Glossary Flashcards
1
Q
Auschwitz-Birkenau
A
Established in 1941 in Poland, the most murderous of the Nazi death camps; liberated in 1945
2
Q
Jacobites
A
Supporters of the exiled King James II and his son, the titular James III, known to his opponents as the Pretender. Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1745 failed to restore the Catholic Stuarts to he British throne.
3
Q
Triple Alliance
A
Alliance worked out by Kaiser Wilhelm II among Germany, Austria, and Italy in 1892.
4
Q
Ranters
A
Religious radicals emerging out of the toleration following the British Civil Wars, who believed that those in tune with God can commit no sin. This idea was thought to give Ranters license to perform all manner of debauchery. Though much feared and reviled at the time, historians now debate their existence.
5
Q
Mensheviks
A
From the Russian word for “minority.” A loosely organized faction of the Russian Socialists, including intellectual moderates. Individual Mensheviks were eventually absorbed into or purged from the Bolshevik-led Communist Party at the revolution.
6
Q
Bloody Sunday
A
On 22 January 1905, a peaceful crowd sought to petition the czar at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The imperial guard panicked and fired on the crowd, resulting in about 100 deaths, which in turn precipitated the First Russian Revolution
7
Q
Quakers
A
Religious sect emerging out of the toleration following the British Civil Wars and led by George Fox. They believed that each human being possessed God’s inner light in equal measure, regardless of gender or social rank. This inclined them, notoriously, to flout gender roles, deny deference to social superiors, refuse to sear oaths, and “quake” with their inner light at services.
8
Q
Peasants’ War
A
Failed religious, political, and economic revolt by German peasants during 1524-1526, sparked by the attacks on the church by Martin Luther and other reformers. Luther himself denounced the revolt.
9
Q
Kosovo
A
Province of Serbia inhabited mainly by ethnic Albanians. The Serbian attempt to suppress this minority in 1999 provoked NATO military action, which led to the fall of the government of Slobodan Milosovic.
10
Q
Treaty of Prague
A
Treaty ending the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which saw the creation of the North German Confederation.
11
Q
Positivism
A
The belief, associated with Auguste Comte, that a scientific approach to human problems would lead to their solutions and continuous human progress.
12
Q
Sudetenland Crisis
A
Ensued when, in 1938, Hitler demanded, first, autonomy, then independence, and finally, the absorption into Germany of the Sudetenland, a portion of Czechoslovakia inhabited by ethnic Germans. Britain, France, and Italy agreed to these measures over Czech protests. Early in 1939, Hitler absorbed the rest of Czechoslovakia.
13
Q
Hundred Years’ War
A
1337-1453: Intermittent conflict between France and England, which was often allied with French barons. After years of English occupation of large portions of France, the conflict ended with the English being driven out.
14
Q
Great Schism
A
1374-1417: Period when rival popes ruled from Avignon and Rome. Ended at the Council of Constance with the election of Martin V.
15
Q
New Economic Policy
A
Lenin’s tempering of communization (1921-1924).
16
Q
Continental System
A
Tariff union and free trade area organized by Napoleon for his empire in 1806 in order to promote French industry and shut out the British. This system became one of the grievances against the Napoleonic Empire.
17
Q
Baptists
A
Protestants who believed that baptism should be left to adult choice. This idea was controversial because it would leave children unbaptized and vitiate any notion of a national church
18
Q
Black Death
A
Probably bubonic plague, which ravaged Europe from 1347-1350, killing one-third to one-half of the population and returning periodically until the last outbreak at Marseilles in 1722
19
Q
Purgatory
A
Roman Catholic belief that, at death, souls who are not damned but not of sufficient perfection to merit heaven go to this place to become so. Catholics believe that the prayers of the faithful and the indulgences granted by the Church for good deeds in life are efficacious in reducing the amount of time a soul spends there.
20
Q
levee en masse
A
Conscripted citizen army established by the Jacobins to defend France in 1793
21
Q
auto-da-fe
A
literally “act of faith”; public declaration of sentences imposed by courts of the Spanish Inquisition, with the carrying out of the sentence (e.g. burning at the stake) by secular authorities
22
Q
Commercial Revolution
A
General expansion of European trade, much of it with North American colonies, China, and India, in the 17th century. Benefited the Dutch, the French, and most of all, the British.
23
Q
Risorgimento
A
Abortive movement in 1848 to unify Italy.
