Studied by 46 people
popular sovereignty
The political idea that power comes from the people, not God, and that it remains with the people
separation of powers
The political concept, advocated by Montesquieu, where government's powers are divided into different branches, such as executive and legislative.
American Revolution
The first successful revolt by a colony against rule by a European mother country. The 13 British colonies revolted against foreign rule. It ended in an American victory and the establishment of the first federal republic in history.
French and Indian War (1754 - 1763)
This was the North American theater (region) of the European conflict called the Seven Years' War. It was fought between Britain and its American colonies against France and its French colonies in North America. Most Native Americans fought for the French side in the conflict. It ended in a major british victory.
Declaration of Independence
One of the most important political documents ever written, it was inspired by the social contract theory of Locke and was written by Thomas Jefferson. It lays out the reasons for the American rejection of British rule.
First Estate
Pre-Revolutionary term for the Catholic clergy of France.
Second Estate
Pre-Revolutionary term for the nobility of France.
Third Estate
Pre-Revolutionary term for the masses of French society prior to the Revolution. It included peasants, bourgeoisie, and the urban poor.
sans-culottes
This was a slang term that referred to the urban working poor.
bourgeoisie
Term referring to the urban, educated middle and upper classes.
taille
A hated tax paid only by the common people of France, not by the clergy or the nobility.
Estates-General
The historic parliament of France, it was a body that the French king could consult at will. It lacked the same type of powers that the British Parliament possessed.
cahiers de doleances
These were lists of grievances drawn up by each of the three estates; they were reform suggestions and included demands such as fair taxation and equal voting rights.
National Assembly
The delegates of the Third Estate declared the end of the Estates-General and the formation of this as the new parliament of France. It was dominated by the bourgeoisie.
Tennis Court Oath
On June 20, 1789 the King ordered that the National Assembly be locked out of their meeting room. The delegates regrouped on a tennis court at Versailles and swore not to disband until they had written a constitution for France.
militias
A military force that is made up of civilians rather than soldiers, usually put together in times of emergency.
Bastille
A large fortress in the heart of Paris that served as a hated prison. On July 14, 1789 a Paris mob stormed the prison in search of weapons. The mob killed several soldiers. This is a major event of the Revolution.
Great Fear
In the summer of 1789 a panic swept across France that the nobility was going to crush the new Revolution. Angry peasant mobs attacked the estates of the nobles and burned many to the ground.
manorial obligations
These were ancient requirements that peasants needed to work several days each month on the lands of the nobility.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Written by delegates of the National Assembly during the summer of 1789, this is the first constitution of France. It promised equal rights for all French men.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
This is considered to be one of the first mistakes of the Revolution. This law required all French Catholic clergy to swear an oath of loyalty to the nation over the Church. It turned the Church into an enemy of the Revolution
metric system
The most common system of measurement used in the world. It uses the meter, liter, and gram as units of measure. It was first adopted by France during the Revolution.
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
This became the famous three-word motto of the Revolution; it sums up the ideals of the Revolution.
Women's March
On October 5, 1789 thousands of Parisian poor women marched to Versailles to demand that King Louis XVI do something to lower the price of bread. It grew violent. The women forced the King and his family to leave Versailles and return to Paris.
Haitian Revolution
This was the first successful slave revolt against European rule to occur. It began in 1791 when Black slaves overwhelmed the French planters in the Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue. The slave rebels established the first Black ruled republic in world history and successfully defended their independence against Napoleon's attempt to reestablish French control.
emigres
French term for those French nobles who fled from revolutionary France and went to other European nations. Many helped the foreign powers against France.
Declaration of Pillnitz
A 1792 agreement between Austria and Prussia pledging to work together to crush the Revolution and to restore the old order in France.
Legislative Assembly
Assembly in October 1791. It was dominated by younger bourgeoisie who favored more radical reforms.
Jacobins
The most important political group to appear in the early Revolution. They were the most radical and violent faction in the National Convention. They ran the nation during the Reign of Terror.
Girondin
They were a moderate faction of the Jacobins who supported the Revolution but opposed extremism, such as the execution of the King.
