History Lecture Review: Industrialization to Modern Europe

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering major events, figures, and concepts from the Industrial Revolution through the 20th century and Modern Europe.

Agricultural Revolution

A period of technological improvement and increased crop productivity that occurred during the 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe.

Enclosure

The process of taking over and consolidating land formerly shared by peasant farmers into larger, fenced-in farms.

Industrial Revolution

The transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States, starting in the late 18th century.

Tenements

Multistory buildings divided into crowded, unsanitary apartments used to house the urban working class during the Industrial Revolution.

Separation of Labor

The process of dividing a job into many specialized parts, where individual workers are assigned to specific, repetitive tasks.

Adam Smith

The Scottish economist and philosopher known as the father of modern economics who wrote The Wealth of Nations.

Laissez-faire

An economic policy of letting owners of industry and business set working conditions without government interference.

Capitalism

An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit.

Free Market Economy

An economic system where prices of goods and services are determined by the open market and consumers rather than government intervention.

Karl Marx

The German philosopher and economist who co-authored The Communist Manifesto and advocated for a classless society.

Bourgeoisie

The middle class or the ruling class in a capitalist society who own the means of production.

Proletariat

The working class or people who sell their labor for wages in a capitalist society.

Communism

A political and economic system where property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Supply and Demand

The amount of a product available and the desire of buyers for it, which together determine its market price.

Profit Motive

The primary goal of individuals and businesses to maximize financial gain.

Labor Union

An organized association of workers formed to protect and further their rights and interests in the workplace.

Utopian Socialists

Early 19th-century thinkers who believed that ideal communities could be created through cooperation and shared property.

Thomas Malthus

An economist who argued that population growth would eventually outpace the food supply, leading to poverty.

Cottage Industry

A business or manufacturing activity carried on in a person's home rather than in a factory.

Spinning Jenny

A multi-spindle spinning frame that was one of the key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing.

WWII

World War II, a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945 involving the vast majority of the world's countries.

The Great Depression

A severe worldwide economic downturn that took place during the 1930s.

Beer Hall Putsch

A failed coup d'état by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Munich in 1923.

Nuremberg Laws

Anti-Semitic and racist laws in Nazi Germany enacted in 1935 that stripped Jews of their citizenship.

Adolf Hitler

The director of Nazi Germany and leader of the Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945.

Fascism

A political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and provides no tolerance for opposition.

Benito Mussolini

The Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party.

Joseph Stalin

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 into the early 1950s.

Mein Kampf

The autobiographical manifesto written by Adolf Hitler outlining his political ideology and future plans for Germany.

Appeasement

The policy of making concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid conflict.

Nazi Party

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945.

Munich Agreement

The 1938 settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the borders mainly inhabited by German speakers.

The Blitz

The strategic bombing campaign conducted by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II.

Battle of Britain

The military campaign of the Second World War in which the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against the German Luftwaffe.

Blitzkrieg

Lighting war; a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and concentrated firepower.

Holocaust

The systematic state-sponsored genocide of approximately six million Jews and millions of others by the Nazi regime.

Battle of Stalingrad

A major confrontation of World War II in which the Soviet Union successfully defended the city of Stalingrad against German forces.

Battle of Midway

A decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that occurred in June 1942.

Miracle at Dunkirk

The evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, between May 26 and June 4, 1940.

Pearl Harbor

The site of a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

Age of Revolutions

The period from approximately 1774 to 1848 in which a number of significant revolutionary movements occurred.

Congress of Vienna

A meeting of ambassadors of European states to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling issues from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Revolutions of 1848

A series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848, the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history.

Klemens von Metternich

The Austrian statesman and foreign minister who was a central figure in the Congress of Vienna.

Concert of Europe

A system of dispute resolution adopted by the major conservative powers of Europe to maintain the status quo and peace.

Romanticism

An artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, emphasizing emotion and nature.

Social Darwinism

The theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals.

Nationalism

Identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion of the interests of other nations.

Conservatism

A political and social philosophy that promotes traditional social institutions and practices.

Feminism

The advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.

Socialism

A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community.

Otto von Bismarck

The Prussian statesman who masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as its first chancellor.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

An Italian general, patriot, and republican who contributed to the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy.

Utilitarianism

The ethical theory that proposed that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority.

Liberalism

A political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law.

Crimean War

A military conflict from 1853 to 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain, and Sardinia.

Imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force over other nations.

Berlin Conference

The 1884–1885 meeting where European nations regulated European colonization and trade in Africa.

White Man's Burden

The alleged duty of white colonizers to care for and civilize non-white indigenous people.

Bessemer Process

The first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron.

Camillo Cavour

An Italian statesman and a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification.

Cold War

The period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II.

Mao Zedong

The Chinese communist revolutionary who became the founding father of the People's Republic of China.

Korean War

A war between North Korea and South Korea that began in 1950 and involved significant UN and US intervention.

Red Scare

The promotion of widespread fear of a potential rise of communism or anarchism within the United States.

Truman Doctrine

An American foreign policy with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War.

United Nations

An international organization formed in 1945 to increase political and economic cooperation among member countries.

Iron Curtain

The political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union to seal off itself and its allies from contact with the West.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an intergovernmental military alliance between North American and European countries.

Nikita Khrushchev

The leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin, serving during the height of the Cold War.

Vladimir Putin

The Russian politician who has served as the President of Russia since 2012, previously holding the post from 1999 to 2008.

Berlin Wall

A guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

Berlin Airlift

The 1948–1949 operation where Allied planes supplied West Berlin with food and fuel after the Soviet Union blockaded land routes.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 13-day confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union in 1962 over Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Ronald Reagan

The 40th President of the United States who served during the final decade of the Cold War.

Mikhail Gorbachev

The final leader of the Soviet Union whose reforms led to its dissolution and the end of the Cold War.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

A failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's revolution.

Mutual Assured Destruction

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons would result in the complete annihilation of both attacker and defender.

Maastricht Treaty

The international agreement that led to the creation of the European Union in 1992.

Brexit

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

European Union

A political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.

Schlieffen Plan

The German military strategy for a two-front war against France and Russia that was implemented at the start of World War I.

Gavrilo Princip

The Serbian nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the catalyst for World War I.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

The last German Emperor and King of Prussia who ruled during World War I.

Bloody Sunday

The 1905 massacre in St. Petersburg where unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by the Imperial Guard.

Western Front

The main theater of war during World War I in Western Europe, characterized by stalemate and trench warfare.

Militarism

The belief that a government should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively.

Lusitania

A British ocean liner that was sunk by a German submarine in 1915, helping turn international opinion against Germany.

Versailles Treaty

The peace treaty that brought World War I to an end, placing heavy blame and reparations on Germany.

Triple Entente

The informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom.

Red Terror

A campaign of mass killings and systematic oppression conducted by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War.

Vladimir Lenin

The Russian revolutionary who served as the first head of government of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union.

Zimmerman Telegram

A secret diplomatic communication in 1917 where Germany proposed a military alliance with Mexico against the US.

Grigori Rasputin

A Russian mystic and advisor to the Romanovs who had significant influence over the imperial family.

League of Nations

The international organization established after the First World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes.

Woodrow Wilson

The 28th U.S. President who led the country through WWI and championed the League of Nations.

New Economic Policy

A more market-oriented economic policy introduced by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 to foster the Soviet economy.

Bolsheviks

The radical, far-left, revolutionary Marxist faction founded by Vladimir Lenin that seized power during the Russian Revolution.

Weimar Republic

The unofficial designation for the German state between 1918 and 1933 representing its first period as a democracy.

Reparations

The compensation for war damage paid by a defeated state to the victorious nations.