Review Flashcards for European History

Anchor Dates Units 1-3

  • 1642-1651: English Civil War
    • James I & Charles I attempted to rule without Parliament.
    • Roundheads (anti-king) vs. Cavaliers (pro-king).
    • Charles I overthrown and executed.
    • Interregnum under Cromwell: Puritan "Republic" that evolved into a military dictatorship.
    • Charles II restored to the throne.
  • c. 1650 - Baroque Art Development
    • Used by absolutists like Louis XIV in Versailles.
    • Ornate and dramatic use of light and shading.
    • Often depicted Catholic subjects.
    • Key Artists: Bernini & Caravaggio.
  • 1651 - Thomas Hobbes publishes Leviathan
    • Supported absolutism.
    • Presented a negative view of human nature.
    • Influenced by the turmoil of the English Civil War.
  • 1682 - Peter the Great becomes Tsar (r. 1682-1725)
    • Sought to westernize Russia, inspired by Louis XIV.
    • Built a new capital at St. Petersburg.
    • Forced boyars to shave their beards.
    • Established the "Table of Ranks," introducing meritocracy.
  • 1688: Glorious Revolution
    • Motivated by fear of England becoming Catholic.
    • William & Mary of the Netherlands invited to take the throne.
    • Bloodless coup.
    • The English Bill of Rights protected the rights of Parliament and established a Constitutional Monarchy in England.
  • 1713 - Treaty of Utrecht
    • Ended the War of the Spanish Succession, triggered by the death of Charles II (last Habsburg king of Spain).
    • Philip V (grandson of Louis XIV) accepted on the throne, but Spain & France could not unite.
    • Shifted the balance of power toward France & the Bourbons.

Anchor Dates Units 4-6

  • 1543: Copernicus proposes Heliocentric Theory
    • Updated the Ptolemaic system (geocentric) but maintained circular orbits.
    • Foe Kepler will discover orbits are elliptical and driven by force of gravity
  • 1588-1672: Dutch Golden Age
    • Religious toleration.
    • Commercial enterprises: stock exchange in Amsterdam & Dutch East India Co.
    • Art: Rembrandt & Vermeer.
    • Decline after Anglo-Dutch Wars/Franco-Dutch Wars & "disaster year" of 1672.
  • 1600 - British East India Co. Establishes Trade Network
    • Tea & spices lucrative for Britain.
    • Naval supremacy was key to establishing this empire.
    • Mercantilism.
  • 1633 - Galileo forced to recant his theories by the Inquisition
    • Accused of heresy for publicizing Copernicus's model.
    • Books placed on the "Index of Forbidden Books."
    • Placed under house arrest.
  • 1700 - Seed Drill
    • Improvements in agriculture (incl. Enclosure movement of 1600s) increased production.
    • Population boom led to people moving to cities.
    • Helped solve Malthusian issue of food limiting population growth.
  • 1713 - Pragmatic Sanction
    • Allowed Maria Theresa to ascend to the Austrian throne in lieu of a male heir.
    • War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) provoked as Frederick the Great invaded Silesia.
    • Maria Theresa kept the throne and became an "enlightened despot."
    • Prussia rose as a European power.
    • Son Joseph II will abolish serfdom & allow toleration unlike Catholic Maria Theresa.
  • 1729 - Catherine the Great (r. 1729-1796)
    • Acquired warm water ports on the Black Sea (Crimea).
    • Made educational reforms including schools for girls.
    • Corresponded with Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire & Diderot.
    • Some religious toleration to Jews and allowed settlement in Western Russia ("Pale of Settlement").
    • Pugachev's Rebellion showed discontent of serfs.

