Europe & The World II - Long Quiz 1

Marie-Antoinette

The Austrian-born queen of France and wife of Louis XVI whose perceived indifference to the plight of the poor and extravagant lifestyle made her a target of popular hatred.

Estates-General

A legislative body representing the three "estates" of French society (clergy, nobility, and commoners) summoned by Louis XVI in 1789 to address the nation's financial crisis.

Third Estate

The social order representing about 98 percent of the French population, including peasants, artisans, and the bourgeoisie, who broke away from the Estates-General to form the National Assembly.

cahiers de doléances

The "notebooks of grievances" compiled by each of the three estates and presented to the King, which called for reforms in taxation and administration.

Bastille

The medieval fortress and prison in Paris that served as a symbol of royal despotism; its fall on July 14, 1789, marked a major turning point in the Revolution.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

A landmark 1789 document that proclaimed the natural rights of all citizens, including liberty, property, and resistance to oppression, and established equality before the law.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

A former slave and leader of the Haitian Revolution who organized an army to fight for the end of slavery and the independence of the French colony of Saint-Domingue.

Olympe de Gouges

A revolutionary writer and feminist who authored the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, demanding equal rights for women.

Jacobins

A radical political club during the Revolution, led by figures like Maximilien Robespierre, who advocated for a republic and were instrumental in the execution of the King and the launch of the Terror.

sans-culottes

The common people of the lower classes in Paris, typically manual laborers and small shopkeepers, who became the radical driving force of the Revolution.

the Terror

A violent period from 1793 to 1794 during which the revolutionary government, led by the Jacobins, executed thousands of "enemies of the revolution" by guillotine.

Committee of Public Safety

A twelve-member executive body created in 1793 to defend France from internal and external threats, which exercised dictatorial power during the Terror.

Maximilien Robespierre

A leading Jacobin and head of the Committee of Public Safety who sought to create a "Republic of Virtue" through the systematic use of state-sponsored violence.

Thermidor

The parliamentary revolt in July 1794 (the month of Thermidor in the revolutionary calendar) that led to the downfall and execution of Robespierre and the end of the Terror.

18th Brumaire

The date in November 1799 (according to the revolutionary calendar) on which Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in a coup d'état, effectively ending the French Revolution.

The Napoleonic Era Flashcards

Napoleon Bonaparte

the military genius and French general who seized power in the coup of 18th Brumaire and eventually crowned himself Emperor of the French, dominating much of Europe through war.

Consulate

the government established in France after the fall of the Directory in 1799, initially headed by three consuls with Napoleon as First Consul, concentrating executive power in his hands.

Concordat

the 1801 agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII that reconciled France with the Catholic Church, recognizing Catholicism as the "religion of the great majority of French citizens."

plebiscite

a direct vote by the entire electorate on a specific issue, such as a new constitution or a change in government; Napoleon used these to give his dictatorial rule a facade of popular approval.

Battle of Trafalgar

the 1805 naval engagement where the British fleet, led by Admiral Nelson, destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets, ensuring British naval supremacy and preventing a French invasion of England.

Alexander I

the Tsar of Russia who initially allied with Napoleon but later defied him, leading to the disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812.

citizen-soldiers

soldiers drawn from the general population through conscription (levée en masse) who fought with nationalistic fervor, a key component of the success of Napoleonic armies.

Council of State

an administrative body created by Napoleon to draft new laws and provide expert advice, serving as a central pillar of his efficient and centralized government.

Bank of France

a central financial institution established in 1800 to stabilize the French currency and economy, facilitating the financing of Napoleon's military campaigns.

Napoleonic Code

the 1804 Civil Code that unified French law, protecting gains of the Revolution such as equality before the law and property rights, while also restricting the rights of women.

Continental System

Napoleon's economic policy aimed at crippling Great Britain by forbidding European nations under his control from trading with the British.

Peninsular War

a costly and protracted conflict (1808-1814) sparked by the French invasion of Spain and Portugal, where Spanish guerrilla fighters and British forces weakened Napoleon's empire.

Grand Army

the massive multinational military force assembled by Napoleon, which at its peak numbered over 600,000 men for the 1812 invasion of Russia.

100 Days

the brief period in 1815 between Napoleon's return from exile on the island of Elba and his final defeat, during which he attempted to rebuild his empire.

Waterloo

the 1815 battle in Belgium where the combined British and Prussian armies finally defeated Napoleon, leading to his permanent exile to the island of Saint Helena.

wet-nursing

A common practice among the European middle and upper classes where a woman was hired to breastfeed another woman's child, reflecting social status and the domestic roles of women.

