AP European History Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms from the lecture notes on European history.

Columbian Exchange

Increased transportation of European culture, goods, disease, and people between the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

Conquistadors

Spanish and Portuguese explorers who opened trade routes, conquered natives, and started colonies, decimating native populations.

Council of Trent

A meeting called by Pope Paul III to reaffirm Catholic teachings, clarify doctrine, and decry the heresy of Martin Luther as part of the Counter-Reformation.

Defenestration of Prague

An event in Prague where Catholic lords were thrown out the window, leading to the Thirty Years’ War.

Diet of Worms

A deliberative assembly called by Emperor Charles V where Martin Luther refused to recant his writings, further fueling the Protestant Reformation.

Edict of Nantes

An edict by Henry IV that granted French Huguenots the same rights as Catholics and tolerated them as a separate religion, ending the French Wars of Religion.

Feudalism

A means of social order during the Middle Ages where serfs, lords, and kings were bound to each other in a system of mutual obligation.

Little Ice Age

A period of cooling temperatures in Europe that led to crop failures, famines, and social disruption.

Mercantilism

The dominant economic theory in Europe from the 16th to 18th century where colonies provide resources to the home country, exports exceed imports, and gold and silver are hoarded.

The Ninety-Five Theses

Martin Luther’s arguments against the Catholic Church that sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

Peace of Westphalia

The agreement that ended the Thirty Years’ War, accepted the Protestant Reformation, and changed the power dynamics of Europe through a balance of alliances.

Spanish Inquisition

An inquisition started by the Spanish monarchy to enforce Catholic orthodoxy, leading to censorship, expulsion of Jews, and trials of heresy.

Absolutism

A style of governance in Europe characterized by a monarch with unrestricted authority over the state and the people.

Bourgeoisie

A class of merchants who made their livelihood from business and sought to improve their social status.

Deism

The belief that the universe was designed by a single omnipotent creator, discoverable through the study and observation of the natural world.

Industrialization

The process of incorporating machines to produce goods, especially textiles, and the growth of steam power.

Laissez-faire

An economic policy in which the government takes a hands-off approach, avoiding intervention in the economy.

Napoleonic Code

The French laws enforced by Napoleon’s empire that created a uniform system without class-based privileges and with qualified government officials.

Realpolitik

A practice of international relations that focuses on what is practical for the nation instead of making decisions based on ideological lines.

Reign of Terror

The bloodiest portion of the French Revolution where thousands of French citizens were executed by the Committee of Public Safety.

Social Darwinism

The application of Charles Darwin’s theories to human society, claiming that the strongest people inherit the most wealth, while the weak die off.

The Three Estates

The socioeconomic classes of France up till their abolishment during the French Revolution, consisting of the clergy, nobility, and commoners.

Balkan Powder Keg

The name given to the Balkans during the early 20th century due to its volatility and nationalistic tensions.

Berlin Wall

The iconic representation of the ideological struggle between Western Europe and the Soviet Union, dividing East and West Berlin.

Containment

A policy to contain communism’s sphere of influence in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Decolonization

The post-WWII era leading to increased national self-determination and sovereignty to Europe’s former imperial and colonial holdings.

French National Front

A conservative, right-wing party that emerged in France arguing for strict legal rulings, anti- immigration policies, and French nationalism.

Glasnost

A governmental policy instituted by President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union which entailed a more transparent approach to government decisions and policies.

Leninism

The politics of Russian revolutionary figure, Vladimir Lenin. Lenin helped to found a radical group, called Bolsheviks, to overthrow the tsarist system in Russia and create what he believed would be a proletarian dictatorship peppered in with some Marxist ideology.

Marshall Plan

A plan suggested by Secretary of State George Marshall to help Europe get back to its feet after the end of World War II.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance which promised that one country would defend the other if one was attacked by a third country.

Panslavism

The ideology that all the Slavic nations, especially those within the Balkans should be united into one nation.

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev involving a restructuring of the Soviet Union’s political and economic system from a communist society to a more democratic market-based economy.

Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact was the Soviet response to the formation of NATO. It was an alliance between all the central and eastern bloc nations of the Soviet Union that was structured similarly to North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Wilsonian Idealism

Refers to a certain ideological perspective on foreign policy, a perspective that Wilson argued for following the end of WWI. Ultimately, proponents believe in the spread of democracy, capitalism, and the intervention of democratic states on the behalf of yet-to-e democracies in order to speed up the process of democratization.