College Prep World History Final Exam Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the unification of Italy and Germany, Imperialism in Africa and Asia, the causes and dynamics of World War I, and the subsequent peace treaties.

Giuseppe Mazzini

Known as "the Heart" of Italian Unification and a romantic nationalist who founded the "Young Italy" movement.

Young Italy

A movement founded by Giuseppe Mazzini to inspire the creation of a unified Italian republic.

Camilo Cavour

Known as "the Brains" of Italian Unification; the Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia who used diplomacy to drive Austria out of Northern Italy.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Known as "the Sword" of Italian Unification; he led the "Red Shirts" to conquer Sicily and Southern Italy.

Red Shirts

A volunteer paramilitary group led by Giuseppe Garibaldi that successfully secured control over Southern Italy.

Otto von Bismarck

The iron-willed Chancellor of Prussia who unified the German states under Prussian leadership.

Realpolitik

Bismarck's political philosophy of pragmatic, tough statecraft based on practical objectives and military power, rejecting romantic idealism.

Blood and Iron

Title of Bismarck's $1862$ speech which argued that historical questions are decided by military might ($\text{iron}$) and war ($\text{blood}$) rather than parliamentary votes.

Second Schleswig War

One of three calculated wars engineered by Bismarck, fought against Denmark to spark German nationalism.

Austro-Prussian War

The second of Bismarck's engineered wars, fought against Austria to help execute his "blood and iron" policy.

Franco-Prussian War

The third of Bismarck's engineered wars, fought against France to unify German states.

Berlin Conference

A meeting held in $1884$ to $1885$ where European powers established ground rules for the colonization of Africa to prevent war among themselves.

Rule of Effective Occupation

A decree from the General Act of the Berlin Conference stating a power could not claim territory unless they effectively controlled it and notified other powers.

King Leopold II

King of Belgium who personally owned the Congo Free State as his private commercial property under the false claim of humanitarian motives.

Congo Free State

The private territory of King Leopold II that was brutally exploited for rubber and ivory through the systemic mutilation of the Congolese people.

British Opium Trade

The illegal shipping of opium grown in India into China to adjust a severe trade imbalance regarding tea and silk.

Open Door Policy

A policy pushed primarily by the U.S. to ensure equal territorial and trading access in China for all Western nations.

Boxer Rebellion

A violent, anti-foreign, and anti-Christian uprising in China responding to aggressive Western influence and the destruction of cultural traditions.

White Man's Burden

A Eurocentric notion that Europeans had a moral responsibility to "civilize," Christianize, and educate what they viewed as "inferior, barbarous races."

Social Darwinism

A distortion of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution applied to human societies to justify European racial supremacy and imperialism.

Militarism

The aggressive buildup of a nation's military forces and glorification of military power, resulting in an arms race.

Dreadnoughts

Massive battleships built by Britain and Germany during their fierce naval competition.

Alliances

Formal agreements of mutual defense that turned local conflicts in the Balkans into a global war.

Triple Entente

The WWI alliance consisting of Britain, France, and Russia.

Triple Alliance

The WWI alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

Nationalism

Intense pride and devotion to one's ethnic group, particularly high in the Balkans (the "powder keg of Europe").

Black Hand

A Serbian nationalist group that plotted to assassinate Austro-Hungarian royalty to liberate Slavic people.

Imperialism

Competition between European empires for colonies, markets, and raw materials across Africa and Asia.

Moroccan Crises

Geopolitical friction where Germany twice challenged French colonial control over Morocco, nearly causing war before $1914$.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination in Sarajevo was the short-term spark of World War I.

Gavrilo Princip

The Serbian nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the summer of $1914$.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany's military blueprint to avoid a two-front war by rapidly invading France through neutral Belgium before fighting Russia.

Trench Warfare

The defining style of fighting on the Western Front characterized by a brutal stalemate, mud, rats, and disease.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Germany's policy of sinking any ship approaching Britain, which included the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania.

Zimmermann Telegram

An intercepted message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann proposing a military alliance with Mexico against the United States.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson's idealistic blueprint for peace, based on self-determination, free trade, and a League of Nations.

The Big Four

The victorious powers who dominated the Paris Peace Conference: the US, Great Britain, France, and Italy.

Treaty of Versailles

The final $1919$ treaty that imposed harsh conditions on Germany, including military losses and massive reparations.

War Guilt Clause

A provision in the Treaty of Versailles that forced Germany to accept $100\%$ of the blame for starting World War I.

Reparations

Massive financial damages Germany was forced to pay to the Allies following the war.