AP Euro Unit 3 Flashcards

Absolutism

Political system where the ruler (usually a monarch) holds total power with no legal/constitutional limits; claims authority from God, not the people.

Absolute monarch

A ruler who centralizes all political authority in themselves and is not legally bound by representative institutions (ex: Louis XIV).

Constitutionalism

System of government in which power is limited by law, and rulers must govern alongside representative bodies (like Parliament or Estates); government is held accountable.

Rule of Law

Idea that everyone (including the ruler) is subject to established laws, not personal whims.

Puritanism

Strict form of English Protestantism that wanted to purify the Church of England of Catholic influences; strong in Parliament before/during the English Civil War.

Congregationalists

Puritans who believed each local church congregation should be independent and run its own affairs (no bishops).

Divine Right of Kings

Belief that monarchs get their authority directly from God, so resisting them is resisting God.

English Bill of Rights (1689

Document that limited the English monarch and guaranteed rights to Parliament (ex: no suspending of laws without Parliament, no standing army without Parliament).

Rational-legal authority

Power based on legal rules and institutions (like constitutions or parliaments), not just tradition or religion; core of constitutional government.

James I of England

Stuart king (1603–1625). Believed in divine right, clashed with Parliament over taxes and religion, started tensions that led toward the English Civil War.

Charles I of England

Son of James I. Tried to rule without Parliament, raised money by force, pushed Anglicanism. Executed in 1649 after the English Civil War.

Cavaliers

Supporters of Charles I during the English Civil War (royalists; nobles, Anglican clergy).

Roundheads

Supporters of Parliament in the English Civil War (Puritans, merchants, townspeople); led by Cromwell.

Oliver Cromwell

Leader of the Parliamentary forces (New Model Army); ruled England as Lord Protector after the civil war; basically a Puritan military dictator.

New Model Army

Parliament’s professional, disciplined army in the English Civil War; loyal to Cromwell and Parliament instead of the king.

House of Lords

Upper house of English Parliament, mostly hereditary nobles and bishops; largely royalist early on.

House of Commons

Lower house of Parliament, elected (mostly landowners). Gained more power in the 1600s, especially after the Glorious Revolution.

Charles II of England

Restored the monarchy in 1660 (“The Restoration”); secretly pro-Catholic, tried to work with Parliament.

James II of England

Brother of Charles II; openly Catholic, tried to push absolutism → overthrown in the Glorious Revolution.

William and Mary

William of Orange (Dutch ruler) and Mary (James II’s Protestant daughter); invited by Parliament to rule England after James II was overthrown in 1688–1689, accepted limits on monarchy.

The Restoration (1660

Return of the Stuart monarchy (Charles II) after Cromwell’s government collapsed; monarchy, Church of England, and Parliament all come back.

The Glorious Revolution (1688

Bloodless overthrow of James II; Parliament invited William and Mary to take the throne. Result = constitutional monarchy + English Bill of Rights.

Parlements (France

French regional law courts (made up of nobles) that could register or block royal edicts; often resisted royal centralization.

Versailles

Massive palace built by Louis XIV outside Paris; symbol of absolutism, used to control the nobility by forcing them to live under his eye.

Divine Right of Kings (France

Louis XIV’s official ideology: king’s power comes from God alone; he answers only to God.

Mercantilism

Economic policy where the state controls trade and tries to build national wealth by exporting more than importing; colonies feed the mother country.

Hall of Mirrors

Famous gallery in Versailles; symbol of Louis XIV’s wealth, power, and image-crafting.

Cardinal Richelieu

Chief minister to Louis XIII; weakened nobles, crushed rebellions, and strengthened the centralized French state; laid groundwork for absolutism in France.

Louis XIV

“The Sun King.” Ruled 1643–1715. Peak of French absolutism; controlled nobles, built Versailles, fought many wars, revoked religious tolerance for Protestants.

The Fronde (1648–1653

Noble + urban uprisings in France against royal centralization while Louis XIV was a child; traumatized him → he decided to control nobles tightly.

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685

Louis XIV cancelled Protestant toleration in France; forced Huguenots to convert or flee; hurt French economy and reputation.

Marquis of Louvois

Louis XIV’s war minister; professionalized and expanded the French army; helped militarize absolutism.

William of Orange

Dutch leader who opposed Louis XIV’s expansion in Europe AND later became William III of England in the Glorious Revolution.

