AP Euro Exam

Andreas Vesalius

Did the first comprehensive study of anatomy

Francis Bacon

Considered the father of the scientific method

Edward Jenner

Invented the small pox vaccine

Galileo Galilei

Put on trial for supporting Heliocentric theory, put under house arrest, first advanced astronomical telescope

Isaac Newton

Used gravity to prove Heliocentric theory, laws of motion and gravity

Nicolaus Copernicus

first modern scholar to propose a heliocentric theory of the solar system

John Locke

Philosopher and writer, believed in constitutional government, equality and natural rights

Heliocentric Theory

the astronomical model that places the Sun at the center of the solar system, with Earth and other planets orbiting it

Salons

social gatherings in private homes, primarily hosted by women, where intellectuals, artists, and philosophers debated ideas, literature, and art

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenments thinker and writer, believed in constitutional government.

Rene Descartes

Science Philosopher, used logic and questions to learn

Mary Wollstonecraft

Female enlightenment thinker and writer, believed in gender equality

Adam Smith

Enlightenment Thinker and Writer, believed in economic freedom

Baron de Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker and writer, believed in constitutional government and separation of powers

Cesare Beccaria

Enlightenment thinker, believed in the abolishment of torture and the death penalty

Catherine the Great of Russia

“Enlightened Absolutist”, organized Russia into districts, wished to make new enlightened ideas but never succeeded, heavily favored the nobles

Frederick the Great of Prussia

“Enlightened Absolutist”, restricted torture, allowed religious freedom and some freedom of speech, went to war, favored nobles

Joseph II of Austria

“Enlightened Absolutist”, abolished serfdom, banned the death penalty, allowed religious freedom, forced German culture

Voltaire

Enlightenment thinker and writer, believed in individual freedom and constitutional government, also believed that God is legit but the Church leaders aren’t

Baroque

Art form, dark and dramatic, some paintings showed religious and monarchial power, reflected absolute power

Deism

Belief that God is real but Church leaders are not legit, includes the belief that God does not intervene with daily life

Encyclopedie

Bestselling collection of scientific, philosophical, technical, and other informational articles, Popularized science and Enlightenment ideas

Enlightened Absolutism

Frederick II, Catherine II, and Joseph II were all enlightened absolutists, these leaders used enlightened ideas in a absolute government

laissez-faire

Belief that government should not control the economy

Neoclassical

Dark and dramatic, linear and organized, showed scenes from ancient Greece/Rome, showed love of philosophy

Pugachev’s Rebellion

Rebellion of serfs in Russia led by Yemelyan Pugachev, Catherine the Great brutally crushed this rebellion

Lech Walesa

is a Polish statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who rose from being a shipyard electrician to the president of Poland, led the historic strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard, founding Solidarity, Following the fall of communism, he served as the country’s first popularly elected president from 1990 to 1995

Margaret Thatcher

the "Iron Lady," was the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom and a key ally to Lech Wałęsa during the Cold War. While she was often seen as an opponent of trade unions at home, she became a symbolic "godmother" to Poland's Solidarity movement, viewing it not just as a labor union but as a crusade for global freedom

Mikhail Gorbachev

was the final leader of the Soviet Union, known for initiating radical reforms that unintentionally led to the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War

Nikita Khrushchev

the Soviet leader who brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during its height. He led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin

Pope John Paul II

The first Slavic pope and a monumental figure of the 20th century who is widely credited with providing the moral and spiritual foundation for the fall of communism

Vladimir Putin

the current President of Russia, a position he has held since 2012, following an earlier term from 2000 to 2008. Having been the country's de facto leader for over a quarter-century, his current status in April 2026 is defined by the ongoing war in Ukraine and a shift toward deeper alliances with non-Western powers

Abstract Expressionism

Emerging in the 1940s and 1950s, the movement was defined by a rejection of traditional subject matter in favor of large-scale, emotionally charged works that emphasized the physical act of creation and the artist's inner psyche

