UNITS 3, 4, 5

English Civil War (1642-1651)

War between Parliament (Roundheads) and King Charles I over power and taxation; ended in king’s execution. Proved that a monarch could be held accountable by law and weakened absolute monarchy in England.

Elizabeth I died without an heir → Stuart monarchy assumed the crown

Her death in 1603 led to James I of Scotland becoming king of England.

James I (James VI of Scotland)

First Stuart king of England; believed in divine right of kings.

Impositions

Customs duties imposed by the king without parliamentary approval to raise revenue. Angered Parliament because they violated traditional consent to taxation.

King Charles I

Tried to rule without Parliament, imposed heavy taxes, enforced Anglican uniformity, and lost the Civil War. First European king executed by his own subjects.

Roundheads

Supporters of Parliament in the Civil War; mostly Puritans and the merchant class.

Cavaliers

Royalist supporters of Charles I; mainly nobles and Anglicans.

Oliver Cromwell

Leader of Parliament’s army; became Lord Protector during the Interregnum. His military dictatorship proved unstable but permanently weakened monarchy.

William of Orange

Dutch Protestant invited by Parliament to overthrow James II in the Glorious Revolution (1688).

Long Parliament (1640–1660)

Parliament that permanently limited royal power, abolished royal courts, and ordered Charles I’s execution.

Rump Parliament

Small Puritan remainder of Parliament after Cromwell purged moderates; later dissolved by Cromwell.

New Model Army

First professional, centrally organized army in England. Loyal to Parliament, not the king, setting a precedent for modern armies.

The Interregnum (1649–1660)

Period without a monarch; England ruled as a republic under Cromwell.

Charles II (r. 1660–1685)

Restored the monarchy but ruled with Parliamentary restrictions. Sought religious tolerance and secret Catholic alliances.

Test Act (1673)

Barred Catholics and non-Anglicans from public office, reinforcing Protestant control of government.

Treaty of Dover (1670)

Secret alliance between Charles II and Louis XIV: England would support France against the Dutch in return for money and France’s support of Catholicism.

James II (r. 1685–1688)

Openly Catholic monarch who issued religious toleration and ignored Parliament. Overthrown in the Glorious Revolution.

English Bill of Rights (1689)

Limited royal power, guaranteed regular Parliaments, free elections, and no taxation without consent, creating a constitutional monarchy.

Louis XIII (r. 1610–1643)

Strengthened royal power and relied on Cardinal Richelieu to suppress nobles and Protestants.

Cardinal Richelieu

Destroyed noble independence, weakened Huguenots, and made the king the supreme political authority.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Economic minister of Louis XIV; expanded industry, raised tariffs, built roads and canals; leading architect of French mercantilism.

Mercantilism

Economic policy aimed at increasing state power by exporting more than importing, accumulating gold, protecting domestic industries, and controlling colonies.

Robe Nobles

Middle-class officials who bought judicial and administrative offices, weakening the traditional feudal nobility.

Estates-General

Representative body of the Three Estates that had no real power under absolutism and was not called after 1614 until 1789.

Edict of Nantes (1598)

Granted religious toleration to French Protestants (Huguenots); revoked by Louis XIV in 1685, causing economic decline and emigration.

Bishop Bossuet

Chief defender of divine right monarchy: argued kings ruled directly by God and were accountable only to Him.

Agricultural Revolution

Long-term transformation of farming (1700s) that increased food production, lowered famine, boosted population, and provided labor for industry.

Enclosure Movement

Common lands fenced into private property, increasing efficiency but displacing small farmers and creating an urban working class.

Internal Tariffs / Customs Barriers

Taxes within countries that restricted trade; removed in England to encourage a national market.

Norfolk Crop Rotation System

Four-field rotation (wheat, turnips, barley, clover) restored nutrients and increased yields.

Robert Bakewell

Introduced selective breeding to improve livestock size and quality.

Jethro Tull

Invented the seed drill, improving planting efficiency.

Andrew Meikle

Invented the mechanical threshing machine, speeding grain processing.

Putting-Out System

Merchants distributed raw materials to rural families who produced goods at home. Key step toward factories.

Proto-Industrialization

Early phase of industrial production using rural domestic labor.

Wage Labor

Workers sold labor for pay rather than owning land or tools.

British East India Company

Government-backed trading monopoly that helped build the British Empire in India.

Dutch East India Company

First true joint-stock multinational corporation; dominated Asian trade.

Le Chapelier Law (1791)

Outlawed guilds and labor unions to protect free enterprise during the French Revolution.

Adam Smith – Wealth of Nations (1776)

Attacked mercantilism, promoted free markets, supply and demand, and the invisible hand of capitalism.

Hugo Grotius

Father of modern international law and rules of war.

Samuel von Pufendorf

Expanded natural law theory linking human rights and government responsibility.

Bank of England

Stabilized state finances and loans; key to Britain’s economic dominance.

Limited-Liability Corporation

Investors only risk what they invest, encouraging business expansion.

Price Revolution

Massive inflation (1500–1650) caused by New World silver, harming those on fixed incomes.

Bank of Amsterdam

Stable international commercial bank dominating 17th-century finance.

Marquis de Condorcet

Enlightenment advocate of education, equality, and permanent progress.

Act of Abjuration (1581)

Formal declaration ending Dutch allegiance to Spain.

Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

Ended Thirty Years’ War. Established state sovereignty, religious toleration, and the modern nation-state system.

