unit 5

1. kaiser - A German emperor

2. heliocentric theory – the idea that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun

3. geocentric theory – in the Middle Ages, the earth-centered view of the universe in scholars believed that the earth was an immovable object located at the center of the universe.

4. Westernization – an adoption of the social, political, or economic institutions of Western-especially European or American countries.

5. coup d’état - Sudden overthrow of government leaders by a small group

6. absolute monarch - A king or queen who has unlimited power and seeks to control all aspects of society

7. divine right - The idea that monarchs are God’s representatives on earth and are therefore answerable only to God.

8. czar – a Russian emperor (from the Roman title Caesar)

9. constitutional monarchy - A system of governing in which the ruler’s power is limited by law

10. Scientific Revolution - A major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500s, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs

11. scientific method - A logical procedure for gathering information about the natural world, in which experimentation and observation are used to test hypotheses.

12. Enlightenment - An 18th-century European movement in which thinkers attempted to apply the principles of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of society

13. social contract - The agreement by which people define and limit their individual rights, thus creating an organized society or government

14. Congress of Vienna – a series of meetings in 1814-1815, during which the European leaders sought to establish log lasting peace and security after the defeat of Napoleon.

15. nationalism – the belief that people should be loyal mainly to their nation—that is to the people with whom they share a culture and history, rather than to a king or empire.

16. Declaration of the Rights of Man - Statement passed by the National Assembly of France in 1791 that denounced aristocratic privileges and stated that all citizens were equal with basic civil rights.

17. estate - One of three distinct social classes in France during the 1700s; clergy, nobility, and commoners (the third estate)

18. Estates-General - An assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes, in France