AP World History Unit 3 Flashcards

EUROPE

  • In General:
    • Monarchies gained power due to the end of the Medieval Period.
    • More literacy due to the Gutenberg Printing Press.
    • Increase in economic development and centralization.
  • New Monarchies (1500s):
    • Desire for centralized power.
    • Controlled taxes, army, and aspects of religion.
    • Examples: England (Tudors), France (Valois), Spain (Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand).
    • Used wealth and power to fund overseas explorations and establish colonies.

ADMINISTRATION/GOVERNANCE (EUROPE)

  • Bureaucracies increased, and the middle class grew in power.
  • Lords and churches began to lose power.
  • England (Tudors):
    • Religion: divine right of kings.
    • Bureaucracy: justices of the peace, Parliament, English Bill of Rights.
    • Led to growing power for the middle class and a decrease in power for feudalism/lords.
  • France (Louis XIV - The Sun King):
    • Religion: divine right of the monarchy.
    • Centralization under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu: intendants collected taxes (tax farmers, usually bureaucratic elites).
    • Absolutism under Louis XIV: king had complete authority, combined lawmaking and the justice system.
    • Architecture: Louis XIV kept nobles at the Palace of Versailles to intimidate them and prevent plotting.

BELIEF SYSTEMS (EUROPE)

  • Protestant Reformation:
    • Lutheranism: Martin Luther proposed the 95 Theses, reforms to the church due to corruption (e.g., indulgences).
    • Calvinism: John Calvin broke with the church, emphasized simplicity, hard work ethic, and obedience. Led to groups including Huguenots in France and Puritans in England.
    • Anglicanism: King Henry VIII of England created the Church of England (Anglican Church) to divorce his wife, free of the pope's control.
  • Counter-Reformation (Catholic Reformation):
    • Response of the Roman Catholic Church to reform and rebellion by Protestant groups.
      • Inquisition increased to root out and punish nonbelievers (used torture).
      • Jesuits created to spread missionary activity into the Spanish Empire, Japan, and India.
      • Council of Trent: corrected some corrupt practices but pushed back against Protestantism, banning books.
  • Scientific Revolution:
    • Began to see the world using reason, not blind faith.
    • Empiricism (Francis Bacon), Sir Isaac Newton (gravitational force).

RUSSIA

  • Ivan IV/Ivan the Terrible expanded the border of Russia eastward, taking land from Mongol control.
  • Gained control of the Volga River (connected to the Caspian Sea), enabling trade with Persia and the Ottoman Empire without Mongol interference.
  • Utilized gunpowder and groups of warrior-peasants called Cossacks.
  • Post-Ivan IV tsars continued to move east into Siberia, eventually to the Pacific Ocean, using militias, fur traders, and missionaries.
  • Increase in rebellions against the Mongols led to Tsarist Russia (beginning with Ivan III/the Great).
  • Ivan IV/Ivan the Terrible:
    • Moved Boyars (nobles) to Moscow to intimidate them and prevent plotting.
    • Used secret police called oprichnina.
    • Known to kill those who opposed him.
  • The Romanovs under Peter the Great:
    • Initially had the support of the church, then lost it due to reforms (trying to westernize Russia).
    • Centralization: reorganized Russia into provinces.
    • Bureaucracy: created a senate.
    • Taxation.
    • Architecture: moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg and had it built in a rectangular grid.
  • Unique blend of Mongol influence from Central Asia and European influence due to Viking invasions and trading.
  • The Orthodox Church had been a unifying force for the Russian people and tsars.
  • To gain more power, Peter the Great abolished the position of patriarch and incorporated the Church into the government, creating the Holy Synod to answer to the tsar.

