The Age of Ideologies and World Wars (Lecture Notes)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Age of Ideologies through the Cold War.

Congress of Vienna

1814–1815 conference to restore monarchies, redraw borders, and prevent any one nation from dominating Europe.

Balance of Power

Idea that no single nation should dominate Europe; powers counterbalance one another.

Legitimacy

Restoration of hereditary monarchs who were deposed during the Napoleonic era.

Concert of Europe

Alliance system of major powers to resolve disputes and maintain stability; used to crush uprisings.

Metternich

Austrian statesman promoting conservatism, church authority, and aristocracy; opposed liberalism and nationalism.

Carlsbad Decrees

1819 German Confederation decree suppressing liberal reforms, universities, and press freedom.

Liberalism

Belief in constitutional government, property-based voting, and civil liberties.

Nationalism

Ideology advocating self-determination based on shared language, culture, and history.

July Revolution (1830)

French uprising that toppled Charles X; Louis-Philippe as the 'Citizen King'.

Belgian Independence

1830 independence from the Netherlands, creating Belgium as a new state.

Polish Uprising (1830)

Poland’s rebellion against Russian rule, ultimately crushed.

Revolutions of 1848

Widespread uprisings across Europe seeking universal male suffrage and constitutional reform.

Forty-Eighters

German revolutionaries who fled to the United States and influenced politics.

Abolition of Slave Trade (1807)

Britain outlawed the transatlantic slave trade.

Abolition of Slavery in British Colonies (1833)

Slavery abolished in Britain's overseas empire.

Slavery in the US South/Brazil/Cuba

Continuation of slavery due to profitability of plantation crops.

William Wilberforce

British abolitionist who campaigned to end the slave trade.

Frederick Douglass

American abolitionist and former slave who advocated emancipation.

Berlin Conference

1884–1885 meeting setting rules for Africa colonization; no African delegates.

Congo Free State

Leopold II’s private control for rubber; brutal exploitation and millions of deaths.

White Man’s Burden

Racial ideology justifying imperialism as a civilizing mission.

Self-Strengthening Movement

Late Qing effort to modernize China’s military and industry.

Mission Civilisatrice

French belief in civilizing colonies through culture and education.

Dreyfus Affair

1894–1906 scandal revealing deep anti-Semitism in France.

Zionism

Jewish nationalist movement seeking a homeland in Palestine, led by Theodor Herzl.

Second International

1889 federation linking European socialist parties.

Dawes Plan

1924 plan to stabilize Germany’s economy through loans and reparations reform.

Locarno Treaties

1925 agreements recognizing western European borders and easing Franco-German tensions.

Kellogg–Briand Pact

1928 pledge to renounce war as national policy; lacked enforcement mechanism.

Treaty of Versailles

1919 treaty ending WWI; imposed war guilt, reparations, and military restrictions.

War Guilt Clause

Versailles provision forcing Germany to accept responsibility for the war.

League of Nations

International organization created to prevent war; lacked enforcement and US participation.

Diktat

Pejorative term used by Germans to describe Versailles as dictated peace.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 antisemitic laws stripping Jews of citizenship and rights in Germany.

Kristallnacht

1938 pogrom against Jews; catalyst of intensified persecution.

Munich Agreement

1938 appeasement allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.

Rhineland Remilitarization

1936 violation of Versailles as Germany remilitarized the Rhine.

Anschluss

1938 annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.

Sudetenland

Border region of Czechoslovakia annexed in 1938 after Munich Agreement.

Blitzkrieg

Fast, coordinated attack strategy intended to overwhelm enemies.

Operation Barbarossa

1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union.

D-Day

1944 Allied invasion of Normandy; opened Western Front in WWII.

Holocaust

Systematic genocide of Jews and others; Final Solution; millions killed.

Truman Doctrine

1947 US policy to resist Soviet expansion through aid and support.

Marshall Plan

1948–1952 US program to rebuild Europe and promote stability.

NATO

1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Western alliance against expansion.

Warsaw Pact

1955 Soviet-led military alliance of Eastern bloc states.

Korean War

1950–1953 conflict on the Korean peninsula; UN forces versus North Korea.

Sputnik

1957 Soviet satellite; symbol of the space race and technological competition.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 Supreme Court ruling desegregating public schools.