World History: Enlightenment, Revolutions, and Napoleonic Era Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering foundational political philosophies, the Enlightenment, the American and French Revolutions, and the Napoleonic Era from the study guide list.

Monarchy

A system of government in which supreme political authority is held by a single hereditary ruler, such as a king or queen.

Socrates

A classical Greek philosopher who developed the question-and-answer method of inquiry to examine fundamental principles and challenge unexamined assumptions.

Plato

A classical Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, and author of The Republic, who advocated for government led by rational philosopher-kings.

Natural Laws

Universal rules of conduct and principles of justice understood through human reason rather than human-made legislation.

Republic

A form of government in which power is held by the people and their elected representatives rather than by an inherited monarch.

Emperor Justinian

A Byzantine emperor who codified existing Roman law into the Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian Code), creating a lasting foundation for modern legal systems.

Monotheism

The religious belief in and worship of a single, all-powerful deity.

Magna Carta

The 1215 English charter granting fundamental liberties and establishing the principle that the monarch is subject to the rule of law.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 deposition of King James II of England and the accession of William III and Mary II, firmly establishing parliamentary supremacy.

Constitutional Monarchy

A form of monarchy in which the ruler's political powers are restricted and governed by a constitution and laws.

Enlightenment

An 18th-century intellectual and philosophical movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and empirical science over traditional authority and dogma.

John Locke

An Enlightenment philosopher who asserted that government rests on the consent of the governed to protect natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

Thomas Hobbes

An English philosopher who argued in Leviathan that society requires a strong sovereign with absolute authority to prevent conflict and lawlessness.

Absolute Monarchy

A monarchical form of governance where the sovereign holds unlimited, centralized power without constitutional or institutional constraints.

Montesquieu

A French Enlightenment political philosopher who argued for the separation of government powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches to prevent despotism.

Voltaire

A French Enlightenment philosopher, satirist, and writer who advocated for civil liberties, religious tolerance, and freedom of speech.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

An Enlightenment philosopher who articulated the concept of the general will and the social contract, arguing that legitimate political authority comes from the people.

Caesar Beccaria

An Italian Enlightenment jurist and philosopher who called for criminal justice reforms, fair trials, proportional sentences, and the abolition of torture.

The American Revolution

The ideological and political conflict from 1775 to 1783 in which thirteen British North American colonies rejected British rule to establish an independent sovereign nation.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 formal statement declaring the thirteen American colonies free and independent states, grounded in natural rights philosophy.

Estates

The three traditional social orders of pre-revolutionary France: the First Estate (clergy), Second Estate (nobility), and Third Estate (commoners).

King Louis XVI

The King of France whose reign ended during the French Revolution and who was executed by guillotine in 1793.

French Revolution

A period of major social and political upheaval in France starting in 1789 that dismantled the absolute monarchy and feudal privileges.

Reign of Terror

A radical period of the French Revolution (1793–1794) characterized by mass political purges and public executions carried out under Jacobin rule.

Maximilien Robespierre

A Jacobin revolutionary leader who played a central role during the Reign of Terror before his own arrest and execution in 1794.

Committee of Public Safety

The executive governing body created in 1793 to protect the French Republic from internal and external threats, which exercised dictatorial control during the Terror.

Napoleon Bonaparte

A French military general and political leader who rose to power after the French Revolution, crowned himself Emperor, and dominated European continental affairs.

Napoleonic Code

A unified French civil legal code established under Napoleon that recognized equality of citizens before the law and secured property rights.

Battle of Trafalgar

An 1805 naval engagement off the Spanish coast in which the British fleet defeated the combined French and Spanish navies, ending French plans to invade Britain.

Scorched Earth Policy

A military tactic of burning crops, resources, and buildings to deprive advancing enemy forces of supplies, notably utilized by Russia against Napoleon in 1812.

Congress of Vienna

An 1814–1815 assembly of European leaders that met to restore European geopolitical order and balance of power after the defeat of Napoleon.

Klemens Von Metternich

The Austrian foreign minister and conservative diplomat who led the Congress of Vienna and sought to suppress revolutionary movements across Europe.

Balance of Power

A geopolitical framework ensuring that no single nation possesses enough military or political strength to dominate other states.

Legitimacy

The diplomatic principle adopted at the Congress of Vienna advocating for the restoration of traditional ruling dynasties displaced by revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Concert of Europe

The diplomatic system and alliance of major European powers created after 1815 to uphold the post-Napoleonic peace settlement and suppress revolutions.

Nationalism

A political and social ideology centered on devotion to one's nation, often emphasizing collective identity and self-determination for a cultural or ethnic group.