Modern World History Term 1 Exam Review Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, Absolutism, the Enlightenment, the French and Atlantic Revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, and 19th-century Imperialism.

Renaissance

A word meaning rebirth, referring to a time of great creativity and change.

Italian Renaissance Art

Art whose main focuses were humanism and ancient Greece and Rome.

Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance figure who painted the Mona Lisa and designed the first submarine before it was actually made.

Michaelangelo

Artist who created scenes from the biblical book of Genesis in St. Peter's Cathedral.

Raphael

Artist who painted the School of Athens.

Primary Source

A firsthand, narrow source of historical information.

Secondary Source

A broad source of information that comes from someone else rather than a firsthand account.

Johannes Gutenberg

The individual credited with the creation of the printing press.

Northern Renaissance Art

Art that focused on peasant life and everyday scenes.

Martin Luther

A religious leader who led and shaped the Protestant Reformation, opposing the selling of indulgences and practices within the Catholic Church.

Selling of Indulgences

The practice where a priest sold away sins for money.

95 Theses

The list of grievances against the Catholic Church written by Martin Luther and nailed to the church door.

Henry VIII

English monarch who had six wives, with their fates following the sequence: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.

Anglican Church

Christian churches tracing their roots to the Church of England, representing a middle path between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

Catholic Counter-Reformation

A period of spiritual, moral, and intellectual revival within the Roman Catholic Church.

Scientific Revolution

A period of dramatic change in Europe that marked the emergence of modern science.

Copernicus

Astronomer who published a book introducing the heliocentric theory stating that planets revolve around the sun.

Heliocentric

The model or belief that the sun is at the center of the universe.

Kepler

Astronomer who used Tycho Brahe's data to calculate planetary orbits around the sun, discovering their oval-shaped path called an ellipse.

Galileo

Scientist who invented the telescope, discovered that the Milky Way is composed of stars, and authored scientific books.

Scientific Method

A step-by-step process used by researchers to explore observations, test ideas, and answer questions about the world.

Francis Bacon

Thinker who introduced the scientific method and inductive reasoning, stressing experiment and observation.

René Descartes

Philosopher who advocated thinking independently, emphasized methodological doubt, and developed deductive reasoning.

Robert Boyle

Scientist who explained that matter consists of behaving particles, differentiated elements from compounds, and explained the effects of temperature and pressure on gases.

Isaac Newton

Scientist who formulated the laws of motion, established the laws of gravity, and developed calculus.

Absolutism

A system or doctrine in which a single ruler, authority, or universal principle holds complete, unlimited, and unrestrained power without checks or exceptions.

Absolute Monarchy

A form of government where a single ruler, typically a king or queen, holds total, centralized power not limited by laws, a constitution, or a parliament.

Divine Right

The belief that a monarch receives the authority to rule directly from God.

Hapsburg Empire

A collection of Central and Eastern European lands ruled by the House of Habsburg from the 13th century until 1918.

Charles V

Ruler of a massive global empire spanning Europe and the Americas, serving as both Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

Philip II

King of Spain who claimed divine right, drew wealth from colonies, and held power backed by the Inquisition.

Spanish Armada

A massive 130-ship naval fleet dispatched by King Philip II in 1588 to invade England, overthrow Queen Elizabeth I, and restore Roman Catholicism.

Louis XIV

Bourbon King of France known as the 'Sun King,' who built the Palace of Versailles and declared 'I am the State.'

Natural Laws

Unchanging universal principles, discovered through reason, that govern human conduct, behavior, and society.

Social Contract

An agreement among members of a society to abide by laws and accept punishments, establishing the idea that government exists by popular agreement.

Natural Rights

Inherent rights possessed simply by virtue of being human, entitling everyone to life, liberty, and property/possessions.

Separation of Powers

The division of government authority into distinct branches with distinct roles to prevent tyranny.

Legislative Branch

The branch of government responsible for creating and passing laws.

Executive Branch

The branch of government that enforces laws and manages public administration.

Judicial Branch

The branch of government that interprets laws and decides whether they adhere to the constitution.

Checks and Balances

A constitutional mechanism allowing each branch of government to limit the authority of the other branches.

Thomas Hobbes

Philosopher who advocated for strong, centralized government to prevent disorder, characterizing life without government as 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.'

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker who asserted people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and possess the right to replace a tyrannical government.

Baron de Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker who advocated dividing government into three branches with checks and balances, noting the influence of geography, climate, and social conditions on politics.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosopher who emphasized equality, popular sovereignty, and the concept that government must represent the collective will of its citizens.

Mary Wollstonecraft

English writer and philosopher known for advocating women's rights and authoring A Vindication of the Rights of Men.

Immanuel Kant

German Enlightenment philosopher known for authoring the Critique of Pure Reason.

Denis Diderot

French philosopher, writer, and art critic known for producing the Encyclopédie.