24
Q
Bolsheviks
A
By 1903, a faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party that favored a tight, disciplined, and militantly revolutionary party membership. Led by Lenin, the Bolsheviks would form the core of the triumphant Communist Party at the revolution
25
Iron Law of Wages
First posited by David Ricardo in 1817, the idea that wages rise and fall in inverse proportion to the size of the labor force.
26
Adrianople, Treaty of (a.k.a. Treaty of Edirne)
Established Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, 1829
27
Realpolitik
Belief, associated with Otto von Bismarck, that international diplomacy should be based on practical considerations, not religious or moral sentiments.
28
Reform Act
British stature of 1832 that extended the vote to the middle class.
29
Treaty of Ryswick
1697. Treaty ending the Nine Years' War, by which Louis XIV recognized William III as the rightful king of England, Scotland, and Ireland; gave back European territory taken since 1678; and agreed to work out with William a partition of the Spanish Empire after the death of Carlos II.
30
heresey
The Catholic Church's term for any belief which disagreed with the tenets of the Church.
31
dauphin
title referring to the eldest son of a king of France, in use from 1349 until 1830. "Daupine" referred to the wife of a dauphin.
32
Three Emperor's League
Alliance designed in 1872 by Bismarck, Julius Andrassy, and Prince Gorchakov to ally the rulers of Germany, Austria, and Russia.
33
Jacobins
Radicals in the French Revolution who sought to create a perfectly egalitarian society. In power, they defended France ably but discredited themselves by launching the reign of terror.
34
Treaty of Tilsit
1807. Recognized Napoleon's Empire in the West and Czar Alexander I's supremacy in the east.
35
szlachta
Relatively broad class of local nobles and gentry in Poland, whose power was weakened by the partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795) in favor of the most elite portions of the aristocracy.
36
NKVD
Stalin's secret police, regular police, purge operations, and prison camps combined in 1934 under a "People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs" headed first by Nikolai Yezhov and then by Lavrenty Beria.
37
Utopian Socialists
Early 19th-century socialists (Henri de St. Simon, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen) who believed that the aristocrats and factory owners could be persuaded to relinquish control of natural resources and the means of production for the good of all.
38
salon
Originating in France during the 17th and 18th centuries, any literary, artistic, or intellectual gathering of distinguished guests, often from a variety of fields, in a drawing room or large reception hall and organized by a prominent hostess or host. Crucial to advancing the Enlightenment and often led by women.
39
Blank Check
Kaiser Wilhelm II's offer to back the Austrian emperor, Franz-Josef, militarily should he attack Serbia and be attacked by Russia in 1914
40
SA
Sturmabteilungen: Nazi storm troopers, eliminated in 1934.
41
intendants
French officials who oversaw local affairs for the Bourbon kings.
42
COMECON
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance; economic association of Communist countries created in 1949, disbanded in 1991.
43
Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of
Treaty between communist Russia and Germany, in which the former ceded vast amounts of territory, population, and natural resources to the latter in 1918. Allowed Germany to shift the bulk of its forces west for a final offensive later that year.
44
Lusitania
British luxury liner torpedoed by a German U-boat in May 1915 with tremendous loss of life, including 125 Americans. American threats to enter World War I as a result led the Germans to halt unrestricted submarine warfare for nearly two years.
45
Social Darwinists
Nineteenth-century social theorists who attempted to apply Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection to human political, social, and economic relations, resulting in justifications for the European class system, imperialism, and aggression.
46
Paris Commune
An elected body, run by the sans-culottes, that shared governmental power with the National Assembly during the French Revolution. Separately, also later used to refer to the socialist government that governed Paris for two months in the spring of 1871 following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.
47
corvee
The right, prior to the Revolution, of a French landlord to demand periodic labor from his tenants to build roads, erect barns, and so forth.
48
cahiers de doleance
Reports from the countryside, written to the Estates General, about conditions in France in 1789.
49
Crystal Palace Exhibition
The first world's fair (1851), designed to show off the wonders of the Industrial Revolution.
50
Triple Entente
Alliance among Britain, France, and Russia established in 1907.
51
Blitzkrieg
War of shock and movement, perfected by the German general staff between the wars and deployed by the German military in World War II, which used aircraft to destroy enemy supply lines and to support ground operations involving massed tanks and infantry
52
Lollards
Followers of John Wycliff in 14th and 15th century England who wanted a deemphasized Church hierarchy, greater lay participation in the liturgy, and Scripture translated into the vernacular. Believed to have been persecuted out of existence by the time of the Reformation.
53
Little Entente
Alliance against German expansion created in 1920 by Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia, and later joined by France and aided by Poland.
