AP World History: State Sponsored Industrialization

Muhammad Ali

Ottoman Albanian commander who became the governor of Egypt and is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt.

Suez Canal

A man-made waterway in Egypt connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas, completed in 1869.

Qing Dynasty

Last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 and established by the Manchu people.

Opium Wars

Two conflicts (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) between China and Great Britain, later joined by France, that were triggered by China's attempts to suppress the illegal opium trade.

Empress Cixi

Powerful figure in the late 19th-century Qing dynasty who acted as a regent for child emperors and dominated Chinese politics for decades.

Sun Yat-sen

Chinese revolutionary leader and statesman (1866–1925) who is considered the "Father of the Revolution" for overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing the Republic of China in 1912.

Janissaries

Elite infantry soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, formed from a system of conscripting Christian boys who were converted to Islam and trained to be fiercely loyal to the sultan.

Conscription

The compulsory enlistment of individuals into a nation's military service, often called "the draft".

Cairo

Capital of Egypt.

Tanzimat reforms

A period of modernization and reorganization in the Ottoman Empire from 1839 to 1876, aimed at centralizing government, secularizing law, and modernizing the military to strengthen the state and integrate non-Muslim subjects.

Self-Strengthening Movement

A late 19th-century Chinese reform effort to modernize by adopting Western military and industrial technology while preserving Confucian values.

Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang)

Major political party in the early to mid-20th century that aimed to unify and modernize China under a republican government and was a primary opponent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Japanese Act of Seclusion

A Japanese policy of national isolation from approximately 1639 to 1853 under the Tokugawa shogunate that severely restricted foreign trade and travel.

Commodore Matthew Perry

U.S. naval officer who is historically significant for leading the 1853-1854 expedition that forcibly ended Japan's centuries-long policy of self-imposed isolation, known as Sakoku.

Tokugawa Shogunate

Feudal military government in Japan from 1603 to 1868, known for establishing a period of relative peace and stability called the Edo period.

Charter Oath

A five-article policy issued by Japan's Emperor Meiji in 1868 during the Meiji Restoration, which served as the new government's statement of intent for modernization and reforms.

Meiji Restoration

Period in Japanese history, beginning in 1868, when the feudal shogunate was overthrown and power was restored to the Emperor.

Sino-Japanese War

Refers to the conflicts between China and Japan.

Russo-Japanese War

A conflict between the Russian and Japanese empires over imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea.

Young Turks

A reformist political movement in the late Ottoman Empire that sought to modernize the state by overthrowing the autocratic rule of Sultan Abdülhamid II and restoring the constitution.

Kowtow

The act of kneeling and touching one's forehead to the ground as a traditional Chinese gesture of deep respect or submission, often performed by foreign diplomats or tribute bearers before the Chinese emperor.

Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking

A transnational British bank, founded in 1865 in British-controlled Hong Kong to facilitate international trade between Europe and Asia.

Corporation (HSBC)

An example of a multinational corporation and a transnational corporation that emerged during the 19th century.

Deindustrialization

The decline of industrial activity in a region or economy, leading to a shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one.

Sepoys

An Indian soldier employed by the British East India Company, serving as the backbone of its military force.

Famine

A severe, widespread food shortage leading to starvation and death. It can be triggered by factors like disease, conflict, environmental disasters, or a combination of these and other issues like poverty and climate change.

Shogun

The military dictator of Japan during its feudal period, holding real political and military power over the country while the emperor remained a symbolic figurehead.

Daimyo

A powerful Japanese feudal lord who ruled over large, hereditary landholdings and commanded a private army of samurai.

Zaibatsu

The large, powerful, and often family-owned business conglomerates that dominated the Japanese economy from the Meiji Restoration (late 19th century) until the end of World War II.

Crimean War

A 1853-1856 conflict where an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain, and Sardinia fought against Russia.

Russification

A government policy aimed at imposing Russian culture, language, and administration on the diverse ethnic groups within the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union.

Turkification

The process of assimilating non-Turkic populations into Turkish culture and identity, a policy used by the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey to create a unified national identity.

Capitulations

Treaties that granted extraterritorial rights and commercial privileges to European powers in non-European empires like the Ottoman and Qing, initially for trade but later used to exert political and economic control.

Franco-Prussian War

A conflict between France and the German states led by Prussia, resulting in the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership and the establishment of the German Empire.

British East India Company

A powerful joint-stock trading company, chartered in 1600, that evolved from a commercial enterprise into a colonial force that governed large parts of India.

Lord Cornwallis

British general who is best known for his surrender at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, which effectively ended the American Revolutionary War.

Blood and Iron

A 19th-century political concept, most famously articulated by Otto von Bismarck, that advocated for military force and warfare to achieve national goals, specifically the unification of Germany.

Otto Von Bismarck

German statesman and the first Chancellor of the German Empire from 1871 to 1890, famous for unifying Germany under Prussian leadership through a combination of warfare and diplomacy.