AP European History Unit 3 Review: Absolutism and Constitutionalism

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to absolutism, constitutionalism, and related developments in Europe from 1648 to 1815.

Absolutism

Monarchs consolidated all state power under themselves to advance the needs of their own state.

Louis XIV of France

The poster boy for absolutism; claimed "L'etat c'est moi," meaning "I am the state."

The Fronde

A rebellion of French nobles against Cardinal Mazarin during Louis XIV's childhood, leading the French people to desire a strong ruler.

Intendant System

Bureaucratic agents sent by Louis XIV into French districts to ensure his policies were obeyed, undermining the nobility's authority.

Palace of Versailles

Constructed by Louis XIV to relocate nobles, keep them under his watch, and demand their loyalty.

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

Louis XIV removed protections for Huguenots, leading to their migration and consolidating religious and political loyalties under himself.

Jean Baptiste Colbert

Louis XIV's finance minister who enacted mercantilist policies to decrease France's debt and expand its colonial holdings.

Peter the Great of Russia

Czar who westernized Russia through political, religious, and cultural reforms, consolidating power under himself.

Table of Ranks

Introduced by Peter the Great, it was a series of ranks that nobles could move through based on expertise.

Holy Synod

Peter the Great replaced the patriarch with this; populated with officials/ministers who would do his bidding.

Constitutionalism

Government limited by the rule of law, where the monarch shares power with a representative body (e.g., Parliament in England).

English Civil War

Conflict caused by the doctrine of the divine right of kings, economic tensions, and religious issues.

Divine Right of Kings

The belief that the monarch is God's representative on earth and therefore is above any earthly law.

Long Parliament

Parliament called in 1640 which passed the Triennial Act, forcing the king to call Parliament into session at least once every three years.

Puritans

A growing minority in the Church of England who wanted to purify the church by ridding it of all vestiges of Roman Catholicism.

Oliver Cromwell

Puritan leader who led the Parliamentary army against the King, abolished kingship, and created a military dictatorship.

The Protectorate

The true republic name under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War.

Restoration Period

The period after Cromwell's death in 1658 when the monarchy was restored in 1660.

Glorious Revolution

The transfer of power to William and Mary in 1689, establishing a constitutional monarchy in England.

English Bill of Rights

Enacted which included provisions for Parliament to levy taxes and stipulated that when Parliament made a law, it could not be annulled by the monarch.

Dutch Republic

Officially formed by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 which ended the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch and the Spanish.

Balance of Power

The constant pursuit of making sure that all nations on the continent were more or less equal in power.

Partition of Poland

Poland was annexed into Russia, Prussia, and Austria because of the balance of power instead of them going to war.

Battle of Vienna

The Austrian Habsburgs, Poland, and the Holy Roman Empire united to stop the Ottoman expansion and restored the balance of power

Treaty of Utrecht

Ended the War of Spanish Succession in 1713 and stipulated that Philip the fifth would remain on the Spanish throne, and that France and Spain must remain separate entities.

Gustavus Adolphus

Built a massive professional standing army and deployed it mightily during the Thirty Years' War.

Agricultural Revolution

Farming underwent some major innovations starting in Britain and the Low Countries of The Netherlands.

Three Field System

A system where a third of the land had to lie fallow every year so that the soil's nutrients could be replenished.

Columbian Exchange

One of the key foods for peasants was the potato, which was exceedingly nutritious and cheap to grow.

Cottage Industry

Goods for purchase were made mainly in people's homes; it's also known as the putting out system.

Richard Arkwright's water frame

A wheel that was turned by moving water, which could then power machines that created fabric and clothing.

Triangular Trade

Merchants started on the West Coast Of Africa to buy enslaved laborers, and then they carried them across the Middle Passes to trade them in the Caribbean for sugar and molasses, and then sailed up to the Atlantic colonies in North America to trade them for rum, and then run it all over again.

Mercantilism

A state driven economic system, which the main goal was to increase a country's store of gold and silver by maintaining a favorable balance of trade, which means more exports than imports.