World History II Final Exam Study Guide 2026

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering significant individuals, key terms, and major historical concepts from the World History II Final Exam Study Guide.

Christopher Columbus

Italian Explorer and navigator who Found America in $1492$.

Johannes Gutenberg

German inventor who invented the printing press, introducing movable messaging.

Martin Luther

German priest and theologian who wrote the $95$ theses criticizing indulgences, questioning papal authority, and founding Lutheranism.

Mehmed II the Conqueror

Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who expanded the empire through the siege of Constantinople and movements into the Balkans.

Suleyman the Magnificent

Sultan of the Ottoman Empire after Mehmed who had the longest reign and marked the peak of the empire.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

First Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate who brought centralized rule, a social hierarchy, and $250\,\text{years}$ of peace.

Louis XIV

Former king of France from $1643 - 1715$ who expanded absolute monarchy, centralized power, and built the Palace of Versailles.

Galileo Galilei

Astronomer who supported the Copernican theory that Earth orbits the sun and established the Principle of Inertia.

Adam Smith

Scottish philosopher and father of modern economics who wrote the Wealth of Nations and advocated for free markets and minimal government interference.

Isaac Newton

Scientist who developed the laws of motion and gravity to explain how the universe works.

John Locke

Philosopher who argued that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

Maximilien Robespierre

Leader of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror who used executions until he was himself guillotined.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Leader of the Haitian Revolution who died before the nation reached independence.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French general and emperor who created the Napoleonic Code and was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.

Hong Xiuquan

Claimant of being the brother of Jesus who led the Taiping Rebellion after failing his civil service exam.

Mutsuhito (Meiji)

Emperor of Japan during the Meiji Restoration who oversaw the rapid modernization and industrialization of Japan.

Karl Marx

German thinker and co-writer of the Communist Manifesto who argued history is driven by class struggle.

Charles Darwin

Scientist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection and wrote the Origin of Species in $1859$.

Rudyard Kipling

Author of The White Man's Burden, which argued Europeans had a duty to civilize non-Western peoples.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Suffragette and leader of the women’s suffrage movement fighting for voting rights.

Emily Davison

British women’s rights activist who died after standing in front of the king’s horse, drawing attention to suffrage.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination triggered the start of World War I.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolsheviks who led the Russian Revolution of $1917$ and founded the Soviet Union.

Woodrow Wilson

U.S. President during WWI who wrote the fourteen points and supported the League of Nations.

John Maynard Keynes

Economist who argued governments should engage in deficit spending during recessions to boost demand.

Joseph Stalin

Leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin who used five-year plans to industrialize and used purges to maintain power.

Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister during WWII known for his famous speeches.

Adolf Hitler

Leader of Nazi Germany who invaded Poland in $1939$ and orchestrated the Holocaust.

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the People’s Republic of China.

Mahatma Gandhi

Leader of India’s independence movement who used nonviolent civil disobedience against British rule.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Leader of Egypt who nationalized the Suez Canal and promoted Arab nationalism.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese Communist leader who led Vietnam to independence and unification.

Patrice Lumumba

First democratically elected prime minister of Congo who was assassinated with U.S. backing.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Chief scientist of the Manhattan Project and father of the atomic bomb.

John F. Kennedy

U.S. President during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest the world came to nuclear war.

Nikita Kruschev

Leader of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the first leader after Stalin.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Last leader of the Soviet Union who introduced Glasnost and Perestroika before the USSR ended in $1991$.

Nelson Mandela

President of South Africa who spent $30\,\text{years}$ in prison for leading revolts against Apartheid.

Black Death

Bubonic plague in the late $1300\text{s}$ that caused labor shortages and made workers more valuable.

Little Ice Age

Period from approximately $1300 - 1850$ with colder temperatures, crop failures, and population stress.

Mandate of Heaven

Chinese belief that rulers received their power and authority from heaven.

Divine-Right Monarchy

European belief that kings derived their authority directly from God.

Fall of Constantinople

The $1453$ conquest by Mehmed II that ended the Byzantine Empire and renamed the city Istanbul.

Janissaries

Ottoman elite soldiers and bureaucrats who were converted Christians trained to serve the sultan.

Devshirme

The Ottoman process of drafting and converting young Christian boys into the Janissaries.

Inquisition

Institutional process in Spain to question if people were truly Christian through torture and interrogation.

Renaissance

The rebirth of art, learning, and classical Greek and Roman ideas starting in Italy.

