My APE Flashcard for Exam

🛡 WARS & REVOLUTIONS

1. Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453)
   A conflict between England and France over dynastic claims to the French throne; from 1337 to 1453, it fostered nationalism and ended with French victory.

2. Spanish Armada (1588)
   In 1588, Spain's fleet attempted to invade Protestant England but failed, marking the decline of Spanish maritime dominance.

3. Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)
   A religious and political war in the Holy Roman Empire from 1618 to 1648; ended with the Peace of Westphalia and devastated Central Europe.

4. English Civil War (1642–1649)
   A conflict from 1642 to 1649 between Royalists and Parliamentarians in England; resulted in Charles I’s execution and Cromwell’s rise.

5. Great Northern War (1700–1721)
   Fought from 1700 to 1721, this war allowed Russia under Peter the Great to gain access to the Baltic Sea and emerge as a European power.

6. War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714)
   A war from 1701 to 1714 over the Spanish throne; ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, limiting Bourbon power.

7. Seven Years’ War (1756–1763)
   A global conflict (1756–1763) involving most great powers; considered the first “world war,” it redrew colonial and European power balances.

8. French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802)
   From 1792 to 1802, Revolutionary France fought European monarchies to defend and spread revolutionary ideals.

9. Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815)
   Fought between 1803 and 1815, these wars expanded French influence until Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo.

10. Revolutions of 1848
    A series of liberal and nationalist uprisings across Europe in 1848; mostly failed but exposed dissatisfaction with conservative regimes.

11. Crimean War (1853–1856)
    From 1853 to 1856, Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire fought Russia; revealed the fragility of empires.

12. Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)
    A war between France and Prussia in 1870–1871; ended in German unification and France’s loss of Alsace-Lorraine.

13. World War I (1914–1918)
    Fought from 1914 to 1918; caused by nationalism, alliances, and militarism; ended with the Treaty of Versailles.

14. Russian Revolution (1917)
    In 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the Tsar and established a communist regime, leading to the formation of the USSR.

15. Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)
    A civil war in Spain from 1936 to 1939 between Republicans and Nationalists; Franco’s victory established a fascist dictatorship.

16. World War II (1939–1945)
    A total war from 1939 to 1945; began with the invasion of Poland and ended with Allied victory and the beginning of the Cold War.

17. Cold War (1947–1991)
    A period from 1947 to 1991 of ideological conflict between the US and USSR; featured proxy wars, the arms race, and division of Europe.

18. Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001)
    Post-Cold War ethnic conflicts in the Balkans; from 1991 to 2001, involved genocide, NATO intervention, and UN peacekeeping.

👤 KEY PEOPLE

1. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
   Renaissance author of The Prince (1513), which promoted realistic, power-based political leadership.

2. Martin Luther (1483–1546)
   Sparked the Reformation in 1517 with the 95 Theses; emphasized salvation by faith alone.

3. John Calvin (1509–1564)
   Influential Reformer in Geneva who emphasized predestination and created a strict religious community.

4. Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
   Ruled England from 1558 to 1603; defeated the Spanish Armada and fostered the English Renaissance.

5. Louis XIV (1638–1715)
   Absolutist “Sun King” of France (1643–1715); built Versailles and centralized royal power.

6. Peter the Great (1672–1725)
   Russian tsar who modernized Russia and founded St. Petersburg during his reign (1682–1725).

7. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)
   French general who ruled from 1799 to 1815; expanded French influence but was ultimately defeated.

8. Karl Marx (1818–1883)
   Co-author of The Communist Manifesto (1848); theorized class struggle and historical materialism.

9. Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898)
   Unified Germany through “blood and iron” between 1862 and 1871; practiced Realpolitik.

10. Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)
    Led the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution; established the Soviet Union and Marxist-Leninist state.

11. Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
    Prime Minister of the UK during WWII; key figure in Allied victory and early Cold War diplomacy.

12. Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)
    Dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945; led the Holocaust and started WWII.

13. Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)
    Soviet leader who industrialized the USSR and led during WWII and early Cold War (1924–1953).

14. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022)
    Last leader of the USSR (1985–1991); introduced reforms (glasnost & perestroika) that ended the Cold War.

15. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
    Feminist philosopher; published The Second Sex in 1949, shaping modern gender theory.

📜 TREATIES & DOCUMENTS

1. Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
   Signed in 1494, divided the New World between Spain and Portugal by the pope.

2. Peace of Augsburg (1555)
   A 1555 treaty allowing German princes to choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for their realms.

3. Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
   Ended the Thirty Years’ War in 1648; established the concept of state sovereignty.

4. Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
   Signed in 1713 to end the War of Spanish Succession; maintained European balance of power.

5. Treaty of Paris (1763)
   Ended the Seven Years' War in 1763; Britain gained Canada and India, France lost major colonies.

6. Congress of Vienna (1815)
   A post-Napoleonic conference in 1815 that restored monarchies and conservative order in Europe.

7. Treaty of Versailles (1919)
   Signed in 1919; ended WWI, blamed Germany, and created the League of Nations.

8. Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939)
   A non-aggression treaty signed in 1939 between Hitler and Stalin that secretly divided Eastern Europe.

9. Yalta & Potsdam Conferences (1945)
   Held in 1945; established post-WWII zones of occupation and contributed to Cold War tensions.

10. Treaty of Rome (1957)
    Created the European Economic Community in 1957, a step toward EU integration.

11. Maastricht Treaty (1992)
    Signed in 1992; officially created the European Union and introduced the euro.

🤝 ALLIANCES & ORGANIZATIONS

1. Holy League (1571)
   Catholic alliance formed to resist Ottoman expansion; defeated Turks at the Battle of Lepanto.

2. Triple Alliance (1882)
   Military alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed in 1882 before WWI.

3. Triple Entente (1907)
   Alliance between France, Russia, and Britain, formed in 1907 to counterbalance the Triple Alliance.

4. League of Nations (1919)
   Founded in 1919 after WWI to maintain peace; lacked enforcement and U.S. support.

5. Axis Powers (1936–1945)
   Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during WWII, formed by the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936.

6. Allied Powers (WWII)
   Coalition of the UK, USSR, USA, France, and others that defeated the Axis from 1939 to 1945.

7. NATO (1949–present)
   North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed in 1949 for collective Western defense against the USSR.

8. Warsaw Pact (1955–1991)
   Soviet-led Eastern Bloc military alliance created in 1955 in response to NATO.

9. European Union (1993–present)
   Political and economic union formed in 1993; promotes integration and cooperation among European states.

🧠 TERMS, MOVEMENTS, GROUPS, & SLOGANS

1. Realpolitik (mid-1800s)
   A pragmatic political philosophy used notably by Bismarck in the 1860s–1870s; emphasized practical, power-based decisions over ideology or ethics, especially in unifying Germany.

2. "Blood and Iron" (1862)
   A phrase used by Otto von Bismarck in 1862 to argue that German unification would be achieved through war and industrial power rather than diplomacy.

3. Luddites (1811–1816)
   British workers who protested from 1811 to 1816 by destroying machines that threatened their jobs during the early Industrial Revolution.

4. Bolsheviks (founded 1903; seized power in 1917)
   A radical Marxist faction led by Lenin; took control of Russia in the October Revolution of 1917 and established a communist regime.

5. Mensheviks (1903–1917)
   The moderate Marxist faction opposed to the Bolsheviks; favored broad-based socialist cooperation before revolution.

6. Utilitarianism (early 1800s)
   A philosophy by Jeremy Bentham and later John Stuart Mill (1800s) advocating the greatest happiness for the greatest number; used to support social reforms in 19th-century Britain.

7. Utopian Socialism (early to mid-1800s)
   Early socialist thinkers like Charles Fourier and Robert Owen promoted ideal cooperative societies in the early 19th century, before Marx’s scientific socialism.