Anchor Dates Units 4-6

  • 1740 - Frederick the Great (r. 1740 - 1785)
    • Hohenzollern family.
    • Modernized the Prussian army.
    • Partitioned Poland with Austria & Russia (1772).
    • "First servant of the state."
    • Unified code of law for Prussia.
    • Religious toleration, even encouraging Jews & Huguenots to immigrate.
    • Strengthened privileges of Junkers who retained power over their serfs.
  • 1750s-1800: Enlightenment
    • Themes like more representative government, rights for the people, etc.
    • Important Philosophers of the 18th c. Enlightenment:
      • Voltaire: toleration & constitutional monarchy.
      • Rousseau: social contract & republican government.
      • Wollstonecraft: rights of women.
  • 1756-1763: Seven Years' War
    • Fought in America & Europe between France & England for global dominance.
    • Treaty of Paris ends the war with British victory (leadership of PM William Pitt).
    • Both France & England in debt, leading to American then French Revolutions.
  • 1769 - James Watt patents Steam Engine
    • Beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
    • Mechanized production in factories and improvements in transportation (railroads & steamboats).
    • Luddites will oppose the replacement of people with machines.
  • 1776 - Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations
    • Capitalism replaced Mercantilism as the dominant economic system.
    • Classical economists like David Ricardo & Thomas Malthus.
  • 1789 - French Revolution Begins
    • High taxes, social inequality & weak monarch led to revolution.
    • Estates General deadlock led to the tennis court oath to write a new constitution.
    • July - Storming of the Bastille.
    • Feudal rights & titles abolished.
    • Women march to Versailles & take royals to Paris.
    • 1791 - Constitutional Monarchy.
    • "Moderate" inspired by Enlightenment.
  • 1793 - Louis XVI executed
    • French Republic established.
    • Reign of Terror under Robespierre & Committee of Public Safety ("radical phase").
    • Catholicism abolished & Cult of Reason/new calendar created.
    • 1795 - Directory established after overthrow of Robespierre (final phase more conservative).
  • 1799-1815: Napoleon's Reign
    • Took power in coup d'etat.
    • First consul emperor.
    • Concordat with the Papacy & creation of Napoleonic Code (meritocracy, freedom of religion, property rights but limited rights of women).
    • Military success at Austerlitz but defeated in Russia & Continental System failed.
    • Exiled & defeated finally at Waterloo.
  • 1800s: Romanticism
    • Focus on nature & emotion vs. logic & industrial progress.
    • Poetry (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, etc.).
    • Art (Friedrich, Delacroix, etc.).
    • Music (Beethoven, Wagner, etc.).
  • 1815 - Congress of Vienna
    • Began era of Conservatism led by Klemens von Metternich.
    • Goals: establish a "concert of Europe," balance of power & restore legitimate monarchs deposed by Napoleon to the thrones.
    • Balance of power lasted until German Unification (1871) and began time of peace aside from Crimean War (1853-6).
  • 1832 - Great Reform Bill
    • Increased English electorate by lowering property requirements.
    • Liberal Bill.
    • Later liberal acts included Chartist Movement (1838) - first major working class movement in England.
    • Repeal of the Corn Laws (1846) leading to England making reforms and avoids revolutions unlike more conservative states.
  • 1834 - Zollverein established
    • Free trade union in Germany.
    • Economic system lay the foundations for later unification.
  • 1848 - Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto
    • Struggle between proletariat & bourgeoisie.
    • Urges worldwide revolution & creation of a classless society run by workers ("dictatorship of the proletariat").
  • 1848 - Revolutions of 1848
    • After 1st wave of Revolutions in 1830… nationalism & liberalism led to revolutions in France (overthrow of Louis Philippe & then election of Louis Napoleon), Italy (led by Mazzini), Austria (abolished robot-tax) & Germany (Frankfurt Assembly creates a new constitution that's soon ignored).
    • Conservatives reasserted control due to internal divisions, causing revolutions to fail.

