Modern World History Final

The Renaissance

  • Renaissance- An age of thought, learning, art, and science

    • Philosophical and Artistic Movement

    • Europe from 1200 to 1600 AD.

    • Renaissance = Rebirth

  • Reformation- A major religious movement that challenged the catholic church’s authority

  • Italy- Birthplace of the Renaissance

    • Italian city-states became rich from trade:

      • Florence

      • Venice

      • Genoa

      • Rome

    • Italy is surrounded by  cities

    • Surrounded by water used for trade and transportation

    • Plenty of trading centers and independent city-states governed as republics by wealthy merchants

  • Art/Fresco- 

    • Medieval art and literature focused on the church and salvation

    • Renaissance art and literature focused on individuals and worldly matters, along with Christianity 

    • Realism: State of real life

    • A fresco is a painting technique where pigments are applied to wet plaster, becoming an integral part of the wall itself.

  • Johannes Gutenberg- invented the movable type printing press, a revolutionary invention that significantly impacted the spread of knowledge and literacy.

  • William Shakespeare- William Shakespeare's writing was deeply influenced by the Renaissance, particularly the English Renaissance, which was a period of cultural and artistic revival.

  • Machiavelli- During the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli served as a statesman in Florence, working as secretary to the Second Chancery and Secretary to the Ten. He was also a diplomat, traveling to various courts in Italy, France, and Germany.

  • Theocracy- a form of government where God or a deity is recognized as the supreme ruler, and religious leaders interpret and enforce their laws.

  • Indulgences- a certificate issued by the Catholic Church that claimed to reduce or eliminate the time a person would spend in purgatory after death

  • Da Vinci/ Creations- Leonardo da Vinci was a quintessential Renaissance Man, known for his contributions to art, science, and engineering. His most famous creations include paintings like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, as well as inventions and studies in anatomy, architecture, and engineering.

  • Luther- a significant cultural, ecclesial, and ecumenical movement in Germany, Scandinavia, and Finland between 1900 and 1960, focused on understanding and promoting Martin Luther's theology.

  • Galileo- He was a brilliant astronomer, physicist, and mathematician who revolutionized scientific understanding and challenged traditional beliefs.

  • Michelangelo/Creations- a multi-talented artist renowned for his sculptures, paintings, and architecture. His most famous creations include the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the David sculpture

  • Newton- He played a pivotal role in the transition from the Renaissance, with its focus on a more humanistic understanding of the world, to the Enlightenment and its emphasis on scientific inquiry. Newton's work laid the foundation for modern physics and advanced the understanding of motion, gravity, and optics, making him a key figure in the Scientific Revolution.

Age of Exploration

  • Europeans- Leaders of the exploration trend

    • Created a variety of technologies

    • After the Renaissance, the perspective on trade routes was changed, and that pushed more Europeans to explore the world

  • Caravel- A caravel was a small, fast, and maneuverable sailing ship that was crucial to the Age of Exploration (15th-16th centuries). Developed by the Portuguese, it featured a low draft, lateen sails, and a smaller crew, making it ideal for exploring the world's oceans.

  • 3 C’s

    • Cash

      • Find whatever could make you wealthy,

    • Christianity

      • Convert the people of the new continent

    • Conquest

      • Claim territory for your people

      • Become Famous

  • Economics

    • During the Age of Exploration, the European economy was dominated by mercantilism, a system where countries sought to amass wealth through trade, resource monopolization, and strict regulations. This era saw the rise of European colonialism, with countries like Spain, England, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands establishing colonies in the Americas to exploit resources and facilitate trade with the mother country.

  • International Exchange- 

    • As more Europeans began to arrive in America, they began to exchange various things between the 2 countries

      • Food

      • Animals

      • Technology

      • Diseases

    • This system of continental trading is known as the Columbian Exchange

  • Gallery- a room or space within a home or building used for displaying art, curiosities, or objects of interest related to exploration. Wealthy explorers usually had these.

  • Scale- was crucial for determining distances and understanding the size of geographic areas. It allowed explorers to navigate and understand the vast, unknown territories they were charting.

  • Title-  term indicating their status or role within the exploration efforts.

Industrial Revolution

  • Urbanization- Industrialization created jobs in urban centers, attracting people from rural areas and leading to rapid city growth.

  • Karl Marx- a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary socialist known for his theories on capitalism, socialism, and communism.

  • Proletariat- workers or working-class people, regarded collectively

  • Bourgeoisie- the wealthy, capitalist class who owned and controlled the means of production, such as factories and machinery.

