Midterm Exam

Renaissance Culture

  • rebirth of classical learning

  • renewed interest in Greece + Rome acheivements

  • reason/observation

Leonardo da Vinci

  • “universal man” excelling in multiple fields of knowledge and creativity

  • paintings (Mona Lisa, Last Supper)

  • contributions to anatomy, engineering, architecture, science

  • humanism → limitless potential of human achievement

Machiavelli

  • political philosopher and historian

  • The Prince, a book about rulers prioritizing power + stability rather than morality

Exploration/Discovery

Prince Henry the Navigator

  • sponsored exploration along the west African coast, didn’t explore himself

  • advanced navigation techniques and mapmaking

  • established schools for navigation

  • laid the ground work for Portugal’s colonial empire + European expansion into Africa, Asia, and the Americas

Vaso de Gama

  • Portuguese explorer

  • 1st European to reach India by sea, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (1498)

  • Established direct trade route between Europe and Asia

  • boosted Portugal’s wealth and influence, especially in the spice trade

Christopher Columbus

  • Italian explorer, sponsored by Spain

  • searched for the western route to Asia but landed in the Americas

  • disease, conquest, forced labour

  • Columbian exchange

    • exchange of crops, technology, diseases between the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia

Navigational Techniques

  • magnetic compass

  • improvements in cartography

  • better ships, sails, could go further,

    • expand European trade and colonization

Reformation and Religious Changes

Martin Luther

  • German monk and theologian

  • 95 Thesis, criticized catholic indulgences/corruption

  • ignited the protestant reformation

  • justification by faith, not by works

    • Sola Fide, salvation by faith alone

      • not good works/indulgences

  • Diet of Worms

    • Luther ordered to recant his views

    • Emperor Charles 5th

    • excommunication, break between protestants and catholics

    • declared an outlaw, saved by German princes

  • Henry the 8th left the church, declared himself head of the church of England so that he could divorce his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon

Elizabeth Settlement

  • Elizabeth !st

  • english establishing a middle ground between the catholic and protestant practices

  • ensure religious stability, while maintaining the monarch’s control over the church

Council of Trent/Inquisition

  • catholic church’s response to Reformation

  • reaffirm catholic doctrine and combat protestant influence

  • Reinforce Popal authority, importance of tradition

Wars of Religion

  • French civil war

    • french catholics + Huguenots (protestants)

      1) massacre of Vassy

      2)St Bartholomew’s Day massacre

      3) wars of the 3 Henrys

    • fueled by religious differences, control of the French throne

    • end of war

      • Edict of Nantes

        • limited religious freedoms to the hugenotes

        • brought peace to France

  • Dutch Revolt

    • Dutch/Spanish ruler

    • Spanish armada

    • massive fleet philip 2 spain to invade england

    • english overpowered/retreat, wind killed more

    • trying to kill Queen Elizabeth

  • Peace of Ausberg + Peace of Westphalia

    • religious tolerance

    • westphalia - ended the 30 years war

Rise of Absolute + constitutional monarchies

  • Louis

    • absolutism, no parliment, centralized power

    • built palace of Versailles

Dutch Republic + constitutionalisms

  • established principles of democracy

  • protected individual rights

  • limit the governments power

French Revolution (compared to american)

  • FR

    • Socail inequity, financial crisis, absolutism (FR)

    • social class focus

    • radical chance in social structures, eventual rise in napolean empire

    • Declaration of Rights of Man

      • liberty + equality

      • model for human rights/movements

      • more constitutional reforms in france

      • bastille + lafayette

        • storming of bastille, stormed by people of paris who wanted to free political prisoners and get weapons (began the revolution)

        • lafayette - drafted declaration of rights of man

  • AR

    • independence, self governacce, colonists against British colonial rule (AR)

    • less focus on social class

    • formation of republic, individual rights + freedoms

  • Reign of terror

    • Robespierre + jacobins

    • beleived violence was necessary to protect the republic

    • mass executions, political purges

    • killing of perceived enemies of the revolution

    • guillotine

    • ended when Robespierre was arrested + executed

    • push to end violence +restore stability to France

    • highlight dangers of revolutionary extremism