Mountain
They were the most radical faction of the Jacobins. They dominated France during the Reign of Terror. They supported the execution of the King and declared war on Austria and Prussia.
Reign of Terror
This was the most extreme and violent phase of the Revolution. Thousands of people were arrested and executed on the guillotine as enemies of the Revolution. The Terror ended with the execution of Robespierre in July 1794.
National Convention
A new French parliament that was elected in the fall of 1792. The Convention governed the nation during both the Terror and the Directory.
Committee of Public Safety
A group of 12 delegates, selected by the National Convention, given dictatorial power over France during the Reign of Terror. Robespierre emerged as the leader of the Committee.
Thermidorean Reaction
A brief, violent period during the summer of 1794 when several thousand leaders of the Terror were arrested and executed. Robespierre's execution in July 1794 began the reaction.
Directory
A new government formed after the end of the Terror. It was made up of 5 delegates selected by the Convention. It lasted from 1794 until Napoleon seized power in November 1799.
coup d'etat
A term for the overthrow of a legitimate government by military force.
archeology
The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of artifacts.
Rosetta Stone
An archeological wonder, this is a massive stone tablet from the second century BCE, discovered by Napoleonic troops in Egypt in 1798. It contained the same message written in three different languages (hieroglyphics, Demotic, and ancient Greek).
Consulate
The first government of Napoleon, it lasted from November 1799 until he proclaimed the Empire in May 1804. Napoleon gradually emerged as the single ruler of the nation.
Concordat with the Church
An 1801 agreement between Napoleon and the Pope that ended the hostility between the Church and France. The Church recognized Napoleon as the rightful ruler of France and Napoleon restored much of the Church's rights (bbut not lands).
irreligious
Indifferent or hostile to religion, or holding no religious beliefs at all.
Code Napoleon (aka Napoleonic Code)
Authorized by Napoleon, a panal of judges wrote a national legal code for France in 1804 that replaced old regional feudal codes. It created a rational system of modern laws that was adopted by nations all over the world.
plebiscite
A direct vote by the common people on a significant issue in which the choice is between "yes" and "no."
First (Grand) Empire
The Empire began when Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor in May 1804 and ended with his forced abdication in April 1814. The Empire was briefly restored during the Hundred Days of 1815.
balance-of-power
The European diplomatic goal of preventing any single nation from dominating the entire continent. Britain was especially dedicated to it.
puppet-state
A nation that is officially independent, but is in fact controlled by a different nation.
Grand Duchy of Warsaw
A Napoleonic puppet-state that lasted from 1807 - 1814. It restored a measure of Polish independence that Poland had lost after the partitions of the 1790's.
Confederation of the Rhine
A Napoleonic puppet-state that created the first unified German state since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. It lasted from 1806 - 1813.
Continental System
Term for Napoleon's plan to ban all European trade with Britain in hopes of bringing that nation to economic ruin. It banned the sale of goods to Britain and the import of british goods to the continent.
economic warfare
The strategy of using economic tactics, such as tariffs and embargos against rivals in hopes of causing financial collapse.
Peninsular War (1807 - 1814)
A brutal conflict that began when Napoleon's forces occupied Spain. The Spanish, with British support, began a long, guerilla war that drained French strength during the conflict.
guerilla warfare
A defensive military tactic where an inferior force utilizes tactics the defy the conventional rules of warfare such as the wearing of uniforms and the taking of prisoners.
Invasion of Russia
The disastrous June 1812 military invasion of Russia by Napoleon's Grand Armee. The Russians retreated all summer, drawing the French deep into Russia. When the winter began the French began an epic retreat.
scorched earth
A military defensive tactic where a retreating army burns all resources that an advancing enemy could possibly use, including structures, towns, and fields of crops.
Congress of Vienna
One of the most important diplomatic events in European history, the Congress went from November 1814 to June 1815. The goal of the diplomats was to restore European order after the defeat of Napoleon.
Prince Metternich
he served as the Austrian Foreign Minister and later the Chancellor (Prime Minister) during most of the first half of the 1800's. His conservative views dominated European international politics for decades after the Congress of Vienna.
restoration
The act of returning a monarch to their throne, a government to power, or the control of a previous regime.
