Unit 3 DW

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, American Revolution, French Revolution, Radicalism, Napoleon, and Absolutism based on DW Honors study guide material.

Geocentric Model

A model of the universe developed by Ptolemy stating that Earth was at the center of the universe.

Heliocentric Model

A model proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 stating that the Sun was at the center of the universe and planets revolved around it.

Johannes Kepler

Astronomer who used mathematics to show that planets orbit the Sun in elliptical (oval-shaped) paths, known as Kepler's First Law.

Galileo Galilei

First European to use a telescope for space observations, author of Starry Messenger (1610), and supporter of the heliocentric model whose ideas conflicted with the Catholic Church.

Isaac Newton

Scientist born in 1642 who wrote Principia and developed the Three Laws of Motion and the Universal Law of Gravitation.

William Harvey

Physician who advanced the study of the human body through human dissection.

Robert Boyle

Scientist who developed Boyle's Law, establishing that the volume of a gas changes as its pressure changes.

Antoine Lavoisier

Known as the father of modern chemistry, he developed a system for naming chemical elements.

Margaret Cavendish

English aristocrat and author of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy who argued that humans could not completely control nature through science.

Maria Winkelmann

German astronomer who discovered a comet and faced discrimination because she was a woman.

René Descartes

17th-century philosopher famous for 'I think, therefore I am' and considered the father of modern rationalism.

Rationalism

The belief that reason is a major source of knowledge.

Francis Bacon

English thinker who developed the scientific method and advocated for evidence-based science rather than reliance on ancient authorities.

Inductive Reasoning

A reasoning process moving from specific observations to a general conclusion.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's belief that the human mind is a 'blank slate' at birth and that people are shaped entirely by their experiences.

Philosophes

Enlightenment thinkers who met in French salons to discuss politics, science, and philosophy.

Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker who advocated for separation of powers and checks and balances across three government branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.

Voltaire

Enlightenment philosopher who challenged church authority and supported Deism.

Deism

An 18th-century religious philosophy based on the belief that God created the world and allowed it to operate according to natural laws.

Denis Diderot

Enlightenment figure who created a 28-volume encyclopedia to spread ideas about society, politics, religion, and science.

Laissez-faire

Economic doctrine meaning little or no government regulation of the economy.

Cesare Beccaria

Enlightenment figure who opposed capital punishment and argued that punishments should not be cruel or disproportionate to the crime.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosopher who proposed the Social Contract, stating that government exists by consent of the governed and should follow the general will.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Early advocate for women's equality who argued for equal political, educational, and economic rights.

Enlightened Absolutism

A system where absolute monarchs attempted to govern by Enlightenment principles while keeping their full royal power.

Frederick the Great

Prussian absolute monarch (Frederick II) who abolished torture in most cases and increased religious tolerance while maintaining serfdom.

Catherine the Great

Empress of Russia (Catherine II) who engaged with Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot but enacted little actual reform due to reliance on nobility.

Joseph II

Austrian monarch who abolished serfdom and the death penalty, often considered the only truly enlightened ruler despite many failed reforms.

Baroque

An artistic and architectural style characterized by grandeur, power, scale, and drama.

Rococo

An artistic style developed around the 1730s that emphasized grace, charm, style, happiness, and pleasure.

Stamp Act

A 1765 British law requiring American colonists to pay a tax on legal and published documents, repealed one year later following protests.

First Continental Congress

A 1774 meeting of colonial representatives who urged colonists to form militias and prepare to fight Britain.

Lexington & Concord

Massachusetts locations where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired in April 1775.

Declaration of Independence

Document written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4, 1776, declaring the American colonies independent from Britain.

Battle of Yorktown

A 1781 battle in which American forces and the French navy defeated the British, marking a major turning point in the war.

Treaty of Paris

1783 peace treaty recognizing American independence and setting U.S. territory from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River.

Federalism

A government system in which power is divided between the national government and state governments.

Battle of Saratoga

Turning point in the war.

First Estate

The social class in pre-revolutionary France made up of the clergy, numbering about 130,000 (less than 1/2% of the population), owning about 10% of the land, and paying no taxes.