Zollverein

The 1834 customs union established among German states, led by Prussia, which eliminated internal tariffs and promoted economic integration and industrial growth.

petty bourgeoisie

The lower middle class of the nineteenth century, including small shopkeepers, artisans, and clerks, who often sought to distinguish themselves from the working class.

James Mill

A British philosopher and economist who was a leading proponent of utilitarianism and the idea that government should provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Robert Owen

A Welsh industrialist and social reformer who founded experimental cooperative communities, believing that improved environments would lead to better human character.

separate spheres

A nineteenth-century gender ideology that assigned women to the private, domestic world of the home and men to the public world of work and politics.

Harriet Taylor Mill

An English philosopher and women's rights advocate whose ideas on equality and liberty significantly influenced the work of her husband, John Stuart Mill.

John Stuart Mill

A British philosopher and political economist who advocated for individual liberty and women's suffrage, becoming one of the most influential liberal thinkers of the era.

Captain Swing

The mythical leader of the 1830 agricultural riots in England, where rural laborers destroyed threshing machines to protest unemployment and low wages.

urbanization

The rapid growth of cities during the Industrial Revolution as people moved from rural areas to industrial centers in search of work, often leading to overcrowding and poor sanitation.

class consciousness

The awareness of belonging to a specific social class and the recognition of shared interests and grievances against other classes, particularly between labor and capital.

workhouses

Harsh institutions established by the British Poor Law of 1834 to provide relief to the destitute while discouraging them from seeking assistance through intentionally miserable conditions.

trade unions

Organizations formed by workers to negotiate for better wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions through collective bargaining and strikes.

Charles Fourier

A French social theorist who advocated for the creation of self-sufficient cooperative communities called "phalansteries" to achieve social harmony.

utopian socialism

An early form of socialism proposed by thinkers like Owen and Fourier, who believed that ideal societies could be created through voluntary cooperation and rational planning.

Flora Tristan

A French-Peruvian socialist and feminist who campaigned for the union of the working class and the emancipation of women as essential for social progress.

Karl Marx

The German philosopher and revolutionary who developed the theory of scientific socialism, arguing that history is a series of class struggles that would lead to a proletarian revolution.

Communist Manifesto

The 1848 pamphlet written by Marx and Engels that outlined the principles of communism and called for the working class of all nations to unite and overthrow the bourgeoisie.

Congress of Vienna

The 1814-1815 international conference that sought to restore the balance of power and traditional dynasties in Europe following the Napoleonic Wars.

Concert of Europe

An informal agreement among the major European powers (Austria, Britain, Prussia, Russia, and later France) to work together to preserve the balance of power and suppress revolutionary uprisings.

liberalism

A nineteenth-century political ideology rooted in the Enlightenment that advocated for individual rights, constitutional government, and free-market economics.

utilitarianism

A social and political philosophy, advocated by thinkers like Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, that evaluated laws and institutions based on their ability to provide "the greatest happiness for the greatest number."

Romanticism

An artistic and intellectual movement that reacted against Enlightenment rationalism by emphasizing emotion, imagination, and the beauty of nature and history.

Simón Bolívar

Known as "The Liberator," he was the revolutionary leader who headed the struggle for independence against Spanish colonial rule in South America.

Decembrists

A group of Russian army officers who led an unsuccessful 1825 uprising in Saint Petersburg, seeking to implement a constitutional government and abolish serfdom.

Bourbon Restoration

The period in France from 1814 to 1830 when the Bourbon monarchy was restored to the throne, beginning with Louis XVIII after the defeat of Napoleon.

French Revolution of 1830

Also known as the July Revolution, it was the three-day uprising that overthrew the conservative King Charles X and led to the establishment of the more liberal July Monarchy.

July Monarchy

The reign of King Louis-Philippe in France (1830-1848), characterized by its support for the interests of the wealthy bourgeoisie and its moderate liberal reforms.

nationalism

The political ideology that stresses the shared identity of a people based on a common language, culture, and history, often calling for national self-determination.

Giuseppe Mazzini

An Italian nationalist and founder of "Young Italy" who dedicated his life to the cause of Italian unification and the establishment of a democratic republic.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

A German philosopher whose influential theories on the "dialectic" viewed history as the progressive unfolding of Reason and the development of the nation-state.

Peterloo

The 1819 massacre in Manchester, England, where cavalry charged into a peaceful crowd of workers demonstrating for parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

Reform Bill of 1832

A landmark British act that expanded the voting franchise to include the middle class and eliminated "rotten boroughs," thereby redistributing parliamentary representation.

Chartism

A mass working-class movement in Britain during the 1830s and 1840s that demanded universal male suffrage, secret ballots, and other democratic reforms outlined in the "People's Charter."

Corn Laws

Protective tariffs in Great Britain that kept the price of domestic grain artificially high by restricting imports, benefiting wealthy landowners while causing hardship for the urban poor.

