Modern Europe Final Exam Study Guide

Belle Epoque

The period in European history before World War I, known for cultural flourishing and advancements.

Marxism

A political and economic theory founded by Karl Marx, emphasizing class struggle and the elimination of capitalism.

Kurt Schumacher

Social Democrat, competed against Konrad Adenaur to become chancellor of post-WW2 Germany

Konrad Adenaur

Supported a western style democratic society in post-WW2 Germany

Christian Democratic Union

Supported a social market economy (planned economy) in Germany

Gotha Program

The program of the Social Democratic Party in Germany focused on Marxist principles.

Michael Bakunin

The father of modern anarchism, who believed in tearing down the state to achieve a communist society.

Social Darwinism

A theory that applies the concept of 'survival of the fittest' to social issues, questioning the role of the state in helping lower classes.

Walter Bagehot

emphasized the role of human groups rather than individuals in the struggle for survival, emphasized German superiority in organization and efficiency

Peter Kropotkin

cooperation with humanity assured human survival and progress - argued for anarchist communism

Narodnik

A populist movement in Russia that aimed for social change, often promoting socialist ideologies, populist movement that was also indigenous and became an anarcho-socialist ideology

Antisemitism

A new “scientific” view of ethnic groups. Race theory did influence politics in the extremes

Dostoevsky

• Belief in Russian people as more generous and less individualistic than westerners

Herzen

• became the writer who propagated the Narodnik movement - he wanted Russia to avoid the pitfalls of the West’s capitalistic path to modernization

Nachev

• revolutionary had to be devoted to “merciless destruction” of all existing states and societies - no private life and an alliance with the savage world of the violent criminal. A true revolutionary devotes his life to the revolution, nothing else matters

Wilhelm Marr

• used racial science and terminology- rejected the medieval charges against Jews

Adolf Stoecker

• dealt with religious issues. Said Jews were responsible for the problems of capitalism  

Ernest Renan

• gave a secular account of the Bible and the life of Jesus. Used a form of racial determinism

Panama Scandal

collapse of the company building the Panama Canal

Ferry Laws

greater secular control over education after the mistrust of Catholics in education

Sonderweg

Questions of whether Germany would a liberal model of France and Britain, or would it follow a “special path” towards democracy?

Dreyfus Affair

A political scandal in France involving a Jewish army officer wrongfully convicted of treason.

Wilhelm II

Kaiser of Germany who succeeded Otto von Bismarck and led Germany into World War I.

Vladimir Lenin

The founder and leader of the Bolsheviks, Lenin led the October Revolution which established the world's first socialist state. His government won the Russian Civil War and consolidated power in a one-party state under the Communist Party.

Russo-Japanese War

1904-1905: The Japanese had gotten in on the imperialism game, which conflicted with Russia. The two nations fight over parts of modern day Korea. 

Bloody Sunday

(Jan 22, 1905): Large gathering (quarter million, which includes women and children) of workers in St. Petersburg begin to march outside of the winter palace of Nicholas II. The guards at the palace panic and fire into the crowd, wounding and/or killing hundreds of the crowd. This is a turning point for Nicholas II as tsar. 

October Manifesto

promised civil liberties and national parliament elected by universal male suffrage (called the Duma, all males can vote). This is a big step forward.

Positivism

A belief in the power of science to solve societal problems, championed by Auguste Comte. Social diseases could be cured by understanding the laws of society. It dismissed the Catholicism of France as a “lower stage of human development”.

1st Boer War

A conflict fought between the UK and the Boers of the Transvaal resulting in a Boer victory.

Suffragettes

Women activists in the UK who fought for the right to vote using various tactics.

Triple Alliance

An alliance before World War I consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

Hyper Nationalism of Europe

 resulted from cultural, ethnic, as well as political policies that led to the formation of nation-states and new national identities in place of the former multiethnic empires

Triple Entente

France, Russia, and Great Britain.

Gavrilo Princip’s assassination of Franz Ferdinand

June 28, 1940: Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist and Blank Hand member, assassinated Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. There had been a concerted effort earlier that day to kill Ferdinand, but he survived. Later on in the day, Ferdinand’s driver makes a wrong turn and Princip takes the opportunity to shoot both him and his wife. Princip tries to take cyanide and but threw it back up

Schlieffen Plan

Germany's military plan to quickly defeat France before turning to fight Russia in World War I.

Battle of the Marne

 a series of battles in World War I that took place in 1914 and 1918. remembered for trench warfare.

