History 5 Midterm #2

Berlin Conference (1884-1885)

Meeting of 14 Western nations organized by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to regulate European colonization, trade, and the partitioning of the African continent. This led to almost all of Africa being colonized and claimed by European powers, leading to mass racial and political conflicts.

Otto Von Bismarck

The first Chancellor of the German Empire from 1871 to 1890, also known as the Iron Chancellor. He was a conservative German diplomat, and he engineered the unification of 39 independent German States into the German Empire. He created the First Modern Welfare State, as well as hosted the Berlin Conference

Bolshevism

Marxist ideology and movement that originated in Russia. This was dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of the worker-led state, and the creation of a socialist economy. They pushed towards Russia being a centralized industrial and military superpower.

Le Bon Marche, Paris

World’s first department store, founded in 1852. This revolutionized shopping, primarily in bourgeois society, by introducing fixed prices, seasonal sales, free entry, home delivery, money-back guarantees, and open-display browsing.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French military commander and Emperor who reshaped the political and legal landscape of 19th-century Europe. His campaigns across the Napoleonic Wars spread liberal reforms, the metric system, and standardization across much of Europe. He also dismantled the Holy Roman Empire and redrew national borders.

The Communist Manifesto

1848 political work written by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels that presented a framework for the rise of working-class communism and the overthrow of capitalism. It urged the working class to organize, seize political power, and move toward a classless society.

The Congo Free State (King Leopold’s Congo)

The Congo Free State was privately owned and ruled by King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885 to 1908. Rather than belonging to the nation of Belgium, it functioned as the king's personal fiefdom. Leopold’s cruel treatment & punishment of the Congolese people resulted in a massive population decline, as well as leading to the birth of the first mass human rights movement.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

1789 human rights document from the French Revolution, mainly written by Thomas Jefferson and Lafayette. It asserted that all men are born free and equal in rights, specifically liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. It introduced legal protections including equality before the law, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.

The Declaration of the Rights of Women (1791)

Written by Olympe De Gouges, this is a foundational document in the history of feminism and human rights. It directly mirrored and challenged the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which proclaimed universal equality while completely excluding women from political and civil rights. De Gouges' work laid the intellectual groundwork for later feminist literature and movements.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)

This is an oil painting by Pablo Picasso that marks a radical turning point in art history and helped launch the Cubism movement. The faces of the figures are heavily inspired by African masks and shocked European audiences with its blatant sexuality. This reflects a radical shift toward Primitivism in European modern art.

Alfred Dreyfus

He was a Jewish French Army Captain whose wrongful conviction for treason triggered the Dreyfus affair, a major political scandal that exposed deep antisemitism in France. The affair proved how government institutions forged evidence and covered up injustice to protect their own status. The crisis also split France into taking sides.

The Encyclopédie

This was a 35-volume French reference work that served as the intellectual engine of the Enlightenment and a precursor to the French Revolution. It aimed to gather all human knowledge, organize it, and make it accessible to transform how people thought. It also challenged religious dogma, superstition, and the absolute power of the Catholic Church and the French monarchy.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

An essay written by John Locke that impacted modern Western philosophy and empiricism. Locke wrote the work to examine the limits of the human mind and remove confused or unsupported claims. It shifted philosophy away from abstract speculation toward an investigation of human cognition and the scientific method, empowering individuals to think for themselves rather than relying on tradition or authority.

Frederick the Great of Prussia

Frederick the Great was the King of Prussia who was known as an enlightened monarch, a military strategist, and a patron of the arts. He created a society run by the military elite, and was the first place in Europe too require education for children.

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German philosopher, political theorist, social scientist, and industrialist who co-founded modern communist theory alongside Karl Marx. Engels wrote “The Communist Manifesto” alongside Marx, and also played a role in building international working-class movements and helping to organize the Communist League.

The Fable of the Bees (1714)

This is a satirical work that uses an allegory of a prosperous beehive that thrives because the bees are driven by selfish desires and dishonest trades. This fundamentally altered Western philosophy, ethics, and economic thought by arguing that individual self-interest, luxury, and ambition drive collective wealth.

The Factory System

The factory system is a method of manufacturing that centralizes workers, machinery, and raw materials inside large facilities to mass-produce goods. It replaced the traditional domestic or cottage industry, where independent people produced goods by hand at home. This meant that factories could rely on unskilled workers, boosted rural migration, deepened the divide between the rich and poor, and led to harsh working conditions with low pay and long hours. 

The Fall of the Bastille

The Fall of the Bastille occurred on July 14, 1789, marking a crucial turning point and the spark of the French Revolution. An angry mob of Parisian citizens stormed the Bastille, and killed the fortress governor. The Bastille stood as a physical symbol of the monarchy's absolute power and despotism. The victory also proved that ordinary citizens could successfully challenge royal authority.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne who was assassinated by the Serbian nationalist group on June 28th, 1914. His assassination served as the immediate catalyst that plunged Europe into World War I a month later.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian general who played a central role in the unification of Italy. As a military force of Italian nationalism, Garibaldi led volunteer armies that wanted to forge a single nation-state. He later advocated for universal suffrage, women's emancipation, and the abolition of the death penalty.