Amsterdam Stock Exchange

World’s first permanent stock market.

Dutch Regents

Merchant oligarchy that ruled the Dutch Republic.

House of Orange

Hereditary military leaders of the Dutch Republic.

Spinoza

Radical philosopher who applied reason to religion and ethics.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Discovered microorganisms using microscopes.

Christiaan Huygens

Discovered Saturn’s rings and improved clocks.

Deductive Reasoning

Moving from general principles to specific conclusions.

Descartes

Father of modern rationalism; “I think, therefore I am.”

Geocentric vs. Heliocentric

Earth-centered (Ptolemy) vs Sun-centered (Copernicus) universe.

Kepler

Proved planets move in elliptical orbits.

Brahe & Galileo

Astronomical data + telescopic proof of heliocentrism.

Newton

Laws of motion and universal gravitation unified physics.

Bacon

Founder of empiricism and experimental science.

Cartesian Dualism

Body and mind exist separately.

Divine Watchmaker (Deism)

God created the universe but does not interfere.

Pascal’s Wager

It is more rational to believe in God than not.

Hobbes’ Leviathan (1655)

Humans are naturally selfish; absolute government is necessary.

Rationalism vs. Empiricism

Reason vs. Experience as sources of knowledge.

Tabula Rasa (Locke)

Human mind is a blank slate at birth.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Argued women deserve equal education and rights.

War of Devolution (1667–1668)

Louis XIV claimed Spanish Netherlands through his wife’s inheritance rights. France gained some territory, alarming Europe and beginning the series of wars to expand French borders.

Dutch War (1672–1678)

Louis XIV invaded the Netherlands to dominate European trade. Although France gained land, the Dutch preserved independence and Europe formed stronger anti-French coalitions.

Nine Years’ War (1688–1697)

European alliance vs. France to stop Louis XIV’s expansion. Ended in a stalemate, proving France could be checked by coalitions.

War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714)

Fought over who would inherit the Spanish throne after the Habsburg line died out. Fear that France and Spain would unite under one ruler.

Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

Ended the War of Spanish Succession. France kept its king, but Spain lost European territories, and Britain gained colonies and slavery contracts, becoming a global power.

Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659)

Ended war between France and Spain. Marked the decline of Spanish power and the rise of France.

Siege of Vienna (1683)

Ottoman Empire’s failed attempt to conquer Vienna. Marked the beginning of Ottoman decline in Europe.

Dutch Revolt (1568–1648)

Protestant provinces revolted against Catholic Spain. Ended in Dutch independence and the decline of Spain as Europe’s leading power.

Spain under the Habsburgs

World’s largest empire financed by American silver. Crippled by inflation, costly wars, and weak rulers, leading to long-term decline.

Sweden under Gustavus Adolphus

Protestant military power during the Thirty Years’ War. His modern army tactics helped weaken the Holy Roman Empire.

First Partition of Poland (1772)

Russia, Austria, and Prussia seized Polish territory. Demonstrated Poland’s weak government and vulnerability.

Second Partition of Poland (1793)

More Polish land taken by Russia and Prussia after Polish reform attempts failed.

Third Partition of Poland (1795)

Final division removed Poland from the map for 123 years, showing how weak states were absorbed by strong absolutist powers.

The Grand Embassy (1697–1698)

Peter the Great traveled secretly through Western Europe to learn shipbuilding, military organization, and technology to modernize Russia.

Boyars

Traditional Russian landowning nobility. Their power was reduced by Peter the Great to strengthen the central state.

Patriarchate

Leadership of the Orthodox Church. Abolished by Peter and replaced with a government-controlled synod to subordinate the Church to the state.

Great Northern War (1700–1721)

War between Russia and Sweden for control of the Baltic Sea. Ended Swedish dominance and marked Russia’s arrival as a major European power.

Battle of Poltava (1709)

Decisive Russian victory over Sweden. Turning point in the Great Northern War.

Treaty of Nystad (1721)

Ended the Great Northern War. Gave Russia Baltic territories and official recognition as a great power.

Catherine the Great (r. 1762–1796)

Enlightened absolutist who expanded Russian territory, promoted education, but strengthened serfdom and noble privilege.

Crimea (1783)

Territory seized by Russia from the Ottoman Empire under Catherine. Gave Russia warm-water port access.

Pugachev’s Rebellion (1773–1775)

Massive peasant revolt against Catherine caused by heavy taxation and serfdom. Brutally crushed, leading Catherine to abandon Enlightenment reforms for peasants.

Battle of Lepanto (1571)

Christian fleet defeated the Ottoman navy. Marked the first major Ottoman naval defeat and slowed expansion in the Mediterranean.

House of Lords

Upper chamber of Parliament made of nobles and bishops; represents aristocratic interests.

House of Commons

Lower, elected chamber; gained real political power after the Glorious Revolution.

Courtiers (Wealthy Advisors)

Nobles who lived at court and gained influence through closeness to the monarch, especially under absolute rulers.

Dogmatism

Accepting ideas as unquestionably true; attacked by Enlightenment thinkers.

Skepticism

Doubt toward tradition, religion, and authority; encouraged scientific inquiry.

Four-Stage Theory

Theory that societies progress: hunter-gatherer → pastoral → agricultural → commercial. Used to explain “progress.”

Girondins

Moderate revolutionaries who wanted constitutional government and opposed mass executions. Overthrown by Jacobins.

The Directory (1795–1799)

Five-man executive government marked by corruption, instability, and dependence on the army.