EAST ASIA

  • China:
    • The Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in China was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), who expanded into Mongolian territory and restored the Great Wall.
    • Continued to fight the Mongols until the Qing Dynasty took over (1644-1911).
  • Under the Qing Dynasty:
    • Emperor Kangxi expanded to Taiwan, Mongolia, and Central Asia (including establishing Tibet as a protectorate of China).
    • Emperor Qianlong expanded west into Xinjiang (brutally), Tibet (again), and tried to expand to Burma and Vietnam.
  • Japan:
    • Different daimyo leaders expanded within Japan to try to unify most of it.
  • China:
    • Under the Yuan Dynasty, there was a lot of Mongol influence.
    • The Ming Dynasty brought back the civil service exam to undo this influence.
    • In the Qing Dynasty, the bureaucracy became corrupt, leading to rebellion; the government turned to harsh military control.
  • Japan:
    • Military leaders first ruled under shoguns (military representing the emperor).
    • Conflict between daimyo (landowning aristocrats) and their samurai armies led to instability.
    • Unification began with Oda Nobunaga (daimyo leader who took over 1/3 of Japan).
    • Continued under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (who unified almost all of Japan).
    • Then Tokugawa Ieyasu led with the Tokugawa Shogunate (turned daimyo into landlords rather than independent leaders).
    • Evolved from military-sponsored families to central governing.
  • Mix of Buddhism and Confucianism in China and tributary states.
  • Shintoism included in Japan.

GUNPOWDER EMPIRES

  • Expansion by Tamerlane (Mongol-Turkic ruler) into Central Asia and the Middle East using gunpowder, ghazi ideal, and brutal conquest led to the emergence of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires.
  • Ottoman Empire (Turkey, 1300-1918):
    • Mehmed II: took Constantinople, renamed it Istanbul, and focused on areas around the Black Sea and Balkans, using cannons and navy. Established tribute with taxes paid from Italy.
    • Suleiman I: took parts of Hungary and almost Austria, parts of Greece in the Mediterranean, and Tripoli in North Africa.
  • Safavid Empire (Persia, 1501-1760):
    • Had no real navy and lacked natural defenses, so it was difficult to expand.
    • Shah Abbas I: used imported weapons from Europe, trying to expand farther in Persia toward the Ottoman Empire; armies clashed.
  • Mughal Empire (India, 1520s-1800s):
    • Babur’s conquests in Northern India and expansion led to the creation of the empire.
    • Akbar: expansion of trade led to wealth and a golden age of the empire.
    • Aurangzeb: attempts to expand to southern India became expensive and weakened the empire.
  • Ottoman Empire:
    • Devshirme system: “recruits” of Christian boys aged 8-20 who were taught to be scribes, diplomats, bodyguards, and militia for the sultan. Parents often wanted their sons selected as it was an opportunity for social mobility.
    • Example: Janissaries (elite forces).
    • Tax collection.
    • Arts/architecture: mosques (e.g., Suleymaniye Mosque), forts, and other arts (e.g., poetry).
  • Mughal Empire:
    • Akbar: extended the empire and defeated competing militias.
    • Used centralized government and civil service.
    • Paid government officials called zamindars represented duties like taxation, construction, and water supply maintenance.
    • Shah Jahan: used architectural accomplishments like the Taj Mahal and other buildings (combining Islamic and local styles) to show power.
  • Safavid Empire:
    • Shi’a Islam was used as a unifying force, allowing shahs to control religion and political structure.
    • Strict adherence to Shi’a policies = law.
    • Architecture was also used to showcase power.
  • Ottoman Empire:
    • Sunni Islam.
    • Mostly tolerant of other groups under Suleiman, less under later rulers.
  • Safavid Empire:
    • Mostly Shi’a Islam.
    • No tolerance (e.g., Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the Sunni population).
  • Mughal Empire:
    • Tolerance under Akbar, who tried to blend Islam and Hinduism together (did not work).
    • Less tolerance under later rulers.

OTHER FACTORS OF NOTE

  • 1450 is the end of the medieval period, which means moving away from feudalism and the plague and moving into exploration, expansion, and new thought.
  • Pattern of tribute for governing control:
    • The Aztec did it with the Tribute System, China did it with Tributary States, and the Songhai Empire (Africa) had tributary states.
  • Religious systems also led to many conflicts on the battlefield, not just in policy:
    • In Germany, the Peace of Augsburg allowed German states to choose whether its leader would be Catholic or Lutheran.
    • In France, the Edict of Nantes allowed Huguenots to practice their faith (until King Louis XIV revoked it).
    • The Thirty Years’ War between Catholics and Protestants led to economic catastrophe for most of Europe, resulting in famine, starvation, and disease. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia, allowing each area of the Holy Roman Empire to be either Catholic, Lutheran, or Calvinist.
    • France, Spain, and Italy chose Catholicism, Northern Europe was Lutheran or Calvinist, and England was Protestant with a state church.