execution of Louis XVI when Maximilian Robespierre guillotined many people, until Robespierre died the same way (1794)
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| Napoleon
|
(lived 1769-1821) Dictator of France after the French Revolution; signed peace treaties with major European enemies, created a successful system of laws known as the Napoleonic Code, and conquered much of continental Europe. He was ultimately defeated by British and Prussian armies at the Battle of Waterloo
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| Louisiana Purchase
|
land stretching from Louisiana to the American Northwest that Napoleon sold to the U.S. for a low price in 1803
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| Battle of Waterloo
|
1815: marked the end of Napoleon's reign in France when he was defeated by Prussia and Great Britain; the expression "someone's Waterloo" refers to a change from possible victory to a decisive defeat
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| Congress of Vienna
|
1815: convention of European nations proposing a balance of powers among the rival nations to ensure than no single nation could threaten the others as Napoleon had just done
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| Concert of Europe
|
established during the Congress of Vienna to create alliances between nations requiring assistance of each other if war or revolutions occurred; also adopted changes that legitimized monarchies and growing nationalism in Europe
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| Napoleon III
|
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1808-1873) President of the French Second Republic and nephew of Napoleon
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| Otto von Bismarck
|
(1815-1898) leader of Prussia (1862-71) and the first chancellor of the German Empire (1871-90). Known as the "Iron Chancellor," he was a skilled politician who unified Germany as a nation in the 1860s by arranging for wars against other nations (first against Denmark, then against Austria and finally against France)
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| First French Empire
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(1804-1814/1815) was the empire of Napoleon I of France, and the dominant power of continental Europe
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| Second French Empire
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Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic in France.
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| United Kingdom
|
the combination of "Great Britain" and "Northern Ireland." (Northern Ireland is on the island of Ireland, but is not part of the country of Ireland.)
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| Luddites
|
a social movement in England that rioted and protested against the changes caused by the Industrial Revolution
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| Ludwig van Beethoven
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(1770-1827) revolutionized instrumental music and took it to new heights never thought possible, despite being totally deaf when he did his best compositions
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| France
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a nation-state in Europe that was ruled by a monarch until the French Revolution
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| Prussia
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a very militaristic nation-state in Europe, in the area where Germany is located today
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| The Communist Manifesto
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written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848, teaching that class struggles are the origin of all progress in society and urging people to start revolutions to establish communism; Russia did so in 1917, and China and other nations have since then
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| Sun Yixian
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(1866-1925) also known as Sun Yat-sen, he led the Kuomintang or nationalist Party that overthrew the Qing Dynasty of China. He also became the first leader of the former Republic of China.
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| Jeremy Bentham
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(1748-1832) the person who invented "utilitarianism", which abandons morality and instead looks to see if the benefits of something outweigh its costs. Under utilitarianism, punishing an innocent man is acceptable if it has greater benefits (such as discouraging crime).
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| Virginia Declaration of Rights
|
a declaration of rights adopted in colonial Virginia on June 7, 1776, as written by George Mason; the American Declaration of Independence was based on it
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| utilitarianism
|
proposed by Englishman Jeremy Bentham and improved by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), this non-Christian concept values overall "utility" (overall benefits minus costs) rather than individual justice as a method of determining morality and public policy. Example: tossing two people overboard in a lifeboat in order to save the other ten.
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| John Stuart Mill
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(1806-1873) British philosopher who supported utilitarianism and advocated an absolute right of free speech; he also supported the development of labor unions
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| nationalism
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when loyalty by a people to their nation becomes part of their identity; began in the late 1700s, around the same time as Romanticism, and later led to aggression by Germany and Japan in the 20th century
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| Handel
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(1685-1759) a German-born composer noted particularly for his oratorios, including the Messiah; Beethoven thought Handel was the greatest
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| Haydn
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(1732-1809) Austrian composer who played a major part in establishing the classical forms of the symphony and the string quartet
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| Mozart
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(1756-91) an Austrian composer known for his operas and his unfinished Requiem (1791)
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| Romanticism
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(1770-1870) a movement in poetry and the arts (including music) that emphasized individualism, feelings, thoughts, and the right to be different, which coincided with revolutions in France and elsewhere
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| Neoclassicism
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(1760-1850) paintings that emphasized clear linear design, using classical themes as subject matter
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| Karl Marx
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(1818-1883) German philosopher who, in 1848 with F. Engels, wrote The Communist Manifesto, urging the working class to revolt and end private property
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| Friedrich Engels
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(1820-1895) German philosopher born to a wealthy family who co-authored The Communist Manifesto, and who supported Marx financially while Marx wrote Das Kapital.
