Spinning jenny
A simple, inexpensive, hand-powered spinning machine created by James Hargreaves in 1765
Water frame
A spinning machine created by Richard Arkwright that had a capacity of several hundred spindles and used waterpower; it therefore required a larger and more specialized mill - a factory.
Steam engine
A breakthrough invention by Thomas Savery in 1698 and Thomas Newcomen in 1705 that burned coal to produce steam, which was then used to operate a pump; the early models were superseded by James Watt's more efficient steam engine, patented in 1769.
Iron law of wages
Theory proposed by English economist David Ricardo suggesting that the pressure of population growth prevents wages from rising above the subsistence level.
Tariff protection
A government's way of supporting and aiding its own economy by laying high taxes on imported goods from other countries, as when the French responded to cheaper British goods flooding their country by imposing high tariffs on some imported products.
Separate spheres
A gender division of labor with the wife at home as mother and homemaker and the husband as wage earner.
Congress of Vienna
A meeting of the Quadruple Alliance - Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain - restoration France, and smaller European states to fashion a general peace settlement that began after the defeat of Napoleon's France in 1814.
Conservatism
A political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, favoring obedience to political authority and organized religion.
Liberalism
A philosophy whose principal ideas were equality and liberty; liberals demanded representative government and equality before the law as well as such individual freedoms as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
Laissez faire
A doctrine of economic liberalism advocating unrestricted private enterprise and no government interference in the economy.
Nationalism
The idea that each people had its own spirit and its own cultural unity, which manifested itself especially in a common language and history and could serve as the basis for an independent political state
Socialism
A radical political doctrine that opposed individualism and that advocated cooperation and a sense of community; key ideas were economic planning, greater economic equality, and state regulation of property.
Bourgeoisie
The well-educated, prosperous, middle-class groups.
Proletariat
The Marxist term for the working class of modern industrialized society.
Germ Theory
The idea that disease was caused by the spread of living organisms that could be controlled.
Social Darwinism
The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.
Zionism
The movement toward Jewish political nationhood started by Theodor Herzl.
Jihad
Religious war waged by Muslim scholars and religious leaders against both animist rulers and Islamic states that they deemed corrupt.
Sokoto Caliphate
Founded in 1809 by Uthman dan Fodio, this African state was based on Islamic history and law.
Berlin Conference
A meeting of European leaders held in 1884-1885 to lay down basic rules for imperialist competition in sub-Saharan Africa.
Protectorate
An autonomous state or territory partly controlled and protected by a stronger outside power.
New Imperialism
The late-nineteenth-century drive by European countries to create vast political empires abroad.
Quinine
An agent that proved effective in controlling attacks of malaria, which had previously decimated Europeans in the tropics.
White Man's Burden
The idea that Europeans could and should civilize more primitive nonwhite peoples and that imperialism would eventually provide nonwhites with modern achievements and higher standards of living.
Tanzimat
A set of reforms designed to remake the Ottoman Empire on a western European model.
Young Turks
Fervent patriots who seized power in the revolution of 1908, forcing the conservative sultan to implement reforms; they helped pave the way for the birth of modern secular Turkey.
Great Migration
The mass movement of people from Europe in the nineteenth century; one reason that the West's impact on the world was so powerful and many-sided.
Great Mutiny/Great Revolt
The terms used by the British and the Indians, respectively, to describe the last armed resistance to British rule in India, which occurred in 1857.
Indian Civil Service
The bureaucracy that administered the government of India. Entry into its elite ranks was through examinations that Indians were eligible to take, but these tests were offered only in England.
Indian National Congress
A political association formed in 1885 that worked for Indian self-government.
Nyguyen Dynasty
The last Vietnamese ruling house, which lasted from 1802 to 1945.
Opium War
The 1839-1842 war between the British and the Chinese over limitations on trade and the importation of opium into China.
Extraterritoriality
The legal principle that exempts individuals from local law, applicable in China because of the agreements reached after China's loss in the Opium War.
Taiping Rebellion
A massive rebellion by believers in the religious teachings of Hong Xiuquan, begun in 1851 and not suppressed until 1864.
Boxers
A Chinese secret society that blamed the country's ills on foreigners, especially missionaries, and rose in rebellion in 1899-1900.
1911 Revolution
The uprising that brought China's monarchy to an end.
Meji Restoration
The 1867 ousting of the Tokugawa Shogunate that "restored" the power of the Japanese emperors.
Russo-Japanese War
The 1904-1905 war between Russia and Japan fought over imperial influence and territory in northeast China (Manchuria).
Caudillismo
Government by figures who rule through personal charisma and the support of armed followers in Latin America.
Manifest Destiny
The doctrine that the United States should absorb the territory spanning from the original Atlantic states to the Pacific Ocean.
Neocolonialism
The entrenchment of the colonial order, such as trade and investment, under a new guise.
Porfiriato
The regime of Porfirio Díaz, who presided in Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911.
Monroe Doctrine
An 1823 doctrine by President James Monroe, warning European powers to refrain from seeking any new territories in the Americas. The United States largely lacked the power to back up the pronouncement, which was actually enforced by the British, who sought unfettered access to Latin American markets.
Dual Revolutions
When revolutions create the environment for the next revolution
Problem of scarcity
There are not enough resources for the whole country, so prices increase (because demand increases) so people prioritize certain products over others.
Economy of scale
When a business makes more things, they sell more, increasing their net profits which then lets them produce more. The quality decreases so they value quantity over quality because it is making them more money.
Extractive economy
An economic system based off of exporting raw materials to other countries. They are removing their natural resources.
Historical role of bourgeoisie
They were escaped serfs who became the first bourgeoisie through generations, starting as serfs, then laborers, then craftsmen, then merchants. They are antiheroes because they were self-liberating, revolutionized productivity, and overthrew feudalism but oppressed workers and spread alienation. They control the means of production and destroy traditions that are not valuable in increasing their wealth
Present and future roles of proletariat
The working class who are extensions of machines and do not own production. Their role in society is to be basically enslaved by the bourgeoisie and need to develop class-consciousness in order to gain power. They give revolutionary potential. They are the production of industrialization so they are unskilled laborers who work the machines.
Free womb laws
Laws passed across the nineteenth-century Americas that instituted a gradual form of abolition through which children born to slaves gained their freedom.
Latifundios
Vast landed estates in Latin America.
Anarcho-syndicalism
A version of anarchism that advocated placing power in the hands of workers' unions.
Roosevelt Corollary
A corollary to the Monroe Doctrine stating that the United States would "correct" what it saw as wrongdoing in neighboring countries.
Modernization theory
As societies advance more, they become more liberal and democratic. This is false because Japan advanced and was liberal but not democratic.
Dialectical model of history
The lower class is always against the upper class. The oppressor vs. the oppressed. It is a cycle where the oppressed beats the oppressor and becomes the oppressor with a new class of oppressed that will beat them.
Class consciousness
An individual's sense of class differentiation, a term introduced by Karl Marx. People are aware of their class divisions (means of production) and form a common identity based on them. It leads to revolutions because the lower class realizes they are against the upper class and unify for change.
Marxist alienation
The process where work loses value to people. They become less connected. This happened during the industrial revolution because machines started to replace the jobs of humans such as the putting-out system with the spinning jenny and water frame. Work loses its emotional importance in life. People start drinking more because they believe they are useless as the machines now do their once-valued work.