Voltaire

French Enlightenment writer, satirist, and author of Candide who championed freedom of speech and religious tolerance.

Three Estates System

The social hierarchy of pre-revolutionary France, consisting of the First Estate (clergy), Second Estate (nobility), and Third Estate (vast majority of the population).

Tennis Court Oath

A pledge made by representatives of the Third Estate vowing not to disband until a new constitution was established.

Storming the Bastille

The armed assault by the Assembly on the royal fortress of the Bastille, securing 250 barrels of gunpowder ordered by Launay.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

An Enlightenment-inspired human rights document comprising 17 articles, written by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

Women's March on Versailles

An October march originating in Parisian marketplaces where women marched directly to Versailles and forced the king back to Paris.

Maximilian Robespierre

Influential French lawyer and statesman during the Reign of Terror who campaigned for universal male suffrage and admission to the National Guard.

Guillotine

An execution machine equipped with a heavy falling blade designed to carry out decapitations.

The Directory

A five-member executive body that governed France during the final phase of the French Revolution.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French military general and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 1800s and established centralized, merit-based governance.

Napoleonic Code

A codified legal system establishing standardized laws regarding citizenship, family, and property.

Toussaint Louverture

Haitian general and prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution, which overthrew French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue.

Simón Bolívar

Military and political leader instrumental in the South American independence movements that liberated territories from Spanish rule between 1808 and 1826.

Enclosure Acts

Laws through which British landowners fenced off common agricultural lands, compelling small farmers to relocate to urban industrial centers.

Capital

Financial wealth accumulated from trade, agriculture, and business available for reinvestment in factories, machinery, mines, and transport.

Putting-Out System

A production method where merchants supplied raw materials to rural families who produced goods at home for wages prior to factory dominance.

James Hargreaves

Inventor of the spinning jenny, which accelerated the production and supply of spun yarn in the textile industry.

Edmund Cartwright

Inventor of the power loom, which automated and substantially accelerated the weaving of textiles.

Richard Arkwright

Pioneer of the modern factory system who invented the water frame to spin cotton thread quickly and strongly.

James Watt

Inventor who improved the steam engine, greatly enhancing its efficiency for factories, mines, and transport, reducing the reliance on rivers.

Henry Cort

Industrialist who developed the puddling process, making iron stronger, less brittle, and more malleable for heavy construction.

Bessemer Process

An industrial method developed by Sir Henry Bessemer that utilized blasts of air to purge impurities from molten iron, producing cheaper and stronger steel.

Imperialism

The extension of a country's power over another territory or people through political, economic, military, or cultural control.

Direct Rule

A colonial governance strategy where imperial officials from the colonizing nation administer territories themselves.

Indirect Rule

A colonial governance method where an imperial nation exerts control through indigenous local rulers following imperial instructions.

Berlin Conference

A diplomatic summit where European powers partitioned Africa among themselves without African representation present.

King Leopold II

Belgian monarch responsible for the brutal exploitation and forced rubber extraction in the Congo Free State, resulting in millions of deaths.

King Menelik II

Ethiopian emperor who defended his nation's independence by defeating Italian colonial forces at the Battle of Adwa.

British East India Company

A chartered joint-stock enterprise that evolved from a trading company into an armed political power controlling wide territories in South Asia.

Sepoy Rebellion

The 1857 uprising of Indian soldiers against British rule triggered by resentment of cultural policies and religious grievances, resulting in the British Crown seizing direct control.

British Raj

The era of direct colonial governance over the Indian subcontinent administered by the British government.

Viceroy

The chief British official in India acting as the personal representative of the British monarch.

Trade Surplus

A commercial balance defined in the notes as importing more than exporting, viewed as advantageous.

Trade Deficit

A commercial balance defined in the notes as exporting more than importing, viewed as disadvantageous.

Taiping Rebellion

A massive internal rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan seeking to overthrow China's Qing Dynasty.

Spheres of Influence

Geographic regions within China where outside foreign powers dominated trade, concessions, and economic activities.

Open Door Policy

A diplomatic policy proposed by the United States demanding equal commercial and trading access within China.

Boxer Uprising

An anti-foreign and anti-Christian rebellion in China crushed by a multinational coalition, resulting in steep financial indemnities on the Qing court.

Tokugawa Shogunate

The feudal Japanese military government that enforced prolonged national isolation from foreign influence.

Commodore Matthew Perry

American naval commander who sailed into Japan with a fleet to demand the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.

Meiji Restoration

A period during which Japan rapidly modernized its industry, army, administration, legal code, and education to rival Western powers.

Sino-Japanese War

A military conflict in which Japan defeated China, acquiring Taiwan and establishing influence over Korea.

Russo-Japanese War

A major conflict in which Japan defeated Russia, cementing Japan's status as a formidable global power.