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| classical economics
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19th-century economics plus the 18th-century Adam Smith, meaning less government restrictions on business, based upon the principles of the invisible hand and economic efficiency (Pareto optimality)
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| realpolitik
|
Concept invented by Otto von Bismarck that emphasized practical politics rather than philosophy
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| laissez-faire
|
approach in economics in which businesses are free from state and government intervention (translated literally, "let to do")
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| Franco-Prussian War
|
(1870) Otto von Bismarck started the Franco-Prussian War by enticing the French to attack Prussia so that other Germans would join him in defense, and thereby unify Germany; Germans won in six weeks
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| Giuseppe Mazzini
|
An Italian who sought unification of Italy as one nation; he formed the “Brotherhood of Young Italy” in 1831
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| King Leopold II
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(1835–1909) second king of Belgium, who founded the Congo Free State
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| Charles Darwin
|
(1809-1882) English atheist who proposed the theory of evolution: that all species had evolved into complex forms of life over millions of years through the process of "natural selection," or "survival of the fittest"
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| Charles Dickens
|
(1812-1870) Greatest English novelist of the Victorian period, who sympathized with the poor and invented colorful characters like "Scrooge"
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| David Livingstone
|
Scotsman who explored central Africa in the late 1860s to find the source of the Nile
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| Dual Alliance
|
(1879) Germany (led by Bismarck) formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary as a way of protecting those countries against possible aggression by France
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| impressionism
|
(late 1800s in France) paintings began emphasizing the transient effects of color and light, attempting to capture a fleeting image or “impression”. Artists included Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Paul Cezanne, and they often painted landscapes.
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| musical impressionism
|
emphasized mood and understatement and reflected its composers’ view that pure sound (like color) is an end to itself
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| Zulus
|
a tribe of the Mthethwa African kingdoms of the late 1800s, which was wiped out by the British in 1879
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| Kaiser Wilhelm II
|
leader of Germany who ended Germany’s alliance with Russia, which caused Russia to form an alliance with France in 1891.
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| imperialism
|
the practice of one strong nation controlling another weaker nation, territory, or a group of people; types of imperialism (from strongest to weakest) are: colonization, protectorates, spheres of influence, and economic
|
| Triple Alliance
|
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed this alliance in 1882 to protect against French attacks; later became the Central Powers after Italy left and the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined
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| Triple Entente
|
(1907) from the French for "good-will", Great Britain, Russia, France formed this alliance in 1907 to oppose the Triple Alliance; this later became the Allied Powers after Italy and Japan joined. Not as strong an alliance as the Triple Alliance, the Triple Entente did require mutual assistance to defend against attack
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| Communism
|
an oppressive system of government, beginning in Russia, which requires everyone to be equally poor and discourages people from working hard
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| Allies
|
The Allies in WWI were Britain (her colonies), France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and beginning in 1917, the United States; in WWII the Allies were Britain, America, France, and Russia.
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| Central Powers
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The enemies of the Allies in WWI, and they were Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman empire.
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| Great War
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1914-1918: later known as World War I, this was one of the deadliest wars in world history based on trench warfare; the Allies defeated the Central Powers and imposed terms of peace on Germany which were so unreasonable that they led to World War II
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| Schlieffen Plan
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German plan to avoid a two-front war in World War I by invading and defeating France first before fighting Russia on its other front
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| Entrenchment
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the first year-and-a-half of World War I (1914-15) during which there were terrible casualties without either side gaining the upper hand.