8. Scientific Socialism / Marxism (1848)
   Developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto (1848); advocated class struggle and historical materialism to abolish capitalism.

9. Zionism (founded 1897)
   A Jewish nationalist movement founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897 seeking a Jewish homeland in Palestine, reacting to European anti-Semitism.

10. Chartism (1838–1857)
    A British working-class movement from 1838 to the 1850s demanding political reforms like universal male suffrage and secret ballots.

11. Romanticism (late 1700s–mid-1800s)
    An artistic and intellectual movement from the late 1700s through the mid-1800s emphasizing emotion, nature, and nationalism, reacting to Enlightenment rationalism.

12. Impressionism (1870s–1880s)
    A French art movement in the 1870s–1880s (e.g., Monet, Renoir) that used loose brushwork and light to capture fleeting moments.

13. Dadaism (1916–1924)
    An anti-art movement during and after WWI (1916–1924) that rejected reason and embraced absurdity as a reaction to the horrors of war.

14. Surrealism (1920s–1940s)
    An artistic and literary movement of the 1920s–1940s influenced by Freud; explored dreams and the unconscious (e.g., Salvador Dalí).

15. Fascism (1920s–1945)
    A far-right authoritarian ideology that emerged in Italy under Mussolini in the 1920s and spread to Germany and Spain; emphasized nationalism, militarism, and anti-communism.

16. Nazism (1930s–1945)
    A form of fascism specific to Germany under Hitler; racist, anti-Semitic, and expansionist, leading to WWII and the Holocaust.

17. Totalitarianism (20th century)
    A 20th-century system of government with total state control over all aspects of life, seen in Stalin’s USSR, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy.

18. Appeasement (1930s)
    A policy in the 1930s where Britain and France allowed Hitler to annex territory (like Sudetenland in 1938) to avoid war, which ultimately failed.

19. Iron Curtain (1946–1991)
    Term coined by Churchill in 1946 to describe the political division of Europe into communist East and democratic West during the Cold War.

20. Containment (late 1940s–1980s)
    A U.S. Cold War strategy from the late 1940s to prevent the spread of communism, influencing NATO formation and involvement in Korea and Vietnam.

21. De-Stalinization (1956 onward)
    Launched by Khrushchev in 1956 after Stalin’s death; involved liberalization, reduced repression, and criticism of Stalin’s cult of personality.

22. Perestroika and Glasnost (1985–1991)
    Reforms introduced by Gorbachev in the USSR in the 1980s: perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness) to revive the failing Soviet system.

23. Existentialism (1940s–1950s)
    Post-WWII philosophy (e.g., Sartre, Camus) that emphasized individual meaning and freedom in an absurd, indifferent universe.

24. Decolonization (1945–1975)
    Period after WWII (especially 1945–1975) when European empires gave independence to colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, often amid nationalist struggles.

25. European Integration (1950s–present)
    Movement beginning in the 1950s with ECSC and EEC, leading to the EU (1993); aimed to promote peace and economic cooperation in postwar Europe.

26. Second-Wave Feminism (1960s–1980s)
    A feminist movement in the 1960s–80s pushing for legal and social equality; key figures include Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan.

27. Green Movement (1970s–present)
    Emerged in 1970s Europe in response to environmental concerns like pollution and nuclear energy; led to Green Parties and climate advocacy.

28. Neo-liberalism (1980s–2000s)
    Economic policy approach emphasizing free markets, privatization, and deregulation; popularized in the 1980s by Thatcher in the UK and Reagan in the U.S.

29. Euroskepticism (1990s–present)
    A political attitude criticizing the European Union and fearing loss of national sovereignty; rose with the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and led to Brexit (2016 vote).

30. Postmodernism (late 20th century)
    A movement in art, architecture, and philosophy emerging in the 1970s–1990s rejecting grand narratives and embracing irony, fragmentation, and subjectivity.