The Interpretation of Dreams (1899)

This is a foundational book written by Sigmund Freud. Freud argues that dreams are disguised, meaningful expressions of repressed unconscious wishes and desires. This was the foundational text that launched psychoanalysis and introduced the systematic study of the unconscious mind to modern psychology and Western culture.

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin was a Russian communist politician. He was the leader of the Bolsheviks and he orchestrated the October Revolution in 1917, which overthrew the Russian Government. He founded Soviet Russia and later oversaw the creation of the USSR.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher whose radical ideas deeply influenced modern philosophy, psychology, and literature. He proclaimed that traditional Christian morality and belief could no longer sustain meaning in the modern world, warning of the risk of nihilism. He helped lay the groundwork for 20th-century existentialism.

The Origin of Species (1859)

This is a foundational work of scientific literature by English naturalist Charles Darwin. Darwin argued that populations evolve over generations through a process called natural selection. The book presented extensive evidence that all species of life have descended over time from a common ancestor. This disrupted literal interpretations of biblical creation and the static view of species dominant in Western natural theology. 

The Paris Commune

This was a radical socialist and democratic government that ruled Paris in 1871. This emerged after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. It is widely considered as the first attempt by working-class people to run a government. The Commune enacted major reforms such as: separation of church and state, abolition of child labor, and free public education.

Peter the Great of Russia

Peter the Great was Tsar of Russia from 1682-1721. He modernized Russia's economy, military, education, and social customs, as well as mandating Western clothing, ordering men to shave their beards, launching newspapers, and reforming the calendar. He founded the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703 as a "window to Europe" and made it the new capital of the empire.

Principia Mathematica (1687)

Written by Sir Isaac Newton, this is the foundational work of mathematics and modern physics. It introduces fundamental concepts such as mass, momentum, inertia, force, as well as Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. It replaced prior worldviews with mathematically predictable concepts.

The Putting-Out System

This was a pre-industrial production method where a merchant or manufacturer distributed raw materials to home-based workers who processed them into finished or semi-finished goods. This laid the social, psychological, and financial groundwork for the Industrial Revolution by training rural families in disciplined wage labor. It also established a clear division between merchant-capitalists and piece-rate workers. 

The Raft of Medusa (1819)

This is a monumental oil painting created by Theodore Gericault. The painting depicts the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate La Méduse. This was a key Romanticist painting, as Géricault abandoned traditional neoclassical restraint to capture raw human suffering, terror, and despair on a heroic scale.

Il Risorgimento

The Risorgimento was the 19th-century movement that united the separate states of the Italian peninsula into a single nation. This was fueled by figures like Giuseppe Mazzini. It also brought forth a national consciousness out of deep regional, cultural, and linguistic divisions. 

Revolutions of 1848

These were a widespread wave of liberal, nationalist, and social rebellions that ended absolute monarchy and serfdom in large parts of Europe. It eventually laid the groundwork for the later unifications of Germany and Italy. It also showed Monarchs and governments that they had to adjust to the rise of working-class demands.

Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre was a French radical leader who became the dominant figure during the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. He initially opposed the death penalty, as well as advocated for universal manhood suffrage, freedom of the press, and the abolition of slavery in France. He was later executed at the guillotine.

Romanticism

Romanticism was a major artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that arose as a passionate reaction against the rationalism, scientific order, and balance of the Enlightenment, as well as the societal shifts of the Industrial Revolution. It fundamentally shifted Western culture from cold industrial and scientific logic toward individual emotion and imagination.

“Shell Shock”

Shell shock is a historical term that originated during World War I to describe the intense psychological and physical trauma experienced by soldiers. It forced military leadership and the medical community to recognize that psychological trauma from combat is a real, and not a sign of cowardice. It also showed the limits of the human psyche.

The Spiritual Regulation of Peter the Great

This is the foundational 1721 legal document that subordinated the Russian Orthodox Church to the state. By integrating the church as a department of the imperial state, Peter ensured the Tsar held supreme authority over both secular and spiritual affairs.

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky was a Russian Marxist revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He played a central role in the Russian Revolution, the October Revolution, the creation of the Red Army, and the development of the Soviet Union. After joining the Bolsheviks, he directed the military-revolutionary committee that put the Bolsheviks in power. 

The Palace of Versailles

Louis XIV transformed Versailles in 1661 into an opulent display of centralized state power and divine right. Louis XIV required major French nobles to live at the palace for extended periods. By keeping them distracted with elaborate court ceremonies, gossip, and etiquette, he broke their independent feudal power and forced them to depend on the crown. The palace hosted the fateful meeting of the Estates-General in May 1789, where the breakdown of medieval voting systems led the Third Estate to declare themselves the National Assembly.

The Watt Steam Engine

The Watt steam engine, invented by James Watt in the 18th century, was the first efficient steam engine and a major catalyst of the Industrial Revolution. Steam power allowed factories to be built anywhere. It improved deep-mine drainage, boosted coal extraction, and later paved the way for steam auto-motives that expanded global trade.

Battle of the Somme

July 1 to November 18, 1916, one of the largest and bloodiest battles of WW1. The bloodiest single day in British military history, almost 20,000 deaths. Also an introduction to mechanized warfare. Though the Allies failed to achieve a major territorial breakthrough, the battle severely wore down the German army.