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| First Battle of Marne
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(Sept. 6-12, 1914), massive conflict in WWI which halted the German efforts to capture France, and forced the Germans to fight a two-front war; French losses were horrific: 250,000 deaths
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| U-boat
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German submarines used to patrol the Atlantic in a terrifying manner and destroy British ships; the U-boats eventually sunk American ships too
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| Gallipoli Campaign
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(April 1915) Allied forces landed on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli, but were not prepared for the terrain or their tough opponents; unsuccessful, the Allies retreated after massive losses
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| Lusitania
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a British luxury liner sunk by a German submarine in the North Atlantic on May 7, 1915, killing 1,198 people, including 128 U.S. citizens; this outraged the American public and led later to the U.S. entry into WW I in 1917.
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| Battle of Verdun
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(1916) longest battle of WWI with massive casualties and nothing gained by either side with nearly 1 million wounded or killed; began when Germans attacked the French city of Verdun
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| Manfred von Richtofen
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Better known as the "Red Baron," this German was the greatest flying ace of all time with 80 kills until he was shot down by an unknown person near the end of WW I, in 1918
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| Treaty of Versailles
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(1919) ended WWI by imposing limits on the size and weapons of the German army, requiring Germany to pay massive damages, and taking away some of its colonies and territories.
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| Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
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(1923) created the modern state of Turkey, with a combination of military rule and an elected Parliament; also converted its Arabic language to a modern, Latin-style alphabet
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| Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
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(1870-1924) leader of the Communist Party who overthrew the Russian czars; Lenin led the violent Bolsheviks and then ruled the Soviet Union, imposing a system of Marxism-Leninism that remained until the 1990s; Lenin also ended Russia's support of the Allies in the war in 1918
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| Bolsheviks
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(after 1903) the more extreme Marxist group that caused a violent revolution, as opposed to the more peaceful Mensheviks who sought gradual change to communism
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| Expressionism
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style of art that arose in the 20th century, using distorted forms and bold colors
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| Great Depression
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a worldwide economic crisis in the 1930s when poverty struck most of the world and the unhappiness allowed dictators to seize power
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| King Victor Emmanuel
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from 1861 to 1878, he was the king of Italy - its first king in more than 1000 years.
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| Il Duce
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"The Leader." Name used by the fascists to identify Mussolini from about 1920 to 1943
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| Nazi
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a member of the National Socialist German Workers' party of Germany, which in 1933, under Adolf Hitler, seized political control of the nation, started World War II, believed in a supremacy by the German people, and imposed the Holocaust
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| Fascism
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Fascists believe that all actions should be done for the good of the state. Fascism is a totalitarian economic and political ideology that came to dominate the social and political systems of Italy under Benito Mussolini and Germany under Adolf Hitler.
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| aggression by Japan in the 1930s
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Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, attracted in part by the coal and iron deposits there, which began the Asian phase of World War II. In 1937, Japan invaded northern and central China.
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| aggression by Italy in the 1930s
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Italy invaded and conquered Ethiopia in Africa in 1935-1936.
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| Mussolini
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founder of Italy’s Fascist Party, Mussolini emphasized the need to improve Italy’s economy and its military. In October 1922, the Fascists protested in Rome, causing the King to make Mussolini leader of Italy. He then made it illegal to strike, thinking this would make the economy bounce back. Later Mussolini was allied with Hitler during WWII, although Mussolini had a low opinion of Hitler.
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| aggression by Germany in the 1930s
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In 1936, Germany invaded the buffer zone separating Germany from France - the industrialized Rhineland; Germany annexed Austria in 1938 without much resistance, and on Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded and annexed western Poland by using tanks and air power to destroy the resistance.
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| Enigma
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a cipher (encryption) used by the Axis in WWII, thought to be unbreakable until a 27-year-old Polish mathematician cracked it in 1937 and shared it with the Allies (France and England, and then the United States). The Germans did not know that their secret code had been broken.
