Modern World History Honors Final Exam Study Guide Flashcards

Mary Wollstonecraft

Enlightenment thinker who argued for equal rights and education for men and women.

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker who believed people could learn from experience, govern themselves, and possessed natural rights (life, liberty, and property).

Thomas Hobbes

Enlightenment thinker who believed people were selfish and wicked, requiring government to maintain law and order, ideally through an absolute monarchy.

Diderot

Enlightenment figure who developed the Encyclopedia, contributing to the spread of Enlightenment ideas.

Checks and Balances

System influenced by Montesquieu that ensures no branch of government becomes too powerful.

Adam Smith

Enlightenment thinker who introduced the idea of a free market society driven by self-interest and minimal economic barriers.

Federal Republic

A government made up of elected representatives of different states and a head of state that ensures fair and equal representation.

Old Regime

The social and political system in France prior to the French Revolution.

Estates

The three social classes that French society was divided into before the French Revolution.

National Assembly

Representative government established by the Third Estate, marking the end of France’s absolute monarchy.

Tennis Court Oath

Pledge by the Third Estate delegates to remain together until they had drafted a new constitution.

Committee of Public Safety

Led by Robespierre, used terror to enforce revolutionary ideals and suppress dissent during the Reign of Terror.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Leader and Emperor of France who stabilized French society, established a bureaucracy and lycees, and sought to conquer Europe.

Robespierre

De facto dictator of France during the Reign of Terror, his execution marked the end of the period.

James Watt

Engineer who developed an improved steam engine, revolutionizing industries and transportation; considered the father of the steam engine.

Agricultural Revolution

Period of agricultural innovation that led to increased crop yields and migration to cities, impacting industrialization in Britain.

Textile Industry

Industry which was the site of the first industrial growth during the Industrial Revolution, employing many women.

Factory Acts

Laws that reformed child labor and working conditions during the Industrial Revolution.

Luddites

Group who rebelled against factory work by destroying machines, considered an early example of organized labor.

Tenement Houses

Urban housing for multiple families, often with inadequate conditions.

Corporation

A company formed to conduct business, typically for profit, selling shares to investors.

Monopoly

Company that controls all aspects/products within a sector of the economy.

Trust

A group of companies that are run by an individual or a group of people (trustees).

Colony

Land or region controlled by another country, a form of Colonial Control.

Protectorate

Land or region indirectly controlled by another country, a form of Colonial Control.

Sphere of Influence

Area or region in which a colonial power has exclusive trade rights but does not 'control' the area.

David Livingstone

Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa who supported the rights and freedoms of native peoples suppressed by European imperialism.

Boer War

War in South Africa between the Boers and the British following the discovery of gold and diamonds.

Berlin Conference

Meeting of 14 European countries in 1884-85 to agree to terms of colonization of Africa, dividing the land without African representation.

Geopolitics

Interest in or taking of land for its strategic location or products.

Cash Crops

Agricultural products produced in large quantities for market prices, often leading to famine in colonized areas when used for sustenance.

Trench Warfare

Type of combat during World War I; Soldiers fought each other from trenches and ended with significant casualties for very little gain on enemies.

Zimmerman Note

Telegram from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance if the US entered WWI, promising to return lost territories.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany’s plan to avoid a two-front war by quickly defeating France before Russia could mobilize.

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty that ended WWI, primarily focused on punishing Germany with war reparations and demilitarization.

Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson’s plan for the end of WWI, including ideas like demilitarization, free trade, and self-determination.

Total War

When all aspects of society and the economy are dedicated to the war effort, including civilian lives. All resources and manpower were dedicated to the war.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

German strategy of sinking any vessel believed to aid their enemies, used to blockade Britain.

Rasputin

Mystical figure whose influence over Czarina Alexandra discredited the Russian monarchy and contributed to the Russian Revolution.

Collectives

Government controlled agriculture, introduced and put inacted by Stalin

Lenin

Russian revolutionary who promised peace, land, and bread, attracting Russians to Bolshevism.

Great Purge

Stalin's consolidation of power resulted in this action, an attempt to eliminate all political opponents.

Command Economy

Economic system under the control of the central government, implemented in the USSR by Stalin.

Totalitarianism

Government which is controlled using Intimidation, fear, spying, violence are used to control the citizens and to ensure any opposition is crushed.

Five Year Plans

Stalin’s economic plans that emphasized factory production and collectivized agriculture.

Lebensraum

Hitler’s policy to expand the German empire and remove non-Aryan groups.

Nuremberg Laws

German laws restricting Jewish citizenship and daily life.

Munich Conference

Conference where Germany was allowed to take the Sudetenland under appeasement, failing to prevent further aggression.

Red Scare

Fear of the spread of communism, particularly in the US after the Russian Revolution.

Battle of the Bulge

Hitler’s last major offensive, where German forces pushed into Allied lines but were ultimately repelled.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

Agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union in which agreed to terms that outlined territories each would attack. Resulted in Germany's attack on Poland and beginning of WWII.

Vichy France

Puppet government of southern France controlled by the Germans during WWII.

Island Hopping

US strategy to weaken the Japanese and intrerupt supply chains, by taking smaller, weaker islands across the Pacific to interrupt supply chains, leading to the invasion of larger, better defended islands later on.

D-Day

Allied invasion of France at Normandy to free western Europe from Nazi occupation.

Battle of Midway

Turning point in the Pacific War where the US decisively defeated the Japanese navy.

Battle of Stalingrad

Turning point in the war as Soviets counteroffesive force a German retreat in the war with SU

Dunkirk

Evacuation of British troops from France in the face of German advancement, saving them for later battles.

Final Solution

Holocaust action of Hitler during WWII. Forced Jews to prison camps and concentration camps. In these camps, those who were deemed unfit to work were killed in gas chambers

Marshall Plan

US plan to provide aid to European countries to stabilize and rebuild after WWII.

Truman Doctrine

US policy to contain the spread of communism by forming alliances and aiding weaker countries.

Berlin Airlift

US and British operation to fly food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city.

United Nations

International organization formed after WWII to promote peace and cooperation, replacing the League of Nations.

Buffer Zone

A goal of Stalin in Easter Europe in order to avoid another invasion of the USSR. He wished to shield or block itself from the west

NATO

Defensive military alliance formed by Western countries to counter Soviet aggression.

Warsaw Pact

Military alliance formed by the Soviet Union and communist countries in response to NATO.

Brinkmanship

US foreign policy of being willing to go to the edge of nuclear war to deter Soviet aggression.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missile sites in Cuba.

Berlin Wall

Wall built by East Germany to prevent East Germans from fleeing into West Berlin, symbolizing the Cold War division.