European History Review

Flashcards about The Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Exploration, and other key events from 1450 to the present.

What was the Renaissance?

What cultural movement that emerged in 15th-century Italy emphasized humanism, secularism, and individualism?

What was the Columbian Exchange?

What was the vast transfer of goods, ideas, diseases, and populations between the Old and New Worlds during the Age of Exploration?

What was Martin Luther's 95 Theses?

What event is said to spark the Protestant Reformation, challenging the Catholic Church in 1517?

What was the Counter-Reformation (or Catholic Reformation)?

What was the name of the Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation, aimed at clarifying doctrine and reforming clerical abuses?

What was the Peace of Westphalia?

What treaty recognized the sovereignty of individual states and laid the foundation for the modern international system, ending the Thirty Years’ War?

What is Absolutism?

What form of government in which the monarch holds supreme authority was exemplified by Louis XIV of France?

What is Constitutionalism?

What is the form of government where power is limited by law, as seen in England and the Dutch Republic?

What was the Glorious Revolution (1688)?

Which revolution led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under William and Mary in England?

What was the Enlightenment?

Name the intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority.

What was the French Revolution?

What revolution, rooted in economic crisis, social inequality, and political mismanagement, overthrew the Bourbon monarchy in 1789?

What was the Congress of Vienna?

What was the name of the conflict that followed the French Revolution sought to restore the pre-revolutionary balance of power and contain revolutionary ideas?

What was the Industrial Revolution?

What revolution saw technological innovations like the steam engine and mechanized textile production, transforming economic, social, and political aspects of life?

What were ideological reactions to the Industrial Revolution?

What ideologies emerged as reactions to industrial capitalism, including liberalism, socialism, and Marxism?

What is Nationalism?

What is the political ideology characterized by a strong identification with one’s own nation, often leading to the desire for self-governance or unification?

What was the rise of mass politics?

What political developments marked the latter half of the 19th century, as more people gained the right to vote and participate in political life?

What was the Scramble for Africa?

What was the name of the imperial expansion that led to the establishment of vast colonial empires by European nations, driven by nationalism, economic interests, and notions of racial superiority?

What was a complex web of alliances, militarism, imperial competition, and nationalist tensions?

What factors caused World War I?

What was the Treaty of Versailles in 1919?

What treaty imposed harsh penalties on Germany and helped sow the seeds for future conflict after World War I?

What was the Cold War era?

What was the name of the era saw Europe divided between the Soviet-dominated East and the democratic capitalist West?

What was the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Collapse of the Soviet Union?

What occurred in 1989 and 1991 due to economic stagnation, nationalist movements, and political reform failures causing the end of the Cold War?

What was the Edict of Nantes (1598)?

Royal decree by King Henry IV of France, granting limited religious freedom and civil rights to Protestants.

What was the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)?

What agreement was brokered by the Pope between Spain and Portugal to divide newly discovered lands outside Europe?

What is Humanism

What is the intellectual movement of the Renaissance focusing on classical texts, human values, and individual potential?

Who was Martin Luther?

Who initiated a religious movement that led to the creation of Protestant churches separate from the Roman Catholic Church?

What is Divine Right?

What did monarchs believe gave them authority that came from God, not their subjects?

What were Salons?

What did gatherings of intellectual and political ideas being discussed, often hosted by women during the Enlightenment lead to?

What was the Congress of Vienna (1815)?

Name a meeting of European powers after Napoleon’s defeat to restore traditional borders and monarchies.

What were Nazi Germany, Stalinist USSR?

Name European countries that were examples of Totalitarianism.

Who was Michelangelo?

Who was the Renaissance artist and sculptor of David, Sistine Chapel ceiling depicting human form and religious themes?

Who was Henry VIII?

Who was the English king who establish the Church of England?

Who was Nicolaus Copernicus?

Who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe challenging Church doctrine?

Who was Voltaire?

Who criticized Church and promoted freedom of speech and religion and was a key Enlightenment figure.

Who was Simone de Beauvoir?

Who was a French feminist philosopher and wrote The Second Sex?

What was the Printing Press (Created by Johannes Gutenberg) in 1450?

This event involved the rise of literacy, growing urban centers, and a demand for classical knowledge which prompted technological innovation.

What was Columbus Sails; Jews Expelled from Spain in 1492?

This event was caused because Spanish monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabella) pursued imperial expansion and religious unity (Christianity).

What was Martin Luther’s 95 Theses in 1517?

This event was caused by the corruption in the Catholic Church, especially indulgences; growing literacy and humanist critiques.

What was the Act of Supremacy (England) in 1534?

This event was caused by Henry VIII’s desire for an annulment and male heir; papal refusal.

religious conflict within the Holy Roman Empire causing pressure to end violence.

The Peace of Augsburg was caused by ?

religious rivalry (Catholic Spain vs. Protestant England), and English privateering.

The Defeat of Spanish Armada was caused by ?

religious tensions in the Holy Roman Empire; Habsburg ambitions vs. Protestant resistance.

The Thirty Years’ War was caused by ?

fear of a Catholic dynasty under James II; demand for parliamentary supremacy.

Glorious Revolution (England) was caused by ?

social inequality, Enlightenment ideas, financial crisis, food shortages.

French Revolution was caused by ?

instability of the French Directory; public desire for order and reform.

Napoleon’s Coup d’État was caused by ?

liberal and nationalist demands; economic hardship; political repression.

1848 – Revolutions across Europe was caused by ?

nationalist sentiment; manipulation by Otto von Bismarck using warfare.

Unification of Germany was caused by ?

militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism, assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

WWI was caused by ?

war fatigue, economic collapse, tsarist incompetence.

Russian Revolution was caused by ?

German expansionism, failure of appeasement, Nazi-Soviet Pact.

WWII begins (invasion of Poland) was caused by ?

mass emigration from East to West Germany; Cold War tensions.

Berlin Wall built was caused by ?

economic collapse of Eastern bloc; reform movements; Gorbachev’s policies.

Fall of Berlin Wall was caused by ?

economic stagnation, nationalist movements, political reform failures.

Collapse of the Soviet Union was caused by ?

desire for greater economic and political integration.

EU formally established (Maastricht Treaty)was caused by ?

British concerns over immigration, sovereignty, EU regulation.

Brexit vote was caused by ?