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| World War I (WWI)
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(1914-1918) also known as The Great War, the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary fought against the Entente of Britain, France and Russia (and later, the U.S.); the war ended with the economic collapse of the Central Powers in November 1918 after 4 years of brutal fighting and a successful blockade on Germany
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| World War II (WWII)
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began on Sept. 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, and lasted until 1945 when the Allied powers defeated the Axis powers and forced them to surrender
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| The Axis
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The Axis were the enemies of the Allies in WWII; the Axis consisted of Nazi Germany, Italy (at the start of the war), and Japan, they also included Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia
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| Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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"FDR" was President during most of the Great Depression and WW II, when he wanted the U.S. to intervene to save Britain
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| blitzkrieg
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German for "lightning war," high-speed attack which combines bombing with a tank invasion, followed by infantry to mop up pockets of enemy troops that developed; first launched with spectacular success by Hitler against Poland in 1939
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| The Holocaust
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Germany blamed Jews for its problems. In 1935 a law was passed to prevent Jews from holding government offices, and during WWII Germany established concentration camps that exterminated millions of Jews (and millions of Christians too). Poland was the location of the most Nazi concentration camps. Most of the victims of the Holocaust were Polish (both Jewish and Christian).
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| Joseph Stalin
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(1879-1953) Russian atheistic dictator who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition
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| Manhattan Project
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(Dec. 6, 1941) one day before the attack at Pearl Harbor, American scientists began developing an atomic bomb
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| D-Day
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(June 6, 1944) the massive invasion of Europe at Normandy (France) by the U.S.-led Allied forces, to turn the tide in WWII
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| George Patton
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homeschooled, this American was the finest field general in WWII and the only one the Germans truly feared; he was better at blitzkrieg-style tank warfare than the Germans were. His aggressive style caused far more casualties in the enemy than suffered by his troops.
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| Big Bang
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1927: a scientific theory developed by a Catholic priest, initially ridiculed before being accepted by many physicists, that the universe had a unique, sudden creation rather than having existed forever as other scientists claimed
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| quantum mechanics
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(early 1900s) this breakthrough in physics is the foundation of electronic technology: there is an underlying uncertainty in the position of subatomic particles until they are observed, and these particles are easy to use for storing or controlling information
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| Niels Bohr
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a Danish physicist in the early 1900s who discovered the atomic structure and helped develop quantum mechanics
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| Albert Einstein
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(1879-1955) physicist best known for his work on the theory of relativity
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| Easter Rising
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(April 24-30, 1916) Irishmen seeking independence from Britain captured key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic; Britain suppressed this and executed its leaders
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| Irish Republic
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(1919) established through the efforts of its leader, Michael Collins (1890-1922), who was then killed three years later during an Irish civil war
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| Northern Ireland
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divided between British Protestants and Irish Catholics, still under the control of the British
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| jazz
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music originating in New Orleans in the early 1900s, developing varied and complex styles; it consists of intricate, propulsive rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, improvisatory, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom.
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| globalism
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the opposite of “nationalism”, “globalism” views the world as one political unit, as one massive village
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| Mahatma Gandhi
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spiritual Hindu leader who achieved independence for India from Britain in 1947 by emphasizing peaceful civil disobedience
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| free trade
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trade (importing goods) without limitation between nations; it can cause losses in American jobs and an increase in illegal drugs shipped in from other nations
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| GATT
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(1947) stands for “General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,” in which western nations promoted free trade by first prohibiting increases in tariffs (taxes on goods sent between nations), and by later reducing the tariffs
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| World Trade Organization
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(1995) WTO: most nations agreed to “free trade” and established international courts for handling disputes
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| NAFTA
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(1994) stands for “North American Free Trade Agreement,” which established free trade between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and created international courts to resolve trade disputes
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| consumerism
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people becoming obsessed with buying more than what is healthy or necessary, with brand names (like McDonalds) becoming more familiar than important things like the Bible
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| Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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(1948) a United Nations declaration of basic human rights, including “life, liberty, and security of person”
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| Cold War
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(1945-1991) between the U.S., its allies and the communist Soviet Union, consisting of spying rather than actual fighting
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| Korean War
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(1950-1953) war between South Korea, supported by the U.S., and North Korea, supported by communists; ended in a stalemate after President Truman prevented General Douglas MacArthur from winning it by fighting the communist Chinese
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| Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
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(1960) “OPEC” is a cartel (monopoly by a group) formed by Middle Eastern and a few other nations to keep the price of oil high by reducing competition. In 2007, OPEC controlled about 2/3rds of the total oil market, and keeps the price of gas expensive.