Second Estate

The social class in pre-revolutionary France made up of the nobility, numbering about 350,000 (less than 1.5% of the population), owning about 30% of the land, holding leading positions in government, military, and church, and paying no taxes.

Taille

An annual direct tax in France from which both the First and Second Estates were exempt.

Third Estate

The diverse social class making up over 98% of the French population, including peasants, merchants, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen, who carried the tax burden.

Louis XVI

King of France from 1774 to 1791 whose financial extravagance and aid to American revolutionaries caused a debt crisis, leading to the revolution and his execution in 1793.

Marie Antoinette

Queen of France and daughter of Maria Theresa, who was widely resented for her extravagant spending and lavish lifestyle.

Estates General

The representative legislative assembly in France representing the three estates (nobility, clergy, and commoners) that Louis XIV chose not to convene; it met on May 5, 1789, for the first time since 1614 to address France's financial crisis.

National Assembly

The revolutionary assembly proclaimed on June 17, 1789, by representatives of the Third Estate after demanding individual deputy voting rights to draft a constitution.

Tennis Court Oath

The pledge taken by the Third Estate on an indoor tennis court after being locked out of their meeting hall, vowing to meet until a new constitution was written.

The Bastille

A French prison stormed by a mob of about 900 peasants on July 14, 1789, to obtain arms and ammunition, resulting in its capture after four hours.

Great Fear

A panic that spread across France following peasant revolts, marked by anti-noble violence, destruction of legal records, and formation of citizen militias.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

A charter adopted by the National Assembly on August 4, 1789, that outlined natural rights for men, excluding women initially.

Legislative Assembly

The body created by the 1791 Constitution to enact laws under a limited monarchy, elected by tax-paying men over age 25.

The Commune

A radical political group organized by the Paris poor who seized power in the city after raiding the royal palace and Legislative Assembly.

Sans-Culottes

Radical revolutionaries in Paris whose name literally meant 'those without fancy pants.'

Georges Danton

Minister of justice who led the Sans-culottes in attacking the royal palace and imprisoning King Louis XVI.

Jean-Paul Marat

A radical Paris leader who published works advocating violence and rapid political transformation.

Jacobins

A highly radical political network within the National Convention that demanded the execution of King Louis XVI.

The Mountain

A radical faction within the National Convention that successfully persuaded the assembly to execute Louis XVI.

Guillotine

A machine used for beheadings, utilized for executions including Louis XVI on January 21, 1793, and thousands during the Reign of Terror.

Committee on Public Safety

A committee granted broad executive powers by the National Convention, led by Danton, Marat, and Robespierre, which orchestrated the Reign of Terror.

Maximilien Robespierre

Radical leader during the Reign of Terror who governed France through the Committee on Public Safety until his execution on June 28, 1794.

Reign of Terror

A period of state-sanctioned violence during which over 40,000 people were executed by guillotine or killed by mobs to protect the republic.

Council of 500

The lower house created under the 1795 French Constitution responsible for drafting legislation.

Council of Elders

An upper house of 250 members established by the 1795 Constitution that voted to accept or reject laws drafted by the Council of 500.

The Directory

A five-member executive body chosen by the Council of Elders from a list drafted by the Council of 500, known for corruption during its five-year reign.

Coup d'état

A sudden overthrow of the government, executed in 1799 by General Napoleon Bonaparte to overthrow the Directory.

Consulate

The regime established by Napoleon in 1799 after his coup d'état, structured nominally as a republic but controlled authoritatively by Napoleon.

Civil Code (Napoleonic Code)

A uniform system of law created in 1804 that guaranteed legal equality, religious tolerance, and abolition of serfdom, while curtailing women's rights.

Anne-Louise-Germaine de Staël

A prominent writer who publicly criticized Napoleon's autocratic rule and strict censorship of books and press.

Dependent States

Nations ruled by Napoleon's relatives, including Spain, Holland, Italy, Naples, Switzerland, Warsaw, and the Confederation of the Rhine.

