Comprehensive Notes from Transcript

Renaissance/Reformation

Renaissance Terms

  • Renaissance: Cultural rebirth in Europe (14th–17th centuries) marked by renewed interest in classical art, learning, and values.
  • Individualism: Emphasis on the importance of the individual and personal achievement.
  • Humanism: Intellectual movement focusing on human potential and achievements, inspired by classical texts.
  • Secularism: Focus on worldly subjects instead of religious ones; promoted art, science, and literature outside church control.

Global Empires, Influence

  • Ancient Greece and Rome shaped Renaissance ideas through classical art, architecture (columns, domes), literature, and scientific thought.
  • The Middle East, China, and Africa contributed knowledge, goods, and trade routes, facilitating Europe’s global expansion.

Art in the Renaissance

  • Art was important for expressing humanism and for displaying wealth/power.
  • Key terms:
    • Fresco: Wall painting on wet plaster.
    • Perspective: Technique for three-dimensional depth.
    • Human Anatomy & Movement: Realistic depiction of the human body.
    • Sculpture: Three-dimensional art, often of humans.
    • Architecture: Revival of classical forms and symmetry.

Printing Press

  • Invented by Johannes Gutenberg.
  • Revolutionary because it made books cheaper, increased literacy, and spread ideas quickly.

Reformation Terms

  • Indulgences: Payments to the Church to reduce punishment for sins.
  • Martin Luther: German monk who criticized Church corruption; started the Reformation.
  • 95 Theses: Luther’s list of Church abuses, sparking reform.
  • John Calvin: Reformer who promoted predestination and a strict moral code.
  • Predestination: Belief that God has already chosen who will be saved.
  • Henry VIII: English king who broke from the Catholic Church, creating the Church of England.
  • Council of Trent: Catholic response to the Reformation; reformed Church practices.
  • The Inquisition: Church court to combat heresy; enforced Catholic doctrine.

Scientific Revolution

  • Major events: Copernicus’ heliocentric model, Galileo’s telescope observations.
  • Changed views by promoting observation, experimentation, and challenging traditional authority.

New Global Connections

Motivations for Exploration

  • Europe explored for wealth, trade, spreading Christianity, and curiosity.
  • Portugal, led by Prince Henry the Navigator, spearheaded exploration.

Multiple Perspectives

  • Aztecs and Montezuma: Encountered Spanish conquest, leading to destruction of their civilization and lasting impact on Latin America.

Explorers

  • Vasco De Gama: First to reach India by sea.
  • Prince Henry: Sponsored navigation and exploration.

Columbian Exchange

  • Triangular Trade: Linked Europe, Africa, Americas; traded slaves, raw materials, manufactured goods.

Middle Passage

  • The forced voyage of Africans to the Americas under brutal, inhumane conditions.

Absolutism/Enlightenment

Key Terms

  • Absolute Rule: Monarch holds all power.
  • Divine Right: Monarch’s authority comes from God.
  • Limited Monarchy: Monarch’s power is restricted by law.

Rulers

  • Philip II (Spain), Louis XIV (France), Maria Theresa (Austria), Frederick the Great (Prussia), Peter the Great & Catherine the Great (Russia): Centralized power, expanded territories, modernized states.

Philosophers

  • Locke: Natural rights, government by consent.
  • Hobbes: Strong government needed to avoid chaos.
  • Montesquieu: Separation of powers.
  • Wollstonecraft: Women’s rights.
  • Rousseau: Social contract, general will.
  • Diderot: Encyclopedia, spread Enlightenment ideas.

Age of Revolutions

English Civil War

  • Tudors: Henry VII, Elizabeth I—strengthened monarchy.
  • Roundheads (Parliament) vs. Cavaliers (King).
  • Cromwell led Parliament, executed Charles I.
  • Glorious Revolution: William and Mary invited to rule, establishing constitutional monarchy.

