Chapter 19: Societies at Crossroads- Vocab

Question 1

Abdül Hamid II

Answer 1

Reigned 1876–1909 C.E. Sultan of the Ottoman Empire whose despotic style of rule led to the creation of many opposition groups and to his deposition by dissidents in 1909.

Question 1

Boxer Rebellion

Answer 1

A violent movement spearheaded by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists militia units. In 1899, the sought to rid China of “foreign devils” and their influences, going on a killing rampage, and were supported by Empress Cixi.

Question 2

Capitulations

Answer 2

Highly unfavorable trading agreements that the Ottoman Turks signed with the Europeans in the nineteenth century that symbolized the decline of the Ottomans.

Question 3

Cixi

Answer 3

1835–1908 C.E. Former imperial concubine who established herself as effective ruler of the Qing dynasty in the fifty years prior to the end of Qing rule in 1908. She was hated by millions for her lavish spending, corruption, and resistance to reform.

Question 4

Cohong

Answer 4

Specially licensed Chinese firms that were under strict government regulation.

Question 5

Commodore Matthew C. Perry

Answer 5

An American commander who threatened Edo (Tokyo) in 1853 and forced the shogun to open Japan to commercial relations and sign a treaty of friendship.

Question 6

Crimean War

Answer 6

1853–1856 C.E. War fought on the Crimean peninsula between Russia on one side and Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia on the other.

Question 7

Duma

Answer 7

Russian parliament, established after the Revolution of 1905.

Question 8

Emancipation Manifesto

Answer 8

Manifesto proclaimed by the Russian Tsar Alexander II in 1861 that abolished the institution of serfdom and freed 23 million serfs.

Question 9

Fukuzawa Yukichi

Answer 9

1835–1901. Prominent Japanese who traveled around Europe and North America after the Meiji Restoration to evaluate foreign administrative systems and constitutions.

Question 10

Hundred Days reforms

Answer 10

Chinese reforms of 1898 led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao in their desire to turn China into a modern industrial power.

Question 11

Ito Hirobumi

Answer 11

A Meiji-era traveler who took 4 journeys, and on one in the 1880s, he traveled to Europe to study constitutions and administrative systems. He was impressed by the German constitution.

Question 12

Janissaries

Answer 12

Highly respected, elite infantry units of the Ottoman Empire, who formed the first modern standing army in Europe. Jati Indian word for a Hindu subcaste.

Question 13

Lin Zexu

Answer 13

1785–1850 C.E. Chinese scholar and official appointed by the Qing government to destroy the illegal opium trade conducted by the British and other European and American traders.

Question 14

Mahmud II

Answer 14

The cousin of Sultan Selim III who was the only one left alive after the Janissaries’ rampage. He implemented reforms (along western European lines) when he ruled the Ottoman Empire and massacred the Janissary troops.

Question 15

Meiji Restoration

Answer 15

Restoration of imperial rule under Emperor Meiji in 1868 by a coalition led by Fukuzawa Yukichi and Ito Hirobumi; the restoration enacted western reforms to strengthen Japan.

Question 16

Muhammad Ali

Answer 16

Reigned 1805–1848. Egyptian general who built a powerful army on the European model and became the effective ruler of Egypt in spite of its official status as an Ottoman territory.

Question 17

Mutsuhito

Answer 17

1852–1912 c.e. The first Meiji emperor of Japan who reigned from 1867 until his death. During his reign Japan transformed from a feudal to an industrial economy.

Question 18

Nicholas II

Answer 18

Reigned 1894–1917. Russian tsar who was first deposed and then executed, along with his family, in the Russian Revolution.

Question 19

Opium War

Answer 19

A conflict between British commercial agents and China from 1839 to 1842. It started after the Chinese government’s action against opium, and the British won the war with their superior steam-powered ships and their strike at the Grand Canal.

Question 20

Pogroms

Answer 20

Yiddish word meaning “devastation,” referring to an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group—especially Jews in Eastern Europe.

Question 21

Qing

Answer 21

Chinese dynasty (1644–1911) that reached its peak during the reigns of Kangxi and Qianlong.

Question 22

Samurai

Answer 22

A Japanese warrior.

Question 23

Self-Strengthening Movement

Answer 23

Chinese attempt (1860–1895) to blend Chinese cultural traditions with European industrial technology.

Question 24

Sergei Witte

Answer 24

Late-nineteenth-century Russian minister of finance who pushed for industrialization.

Question 25

Sultan Selim III

Answer 25

Reigned 1789–1807. Ottoman sultan whose efforts at reform threatened his elite fighting corps (the Jannissaries), who revolted and locked him up.

Question 26

Taiping Rebellion

Answer 26

Rebellion (1850–1864) in Qing China led by Hong Xiuquan, during which twenty to thirty million were killed; the rebellion was symbolic of the decline of China during the nineteenth century.

Question 27

Tanzimat Era

Answer 27

“Reorganization” era (1839–1876), an attempt to reorganize the Ottoman empire on Enlightenment and constitutional forms.

Question 28

Tokugawa Bakufu

Answer 28

Feudal style of government that ruled Japan under the direction of shoguns from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Question 29

Treaty of Nanjing

Answer 29

1842 Treaty forced on China by Great Britain after Britain’s victory in the first Opium War, which forcibly opened China to western trade and settlement.

Question 30

Tsar Alexander II

Answer 30

1818–1881 C.E. Emperor of Russia from 1855 until his assassination, best known for his emancipation of the serfs in 1861.

Question 31

Unequal treaties

Answer 31

A series of pacts that curtailed China’s sovereignty (starting with the treaty of Nanjing) by giving foreign powers more influence, forcing China to open trade and allow foreigners onto its soil.

Question 32

Xiuquan

Answer 32

A Chinese religious prophet and leader of the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-1800s. He believed that God wanted him to establish a new order (the Society of God Worshippers) by destroying the Qing Dynasty.

Question 33

Young Turks

Answer 33

Nineteenth-century Turkish reformers who pushed for changes within the Ottoman empire, such as universal suffrage and freedom of religion.

Question 34

Zaibatsu

Answer 34

Japanese term for “wealthy cliques,” which are similar to American trusts and cartels but usually organized around one family.

Question 35

Zemstvos

Answer 35

District assemblies elected by Russians in the nineteenth century.