Leopold I

Habsburg ruler (Austria/Holy Roman Empire); fought the Ottomans and Louis XIV; built Austrian power in Central Europe.

War of Devolution (1667–1668

Louis XIV attacked the Spanish Netherlands claiming his wife’s inheritance rights; alarmed other powers.

Dutch War (1672–1678

Louis XIV invaded the Dutch Republic; William of Orange formed alliances to stop him.

Nine Years’ War (1688–1697

Also called the War of the League of Augsburg; Louis XIV vs a huge coalition (England, Dutch, Austria, etc). Big European balance-of-power war.

War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714

War over who should inherit the Spanish throne after the last Spanish Habsburg died; fear that France + Spain would unite.

Peace of Utrecht (1713–1714

Ended War of Spanish Succession; stopped unification of French and Spanish crowns; Britain gained territory and power → start of British rise.

Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace

Imperial palace in Vienna (Habsburgs); symbol of Austrian absolutism like Versailles was for France.

Junkers

Prussian landowning nobles; gave military support to the rulers in exchange for control over their peasants/serfs.

Leopold I (Habsburg

Habsburg emperor who strengthened Austria, pushed the Ottomans back, and expanded east.

Frederick William, the Great Elector (r. 1640–1688

Ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia; built a strong army, made a deal with Junkers (they get serf control, he gets taxes and soldiers); laid base for Prussian militarism.

Frederick William I (r. 1713–1740

“Soldier King” of Prussia; turned Prussia into a strict military state with an efficient bureaucracy and huge army.

Frederick II (Frederick the Great, r. 1740–1786

Enlightened absolutist king of Prussia; military expansion (Silesia), reforms in law/admin, promoted culture but kept serfdom.

Cossacks

Frontier horsemen/warriors in Russia and Ukraine; semi-independent, often fought or allied with tsars; used in expansion.

Boyars

Russian noble class; had huge land and power; early tsars had to break their independence to centralize power.

“Window on the West”

Peter the Great’s dream to open Russia to Western Europe; mainly by gaining access to the Baltic Sea and building a Western-style capital.

Table of Ranks (1722

Peter the Great’s system ranking nobles by state service instead of just birth; forced nobles into military/bureaucratic service for the tsar.

Ivan IV (“Ivan the Terrible,” r. 1547–1584

First ruler to be officially called “tsar”; brutally crushed boyars, expanded Russia, created a terror state.

Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725

Russian tsar who modernized the army, built a navy, forced Westernization (beards, dress), created St. Petersburg, reorganized government.

Founding of St. Petersburg (1703

Peter the Great built a new capital on the Baltic; symbol of Russia’s Western turn and his “window on the West.”

Military Reform (Russia

Peter professionalized the army, built a navy, used Western drill and weapons → Russia becomes a major power.

Social Reform (Russia

Peter forced Western clothing/beard shaving, controlled nobles, increased state control over serfs.

Bureaucratic Reform (Russia

Peter reorganized government into colleges (departments), imposed Table of Ranks, made the state more centralized and efficient.

Stadholder

Executive/military leader of a Dutch province in the Dutch Republic; often from the House of Orange.

William of Orange (Dutch Republic

Powerful Dutch stadholder who led resistance vs Louis XIV and later became King William III of England in the Glorious Revolution.

Dutch Golden Age

Period (1600s) where the Dutch Republic dominated trade, banking, shipping; high urban wealth, art (Rembrandt, Vermeer), relative religious tolerance, republican/oligarchic politics.

Constitutionalism (revisited)

System where rulers are limited by law and share power with representative institutions; opposite of absolutism.

United Provinces

The Dutch Republic (the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands) after independence from Spain; run by wealthy merchant oligarchs, not a single absolute monarch.

Commercial Revolution

Big expansion of trade and money economy in Europe (1500s–1700s): global trade, banking, credit, rise of merchants.

Capitalism

Economic system where private individuals invest capital (money) to make profit in markets; profit-driven production, not just subsistence.

Mercantilism (again

State-directed economic policy to build national power: colonies provide raw materials, mother country manufactures goods, protect trade with tariffs/monopolies.

“Putting-out system” (cottage industry

System where merchants gave raw materials (like wool) to rural families who spun/weaved at home, then took finished goods back to sell; early industrial production outside guild control.