Poli Sci Terms

Magna Carta

1215 charter forced on King John by rebel barons; said the king must follow the law too; free men couldn't be jailed without a fair trial; first step limiting royal power in Britain; kicked off Britain's long theme of checking the monarch, still echoed in debates over executive power today.

Industrial Revolution

Britain's shift from farming to machines/factories (~1760s-1840s); steam engines, textile mills like Manchester's; made Britain the first industrial superpower and richest nation; fueled imperial expansion; created factory-owner vs. worker tensions that later built the Labour party.

Victorian era

Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901); height of British global power; Victoria declared Empress of India in 1877; defined by "Victorian virtues" (hard work, entrepreneurship, Christian charity, missionary work); Gladstone vs. Disraeli rivalry; set up the imperial overreach behind 20th-century decline.

Gallipoli Campaign

1915 British-led WWI invasion of Gallipoli (Ottoman Turkey); meant to knock the Ottomans out of the war; ANZAC troops pinned down by Turkish defenses under Mustafa Kemal; costly failure, huge casualties for no gain; damaged Churchill's early career as First Lord of the Admiralty; key evidence for the Churchill leadership essay.

League of Nations

International peacekeeping org founded 1920 after WWI; championed by US President Wilson; oversaw mandate territories like Britain's in Iraq/Palestine; weak - US never joined, no enforcement power; failure led directly to the UN after WWII.

Mandate system

League of Nations handed former Ottoman/German territories to Britain/France to "administer"; supposedly to prepare them for independence; e.g. Britain's mandates over Iraq and Palestine, set at the 1921 Cairo Conference; really just imperialism relabeled; root of modern Middle East conflicts (Iraq's borders, Israeli-Palestinian tension); evidence for why Britain lost its empire.

Northern Ireland troubles

~30-year conflict (late 1960s-1998); Protestant Unionists (pro-UK) vs. Catholic Nationalists (pro-Ireland); Bloody Sunday (1972) escalated violence; ended by the Good Friday Agreement (1998); created the power-sharing government NI still uses today.

Battle of Britain

1940 German air campaign (Luftwaffe) against Britain; first battle fought entirely in the air; bombed airfields then civilians (the Blitz) to break morale; Britain's air defenses held; German invasion (Operation Sea Lion) never happened; considered Churchill's finest hour.

Chartwell

Churchill's country home in Kent; where he lived during his 1930s "wilderness years" out of government; repeatedly (correctly) warned about Nazi Germany while ignored; symbolizes his political low point right before becoming wartime PM; key evidence for the Churchill leadership essay.

Potsdam conference

July-August 1945 meeting of Allied leaders (Stalin, Truman, Churchill/Attlee); decided postwar Germany's fate; split Germany into 4 occupation zones; US announced the atomic bomb here; set the terms for Europe's Cold War division; Churchill replaced mid-conference by Attlee after Labour's 1945 win.

1945 UK election

July 1945 vote; Labour (Attlee) landslide over Churchill's Conservatives right after WWII; Churchill's "Gestapo speech" backfired; Labour promised a welfare state (Beveridge report); huge upset - voters wanted a rebuilder, not a wartime leader; launched the NHS and modern welfare state.

United Nations

International org founded 1945 (San Francisco conference); meant to maintain global peace; learned from the League of Nations' failure; Security Council has 15 members, 5 with veto power (US, UK, France, Russia, China); real enforcement power but the veto lets big powers block action; the League's successor.

Indian independence

India's independence via the Indian Independence Act (July 1947); split the subcontinent into India and Pakistan ("Partition," Aug 1947); driven partly by Gandhi's "Quit India" movement (1942); Partition caused massive violence and displacement; loss of Britain's largest colony - major symbol of imperial decline.

Israeli independence

Israel declared independence May 1948; after the British mandate over Palestine ended; followed a UN Partition Plan (1947), rejected by Arab neighbors; attacking Arab states were defeated; ~750,000 Palestinian refugees fled/were expelled, ~700,000 Jewish immigrants arrived; part of post-WWII decolonization; root of ongoing Middle East conflict.

Cold War

Decades-long standoff (1947-1991) between the US-led West and Soviet-led East; started with Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech (1946) and US "containment" policy; nuclear arms race; proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Cuban Missile Crisis); ended with USSR's collapse in 1991; reshaped Britain from global empire to junior US partner.

