World History 1750 C.E to the Present Praxis 5581

This period from 1750–1914 saw industrialization, revolutions, nationalism, imperialism, and reform movements reshape the world.

Age of Transformation

This industrial movement beginning in Britain used machines and factories to increase production.

First Industrial Revolution

This inventor improved the steam engine during the Industrial Revolution.

James Watt

This invention by James Hargreaves improved textile production during industrialization.

Spinning Jenny

This invention mechanized weaving during the Industrial Revolution.

Power loom

These natural resources were essential to Britain’s industrial growth.

Coal and iron

This economic system encouraged private investment and industrial innovation.

Capitalism

This major social effect of industrialization involved rapid city growth.

Urbanization

Industrialization increased global demand for these materials from colonies and foreign regions.

Raw materials

These technological advances improved transportation during industrialization.

Railroads and steamships

This communication invention connected distant regions during the Industrial Revolution.

Telegraph

These workers often faced long hours, low wages, and dangerous factory conditions during industrialization.

Working class

This movement sought better wages and safer working conditions for industrial workers.

Labor movement

This revolution from 1775–1783 created the United States as an independent republic.

American Revolution

This revolution from 1789–1799 overthrew the French monarchy and spread revolutionary ideals.

French Revolution

These Enlightenment ideals influenced the American and French Revolutions.

Liberty, equality, and self-governance

This South American revolutionary leader helped liberate Venezuela, Colombia, and other nations from Spanish rule.

Simón Bolívar

This South American revolutionary leader helped secure independence for Argentina, Chile, and Peru.

José de San Martín

This period from 1793–1794 during the French Revolution involved mass executions and political repression.

Reign of Terror

This radical French revolutionary leader controlled the Reign of Terror.

Maximilien Robespierre

This French king was executed during the Reign of Terror in 1793.

Louis XVI

This law during the Reign of Terror allowed arrests of suspected enemies of the revolution.

Law of Suspects

This execution device became a symbol of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror.

Guillotine

This 1857 uprising in India challenged British East India Company rule.

Sepoy Rebellion

This immediate cause of the Sepoy Rebellion involved rifle cartridges rumored to contain cow and pig fat.

Greased cartridges

This British policy allowed annexation of Indian states without a direct male heir.

Doctrine of Lapse

After the Sepoy Rebellion, this period of direct British rule over India began in 1858.

British Raj

This long-term result of the Sepoy Rebellion helped inspire future Indian independence movements.

Indian nationalism

These wars from 1803–1815 involved Napoleon’s French Empire fighting European coalitions.

Napoleonic Wars

This French military leader became emperor and spread revolutionary ideas across Europe.

Napoleon Bonaparte

This meeting from 1814–1815 reorganized Europe after Napoleon’s defeat.

Congress of Vienna

This diplomatic goal of the Congress of Vienna sought to prevent one nation from dominating Europe.

Balance of power

This legal system created by Napoleon influenced modern law codes around the world.

Napoleonic Code

The Napoleonic Wars encouraged this movement based on shared culture, language, and identity.

Nationalism

This empire ended in 1806 after Napoleon’s military victories.

Holy Roman Empire

This nation emerged from the Napoleonic Wars as the dominant naval and colonial power.

Britain

This alliance system after Napoleon aimed to maintain peace through diplomacy.

Concert of Europe

This conflict from 1914–1918 involved major world powers fighting primarily in Europe.

World War I

This assassination in 1914 triggered World War I.

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

These alliance systems divided Europe before World War I.

Triple Entente and Triple Alliance

This ideology promoted intense national pride and contributed to World War I tensions.

Nationalism

This competition among nations to build larger militaries increased tensions before World War I.

Militarism

This 1919 treaty ended World War I and punished Germany harshly.

Treaty of Versailles

These empires collapsed after World War I.

Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires

This international organization formed after World War I aimed to maintain peace.

League of Nations

This ideology under Mussolini promoted authoritarian nationalism in Italy.

Fascism

This German ideology under Hitler emphasized racial purity and extreme nationalism.