Battle of Verdun

longest, bloodiest battle of WWI

Battle of the Somme

First battle to feature Tanks

Battle of Jutland

May 31- June 1915 ; 250 ships involved; Germans won but failed to break blockade.     

Total warfare

unrestricted warfare in terms of weapons, combatants, or objectives involved, that uses all military and societal efforts to support the war; by 1916, any civilizing attitude toward war was gone. 

Zimmerman Telegram

A secret message from Germany to Mexico proposing a military alliance against the USA during WWI.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

A treaty that ended Russia's involvement in WWI, signed with the Central Powers.

Who was involved in the Paris Peace Conference?

Wilson, Clemenceau, George, Orlando

What new nations were created out of WWI?

Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, and Poland

Grigory Rasputin

 a self-proclaimed holy man who was thought to have closely influenced the Romanov family, the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. Rasputin was born Grigori Yefimovich Novykh, a Siberian peasant who would later acquire the surname Rasputin because of his sexual promiscuity and heavy drinking.

Soviets

 elected councils that served as the primary form of government in the Soviet Union

April Theses

a series of ten directives issued by the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin upon his April 1917 return to Petrograd from his exile in Switzerland via Germany and Finland

Kornilov Affair

The Kornilov affair was an attempted military coup d'état by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, General Lavr Kornilov against the Russian Provisional Government

Leon Trotsky

 a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He was a central figure in the 1905 Revolution, October Revolution, Russian Civil War, and establishment of the Soviet Union.

Bolsheviks

wing of the Russian-Social-Democratic Worker’s Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized control of the Russian government in Oct. 1917 and became the dominate political power. Followed the principles of Leninism.

Council of People’s Commissars

the highest executive authority of the Soviet Union and its republics from 1917 to 1946

War Communism

War Communism created to distribute food and equalize allocation of goods. Armed workers were sent out to the countryside to take from peasants for the cities. War between rural and urban areas. Lack of coordination of anti-Bolshevik forces led to eventual Red Army victory.

New Economic Policy

The New Economic Policy (NEP) was a Soviet economic policy introduced in 1921 by Vladimir Lenin to help stabilize the Russian economy after the Russian Civil War.

“White Terror”

 refers to the violence and mass killings carried out by the White Army during the Russian Civil War (1917–1923). It began after the Bolsheviks seized power in November 1917, and continued until the defeat of the White Army at the hands of the Red Army.

Treaty of Versailles and its main points

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919 after World War I, forced Germany to accept full blame for the war, pay large war reparations, cede territory to other nations, drastically reduce its military, and surrender its colonies, while also establishing the League of Nations as an international peacekeeping organization.

League of Nations

An international organization established after WWI aimed at ensuring peace and cooperation among nations. Formed during the Paris Peace Conference after the first world war. Members included Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Mostly ineffective. Precursor to the United Nations. 

Weimar Republic

Germany's government from 1918 to 1933, after World War I and before the rise of Nazi Germany. The period was marked by political and economic turmoil, social freedoms, and artistic movements. 

Gustav Stresemann

he chancellor (1923) and foreign minister (1923, 1924–29) of the Weimar Republic, largely responsible for restoring Germany's international status after World War I

Communist International

Communist International was continuing to work to overthrow world governments during Stalinist Russia

Kulaks

large land owning peasants

smychka

collaboration of the proletariat and peasants

Nuremberg Laws

Racial laws enacted in Nazi Germany that restricted the rights of Jews.

Stalinization

The process of transforming the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state under Joseph Stalin.

Blood Purges

Mass arrests and executions during the Great Purge in the Soviet Union to eliminate perceived threats.

Mein Kampf

Autobiographical book by Adolf Hitler outlining his political ideology and plans for Germany.

Night of the Long Knives

A purge in 1934 where Hitler eliminated rivals within the Nazi Party, particularly among the SA (brown shirts)

Nazi-Soviet Pact

A non-aggression treaty signed between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939.

Blitzkrieg

A military tactic used by Germany in WWII characterized by rapid and surprise attacks.

Battle of Stalingrad

A major turning point in WWII where Soviet forces defeated Nazi Germany in 1942-1943.

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. policy established in 1947 to provide support to countries resisting communism.

Berlin Airlift

The operation to supply West Berlin after the Soviet Union blocked access in 1948.

Vichy France

The collaborationist government in France during WWII led by Marshal Philippe Pétain.

East and West Germany

The division of Germany post-WWII, with East Germany under Soviet influence and West Germany under Western allies.