Anchor Dates Units 7-9

  • 1933 - Hitler becomes Chancellor
    • Ideas of master Aryan race, lebensraum (living space), Third Reich (thousand year empire), anti-Communism & anti-Semitism.
    • Nuremberg Laws (1935).
    • Used Reichstag Fire & death of President Hindenburg to consolidate his power.
    • Mass rallies held.
    • Hitler Youth, Secret Police (SS) & Propaganda used to control.
  • 1938 - Munich Conference
    • Chamberlain appeases Hitler who already remilitarized the Rhineland & created an Anschluss with Austria.
    • Demanded Sudetenland on principle of self-determination & took the rest of Czechoslovakia too after agreement.
    • Churchill opposed appeasement.
    • Mussolini appeased (Ethiopia) & Japan (Manchuria) - LoN weak.
  • 1939 - WWII Begins
    • Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.
    • Invade & divide Poland.
    • Blitzkrieg success in Northern Europe & France.
    • Miracle at Dunkirk led to the Battle of Britain & Blitz.
    • RAF defeats Luftwaffe with radar.
  • 1941 Operation Barbarossa
    • Hitler invades USSR.
    • Lengthy sieges on Stalingrad & Leningrad.
    • German retreat began '42.
  • 1942 - Midway
    • US halted Japanese advance & goes on offensive using Island hopping.
    • High casualties especially on Japanese home islands like Iwo Jima & Okinawa.
  • 1945 - Yalta Conference
    • Big 3 (FDR, Churchill & Stalin) met 2 years after Tehran to agree Germany would be divided, USSR would join war against Japan & free elections would be held in Eastern Europe.
    • Cold War tensions beginning.
  • 1945 - Atomic Bombs
    • Truman issued Potsdam Declaration Japan would face "utter destruction" prior to bombs.
    • Unconditional surrender of Japan after Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
    • V-J Day marks end of WWII (V-E Day was in May).
  • 1946 - Iron Curtain Speech
    • Churchill warned an iron curtain had descended across the Continent in reference to the USSR's satellite states in Eastern Europe.
    • Shows division between E & W.
    • Warns not to make mistake of appeasement.
  • 1940s-1950s: Containment & Domino Theory
    • US abandons isolationism. Competition between 2 superpowers to expand influence
    • Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan to provide economic aid & NATO/Warsaw Pact as military alliances.
    • Korean War to stop spread of Communism.
    • UN takes a stronger stand than League of Nations.
    • Arms race begins as USSR builds an atomic bomb by 1949.
  • 1956 - Khrushchev's Secret Speech
    • Denounced Stalin's repression & "cult of personality" but only limited de-Stalinization (shown in novel Dr. Zhivago).
    • Crushed Hungarian Uprising in 1956 & executed Nagy who led rebellion.
    • Khrushchev launched Sputnik (1957) & built Berlin Wall (1961). Also Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).
  • 1960s: Decolonization
    • Caused by Nationalism & inability of European powers to maintain empires after WWII. earlier decolonization India (1947).
    • Britain left colonies more willingly. Conflict with French Decolonization (Algeria & Vietnam).
  • 1968 - Student Protests & Prague Spring
    • Uprisings against de Gaulle in France & attempts by Alexander Dubcek in Czechoslovakia.
    • Brezhnev Doctrine asserted USSR's right to intervene in domestic affairs of other Communist nations.
  • 1972 - Detente
    • Cold War tensions thaw as Nixon visits Moscow. SALT agreements to limit nuclear weapons & Vietnamization leads to end of US in Vietnam & fall to Communists by 1975.
  • 1979 - Margaret Thatcher elected PM
    • Conservative & opposed welfare state
  • Fall of Berlin Wall (1989)
    • Symbolizes beginning of collapse of the USSR & end of its hold over its satellite states. USSR CIS by 1991.
  • 1993 - Treaty of Maastricht
    • Created the European Union.
    • Preceded by Treaty of Rome (1957) which created a common market & eliminated customs duties between European nations in 1968.