Continental System

An economic blockade designed by Napoleon to stop trade between continental Europe and Great Britain in order to weaken the British war economy.

Russian Campaign of 1812

Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia in which over 600,000 troops entered in June 1812, but severe winter weather and evasion tactics reduced them to 40,000 by December 1812.

Elba

An island off the northwest coast of Italy where Napoleon was exiled following the fall of Paris in March 1814.

Louis XVIII

Brother of Louis XVI who was placed on the French throne by Allied forces after Napoleon's first exile.

Battle of Waterloo

The engagement in Belgium on June 18, 1815, in which combined British and Prussian forces permanently defeated Napoleon Bonaparte.

St. Helena

A remote island in the Atlantic Ocean where Napoleon was exiled after his final defeat at Waterloo, remaining there until his death in 1821.

Olympe de Gouges

Mentioned as a victim of the Terror.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Military leader who seized power in 1799.

Divine Right

The political doctrine asserting that a monarch's authority comes directly from God, justifying their absolute rule.

Charles V

A prominent Hapsburg ruler, Charles V became King of Spain in 1516 (as Charles I) and Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 before his abdication in 1556.

Spanish Armada

A formidable naval fleet consisting of over 130 ships, 20,000 sailors, and 2,400 cannons, prepared by King Philip II in 1588 to invade England.

Spanish Inquisition

A powerful institution established to root out heresy, particularly targeting and expelling Muslims, Jews, and Protestant reformers from Spain, resulting in economic decline.

Huguenots

French Protestants who engaged in violent religious conflicts against Catholics throughout France during the 1500s.

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

A tragic event on August 24, 1572, when Catholics massacred over 3,000 Huguenot wedding guests, leading to widespread violence across France.

Edict of Nantes

A significant 1598 decree issued by King Henry IV that granted French Protestants (Huguenots) the right to worship freely and protected their civil rights.

The Fronde

A series of uprisings in France during the 1640s, involving nobles, merchants, peasants, and urban poor protesting against royal absolutism.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

The finance minister under Louis XIV who implemented measures to promote economic prosperity through industry, trade regulation, tariffs, and mercantilism.

Versailles

An opulent palace constructed by Louis XIV in a Paris suburb, designed to centralize his power by keeping the nobility close and under his control.

Treaty of Utrecht

The 1713 agreement that concluded the War of Spanish Succession, allowing Philip V to remain King of Spain but forbidding any union between the French and Spanish crowns.

Electors

The influential German princes responsible for electing the Holy Roman Emperor, wielding significant power within the empire.

Thirty Years' War

A protracted conflict from 1618 to 1648 primarily fought in the German states, rooted in religious disputes between Catholics and Protestants.

Peace of Westphalia

The series of treaties signed in 1648 that brought an end to the Thirty Years' War, resulting in the division of German territories and cessation of major European religious conflicts.

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

The 1748 treaty that ended the War of Austrian Succession, returning all captured territories, apart from Silesia, to their original owners.

Junkers

The Prussian nobility who were granted high-ranking governmental and military positions by Frederick William I in exchange for loyalty to the crown.

Boyars

The traditional noble class in Russia who frequently opposed many established social reforms aimed at Westernization by Tsar Peter I.

Great Northern War

A major conflict initiated in 1700 in which Peter the Great successfully fought against Sweden to secure land for Russia, including a warm-water port and the site for St. Petersburg.

Partitions of Poland

The disintegration of Polish territory among Prussia, Russia, and Austria, which occurred between 1772 and 1790, ultimately leading to Poland's disappearance.

Petition of Right

A pivotal 1628 agreement signed by Charles I requiring parliamentary approval for tax raises and establishing protections against unlawful imprisonment.

Long Parliament

The English Parliament summoned in 1640, which persisted intermittently for 13 years and played a key role in the rebellion against King Charles I.

Cavaliers

The wealthy noble faction that supported King Charles I during the English Civil War, often characterized by their royalist sympathies.

Roundheads

The opposing faction in the English Civil War, primarily composed of country gentry, townsfolk, and Puritan clergy, led by Oliver Cromwell.