European History: Renaissance to Industrial Revolution (1453-19th c.)

Vocabulary flashcards cover key terms and definitions from the Renaissance through the Industrial Revolution, aiding exam preparation on major people, events, and concepts.

Renaissance

14th–16th-century revival of classical learning, humanism, and artistic innovation in Europe.

Humanism

Renaissance intellectual movement focusing on Greek-Roman texts and human potential.

Patronage

Financial support from wealthy elites that funded Renaissance art and science.

Erasmus

Northern humanist who blended classical scholarship with calls for Christian reform.

Printing Press

15th-century invention that revolutionized communication and spread of ideas.

Caravel

Portuguese sailing ship whose maneuverability aided Atlantic exploration.

Compass

Navigational instrument that, with new ship designs, enabled oceanic voyages.

Columbian Exchange

Trans-Atlantic transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and peoples after 1492.

Triangle Trade

Atlantic system linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas via goods, slaves, and bullion.

Mercantilism

Early modern economic policy aiming for national wealth through controlled trade.

Thirty Years’ War

1618-1648 conflict that devastated Europe over religion and politics.

Peace of Westphalia

1648 treaties ending Thirty Years’ War and recognizing state sovereignty.

English Civil War

1642-1649 struggle between Parliament and Charles I, ending in royal execution.

Skepticism

17th-century attitude of doubt that questioned tradition and inspired inquiry.

Absolutism

System where monarchs claimed unchecked, centralized authority over state.

Louis XIV

French king (r. 1643-1715) who epitomized absolutism and built Versailles.

Versailles

Grand palace symbolizing Louis XIV’s centralized and spectacular monarchy.

Constitutionalism

Government limited by law and balanced power, practiced in England & Dutch Republic.

Balance of Power

Diplomatic principle to prevent any one state from dominating Europe.

Peter the Great

Russian tsar who forced Western-style reforms and built St Petersburg.

Scientific Revolution

17th-century shift to observation and mathematics for explaining nature.

Heliocentrism

Copernicus’s theory placing the Sun, not Earth, at the center of the cosmos.

Kepler’s Laws

Rules describing elliptical planetary orbits and variable orbital speed.

Galileo Galilei

Astronomer whose telescope confirmed heliocentrism; tried by the Church.

Inductive Reasoning

Bacon’s method of deriving general laws from careful observation.

Deductive Reasoning

Descartes’s approach of building knowledge from self-evident principles.

Scientific Method

Combined inductive and deductive procedures for systematic investigation.

Isaac Newton

Physicist who unified celestial and terrestrial motion via laws of gravity.

Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement applying reason and science to society.

Philosophes

Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.

Natural Rights

Universal liberties (life, liberty, property) argued to belong to all humans.

Social Contract

Theory that governments derive authority from a mutual agreement with citizens.

Religious Toleration

Enlightenment ideal advocating legal acceptance of diverse faiths.

Salons

Private gatherings where Enlightenment ideas were debated, often by elites.

Enlightened Absolutism

18th-century rulers’ use of Enlightenment reforms to strengthen monarchical power.

French Revolution

1789-1799 uprising that ended monarchy, feudal privileges, and inspired modern politics.

Estates-General

Traditional French assembly whose 1789 meeting ignited revolutionary change.

Reign of Terror

1793-1794 radical phase marked by mass executions for perceived disloyalty.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Military leader who seized power, reformed law, and built a French empire.

Industrial Revolution

18th-19th-century shift to mechanized production, beginning in Britain.

Railways

Steam-powered transport network that spurred migration and market expansion.

Proletariat

Industrial working class facing harsh labor and living conditions.

Labor Unions

Worker organizations formed to bargain for wages and conditions.

Middle Class

Beneficiaries of industrial growth who prized respectability and progress.

Pollution

Environmental consequence of industrial factories, spurring early reform calls.