AP Euro Unit 6 Vocab

Industrial Revolution

Shift from hand tools to power machinery, beginning in Great Britain around 1780.

Spinning Jenny

Early textile machine that allowed one worker to spin multiple threads at once.

Water frame

Power loom driven by water; required large specialized mills (factories).

Steam engine

Watt’s invention that provided unlimited mobile power, freeing factories from rivers.

David Ricardo

Economist who proposed the "Iron Law of Wages," stating wages stay at subsistence level.

Crystal Palace

Iron and glass structure built for the 1851 Great Exhibition to show off British industry.

Thomas Malthus

Argued that population growth would always outpace food supply, leading to inevitable famine.

Iron Law of Wages

Theory that pressure of population growth prevents wages from ever rising above starvation levels.

Separate spheres

Middle-class ideal where men worked in public and women managed the private home.

Mines Act of 1842

English law prohibiting underground work for all women and girls, and boys under ten.

Luddites

Handicraft workers who attacked factories and smashed machines they blamed for unemployment.

Frederich Engels

Socialist who co-wrote the Communist Manifesto; criticized the working conditions in English factories.

Combination Acts

British laws that outlawed unions and strikes; eventually repealed due to worker pressure.

Tariff protection

Governments taxing imported goods to support and protect their own domestic industries.

Robert Owen

Utopian socialist who experimented with cooperative communities and better factory conditions.

Factory Acts

English laws that limited the workday of child laborers and set safety requirements.

Congress of Vienna

1815 meeting of European powers to restore the balance of power after Napoleon’s defeat.

Indemnity

Financial payment made by a defeated nation to the victors to cover war costs.

Klemens von Metternich

Austrian minister and conservative leader who sought to suppress liberalism and nationalism.

conservatism

Ideology favoring traditional institutions, organized religion, and slow, gradual change.

liberalism

Ideology demanding representative government, equality before the law, and individual freedoms.

Holy Alliance

Alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia formed to repress revolutionary movements in Europe.

Karlsbad Decrees

Repressive laws in the German States designed to root out liberal and nationalistic ideas.

Laissez faire

Economic doctrine of "free trade" with no government interference in the economy.

nationalism

Idea that each people has its own genius and specific identity, often seeking self-rule.

socialism

Ideology advocating for social equality and government regulation of property to help the poor.

Utopian socialism

Early socialist thinkers who dreamed of creating perfectly equal, cooperative communities.

Marxism

Radical socialism calling for a working-class revolution to overthrow capitalism and the bourgeoisie.

Karl Marx

Founder of modern communism; argued that history is a struggle between economic classes.

Bourgeoisie

The upper-middle-class minority who owned the means of production (factories/land).

proletariat

The industrial working class who were exploited by the bourgeoisie.

Corn Laws

British tariffs on imported grain that kept bread prices high to benefit wealthy landowners.

Battle of Peterloo

A peaceful protest for political reform in Manchester that was violently crushed by the army.

Whig Party

The more liberal British political party that pushed for the Reform Bill of 1832.

Reform Bill of 1832

Legislation that increased the number of male voters and gave new industrial cities more power.

People's Charter of 1838

The "Chartist" movement demand for universal male suffrage and secret ballots.

Great Famine (Ireland)

Result of the potato blight; led to mass starvation, death, and Irish emigration.

Revolution of 1830 (France)

The "July Revolution" that replaced the conservative Bourbon king with the "Citizen King" Louis Philippe.

Greece - national liberation

The successful 1820s revolt against Ottoman rule, supported by European Romantics.

Revolution in France - 1848

The uprising that ended the monarchy and established France's Second Republic.

France's Second Republic

Short-lived democratic government created after the 1848 revolution, led by Louis Napoleon.

Revolution in Austrian Empire (1848)

Liberal and nationalistic revolts that nearly broke the multi-ethnic empire apart.

Revolution in Prussia (1848)

Attempt by German liberals to create a unified, constitutional German state; it failed.

Greater Germany

The plan for a unified German state that would include the German-speaking parts of Austria.

Romanticism

Artistic movement that emphasized emotion, nature, and the individual over reason and industry.

Caspar David Friedrich

Romantic painter known for landscapes showing the power and mystery of nature.

Francisco Goya

Spanish artist whose works often critiqued war and political injustice.

Ludwig Von Beethoven

Composer whose music transitioned from classical structure to emotional Romanticism.

Utilitarianism

Idea that social policies should provide "the greatest good for the greatest number."

Germ Theory

The breakthrough discovery by Pasteur that diseases are caused by specific living organisms.

Labor Aristocracy

The highly skilled and better-paid "top tier" of the working class.

Sweated industries

Poorly paid, home-based manufacturing jobs often performed by women.

Companionate marriage

Marriage based on romantic love and shared values rather than social/economic status.

Suffrage movement

The militant struggle for women's right to vote, led by groups like the WSPU.

Feminist Movement

The broad push for legal, social, and economic equality for women.

Thermodynamics

New branch of physics studying the relationship between heat and mechanical energy.

Second Industrial Revolution

Late 19th-century phase of industry focused on steel, chemicals, electricity, and oil.

Evolution

Darwin’s theory that all species evolve over time through natural selection.

Social Darwinism

The application of "survival of the fittest" to human society and global competition.

Émile Durkheim

A pioneer of sociology who studied how the loss of tradition led to social anxiety (anomie).

Realism

Artistic movement that sought to depict life exactly as it was, focusing on the working class.

Max Weber

Sociologist who argued that the "Protestant work ethic" fueled the rise of capitalism.