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| Berlin Wall
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a symbol of communism, this massive wall (with armed communist guards on top) was built in 1961 to stop the flow of people from communist East Germany to free West Germany
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| Pearl Harbor
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Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese launched a surprise attack on US navy fleet in Hawaii; Congress then declared war on Japan and entered WWII.
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| Korematsu v. United States
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(1944) Supreme Court decision upholding the forced removal of Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII; the Court sided with the government, ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional
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| domino effect
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the expectation that when one nation fell to communism, then its neighboring nations became more likely to fall to communism too. This principle was the driving force behind US intervention against communism in Korea, Vietnam and perhaps Chile.
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| Ho Chi Minh
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a communist, nationalist leader of North Vietnam who defeated the weakened Japanese there in 1945, obtained freedom from the French, and then sought to make South Vietnam communist too
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| Vietcong
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communist insurgents in South Vietnam in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War
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| Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
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August 1964: in response to mysterious gunshots fired at an American ship in the Gulf of Tonkin near North Vietnam, and pressure from President Lyndon Johnson as he sought to be reelected, Congress authorized sending troops; Congress never formally declared war on North Vietnam, and this Resolution became the substitute for a formal declaration of war.
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| Vietnam War
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1964-1975: an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to prevent the fall of Vietnam to communism
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| Henry Kissinger
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an adviser who ran the foreign policies of U.S. Presidents Nixon and Ford, and who mishandled the Vietnam War to a humiliating conclusion for the U.S.
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| Pol Pot
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ruled Cambodia in 1975-1979 as the leader of the Khmer Rouge government; he abolished private property, money and religion, and caused many deaths
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| Zionism
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a movement beginning in the late 1800s to reestablish a Jewish state in Palestine in and around Jerusalem
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| Balfour Declaration
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1917: a statement calling for the creation of new Jewish and Palestinian states in the Middle East
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| Israel
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established by the United Nations in 1948, having a size slightly smaller than New Jersey
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| Arab-Israeli wars
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four major ones between 1948 and 1973 (in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973)
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| Six-Day War
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1967: Egypt’s ruler Nasser closed off the Gulf of Aqaba, which was the only access Israel had to the Red Sea, and Israel responded with massive air strikes against several Arab nations, including Egypt; Israel conquered Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.
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| Anwar Sadat
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succeeded Nasser as ruler of Egypt (1970-1981)
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| Yom Kippur War
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(October 1973) Egypt’s ruler Sadat launched a surprise attack on Israel on its holiest day, Yom Kippur. After suffering massive initial losses, the Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, regained much of the lost territory.
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| Camp David Accords
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1979: President Jimmy Carter brokered a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, whereby Egypt agreed to recognize Israel in exchange for receiving return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian control.
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| Yasser Arafat
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founded the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, which demanded a Palestinian state in the area of Jerusalem and rejected the right of Israel to exist.
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| intifada
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in general, "intifada" is a Muslim term that refers generally to an unorganized uprising, which can include violence; more specifically, "intifada" refers to a campaign by the Muslim PLO from 1987 to 1993 against Israelis.