NATO

Military alliance formed April 1949, based in Brussels; promises mutual defense if any member is attacked; "keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down"; formed in response to the Soviet Berlin Blockade; ties Britain permanently into US-led Western security; still central to British foreign policy.

Suez crisis

1956 crisis; Egypt's Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal; Britain, France, and Israel invaded but were forced to withdraw by US and Soviet pressure; proved Britain couldn't act as a global power without US backing; landmark moment in imperial decline.

Brexit

UK's withdrawal from the EU; voted for in a June 2016 referendum (52%-48%); completed January 2020; driven by concerns over sovereignty, immigration, EU regulation; deeply divided British politics; reshaped the party system, splitting Labour and Conservative voter bases.

European Union

Political/economic union of European countries; formed by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty; aimed to bind European nations together to help prevent future wars; Britain joined its predecessor (the EEC) in 1973; left via Brexit in 2020.

British Commonwealth

Voluntary association of former British colonies; formalized in 1931; headed by the British monarch; now mostly symbolic (53 member nations), lost its old defense/trade roles; shows how Britain turned formal empire into informal, voluntary ties.

House of Commons

Elected lower chamber of Parliament; where real political power sits; 646 MPs elected from geographic constituencies under first-past-the-post; PM emerges from the Commons as head of government; the actual engine of British democracy.

House of Lords

Unelected upper chamber; hereditary and life peers (Lords Temporal) plus bishops (Lords Spiritual); historically Britain's court of last resort; can delay but not block legislation since the 1911 Parliament Act cut its veto power; shows the shift toward the Commons holding real power.

British monarchy

Hereditary head of state (currently King Charles III); "constitutional monarchy" with little real political power; appoints the PM and Lords; symbolic, unifying figure for the country and Commonwealth; ceremonial, not decision-making - common exam mix-up.

Conservative party

Center-right party; historically supported property owners, the British Empire, free markets/lower regulation; today closely tied to Brexit and traditional values; one of Britain's two dominant parties, alternating power with Labour for over a century.

Labour party

Center-left party; founded to represent the working class; supports the welfare state and reducing inequality; created the NHS after its landslide 1945 win; Britain's other dominant party, Conservatives' main historic rival.

Liberal Democratic party

Centrist party descended from the historic Liberals; focused on political/social reform, civil liberties, pro-EU/internationalist positions; historically Britain's "third party"; occasionally holds the balance of power (e.g. 2010-2015 coalition government).

Green Party

Small UK party; focused on environmental policy and progressive social issues; an "issue party" that's grown in recent elections; reflects the rising importance of climate policy in British politics.

Reform UK

Right-wing populist party; successor to the Brexit Party/UKIP; focused on immigration control, EU skepticism, anti-establishment politics; represents ongoing fragmentation of the UK party system beyond Conservative/Labour.

Devolution

Transfer of certain powers from Westminster to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; formalized in 1998; created the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament (Senedd), and NI Assembly; response to nationalist movements; part of the Good Friday Agreement settlement.

Scottish Parliament

Devolved legislature for Scotland; established 1999; powers over health, education, and (since 2016) some tax-varying power; reflects rising Scottish nationalism (SNP, 2014 independence referendum); central to essays comparing UK devolved parliaments.

Welsh Parliament

Devolved legislature for Wales (the Senedd); established 1999; unlike Westminster's winner-take-all elections, uses a mixed system giving smaller parties a fairer shot; started with much weaker powers than Scotland - no justice/policing control, no primary lawmaking until a 2011 referendum; shows devolution wasn't equal across the UK.

Northern Ireland Parliament

Devolved legislature (Assembly) for Northern Ireland; created by the Good Friday Agreement (1998); built on mandatory power-sharing (Unionist First Minister, Nationalist deputy); suspended multiple times due to political deadlock; shows NI's devolution is uniquely tied to managing the sectarian conflict.

Roman Britain

Roman occupation of England and Wales (43-410 AD); left behind roads, infrastructure, and the early spread of Christianity.

Anglo-Saxon Britain

Germanic tribes who invaded and settled Britain (450-1066), shaping the English language and creating an early king's council called the Witan.

Norman Conquest (1066)

William the Conqueror's invasion of England, which created a new ruling class and a more centralized monarchy.