54
National Convention
The body that governed France from 1792-1795.
55
Muggletonians
A sect of English Puritans who believed that Lodowick Muggleton (1609-1698), a tailor from the West Country who had experienced a series of religious visions, was the last prophet named in the Book of Revelation, with the power to save or damn on the spot. Muggleton denied the Trinity, denounced the heliocentric view of the solar system, and claimed that Eve had been the incarnation of evil.
56
Spanish Armada
Philip II's failed attempt to invade England in 1588, defeated by the Royal Navy and a Protestant wind (i.e., the weather).
57
Kulaks
From Russian for "fist," pejorative term for relatively wealthy Russian Peasants, regarded in the Soviet Union as stingy class enemies of the Communist Revolution.
58
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Alliance, created in 1991, consisting of most states that emerged from the former Soviet Union.
59
National Socialist German Workers party
Nazis: Germany's fascist party in the 1920s-1940s, led by Adolf Hitler
60
Congo Free State
Established by the Congress of Berlin in 1884, the personal proprietary colony of Leopold II of Belgium was ruthlessly exploited for its rubber. The revelations of the regime's brutality led to the assumption of control by the Belgian parliament in 1908.
61
blue-water strategy
A military strategy that concentrates on naval forces rather than land forces
62
Treaty of Westphalia
Treaty ending the Thirty Years' War in 1648 that affirmed the principle cujus region, ejus religio: the religion of the state is to be that of the ruler. This was, in fact, a step toward religious diversity and toleration in Europe.
63
Pax Britannica
Refers to the period in the late 19th century when the British Empire was at its height and the Royal Navy enforced order around the globe.
64
Anglicans
Conservative or "High Church" members of the Church of England favoring Church government by bishops
65
Common Market
Popular name for the European Economic Union established in 1957 that provided for fee trade across members' borders.
66
Levelers
Radical members of the New Model Army during the British Civil Wars who demanded universal manhood suffrage, law reform, and "the sovereignty of the people." They were suppressed by the Commonwealth regime.
67
MAD
Mutually Assured Destruction. The guarantee that use of nuclear weapons by either superpower would result in an automatic, overwhelming and fatal response. In theory and, so far, in fact, the guarantee of mutual destruction has prevented the use of these weapons.
68
SS
Schutzstaffel: Elite Nazi military units, often associated with concentration camp duties and battlefield atrocities.
69
Pogroms
(from Russian for "wreaking of havoc"): Spontaneous anti-Semitic massacres in czarist Russia, often tolerated by the government.
70
Avignon Papacy
1309-1374: Also known as the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, the period when the papacy was based in Avignon, a papal holding in France
71
Revolt of the Netherlands
1567-1608. Protestant Dutch response to Philip II's decision to impose the Inquisition on the Netherlands; it eventually resulted in independence for the northern provinces.
72
Amiens, Treaty of
Treaty ending the French Revolutionary Wars in 1801
73
Yalta Conference
Attended in February of 1945 by Sir Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin to determine the postwar fate of Europe. The decision to recognize the Soviet occupation of Eastern Euorpe laid the foundation for the Iron Curtain.
74
Iconoclasm
Attacks, often of Protestants against Catholic churches, that destroyed statues and stained glass as graven images.
75
Beer Hall Putsch
Attempted Nazi coup to take over the government of Bavaria in 1923. It was crushed easily, and the Nazi leaders went to prison for one year
76
Realism
Nineteenth-century artistic movement emphasizing the accurate depiction of life, especially among working people in both city and country.
77
Anschluss
German annexation of Austria, 1938
78
indulgences
Catholic practice by which the Church claims to remit time in purgatory for good works. Their sale at the beginning of the 16th century infuriated Martin Luther, prompting his 95 Theses (1517), which launched the Protestant Reformation.
79
CHEKA
First incarnation of the Soviet secret police, with antecedents in the czarist secret police of the 19th century (Third Section); subsequent incarnations included the GPU, OGPU, NKVD, NKGB and (from 1953) the KGB.
80
Phony War
Period from 1930-1940 when neither the allies nor the Germans launched offensives.
81
Carbonari
Italian for "charcoal burners"; 19th-century Italian nationalist partisans.
82
Kaiserschlacht
"Emperor battle" in German. The German plan to win the war in the west in 1918, devised by General Erich Ludendorff. The Germans nearly reached Paris but were stopped by fresh American troops.