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| Declaration of Principles
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1993: secret talks between Israeli leaders and the PLO in Oslo, resulting in a promise of self-rule to the Palestinians over the Gaza Strip and West Bank
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| Benjamin Netanyahu
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a conservative leader in Israel who has been its Prime Minister since 2009
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| Mikhail Gorbachev
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rose to power in the Soviet Union in mid-1980s and allowed “glasnost” or openness, and “perestroika”, which permitted some economic freedoms, until he resigned on Christmas Day of 1991 after losing to Boris Yeltsin
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| Lithuania
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annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940 but became independent in March 1990 as the Soviet Union fell apart with the overthrow of communism
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| Boris Yeltsin
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the popular mayor of Moscow who courageously challenged the communists in Russia and defeated them in June 1991 to become president of a new Russian Republic; he ended price controls and cut taxes; churches opened and the people of Leningrad changed its name back to St. Petersburg.
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| Commonwealth of Independent States
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the successor to the Soviet Union; most of its nations (including Russia) joined, except for the Baltic republics and the nation of Georgia (no connection with the American state of Georgia)
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| Chechnya
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Muslim-dominated region in southwest Russia, which declared its independence from Russia in 1991, leading to a bloody war
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| John Paul II
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(reigned 1978-2005) the first Polish pope of the Catholic Church, who then opposed communism especially in his homeland of Poland, promising to return to Poland to fight against the Soviet Union if it invaded
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| Lech Walesa
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a leader against communism in Poland, who led his political party "Solidarity" to power once free elections were held in April 1989 as communism fell apart
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| Hungary
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attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow communism in 1956 (the Soviet Union invaded to suppress the revolt), but Hungarians eventually overthrew communism in October 1989
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| East Germany
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an atheistic, communist nation until demonstrations broke out in October 1989, which not even its ruthless dictator Erich Honecker could control; he resigned and his successor opened the Berlin Wall in November 1989, whereupon the people then tore the wall completely down
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| Czechoslovakia
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combination of diverse ethnic groups formed in 1919 out of the old Austria-Hungarian empire to promote Woodrow Wilson's "self-determination" principle, until Hitler invaded it in 1938; after WWII it was a communist-controlled nation until demonstrations forced its Communist Party leader to resign in November 1989. In 1993, the Czechoslovakia split along ethnic lines to form Slovakia and the Czech Republic
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| Romania
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Eastern European nation ruled by communist dictators from the end of WWII until overthrown by massive demonstrations in December 1989
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| Nicolae Ceausescu
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communist dictator of Romania from 1965 to Christmas Day 1989; unlike all other communist dictators, Ceausescu was pro-life and he prohibited abortion. In the 1990s, many Americans went to Romania to adopt children.
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| Yugoslavia
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ruled by the communist Marshall Tito (1945-1980), who enjoyed some independence from the Soviet Union; Tito was succeeded in power by the Serbian Slobodan Milosevic, which caused Slovenia and Croatia to seek independence due to their different ethnicity
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| Kosovo War
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fighting in Croatia between the Serbs and the Croats; the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened in 1999 and drove the Serbian Milosevic from power
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| Ronald Reagan
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(1981-1989) conservative U.S. president who cut taxes, helped defeat communism in the Soviet Union, and proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
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| Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
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(1980s) also known as “Star Wars,” Reagan proposed developing advanced technology to intercept and destroy fast-moving missiles that might be launched against the U.S.
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| Chairman Mao Zedong
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(ruled 1949-1976) the ruthless dictator who founded communist China and then starved tens of millions to death; in 1965 he imposed the "Cultural Revolution" to senselessly eliminate people who had been successful
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| Tiananmen Square
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(June 4, 1989) communist China used tanks to massacre hundreds of peaceful Chinese protesters who sought greater democracy
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| Hong Kong
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was a colony of Great Britain until July 1, 1997, when Britain's lease expired and it returned this colony to China, which promised to allow Hong Kong to remain capitalist for another 50 years
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| 9-11
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(September 11, 2001) 19 Muslims, most from Saudi Arabia, hijacked American airplanes and flew one into each tower of the World Trade Center, which then collapsed, flew a third plane into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania as the passengers attempted to retake control of the plane from the terrorists.
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| Arab Spring
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2010-present: Muslims overthrowing governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, after which Islamic control was complete and persecution of Christians increased.
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| Modern Era
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two meanings: either since 1789 (The French Revolution), or since 1900
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