Anchor Dates Units 7 - 9

  • 1853-1856: Crimean War
    • Started with conflict over Turkish-controlled Jerusalem.
    • Other European powers saw Russia as a threat to the balance of power.
    • Sevastopol - largest battle; "Charge of the Light Brigade" poem by Lord Tennyson.
    • Ottoman Empire = "sick man of Europe."
    • Florence Nightingale - nursing. Considered first modern war.
  • 1857 - Sepoy Rebellion
    • Indian soldiers rebel after hearing cartridges were greases with pork and beef fat.
    • British Raj (direct rule) established after rebellion.
    • India was the "jewel in the crown" of the British empire.
  • 1859-1870: Italian Unification
    • Carbonari - early nationalists.
    • Young Italy led by Mazzini argue for a republic.
    • Cavour uses realpolitik to unify Italy starting with modernizing Piedmont's army war with Austria.
    • Garibaldi & Red Shirts work from the South.
    • Unify Italy under King Victor Emmanuel II.
    • Venice & Papal States added last. Divisions N & S continue
  • Late 19th c: Second Industrial Revolution
    • steel, oil, electricity & chemicals.
    • Germany joins Britain as a leader of industry.
    • Socialism rises. Revisionists like Bernstein (Germany) more moderate than Russian Socialists like Lenin.
    • Trends toward extending the franchise to working-class men by 1914.
  • 1864-1871: German Unification
    • Debates over kleindeutsch (small) & grossdeutsche (large Germany - includes Austria).
    • Bismarck unites Germany through "blood & iron"--war with Denmark, Austrian & France.
    • Franco-Prussian War ended with Napoleon III's surrender.
    • France ceded Alsace-Lorraine. King William I proclaimed German emperor
  • 1884 - Berlin Conference
    • Scramble for Africa led by Bismarck. No African representation.
    • Britain & France get the most territory.
    • Belgium controls Congo with Leopold II ruling brutally.
    • Only Ethiopia & Liberia independent.
  • 1903 - Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women's Political and Social Union (WSPU)
    • Women's suffrage movement becomes more militant in 20th c.
    • Hunger strikes & violence used to achieve goals.
  • 1914 - WWI Begins
    • Assassination of Franz Ferdinand sets off Alliance system global conflict from small issue in the Balkans.
    • Schlieffen Plan used by Germany - invades through neutral Belgium.
    • Trench warfare war of attrition & stalemate.
    • Russia overmatched (not industrialized).
    • Western Allies aided by US after Zimmerman Telegram (1917).
  • 1917 - Russian Revolution
    • Tsar Alexander I had abolished serfdom (1861) but Russia backwards despite attempts by Sergei Witte to modernize (Trans-Siberian RR).
    • March Revolution - Tsar abdicated & Provisional government est.
    • November Revolution - Lenin & Bolsheviks seize power. promised "Peace, Land & Bread" & "all power to Soviets."
    • Signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk & ends WWI for Russia. Civil War (Reds vs. Whites) 1918-1921.
  • 1919 - Treaty of Versailles
    • Punished Germany (few of Wilson's 14 Points included).
    • Reparations, War Guilt, loss of territory & demilitarization.
    • Accepted by the Weimar Republic government which was considered weak (Nazis accuse this government of "stabbing Germany in the back").
  • 1921 - Lenin's NEP
    • Compromise between Communism & Capitalism to stimulate industry & production.
    • Allowed people to sell surplus (kulaks sell surplus grain).
  • 1922 - March on Rome
    • Mussolini & Black Shirts put pressure on King to appoint Mussolini PM.
    • Creates Fascist state w/ corporations to run economy.
    • Propaganda & secret police used to control the people. War & militarism central ideas
  • 1923 - German Hyperinflation
    • Lapsed reparations payments France occupied the Ruhr.
    • German mark loses value completely.
    • Hitler attempts his Beer Hall Putsch with Ludendorff but jailed
  • 1928 - Stalin's 5 Year Plans
    • Goal was to increase output of heavy industry: coal, steel, iron, etc. Set huge quotas.
    • Used gulags increase economy & punish enemies.
    • Collectivization liquidation of Kulaks in Ukraine through famine