83
Triangular Trade
The commercial system from 1619-1807, whereby British slavers purchased slaves from West African kings, transported them to and sold them in the New World, and transported the sugar, tobacco, or cotton they harvested back to Britain for distribution to all of Europe. This trade was the key to Britain's superiority in the 18th century.
84
Whigs
English political party that arose in the 17th century. The Whigs began as a country (opposition) party, demanding the exclusion of James, duke of York, a Catholic, from the throne; emphasizing the rights of Parliament and of dissenters; and championing a Protestant (pro-Dutch) foreign policy. In the 1690s, they became a part of government and grew less radical.
85
Augsburg, Peace of
1555 -- Settlement within the Holy Roman Empire allowing each prince to determine the religion within his territory (cuius region, eius religio)
86
Council of Trent
Church Council, convened in 1543-1563, to address the Reformation. Reasserted Catholic doctrine but urged a reformation of the Catholic clergy.
87
Great Chain of Being
A medieval intellectual system in which every creature and article in the universe was arranged in a strict hierarchy beginning with God.
88
parelements
French legal institutions that often acted as a brake on royal power before the French Revolution.
89
philosophes
Eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophers.
90
aide
French sales tax before the revolution
91
perestroika
Attempted restructuring of the communist system by Mikhail Gorbachev, intended to save communism but actually helped to precipitate its demise in Eastern Europe.
92
Treaty of Paris
Ended the Seven Years' War in 1763 by awarding Silesia to Prussia and most of Canada and other heretofore French possessions to Great Britain.
93
Schmalkaldic League
League of Protestant nobles who fought Charles V for religious autonomy within the Holy Roman Empire in the mid-16th century.
94
Bastille
French royal prison, attacked by a Parisian mob on 14 July 1789, the first violent act of the French Revolution
95
Treaty of Utrecht
1713. Treaty between Great Britain and France ending their hostilities in the War of the Spanish Succession. Britain acquired Gibralter, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, territory in the Caribbean, the asiento, Louis XIV's recognition of the Protestant Succession, and the promise that the crowns of France and Spain would never be united.
96
Holy Alliance
An alliance devised in 1815 by Czar Alexander I of the great European monarchies (Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, Britain) that was to work in concert to rule their peoples with Christian love while crushing liberalism, nationalism, and rebellions. Generally successful in the 1820s; Britain and France left in the 1830s as they grew more liberal.
97
No Man's Land
Area between the two trench systems on the Western Front of World War I. So called because no man could long survive the hail of machine-gun bullets and artillery shells that left a scene of desolation and carnage.
98
Hussites
Followers of the John Hus in 15th century Bohemia who demanded communion in both kinds (i.e. bread and wine). Persecuted as a heresy by the Roman Catholic Church.
99
Stamp Act
A British parliamentary statue of 1765, requiring that the American colonists purchase stamps to affix to official documents. The first serious attempt to tax the colonies was met with great hostility and was repealed the next year.
100
laissez-faire
Economic policies that eschew government regulation of trade and industry, generally associated with Great Britain at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.
101
Kristallnacht
Widespread violence against Jews, Jewish businesses, and synagogues in Germany and Austria on 9 November 1938, in response to the murder of a German diplomat in Paris by a Jew.
102
Congress of Vienna
Peace conference after the Napoleonic Wars (1815), dominated by Klemens von Metternich; Robert, Viscount Castlereagh; and Charles, Count Talleyrand, which restored monarchies and redistributed territory to create a buffer around France and, thus, maintain the balance of power. Though hostile to liberalism and nationalism, the Congress of Vienna secured a general European peace for 99 years.
103
Kulturkampf
Otto von Bismarck's program to reduce the role of the Roman Catholic Church in German life.
104
Totalitarianism
A form of absolute government admitting no dissent or rival loyalties, usually associated with dictatorship and the use of modern technology to monitor and enforce obedience.
105
conciliarism
Late medieval reform movement which responded to the Great Schism by proposing that church councils, rather than the Pope, should have the power to determine policy for the Catholic Church; rejected by Pope Martin V (1417-31) and later condemned by the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517).
106
Tories
English political party that arose in the 17th century. The Tories began as a court party, defending the hereditary succession in the person of James, duke of York. They favored the rights of the monarch, the Church of England, and the interests of landowners. During the 1690s, as they became associated with Jacobitism and lost power, the Tories grew to be more of a country (opposition) party.
107
guardacostas
private naval forces employed by the Spanish government against England during the 18th century. Their aggressive tactics precipitated the War of Jenkins' Ear 1739-1742.