Humanism

A focus on human study and potential based on Rome and ancient Greece rather than centering only on God.

Ming Dynasty

Chinese dynasty that overthrew the Mongols, restored Chinese rule, and built the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Eunuch

Castrated government officials in China who ensured none of the emperor's wives slept with others.

Caravel

Small maneuverable ship with triangular lateen sails that aided long-distance exploration.

Encomienda

Spanish labor system in the Americas that forced Indigenous people to work for colonists.

Smallpox

Deadly European disease responsible for a $90\%$ population loss among Native Americans.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants (potatoes, maize), animals (horses, cattle), and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.

95 Theses

Martin Luther’s $1517$ criticisms of the Catholic Church posted at Wittenberg Cathedral.

Council of Trent

Catholic meeting that corrected clerical corruption while defending traditional Catholic teachings.

Gunpowder Empire

An empire, such as the Mughal Empire, that used advanced gunpowder weapons to expand power.

Mercantilism

Economic system where wealth was defined by stocks of gold and silver, emphasizing exports over imports.

Chartered companies

Private companies like the VOC given government permission to trade, rule, or colonize specific areas.

Qing Dynasty

Manchu dynasty meaning "pure" that ruled China while upholding traditional Confucian family values.

Enclosure

Process in England where common lands were fenced for private farming, pushing peasants into cities.

Glorious Revolution

The $1688 - 1689$ English revolution that replaced James II and limited royal power through Parliament.

Safavid Empire

Persian empire that established Shiite Islam as the state religion.

ShintŁ

Native Japanese religion focused on nature, ancestors, and sacred forces called Kami.

Tabula rasa

John Locke’s Enlightenment idea that humans are born as a "blank slate."

Invisible hand

Adam Smith's theory that individuals pursuing self-interest benefit the whole economy.

Popular sovereignty

The political idea that government power ultimately comes from the people.

Haitian Revolution

The only successful large-scale slave revolt in history, which established the first Black republic.

Industrious Revolution

The increase in household production and work occurring before industrialization to afford new goods.

Proletariat

The industrial working class who survive by selling their labor for wages.

Tanzimat Reforms

Nineteenth-century Ottoman efforts to modernize the government, military, and legal system.

Opium War

Conflict between Britain and China resulting in the Treaty of Nanjing and the ceding of Hong Kong to Britain.

Wahhabism

Conservative Islamic reform movement that sought to return to strictly "pure" practices.

Mfecane

Period of warfare and migration in southern Africa caused by overpopulation and Zulu expansion.

Marxism

Theory that history is driven by class conflict, eventually leading to a classless communist society.

Sepoy Mutiny

The $1857$ rebellion of Indian soldiers against British East India Company rule.

Second Industrial Revolution

Wave of growth in the late $1800\text{s}$ focused on steel, electricity, oil, and chemicals.

Social Darwinism

The misuse of evolutionary theory to claim certain races or nations were naturally meant to dominate others.

Berlin Conference

Meeting where European powers partitioned Africa without any African representation.

Chinese Exclusion Act

The $1882$ American law that banned most Chinese immigration.

Boxer Rebellion

Anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in China facilitated by a group known as the Red Lanterns.

Zaibatsu

Large, powerful business conglomerates that helped Japan industrialize.

Schlieffen Plan

German WWI strategy to quickly defeat France by invading through Belgium before fighting Russia.

Total War

A conflict where governments use all societal resources and propaganda to support the war effort.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace agreement ending WWI that included the War Guilt Clause and forced German reparations.

Collectivization

Stalin's policy of forcing small private farms into large, state-controlled agricultural units.

Fascism

Authoritarian ideology that glorifies the state and military over individual freedoms.

Nuremberg Laws

Nazi laws that stripped Jews of their citizenship and legalized antisemitism.

Blitzkrieg

German "lightning war" strategy using surprise attacks with planes and tanks during WWII.

D-Day

The Allied invasion of Normandy on June $6$, $1944$, which opened the Western Front against Germany.

Final Solution

The Nazi plan for the systematic mass murder of European Jews using Zyklon B gas.

Containment Policy

U.S. strategy during the Cold War designed to stop the spread of communism.

Sputnik

The first satellite launched by the Soviet Union in $1957$, starting the Space Race.

MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)

The Cold War concept that nuclear war would result in the total destruction of both the U.S. and USSR.

Glasnost

Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of political openness and free speech in the Soviet Union.

Perestroika

Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of economic restructuring to allow for a freer market.