Hundred Days
The period from March to July 1815 when Napoleon escaped from Elba and attempted to restore his control over France. It ended with his defeat at Waterloo and his capture and exile to St. Helena.
Battle of Waterloo
Decisive June 1815 battle, the last in Napoleon's career. He was defeated by Prussian and British forces led by the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon was later taken prisoner and sent to his final exile.
astronomy
the branch of science that deals with the study of celestial objects, the universe, the heavens.
astrology
a pseudoscience that attempts to predict events by the study of the movement of stars and planets.
star charts
These are maps of the nighttime sky showing constellations and stars. They have been used for many centuries by navigators.
Ptolemy
A 100's CE Greek-Egyptian astronomer and cartographer who did extensive work in astronomy and supported the geocentric theory of how the universe operated. He also drew many of the most used portolani (maps).
geocentric theory
An ancient scientific theory that the earth is at the center of the universe and that all heavenly objects revolve around it.
heliocentric theory
A scientific theory that the sun, not the earth, is at the center of our universe and that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around.
elliptical
An enclosed circle that is oval in shape
telescope
A scientific tool used to enhance one's sight when observing objects in the sky.
lunar
Of, or pertaining to the moon.
solar
Of, or pertaining to the sun
heresy
To hold positions that are contrary to the accepted teachings of a religious community.
recant
To assert that one no longer accepts beliefs that one once supported; to take back something once proclaimed.
alchemy
A forerunner of chemistry, it was focused on the transformation of matter, especially base metals, such as lead, into gold.
Universal Laws
A belief in physics that there are scientific rules that are true everywhere and for all time. Gravity is a prime example.
gravity
A natural phenomenon in which all objects with mass and energy are drawn towards one another.
plagiarize
To take credit for the work of someone else and to pass it off as your own; to copy.
mechanistic
Theories that explain phenomena in purely physical or deterministic terms.
anatomy
The branch of science that deals with the study of the bodily structure of humans and other animals.
Galen
A 100's CE Greek physician whose ideas about anatomy and medicine dominated medical theories for over 1,000 years.
Bloodletting
The now discredited practice of withdrawing blood from a patient to treat or prevent illness or disease.
folk remedies
The use of herbs, foods, and household items to treat illnesses and disease by medical laymen. Some have shown effectiveness, others none.
circulatory system
The complex system of veins and arteries that move blood through the body.
entomology
the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects.
metamorphosis
In insects or amphibians, the transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.
Smallpox
A viral infection that caused high fever and an outbreak of painful blisters all over the body. Over 90% of the infected died.
inoculation
A method of injecting immunities to a particular disease directly into the body.
querelles de femmes
Term for the centuries long debate about the proper role for women in European society.
midwife
Historically, a woman trained in the care of expecting mothers and in the delivery of babies.
Rationalism
The theory that opinions or actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious beliefs or emotional responses.
cogito ergo sum
Famous Latin expression credited to Descartes; it translates as "I think, therefore I am."
Empiricism
The theory that all knowledge comes from experience and evidence rather than from tradition.
Scientific Method
Radical new way of developing and confirming knowledge, developed in the 1600's and credited to Sir Francis Bacon. It involves a three-step process of hypothesis, experimentation, new hypothesis.
Scientific Societies
National scientific organizations, such as the British Royal Society and the French Academy, that bring together the leading scientists to share and collaborate.
Enlightenment
An European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas of God, nature, reason, and humanity were challenged and reassessed. It was predominantly associated with France.
philosophes
The French term for "philosopher," it is used to describe the leading intellects of the Enlightenment, such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.
relativism
The belief that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context and are not absolute.
"noble savage"
An Enlightenment idea, associated with Rousseau, that believed that early and primitive man was free from sin, materialistic desire, and was more happy and free than the supposedly civilized Europeans.
censorship
The suppression of any part of a book, publication, film, or work of art because of perceived offensive political, sexual, or religious content.
salon
Fashionable rooms in Parisian homes, run by elegant women, where the ideas of the Enlightenment could be debated and discussed by both genders.
separation of powers
The political concept, advocated by Montesquieu, where government's powers are divided into different branches, such as executive and legislative.
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