French Revolution of 1848

The February uprising in Paris that overthrew King Louis-Philippe's July Monarchy and established the Second French Republic.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte

The nephew of Napoleon who was elected president of the Second French Republic in December 1848; he eventually staged a coup and became Emperor Napoleon III.

National Workshops

State-funded organizations in Paris designed to provide work and relief for the unemployed during the economic crisis of 1848.

Lajos Kossuth

The Hungarian lawyer and nationalist leader who demanded autonomy for Hungary from the Habsburg Empire and served as its governing president during the 1849 independence struggle.

Ferdinand I

The "feeble-minded" Habsburg ruler who abdicated in December 1848 in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph, following widespread insurrections in Austria.

Giuseppe Mazzini

A charismatic Italian nationalist and republican leader who arrived in Rome in 1849 to help lead the short-lived Roman Republic.

Frankfurt Parliament

An elected assembly of German liberals and nationalists that met in St. Paul's Church to draft a constitution for a unified German state.

Basic Rights of the German People

A landmark document promulgated by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848 that outlined equality before the law and freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion.

Pan-Slav Congress

A June 1848 meeting in Prague where Slavic national groups (Czechs, Poles, etc.) gathered to promote their rights and discuss the reorganization of the Habsburg Empire.

Bach system

A coordinated system of bureaucratic surveillance, spying, and repression implemented by Alexander Bach to root out political opposition in the Habsburg Empire.

Montagnards

The name adopted by the "democratic-socialists" in 1849 France who advocated for progressive taxation, higher wages, and free primary schools.

Falloux Law

An 1850 French law that allowed the Catholic clergy to open secondary schools and serve on education committees, strengthening conservative influence.

Battle of Solferino

A bloody 1859 conflict where French and Piedmontese forces defeated the Austrian army, leading to the Austrian loss of Lombardy.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

The charismatic republican revolutionary and member of "Young Italy" who led military campaigns to liberate southern Italy.

"Red Shirts"

The volunteer army of 1,000 nationalists led by Garibaldi who successfully invaded Sicily and Naples in 1860.

Otto von Bismarck

The conservative Prussian Prime Minister and "Iron Chancellor" who engineered German unification through "blood and iron."

Realpolitik

A system of politics based on practical, realistic assessments of power and national self-interest rather than moral or ethical considerations.

Schleswig-Holstein

Two duchies that were the subject of an 1864 war between Denmark and the allied forces of Prussia and Austria.

North German Federation

A union of twenty-two German states north of the Main River created in 1867, which established Prussian dominance in the region.

Reichstag

The German parliament elected by universal male suffrage, which held limited authority compared to the Emperor and Chancellor.

Franco-Prussian War

The 1870-1871 conflict provoked by Bismarck that resulted in the final unification of the German Empire and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine.

Kulturkampf

Bismarck's "cultural struggle" or state campaign against the Catholic Church to ensure secular loyalty and reduce papal influence.

neo-absolutism

The period of restored authoritarian rule in the Habsburg Empire following the 1848 revolutions, codified by the "Patent" of 1851.

Dual Monarchy

The administrative structure of Austria-Hungary created in 1867, where the two states shared a monarch and foreign policy but had separate internal governments.

Ausgleich

The "Compromise" of 1867 that officially established the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary to reconcile Magyar demands with imperial power.

pan-Slav movement

A movement aimed at the union of all Slavic peoples, which grew in Russia and the Balkans and threatened the stability of the Habsburg Empire.

Crimean War

An 1853-1856 conflict ending the long European peace, where Britain and France allied with the Ottoman Empire to defeat Russia and neutralize the Black Sea.

Queen Victoria

The monarch who personified British "respectability" and the industrial age from 1837 to 1901, serving as a maternal symbol for the expanding British Empire.

Benjamin Disraeli

The Conservative leader and rival to Gladstone who promoted British nationalism and imperialism, famously taking a "leap in the dark" with the Reform Act of 1867.

William Gladstone

The Liberal Prime Minister known for his religious moral vision, laissez-faire economics, and his persistent, though failed, attempts to "pacify Ireland" through Home Rule.

Reform Act of 1867

A major piece of British legislation that doubled the number of voters by enfranchising many working-class heads of households.

Irish Home Rule

The movement for a separate Irish Parliament within the United Kingdom, a deeply divisive issue in Victorian politics that nearly led to civil war by 1914.

Slavophiles

Russian intellectuals who rejected Western values, believing Russia's salvation lay in its unique institutions like the Orthodox Church and the peasant commune (mir).

Westernizers

Russian intellectuals who looked to Western Europe as a model for progress, advocating for industrialization and parliamentary institutions.