French Revolution

  • Key events: Tennis Court Oath, March on Versailles, Constitution, execution of Louis XVI, Reign of Terror led by Robespierre.
  • Guillotine: Symbol of revolutionary justice.

Napoleon

  • Spread revolutionary ideas, reformed laws, but became emperor and waged wars.

Haitian Revolution

  • Toussaint Louverture led successful slave revolt, first independent Black republic.

Unification

  • Italy and Germany unified through war and diplomacy, shifting European balance of power.

Industrial Revolution

Britain’s Lead

  • Access to resources, capital, and innovation.

Key Inventions

  • Spinning Jenny, Cotton Gin: Increased textile production.
  • Steam Engine: Powered factories, trains.
  • Textile Industry: First to industrialize.

Transportation

  • Canals, trains improved movement of goods.

Industrialization

  • Urbanization: Growth of cities.
  • Middle Class: Grew in wealth and influence.
  • Working Class: Faced poor conditions.
  • Standard of Living: Eventually improved.
  • Social Mobility: More opportunity for advancement.

Imperialism

Motivations

  • Political (power), economic (resources), cultural (spread civilization).

Key Terms

  • Industrialization: Drove need for resources.
  • Raw Materials: Sought in colonies.
  • Nationalism: Justified expansion.
  • White Man’s Burden: Justified imperialism as civilizing mission.
  • Berlin Conference: Divided Africa among Europeans.
  • Sepoy Rebellion: Indian revolt against British rule.
  • Meiji Restoration: Modernized Japan, resisted colonization.
  • Opium Wars: Britain forced China to trade; led to spheres of influence.

Regional Impacts

  • Africa: Borders drawn without regard for ethnic groups, exploitation (e.g., Belgian Congo).
  • India: British rule led to economic changes, rise of nationalism.
  • Japan: Modernized rapidly, became imperial power.
  • China: Weakened by foreign control, internal rebellions.

World War I

Causes (M.A.I.N.)

  • Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism.

Key Events

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked war.
  • Schlieffen Plan: Germany’s strategy.
  • Central Powers vs. Triple Entente.

Warfare

  • Trenches, new technology (machine guns, gas).

Treaty of Versailles

  • Punished Germany with reparations, loss of territory.
  • Led to instability, future conflicts.

Between the Wars

Russian Revolution

  • Causes: Inequality, war losses, poor leadership, economic hardship, desire for reform.
  • WWI weakened Tsarist regime.
  • Bolsheviks promised peace, land, bread.
  • Lenin: Led revolution, introduced communism.
  • Stalin: Dictatorship, industrialization, purges.

Interwar Culture

  • Uncertainty led to new art forms (DADA, Surrealism), jazz, Harlem Renaissance.

Rise of Totalitarianism

  • Germany: Weimar Republic fell due to economic crisis, hyperinflation; Hitler rose to power.
  • Soviet Union: Collectivization, Five Year Plans, gulags.
  • Italy: Mussolini, fascism, Black Shirts.
  • Japan: Militarism, expansion.

Key Terms

  • Propaganda, totalitarianism, communism, fascism, militarism.

World War II

German Aggression

  • Hitler remilitarized Rhineland, annexed Austria (Anschluss), took Sudetenland, invaded Poland.
  • Britain and France appeased to avoid war (Munich Conference).

War in Europe

  • Blitzkrieg: Fast, coordinated attacks.
  • D-Day: Allied invasion of France, turning point.

War in the Pacific

  • Pearl Harbor: Brought US into war.
  • Island Hopping: US strategy.
  • Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Atomic bombs ended war.

Cold War

Origins

  • US and USSR rivalry after WWII; ideological conflict (capitalism vs. communism).

Key Events

  • Germany divided: West (capitalist), East (communist).
  • Berlin Wall, nuclear arms race, proxy wars (Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan).

Key Terms

  • Detente: Easing of tensions.
  • Berlin Wall: Symbol of division.
  • Nuclear Arms Race: Competition for nuclear superiority.