Modern China

  • Mao Zedong- Founder of the Chinese Communist Party 

    • Later became China’s revolutionary leader

    • Wanted to bring revolution to rural areas

  • Vladimir Lenin- 

    • Befriends China

    • Sent military advisors and equipment to the Nationalists in return for allowing Chinese Communists to join the Kuomintang (Dominant political party)

  • Tiananmen Square- A massacre where many protesting students 

    • Chinese students who studied abroad saw the democracy in America and realized they wanted China to be like it. 

    • They protested, and the Chinese Military ran them over with tanks

  • Rice- China is the main producer of Rice in the world

Korea and Cambodia

  • Steps of the Korean War-

    • The invasion, the UN counteroffensive, the Chinese intervention, and the stalemate leading to an armistice.

  • Khmer Rouge-

    • Communist Group- Thoughts just like Stalin

      • Led by Pol Pot- Launched a mass genocide of people who didn’t believe in his thoughts

        • Wanted to make Cambodia a classless society

        • Everyone lives on Collective Farms

      • Needed to wipe out everyone who didn’t go along with the plan

        • Killing Fields- Just like concentration camps in the holocaust

World War I

  • Triple Alliance- “Central Powers”

    • Most Power full nations of Central Europe

    • Germany

      • Signed treaty with Ottoman

    • Italy (Would swap sides in 1915)

    • Austria Hungary

  • Triple Entente- “The Allies”

    • Every other nation of Europe made their own alliance

    • Great Britain

      • Signed treaties with Belgium and Japan

    • France

    • Russia (Would become Soviet Union/USSR mid-war)

      • Treaty with Serbia

    • United States will eventually join near the end of the war

  • Zimmerman Note/ Mexico-

    • Message by Germany to get Mexico to fight the US

    • Take back land lost

  • Lusitania-

    • A British passenger boat that was sunken by a German submarine on May 7, 1915

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand-

    • Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne and his assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 was the event that ignited World War I. His death triggered Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, which ultimately led to the global conflict.

  • Black Hand-

    • Serbia Terrorist Group established in 1911

  • Western Front-

    • a long line of fortified trenches stretching from Belgium and the Netherlands to Switzerland, where the majority of fighting occurred between the Allies

  • Armistice-

    • a specific agreement signed between Germany and the Allied Powers on November 11, 1918, to stop the fighting

  • Paris Peace Conference-

    • An international meeting held in 1919 primarily focused on establishing peace terms after World War I. Negotiations resulted in multiple treaties, most notably the Treaty of Versailles, which dealt with Germany and the redistribution of European borders and territories. The conference also led to the creation of the League of Nations, an international body aimed at preventing future wars.

  • Germany After the War-

    • Germany faced immense economic hardship and political instability. The Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms, including significant territorial losses, demilitarization, and massive reparations payments, leading to hyperinflation and economic collapse, and they couldn’t have a airforce.

World War II

  • Allies Powers- 

    • The United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.

  • Axis Powers

    • Germany, Italy, and Japan

  • Rommel-

    • Erwin Rommel, known as the "Desert Fox," was a German Field Marshal in World War II, celebrated for his innovative tactics and leadership during the North African campaign. He later became disillusioned with Hitler's regime and, implicated in a plot against the Führer, took his own life in 1944 to avoid execution.


  • Horohito-

    • Emperor of Japan, presiding over the country's actions, including the invasion of China, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and ultimately, the surrender to the Allies.

  • D-Day/Date

    • June 6, 1944, when Allied forces launched a massive amphibious invasion of Normandy, France. This event, also known as Operation Overlord, marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.

  • Island Hopping-

    • a military strategy employed by the Allies, primarily the United States, in the Pacific Theater. It involved strategically seizing less heavily fortified islands, bypassing those with strong Japanese defenses, to move closer to Japan and ultimately attack its mainland.

  • Final Solution-

    • was the Nazi regime's plan for the systematic extermination of the Jewish population in Europe during World War II, resulting in the deaths of approximately six million Jews. This genocide was carried out through methods such as mass shootings and deportations to extermination camps.

  • Appeasement-

    • a foreign policy strategy where concessions are made to an aggressive power in the hope of preventing war.

Modern Russia

  • Czar Nicholas II-

    • Nicholas II or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia

  • Super Powers-

    • a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to exert influence and project power on a global scale

  • NATO and Countries

    • Founding Members (1949): Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States.

    • Later Added:

    • Greece, Turkey (1952).

    • Germany (1955).

    • Spain (1982).

    • Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland (1999).

    • Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia (2004).

    • Albania, Croatia (2009).

    • Montenegro (2017).

    • North Macedonia (2020).

    • Finland (2023).

    • Sweden (2024)

  • Warsaw Pact and Countries

    • Est. 1955

      • the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania were the founding members, forming a military alliance in response to NATO.