Unit 7 Vocab

Belle Epoch

- French term meaning “Beautiful Age;” it refers to the decades leading

up to World War I when Europe was at its peak of power.

balance-of-power

- The European diplomatic goal of preventing any single nation from

dominating the entire continent. Britain was especially dedicated to it.

Crimean War (1853 – 1856)

- This was the first major war fought between European nations since

the Napoleonic Wars. Russia faced an alliance of the Ottoman

Empire, Britain, and France. Russia was defeated.

Balkan Peninsula

- The large geographic region of southeastern Europe that includes

Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Bosnia, and other

nations.

“the sick man of Europe”

- Nickname of the Ottoman Empire in the 1800’s and early 1900’s as it

slowly declined as an European power.

Bosporus and Dardanelles

- The two strategic straits that connect the Mediterranean and Black

Seas. Turkey has controlled the straits for centuries. Russia has long

coveted the waterways.

Florence Nightingale

- A British nurse who led a successful public campaign to force the

military and government to allow female nurses to work at the front

during the Crimean War. She is credited with professionalizing

nursing.

nationalism

- An emotional political philosophy that glorifies the nation as the most

fundamental human bond that unites the people of a specific

background to the land where they live.

“The sun never sets on the British Empire”

- This is a famous description of the British Empire in the late-19 th

century when it spanned the globe and encompassed hundreds of

millions of people.

Splendid Isolation

- Term for the foreign policy of Britain following the Crimean War. The

British focused on building and strengthening their Empire and limited

their interactions with other European nations.

Great Reform Bill of 1867

- Law passed by Parliament that extended voting rights to urban

working-class men in Britain. It reflected the growing influence of the

working-class.

Franchise Act of 1884

- Law passed by Parliament that extended voting rights to rural laborers

(peasants) in Britain. This basically enfranchised the entire adult male

population.

universal manhood suffrage

- Political term that means that all adult men have the right to vote.

Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)

- The organization that led the fight for voting rights for British women.

Emmaline Pankhurst

- She was the leading figure in the struggle for voting rights for British

women. Her daughters helped her in the fight. She led the WSPU.

Second French Empire (1852 – 1870)

- Term for the government of Emperor Napoleon III of France. It was a

dynamic period in French history. The Second Empire ended in

France’s military defeat in the Franco – Prussian War in 1870.

plebiscite

- A direct vote by the common people on a significant issue in which the

choice is between “yes” and “no.”

Emperor Napoleon III

- He was a nephew of Napoleon who became the ruler of France, first

as the President of the Second Republic and later as Emperor.

Suez Canal

- One of the great engineering feats of the 19 th century, it links the

Mediterranean and Red Seas. It was built in the 1860’s by French

engineers and financed by British loans.

Piedmont – Sardinia

- The most important of the various Italian states in the 19 th century, it

led the struggle to unify the peninsula into a single nation.

Franco-Prussian War (1870 – 1871)

- The conflict that led to the unification of the modern German nation. It

was carefully orchestrated by Chancellor Bismarck of Prussia as an

opportunity to unite all Germans against the Second French Empire.

France was decisively defeated.

Third French Republic (1870 – 1940)

- It was set up following France’s humiliating defeat in the Franco-

Prussian War and lasted until France’s humiliating defeat in World War

II. It was a period of dynamic culture, but bitterly divided politics.

Paris Commune

- Name of a radical group that seized control of the city government of

Paris during the German siege of the city in the final months of the

Franco-Prussian War. They were brutally crushed by the French Army

in 1871.

Dreyfus Affair

- The biggest political crisis of the Third Republic, it centered on a

French Jewish Army office, Alfred Dreyfus, accused of spying for the

hated Germans. It tore the nation apart politically.

anti-Semitism

- The hatred of the Jewish religion and people.

Theodor Herzl

- An Austrian Jewish journalist who was so shocked at the violent anti-

Semitism of the Dreyfus Affair that he began to advocate for the

creation of an independent Jewish nation.

zionism

- The political and cultural movement that pushed for the creation of the

state of Israel.

Emancipation Edict of 1861

- Historic proclamation issued by Tsar Alexander II of Russia ending

centuries of serfdom in that nation. 50,000,000 serfs were changed in

status to free peasantry.

anarchy

- A radical political movement that advocates the destruction of all forms

of government. It has taken on the meaning of chaos and disorder.

Trans-Siberian Railroad

- A major accomplishment of Russian engineering, it stretches 7,000

miles across Siberia all the way the Russia’s Pacific coast.

Austria-Hungary (aka: Dual Monarchy)

- A vast state in central Europe that was formed when the Austrians

granted equal rights to the Hungarian minority in the old Austria

Empire.

Ausgleich

- The German term for the 1867 decision by the Austrian government to

elevate the Hungarians to equal status within the Empire. It was done

in hopes of saving the Empire from ethnic disintegration.

Count Cavour

- The Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia who led the struggle to

complete the unification of various Italian states into a single kingdom.

defensive alliance

- A military alliance where each partner is pledged to defend every other

member should any bbe attacked by another nation.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

- Italian nationalist leader who had worked closely with Giuseppe

Mazzini in 1848. During the struggle to unify Italy in 1860, he led the

Red Shirts in liberating southern Italy.

Red Shirts

- An Italian nationalist group formed by Garibaldi. The Red Shirts seized

Sicily and the southern regions of the Italian peninsula and later turned

the area over to the new Kingdom of Italy.

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck

- The political leader of Prussia and later, the new German Empire. He

spent years carefully planning the unification of Germany under

Prussia’s dominance. He steered the new nation for 20 years.

Ems Dispatch

- A famous telegram sent from Kaiser Wilhelm I of Prussia to Chancellor

Bismarck. It described a friendly meeting between the Kaiser and the

French ambassador. Bismarck changed the wording to provoke a war

with France.

Alsace – Lorraine

- An historic region laying between France and Germany. The

population is ethnically German, but had been under