European and Global History Key Terms

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering major European cities, nations, empires, and significant historical events from the Renaissance through World War I.

Versailles

A city near Paris, France, best known for the Palace of Versailles built by Louis XIV in the seventeenth century, which symbolized the power and wealth of absolute monarchy.

France

A major European nation central to the Renaissance, Absolutist Era, Enlightenment, and Napoleonic Wars, becoming highly powerful under rulers like Louis XIV and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Worms

A city in western Germany where, in $1521$, Martin Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms and refused to recant his religious beliefs, strengthening the Protestant Reformation.

Florence

A city in central Italy that served as the cultural center of the Renaissance during the $1400\text{s}$ and $1500\text{s}$, supported by wealthy families like the Medici.

Italy

A southern European country and birthplace of the Renaissance that was unified as a nation in $1861$ through the efforts of Cavour, Garibaldi, Mazzini, and Victor Emmanuel II.

England

A country in the British Isles that emerged as a leading power, experiencing the English Reformation under Henry VIII and the Industrial Revolution beginning in the eighteenth century.

Russia

The largest country in the world, which emerged as a major power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries under autocratic rulers such as Alexander II and Alexander III.

Germany

A central European region consisting of independent states until its unification in $1871$ under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck.

Ottoman Empire

A vast Islamic empire founded in the late thirteenth century and centered in present-day Turkey that controlled parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa at its height.

Austria-Hungary

A multinational empire existing from $1867$ to $1918$ ruled by Francis Joseph I; its collapse was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

India

A large South Asian region that came under British control in the nineteenth century, leading to internal changes and resistance movements like the Sepoy Mutiny.

Africa

The world's second-largest continent, which was divided among European nations during the nineteenth-century Scramble for Africa.

Sepoy Mutiny

Also known as the Indian Rebellion of $1857$, this was a major uprising against British East India Company rule that led Britain to take direct control of India.

Crimean War

A conflict fought from $1853$ to $1856$ between Russia and an alliance of Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire, which exposed military weaknesses in Russia.

Spanish Armada

A large fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain to invade England in $1588$; its failure weakened Spanish dominance and established England as a growing naval power.

Balkans

A region in southeastern Europe known as the "powder keg of Europe" where ethnic and imperial tensions contributed directly to the outbreak of World War I.

Napoleon’s invasion of Russia

An $1812$ military campaign where over $600,000$ French soldiers were devastated by Russian scorched-earth tactics and the harsh winter, marking the beginning of Napoleon's collapse.

Peninsular War

A conflict from $1808$ to $1814$ in Spain and Portugal where French resources were drained by resistance from Spanish, Portuguese, and British forces.

Franco-Prussian War

A war from $1870$ to $1871$ between France and Prussia that led to the unification of Germany under Otto von Bismarck.

Russo-Japanese War

A $1904$ to $1905$ conflict over East Asian territories where Japan's victory marked the first time a modern Asian nation defeated a major European power.

Revolutions of 1830 and 1848

Waves of uprisings across Europe where participants demanded constitutional government, national self-determination, and democratic reforms.

Battle of Trafalgar

An $1805$ naval battle where the British navy, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, defeated the French and Spanish fleets, securing British naval supremacy.

Battle of Waterloo

A battle fought on June $18$, $1815$, in present-day Belgium, where Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by British and Prussian forces led by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard von Blücher.

World War I

A global conflict from $1914$ to $1918$ between the Allied Powers and Central Powers, triggered by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.