Nazism

This German term described Hitler’s goal of expanding eastward for “living space.”

Lebensraum

This policy by Britain and France allowed Hitler to take territory in hopes of avoiding war.

Appeasement

This global conflict from 1939–1945 involved Axis and Allied powers.

World War II

This German invasion in 1939 officially began World War II.

Invasion of Poland

This genocide during World War II murdered six million Jews.

Holocaust

This international organization formed in 1945 replaced the League of Nations.

United Nations

This post-World War II conflict divided the world between capitalist and communist powers.

Cold War

This U.S. economic aid program helped rebuild Europe after World War II.

Marshall Plan

This process after World War II involved colonies gaining independence from European powers.

Decolonization

This economic crisis beginning in 1929 caused global unemployment and instability.

Great Depression

This Soviet leader created a communist totalitarian state after Lenin’s death.

Joseph Stalin

This Italian dictator led Fascist Italy before and during World War II.

Benito Mussolini

This German dictator led Nazi Germany during World War II.

Adolf Hitler

This Soviet secret police organization enforced Stalin’s rule through fear and repression.

NKVD

This Nazi secret police organization suppressed opposition in Germany.

Gestapo

This political movement fought for women’s voting rights during the early 20th century.

Women’s suffrage movement

This amendment granted women the right to vote in the United States in 1920.

19th Amendment

This economic theory supported government intervention to stabilize economies during crises.

Keynesian economics

This U.S. reform program under Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded government involvement in the economy.

New Deal

This economic system supports private ownership and free-market competition.

Capitalism

This economic system promotes state ownership and a classless society.

Communism

This ideological struggle between capitalism and communism shaped global politics after World War II.

Cold War rivalry

This period from 1945–1990 was dominated by rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Cold War

This ideological conflict divided the Cold War superpowers.

Capitalism vs. communism

This military alliance formed in 1949 united the United States and Western European nations.

NATO

This military alliance formed in 1955 united the Soviet Union and Eastern European communist nations.

Warsaw Pact

This event in 1962 brought the world closest to nuclear war during the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis

This line dividing North and South Korea after the Korean War still exists today.

38th parallel

This war from 1950–1953 became the first major military conflict of the Cold War.

Korean War

This war from 1955–1975 ended with communist control of Vietnam.

Vietnam War

This policy sought to stop the spread of communism during the Cold War.

Containment

These wars fought in third-party nations represented indirect Cold War competition between superpowers.

Proxy wars

This movement included nations that refused to align with either the United States or Soviet Union.

Non-Aligned Movement

These countries became major leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement.

India, Egypt, and Yugoslavia

This treaty signed in 1968 attempted to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

These 1972 talks between the United States and Soviet Union limited nuclear weapons development.

SALT I

This process after World War II involved colonies gaining independence from European powers.

Decolonization

This Indian leader used nonviolent resistance to help India gain independence from Britain.

Mahatma Gandhi

This African leader helped Ghana become the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence.

Kwame Nkrumah

This African nation became the first sub-Saharan colony to gain independence in 1957.

Ghana

This Asian nation gained independence from Britain in 1947.

India

This major cause of decolonization involved weakened European powers after World War II.

Postwar decline of colonial empires

This movement promoted national sovereignty and self-rule in colonies.

Nationalism

This 1956 conflict began after Egypt nationalized a major trade canal previously controlled by Britain and France.

Suez Canal Crisis

This Egyptian leader nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

This process after 1945 increased global economic and cultural connections.

Globalization

These technologies increased globalization after World War II.

Jet engine, container shipping, and Internet

This organization promotes international trade and reduced trade barriers worldwide.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

This trade agreement reduced tariffs and promoted free trade after World War II.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

This type of company gained major global influence through globalization.

Multinational corporation

This Soviet policy introduced openness and transparency under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Glasnost

This Soviet reform policy attempted to restructure the economy with limited market changes.

Perestroika

This Soviet leader introduced glasnost and perestroika during the 1980s.

Mikhail Gorbachev