English Civil War (1642-1651)

War between the king's royalists and Parliament's supporters; established that the monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent.

Glorious Revolution (1688)

Bloodless overthrow of a Catholic king that left Parliament firmly in control of making laws.

Act of Union 1707

Merger of England, Scotland, and Wales into 'Great Britain.'

Act of Union 1800

Addition of Ireland, forming the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.'

Reform Acts of the 1830s

Parliamentary reforms that abolished slavery (1833), emancipated Catholics (1829), and extended voting rights to the middle class.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany's WWI plan to quickly defeat France before turning to fight Russia; its failure led to years of trench warfare.

Sykes-Picot Agreement

Secret WWI-era British-French agreement to divide up the Middle East, which contradicted promises made to Arab allies.

Arab Revolt (Sharif Husayn)

WWI-era Arab uprising against Ottoman rule, encouraged by British promises of an independent Arab state.

Zimmerman Telegram

German telegram offering Mexico US territory in exchange for an alliance; helped bring the US into WWI.

Bolshevik Revolution (1917)

Communist takeover of Russia led by Lenin, leading to the Russian Civil War and the creation of the Soviet Union (1922).

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

WWI peace treaty forcing Germany to accept blame, disarm, and pay reparations; resentment over it helped fuel WWII.

Easter Rising (1916)

Irish rebellion against British rule that was crushed but led to the rise of Sinn Fein and, eventually, Irish independence.

Irish Free State (1922)

Independent Irish state created after the Irish War of Independence; Northern Ireland stayed part of the UK.

Weimar Republic

Germany's fragile democratic government between WWI and Hitler's rise, weakened by economic crisis and the Treaty of Versailles.

Mussolini / Italian Fascism

Benito Mussolini became Italy's fascist dictator in 1922 and later allied with Hitler in WWII.

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

War between fascist-backed Nationalists (led by Franco) and Republicans; ended in Franco's decades-long dictatorship.

Blitzkrieg

German 'lightning war' tactic combining fast tanks and air power, used to conquer France in 1940.

Dunkirk evacuation (1940)

Emergency evacuation of trapped British and Allied troops from France as Germany advanced.

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939)

Non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that secretly divided Eastern Europe between them.

Operation Barbarossa (1941)

Germany's massive, ultimately failed invasion of the Soviet Union.

Vichy France

French government that collaborated with Nazi Germany after France's fall in 1940; opposed by Charles de Gaulle's 'Free French.'

Pearl Harbor (1941)

Japan's surprise attack on the US Navy that brought America into WWII.

El Alamein (1942)

Decisive British victory over German forces in North Africa, led by General Montgomery.

D-Day / Operation Overlord (1944)

Allied invasion of Normandy, France, that began the liberation of Western Europe.

Atlantic Charter (1941)

Joint statement by Roosevelt and Churchill setting postwar goals like self-determination and no territorial gains.

The Holocaust

Nazi Germany's genocide of six million Jews and millions of others during WWII.

Yalta Conference (1945)

Meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin to plan the postwar world, including Germany's fate and Soviet entry into the Pacific war.

Iron Curtain speech (1946)

Churchill's speech warning about Soviet control of Eastern Europe, marking the start of Cold War rhetoric.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

US policy of 'containing' the spread of communism by supporting threatened countries.

Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)

US/UK operation to supply West Berlin by air after the Soviet Union blockaded it.

European Coal and Steel Community (1951)

Early step toward European unity, binding France and Germany's coal and steel industries together; the seed of the European Union.

Mossadeq / Iranian nationalism

Iran's PM who nationalized its oil industry in the early 1950s; overthrown in a UK/US-backed coup (1953) that reinstalled the Shah.

Good Friday Agreement

Key figures Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein), Ian Paisley (DUP), David Trimble (UUP), John Hume (SDLP), and George Mitchell (US mediator) - the main figures who negotiated peace in Northern Ireland.

IRA / Sinn Fein

The Irish Republican Army (paramilitary group) and its political wing Sinn Fein, which sought to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

Orange Order

Protestant fraternal organization in Northern Ireland known for annual marches that often sparked violence during the Troubles.

Stormont

The seat of Northern Ireland's parliament/assembly - shorthand for Northern Ireland's government.