AP European History Units 2-9 Master Review

A comprehensive vocabulary review of key terms, historical events, ideologies, and figures from Units 2 through 9 of the AP European History curriculum, covering the Protestant Reformation through the modern era.

Simony

The buying and selling of church offices, which was a key abuse criticized at the start of the Reformation.

Sola scriptura

The core belief of Martin Luther that Scripture alone is the highest authority, rejecting the Pope and Church tradition.

Peace of Westphalia

A series of treaties signed in $1648$ that ended the Thirty Years' War and officially marked the end of the medieval idea of a 'universal Christendom.'

Divine Right of Kings

The political doctrine that the monarch is God's representative on Earth and derives their authority directly from Him.

Mercantilism

A state-driven economic system aiming to maximize gold and silver reserves through a favorable balance of trade, where exports exceed imports.

English Bill of Rights

The $1689$ document that established a constitutional monarchy, granting Parliament authority over taxes and lawmaking.

Enclosure movement

The consolidation of small farms into larger, fenced-in plots, which increased agricultural output but forced many rural workers to move to cities.

Heliocentrism

The astronomical model, championed by Copernicus and Galileo, that places the sun at the center of the universe.

Social contract

The political theory that individuals surrender some freedom to a government in exchange for the protection of their natural rights.

General will

A concept proposed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that government must follow the collective desire of the people.

Natural rights

John Locke's Enlightenment idea of basic rights to life, liberty, and property that are given by God rather than the state.

Enlightened Absolutism

A system where monarchs like Frederick the Great adopted certain Enlightenment reforms, such as religious tolerance, mainly to strengthen their own power.

Three Estates

The social hierarchy in pre-revolutionary France consisting of the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else, with the Third Estate making up roughly $97\%$ of the population.

Reign of Terror

The radical phase of the French Revolution led by Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, resulting in over $40,000$ executions.

Napoleonic Code

A comprehensive system of laws established by Napoleon that provided for the equality of all male citizens before the law and protected private property.

Congress of Vienna

An $1814$ to $1815$ meeting of major European powers to restore the balance of power and conservative monarchies after the Napoleonic Wars.

Romanticism

An artistic and intellectual movement that challenged Enlightenment rationalism by emphasizing emotion, intuition, imagination, and individualism.

Proletariat

The manual laboring class that emerged during the Industrial Revolution, primarily working in factories and mines.

Bourgeoisie

The middle class that expanded during the Industrial Revolution, consisting of white-collar workers, management, and professionals.

Cult of Domesticity

A $19$th-century status symbol and ideology that restricted middle-class women to the domestic sphere to raise children and manage the home.

Utilitarianism

The philosophy developed by Jeremy Bentham stating that actions are right based on whether they increase happiness for the greatest number of people.

Marxism

A political and economic theory developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels arguing that class struggle over economic wealth is the driving force of history.

Concert of Europe

A period of relative peace under conservative rule, engineered by Klemens von Metternich, following the Congress of Vienna.

Realpolitik

A master political Maneuver, notably used by Otto von Bismarck, driven by practical results and state needs rather than morality or ideology.

Social Darwinism

The application of Charles Darwin's theories of 'survival of the fittest' to human civilizations and races to justify imperialism and hierarchy.

New Imperialism

The late $19$th-century wave of European colonization in Africa and Asia focused on securing raw materials and new markets.

Berlin Conference

An $1884$ meeting where European powers peacefully divided the African continent among themselves without any African representatives present.

Total War

A type of conflict, illustrated by World War I, in which a state mobilizes all available resources, including industry and the home front, to fight.

Fascism

A totalitarian political philosophy, led by figures like Mussolini and Hitler, emphasizing absolute obedience to an authoritarian leader and national glory.

Appeaseament

The failed diplomatic policy of Britain and France in the $1930$s that involved granting territorial demands to Hitler to avoid a repeat of World War I.

Holocaust

The systematic, state-sponsored extermination of approximately $6$ million Jews and other targeted groups by Nazi Germany.

Marshall Plan

A $13$ billion dollar US economic aid program enacted in $1947$ to rebuild Western Europe and contain the spread of communism after World War II.

Containment

The core US foreign policy of the Cold War aimed at stopping the expansion of communism beyond its current borders.

Iron Curtain

A term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the ideological and physical division of Europe into the democratic West and the communist Soviet Bloc.

Perestroika

Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of restructuring the Soviet economy, which allowed for limited private property and removed some government price controls.

Glasnost

A policy of 'openness' introduced by Gorbachev that legalized non-communist parties and increased transparency in the Soviet government.

Existentialism

A post-war philosophy asserting that the world is inherently meaningless and that individuals must create their own meaning through their choices and actions.

Decolonization

The post-World War II process by which European powers lost or gave up their colonial empires as subject nations demanded self-determination.

European Union

An international organization formed to unify European nations through economic and political interdependence to prevent conflict and increase global influence.