Baby boom

the most famous occurred in the mid-20th century following World War II, primarily between 1946 and 1964

Berlin Wall

he physical and ideological "Iron Curtain" that divided East and West Berlin for 28 years

Cuban Missile Crisis

a 13-day political and military standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, widely considered the moment the Cold War came closest to escalating into full-scale nuclear war

Decolonization

the process by which colonies gain independence from a colonizing power

Digital Revolution

the shift from mechanical and analog electronic technology to digital electronics that began in the mid-20th century

Euro

is the official currency of the Eurozone, which as of April 2026 consists of 21 of the 27 European Union member states

European Union

a unique, supranational political and economic union of 27 countries

Existentialism

a philosophical movement that emphasizes the individual's freedom to create their own meaning in an indifferent or "absurd" universe

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Soviet-imposed policies of the Hungarian People's Republic

KGB

the primary security and intelligence agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991

Marshall Plan

May’68 Paris Protests

a period of intense civil unrest that brought France to the brink of revolution

NATO

a political and military alliance of 32 member states from Europe and North America

Postmodernism

a broad movement in philosophy, art, and culture that emerged in the mid-20th century as a skeptical reaction to the ideals of modernism

Prague Spring

a brief period of political liberalization and mass protest in communist Czechoslovakia that lasted from January 5 to August 21, 1968

Revolutions of 1989

were a wave of mostly peaceful protests and political upheavals that toppled communist regimes across Central and Eastern Europe

Second-wave feminism

a period of intense activism that began in the early 1960s and lasted through the 1980s

Sexual Revolution

social movement that peaked during the 1960s and 1970s, challenging traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships across the Western world

Solidarity

the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country, founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Led by electrician Lech Wałęsa

Stasi

the official state security service of communist East Germany (GDR) from 1950 to 1990

United Nations

an international organization founded in 1945 after World War II to maintain international peace and security

Warsaw Pact

a collective defense treaty established on May 14, 1955, between the Soviet Union and seven Eastern Bloc satellite states

Yugoslav Wars

a series of interconnected ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place between 1991 and 2001

Adolf Hitler

From iHabsburg Austria, rejected from art school, felt at home in the war, attempted to seize power in the Beer Hall Putsch, appointed chancellor then became dictator, created an empire, targeted Jews and sparked the holocaust

Benito Mussolini

founder of Fascism and the dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1943. Originally a revolutionary socialist and journalist, he pivoted to extreme nationalism during World War I. He rose to power in 1922 following the March on Rome, after which King Victor Emmanuel III appointed him Prime Minister

Francisco Franco

Spanish general who ruled Spain as a dictator for 36 years. He rose to power by leading the Nationalist forces to victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) with the support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

Friedrich Hayek

Austrian-British economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and his critique of socialist economic planning. A key figure in the Austrian School of Economics, he shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on money and economic fluctuations

John Maynard Keynes

British economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics. He is best known for advocating government intervention to manage economic depressions, a school of thought now called Keynesian economics

Joseph Stalin

the dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death. He transformed the USSR from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower, though at a staggering human cost

Appeasement

the diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power to avoid armed conflict

Blitzkrieg

a military tactic designed to create psychological shock and disorganization in enemy forces through the use of surprise, speed, and concentrated force

Blackshirts

paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party in Italy, founded by Benito Mussolini in 1919

Collectivization

a policy pursued by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union between 1929 and 1940. It aimed to consolidate individual landholdings and labor into collective farms

Fascism

a far-right, authoritarian ultranationalist political ideology that emerged in early 20th-century Europe. It is characterized by dictatorial power, the forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy

Great Depression

the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. It began after the U.S. stock market crash in October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors

Gulag

a vast system of forced labor camps and prisons in the Soviet Union that operated from the 1920s to the 1950s

Holocaust

the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945

Lebnsraum

a central tenet of Nazi ideology that proposed Germany needed to expand its territory to the east to ensure the survival and prosperity of the "Aryan race."

