European History: Absolutism, Reformation, Exploration, and Revolution

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, laws, and events from units on Absolutism, the Reformation, the Age of Exploration, English Civil War, French Revolution, and Napoleon.

Yarlyk

A special charter Russian princes had to secure from the Golden Horde to legitimize their rule and collect taxes on behalf of the Mongols.

Ivan III (Ivan the Great)

The Russian prince who stopped paying tribute to the Mongols in 1480, resulting in the Great Stand on the Ugra River and ending Mongol control.

Sudebnik

A uniform legal code established by Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible).

Oprichniki

A terrifying secret police force created by Ivan IV to crush the power of the high-ranking noble boyars.

Sobornoye Ulozhenie

A decree issued by Tsar Alexis I that completely abolished runaway limits and granted nobles the lifetime right to hunt down peasants.

Grand Embassy

An undercover tour of Western Europe undertaken by Peter the Great starting in 1682 to learn how to westernize Russia.

Table of Ranks

A social hierarchy system created by Peter the Great establishing 14 civilian and military ranks, allowing peasants to eventually rise into nobility.

Holy Synod

A secular committee created by Peter the Great to replace the Patriarch of Moscow and bring the Orthodox Church under state control.

Battle of Poltava

A landmark battle in the Great Northern War where Russia defeated Sweden to gain its critical warm-water port, St. Petersburg.

Pugachev's Rebellion

An incredibly bloody peasant uprising that brought Catherine the Great's progressive legal reforms to a halt.

Great Chain of Being

A strict structural order framing social hierarchy in Elizabethan society that dictated rebellion was an ultimate affront to God.

Divine Right of Kings

The doctrine stating that monarchs were crowned by God and directly accountable only to Him, forming the political foundation of Absolutism.

Raison d'État

A political concept pioneered by Cardinal Richelieu dictating that the strategic security and interests of the state take priority over religious factions.

Intendant system

An administrative system implemented by Cardinal Richelieu where the French King directly appointed professional officials to govern local regions.

Reconquista

The multi-century effort to drive the Muslim Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula, culminating in 1492 under Ferdinand and Isabella.

Spanish Inquisition

A judicial tribunal launched in 1478 by Spain to investigate mixed motives and purge heretics, Conversos, and Moriscos.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 papal agreement dividing global lands by giving the West (Americas) to Spain and the East (Africa, Asia, Brazil) to Portugal.

Humanism

A Renaissance movement emphasizing the importance of the individual over traditional ecclesiastical authority through classic Greek and Roman ideals.

Indulgences

Corrupt sin-pardoning certificates sold by the Catholic Church, famously attacked by Martin Luther.

Predestination

A radical doctrine introduced by John Calvin stating that God had already chosen the elect for salvation.

Peace of Augsburg

A decree that temporarily halted religious civil wars in the Holy Roman Empire by allowing local princes to choose the religion of their own provinces.

Peace of Westphalia

A 1648 treaty concluding the Thirty Years' War that redrew the map of Europe and established the modern foundation of sovereign nation-states.

Act of Supremacy

A 1534 English law passed by King Henry VIII declaring himself the supreme head of the Church of England.

Spanish Armada

A 130-ship fleet sent by King Philip of Spain in an attempted naval invasion of England that failed disastrously due to weather and English resistance.

Mercantilism

An economic theory teaching that global wealth was a zero-sum game and that nations must maximize exports while minimizing imports.

Caravel

A fast, shallow-draft ship perfected by the Portuguese that utilized efficient lateen (triangular) sails for open ocean navigation.

Marine chronometer

A navigation instrument invented to allow sailors to accurately measure longitude at sea.

Joint-stock company

A business model relied on by the British that pooled private investor wealth to offset the financial risks of long-distance trade.

Encomienda system

A coercive framework granting Spanish Conquistadors forced native labor in exchange for protection and Catholic conversion.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Spanish Dominican friar who criticized encomienda abuses, contributing to the New Laws of 1542, while controversially suggesting enslaved African labor.

Columbian Exchange

The global redistribution of people, plants, livestock, and deadly microbes between the Old and New Worlds.

Doctrine of Discovery

A papal legal framework authorizing European Christians to claim lands inhabited by non-Christians.

Pueblo Revolt

A 1680 revolt led by Popé that stands as the only completely successful native revolt to temporarily expel the Spanish.

King Philip's War

A campaign in New England organized by Wampanoag leader Metacom to halt Puritan colonial encroachment.

Gunpowder Plot

A failed terror plot led by Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby attempting to blow up King James I and Parliament simultaneously.

Petition of Right

A 1628 document Parliament forced King Charles I to sign before he dissolved Parliament and initiated the Eleven Years' Tyranny.

Eleven Years' Tyranny

The decade-long period during which King Charles I dissolved Parliament and ruled England alone.

Habeas Corpus

A legal reform passed under King Charles II mandating a strict time limit on how long a prisoner could be held without seeing a judge.

Glorious Revolution

The bloodless transfer of power in England when Parliament invited William of Orange and Mary II to replace King James II.

English Bill of Rights

A 1689 document signed by William and Mary banning cruel and unusual punishment and prohibiting taxation without parliamentary consent.

Ancien Régime

France's traditional feudal system dividing the population into three rigid social tiers called Estates.

Corvée

Forced, unpaid infrastructure labor required of the Third Estate under the French Ancien Régime.

Tennis Court Oath

A vow taken by the Third Estate after forming the National Assembly, pledging never to disband until France had a formal constitution.

Great Fear

A period of panic in the countryside where French peasants pre-emptively looted the manors of landlords, aristocrats, and tax collectors.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

An Enlightenment-inspired document establishing the core French revolutionary slogan: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.

Jacobins

A radical political faction supported by the Sans-culottes that executed King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Committee of Public Safety

A small executive body with total authority led by Maximilien Robespierre during the Reign of Terror.

Thermidorian Reaction

A moderate conservative backlash that ended the Reign of Terror, executed Robespierre, and transferred power to the Directory.

Plebiscites

Direct, democratic public yes/no votes used by Napoleon Bonaparte to systematically consolidate his authority.

Napoleonic Code

A uniform legal framework established by Napoleon that guaranteed legal equality for adult males and established secular law.

Lycées

Elite, state-run secondary academies created by Napoleon to systematically train professional government and military officers.

Continental System

A strict continent-wide trade embargo implemented by Napoleon to forbid European states from trading with Great Britain.

Peninsular War

An exhausting conflict in Spain termed by Napoleon his Spanish Ulcer due to heavy resource drain and Spanish guerrilla tactics.