108
Albigensians
Medieval heresy that taught that all matter was evil, violently persecuted by the Church
109
War Communism
1917-1921. Lenin's first quick attempt at communization. Forced collectivization, immediate peace with Germany, and the encouragement of international terrorism led to much loss of life, territory, and international legitimacy. Reversed in 1921-1922 by Lenin's New Economic Policy.
110
Black Hand
Serbian nationalist terrorist organization that planned the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914
111
Third Section
Russian secret police established by Czar Nicholas I after the failed Decembrist uprising of 1825.
112
taille
A hearth tax paid by every French commoner before the revolution.
113
Puritans
English Protestants who sought the continued reform of the Church of England after its establishment in 1559-1563.
114
Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of
Treaty ending the War of the Austrian Succession (1748). Essentially, all sides reverted to their prewar borders
115
Mein Kampf
Hitler's autobiography/political manifesto in which he lays out the Nazi program, published in 1926.
116
Mercantilism
Economic system, especially associated with 17th century Western Europe, in which the government plans the economy, encourages local industry, protects it with high tariffs, and acquires colonies for raw materials and markets. Largely discredited by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations.
117
Bon Marche, Paris
Generally credited as the world's first department store
118
Jesuits
Members of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 and recognized by the pope in 1540.
119
National Assembly
The Third Estate, plus aristocratic and clerical supporters, once it had retreated to a Parisian tennis court to give France a new constitution in 1789.
120
Schlieffen Plan
Devised by General Alfred von Schlieffen and finalized in 1905, Germany's plan to win a general European war quickly by attacking France first, then Russia. The defeat of France was to be accomplished by a feint through the Ardennes, the main attack coming through neutral Belgium. The plan failed on implementation in 1914, leading to the stalemate on the Western Front.
121
Mississippi Company, or Scheme
Plan developed by a Scottish speculator named John Law and backed in 1719 bye the Duc d'Orleans, regent to Louis XV, to establish a company for investment in the French territory of Louisiana and a Banque Royale to issue notes and stock. The plan collapsed in a rash of speculation.
122
Peace of Passau
1552. France and Maurice of Saxony negotiated with the Holy Roman Empire for the release of Protestant princes, which prepared the way for the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.
123
salutary neglect
British policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of Britain's North American colonies.
124
Versailles Palace
Magnificent palace built by Louis XIV during 1661-1685 to display his power.
125
Sejm
Historical term for the entire parliament of Poland, consisting of two chambers as well as the king (who was regarded as considered a third legislative chamber). Veto was possible by any one aristocrat (liberum veto). After 1918, Sejm referred only to the lower chamber.
126
Spanish Crusade
Effort, led by King Philip II beginning in the 1560s to stamp out Protestant heretics.
127
Pragmatic Sanction Decree
1713. Decree by which Maria Theresa was recognized as heir to the Austrian throne.
128
Spanish Flu
Worst pandemic in history, killed perhaps 20 million in 1918-1919.
129
U-boats
German submarines, used to sink merchant ships supplying the British Isles in both world wars.
130
Pugachev's Rebellion
Peasant rebellion in Russia (1774) led by Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, brutally suppressed by the forces of Catherine the Great.
131
sans-culottes
Urban workers, mainly in Paris, who radicalized the French Revolution. So called because, being people who worked for a living, they wore trousers, not knee-britches.
132
Middling orders
Social rank below the aristocracy referring to those who generally did not work with their hands and lived comfortable lives but did not have titles and usually did not have lands. Before the Industrial Revolution, they included merchants, financiers, mayors, alderman, burghers, and professionals such as lawyers, doctors, military and naval officers, clergy, estate stewards, and majordomos. They amounted to perhaps 10 percent of the European population. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century split the middling orders into an upper group that directly benefited from the new factory system, and a lower group unable to invest in, or compete with, the new system.
133
Spanish Inquisition
Effort launched in 1478 by Ferdinand and Isabella to eradicate heresy and root out conversos (secret Jews) and moriscos (secret Muslims). Non-Christians later expelled (Jews in 1492, Muslims in 1502).
134
polysynody
system of French government, used briefly after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, in which traditional ministers were replaced by eight councils staffed by the ancient aristocracy ("the nobility of the sword").
135
Versailles Conference
Peace conference, held at Versailles Palace, to formally end World War I in 1919. The conference was successful in establishing numerous democracies in Europe, but it did not seriously confront the issue of imperialism and its punitive treatment of Germany contributed to the resentment that would lead to the Second World War.
136
asiento
The right to supply African slaves to the Spanish colonies of the New World, secured for Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713