“Lost Generation”

the cohort of people who reached adulthood during or immediately following World War I (roughly those born between 1883 and 1900). The term captures the profound sense of disillusionment, aimlessness, and loss of faith in traditional values (like heroism and progress) that followed the unprecedented carnage of the Great War.

Munich Agreement

a settlement reached on September 30, 1938, by Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a border region of Czechoslovakia. It is widely considered the ultimate act of appeasement, a failed attempt to prevent a major European war by conceding to the demands of a totalitarian state

Nazi Party

a far-right political party that ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. It established a totalitarian regime known as the Third Reich, characterized by extreme nationalism, racism, and the systematic genocide of approximately 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust

Nuremberg Laws

a set of antisemitic and racist laws in Nazi Germany that provided the legal framework for the systematic persecution of Jews. Enacted at the annual Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, these laws formalized the regime's racial theories by stripping Jewish people of their basic rights and citizenship

S.A.

paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Formed in 1921, they were famously known as the "Brownshirts" because of their distinctive uniforms

S.S.

paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. Founded in 1925 as Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard, it grew into a "state within a state" under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, eventually becoming the primary agency of surveillance and terror in Nazi Germany

Surrealism

Spanish Civil War

a brutal conflict between the democratically elected Republican government and the Nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco

Lenin

Bolshevik leader in Russian Revolution, was in exile but smuggled back into Russia to interfere with war efforts, first dictator of Soviet Union

Nicholas II of Russia

Russian Tsar who takes power in 1894, forced to accept a constitution and a Parliament which he didn't listen to, resigned from his position ending the Russian Monarchy, murdered by the Bolsheviks

Armenian Genocide

Roughly 1 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed out of 2 million, they were deported and punished

Bolsheviks

The red army, Stormed Russian gov and seized power in the october revolution, promised peace, land, and bread, led by Lenin, killed the royal family

February Revolution

Women and workers began to protest in St. Petersburg, led to the end of Russian monarchy and started the Russian Republic

League of Nations

U.S idea to create a group in order to prevent future wars, U.S didn’t join

October Revolution

Bolsheviks storm the government buildings and seize power, caused Russia to leave the war, the Russian Civil War, and created the USSR

Russian Civil War

4 years of conflict, Royal family is murdered, economic collapse, victory for communists, 10 million dead

Treaty of Versailles

officially ended World War I between the Allied powers and Germany, harsh punitive measures on Germany

Trench Warfare

primarily on the Western Front, designed to protect troops from machine guns, heavy artillery, and chemical weapons. Soldiers endured miserable conditions, including mud, rats, disease, and constant fear

Albert Einstein

Discovered in 1905 that space and time are relative to each other, also discovered the massive amount of energy contained inside atoms with his equation "E=mc²,

Charles Darwin

concluded that animals must not have been simply created by God, but must have naturally developed in response to their environment, "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest" causes "evolution" over millions of years,

Emmeline Pankhurst

militant feminist, “the condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do”, “We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers”

Friedrich Nietzsche

criticized western society, said the world is not rational. Humans are driven by subconscious and primal passions, disputed the existence of truth in general, hated Christianity,

Joseph Lister

discovered you could kill germs with antiseptic chemicals,

Karl Marx

philosopher, believed all of history is a class struggle between the rich and the poor, the proletariat does the work, but the bourgeoisie gets the profits because they own the means of production, communist,

Louis Pasteur

Discovered diseases are caused by germs, also discovered you could kill germs by boiling them

Marie Curie

Discovered in 1903 that subatomic particles give off radiation as they disintegrate, first woman to win a Nobel Prize, eventually died of radiation exposure

Max Planck

discovered in 1900 that subatomic particles do not behave according to the laws of physics.,

Millicent Fawcett

moderate feminist, “we need countenance and support. The only consequence will be once more to make the suffrage movement unpopular...”

Sigmund Freud

seen as the founder of psychoanalysis and therapy, argued that humans are not rational, extremely influential