| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| commercial rivalries | Competition among European states for trade, resources, and economic dominance that influenced diplomatic and military conflicts. |
| Enlightenment thought | Intellectual movement focused on empiricism, skepticism, human reason, and rationalism that challenged prevailing patterns of thought regarding social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith. |
| French Revolution | A period of radical social and political upheaval in France (1789-1799) that fundamentally transformed French society and had lasting effects across Europe. |
| mass politics | Political movements and activities involving large numbers of ordinary people rather than just elites, often driven by emotional appeals and nationalist sentiment. |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | French military leader who seized power during the French Revolution and imposed French control over much of continental Europe before his eventual defeat. |
| nationalism | A political ideology emphasizing loyalty to one's nation and national interests, which emerged as a reaction to Napoleonic expansion. |
| political sovereignty | The supreme power and authority of a state to govern itself and make independent decisions without external interference. |
| Scientific Revolution | A period of European intellectual and cultural change characterized by new scientific methods based on observation, experimentation, and mathematics that challenged classical views of the cosmos, nature, and the human body. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Atlantic influence | Control and dominance over trade, colonies, and naval power in the Atlantic Ocean region during the 18th century. |
| commercial rivalries | Competition among European states for trade, resources, and economic dominance that influenced diplomatic and military conflicts. |
| East Indies | The region of Southeast Asia, particularly the Indonesian archipelago, which was a major source of valuable spices and trade goods sought by European powers. |
| European sea powers | Nations with significant naval capabilities and maritime dominance, including Portugal, the Dutch Republic, France, and Britain. |
| maritime competition | Rivalry between European sea powers for control of trade routes, colonial territories, and naval dominance from 1648 to 1815. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| American Revolution | The conflict (1775-1783) in which thirteen British colonies in North America rebelled and established the United States as an independent nation. |
| economic consequences | The effects on trade, commerce, resources, and financial systems resulting from political or military events. |
| European power | A nation with significant military, political, and economic influence in Europe and internationally. |
| overseas colonies | Overseas territories established and settled by European nations for commercial and religious purposes. |
| political consequences | The effects on government power, territorial control, and international relations resulting from conflict or competition. |
| rivalry | A state of competition or conflict between two powers seeking dominance or advantage over each other. |
| Seven Years' War | A global conflict (1756-1763) fought between Britain and France in Europe and their colonies, resulting in British dominance. |
| world wars | Large-scale conflicts involving multiple European powers and their colonial territories fought across continents. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| bourgeois grievances | Complaints and demands of the middle class regarding taxation, representation, and economic restrictions that contributed to revolutionary causes. |
| bread shortages | Severe scarcity of grain and bread supplies that created widespread hunger and discontent, a key short-term cause of the revolution. |
| Civil Constitution of the Clergy | A revolutionary decree that nationalized the Catholic Church in France and made clergy subject to state authority rather than papal authority. |
| Committee of Public Safety | The executive body that wielded supreme power during the Reign of Terror, responsible for directing the radical phase of the revolution. |
| Constitution of 1791 | The first written constitution of France, establishing a constitutional monarchy and the framework for the moderate phase of the revolution. |
| constitutional monarchy | A system of government in which a monarch's powers are limited by a constitution, established during the liberal phase of the French Revolution. |
| de-Christianization | A radical policy pursued during the Reign of Terror aimed at removing the influence of the Catholic Church from French society and government. |
| Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen | A foundational document of the French Revolution that outlined fundamental human rights and principles of popular sovereignty. |
| Enlightenment thought | Intellectual movement focused on empiricism, skepticism, human reason, and rationalism that challenged prevailing patterns of thought regarding social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith. |
| fiscal crisis | A severe shortage of government funds and inability to manage state finances, a key short-term cause of the revolution. |
| French Revolution | A period of radical social and political upheaval in France (1789-1799) that fundamentally transformed French society and had lasting effects across Europe. |
| hereditary privileges | Rights and advantages granted to individuals based on their birth into noble or privileged families, which were abolished during the revolution. |
| Jacobin republic | The radical phase of the French Revolution dominated by the Jacobin faction, characterized by centralized authority and revolutionary fervor. |
| levée en masse | A French term for mass conscription or the mobilization of the entire population for military service during the revolutionary wars. |
| mass conscription | The mandatory enrollment of large numbers of citizens into the military, used to raise revolutionary armies to spread revolutionary changes across Europe. |
| October March on Versailles | A significant early revolutionary event in which women and common people marched to the royal palace, demonstrating female participation in the revolution. |
| peasant grievances | Complaints of rural agricultural workers regarding land ownership, taxation, and feudal obligations that fueled revolutionary sentiment. |
| Reign of Terror | The period of radical Jacobin rule (1793-1794) under Robespierre marked by mass executions and political repression of perceived enemies of the revolution. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| equality | A core principle of the French Revolution emphasizing that all people possess equal rights and should be treated without discrimination based on birth or status. |
| human rights | Fundamental rights and freedoms believed to belong to all people, a concept emphasized during the French Revolution and used to inspire revolutionary movements. |
| Revolutionary ideals | Political and social principles promoted during the French Revolution, including concepts of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty that inspired movements across Europe and the Americas. |
| Saint-Domingue | A French colony in the Caribbean that experienced a major slave revolt inspired by French Revolutionary ideals, eventually becoming the independent nation of Haiti in 1804. |
| Toussaint L'Ouverture | Leader of the Haitian Revolution who led an enslaved people's revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, establishing Haiti as an independent nation in 1804. |
| traditional authority | Established power structures and institutions, such as monarchy and aristocracy, that the French Revolution challenged and sought to replace with new forms of governance. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| careers open to talent | A Napoleonic reform that allowed individuals to advance in government and military positions based on ability rather than noble birth. |
| censorship | The suppression or control of information, publications, and speech to limit public expression and dissent. |
| centralized bureaucracy | A system of government administration concentrated in a central authority with hierarchical organization and standardized procedures. |
| Civil Code | Napoleon's comprehensive legal system that standardized laws across France and influenced legal systems throughout Europe. |
| Concordat of 1801 | An agreement between Napoleon and the Pope that restored the Catholic Church in France and regulated its relationship with the state. |
| domestic reforms | Internal changes and improvements made to a nation's institutions, laws, and systems of governance. |
| educational system | The organized structure and institutions for teaching and learning established under Napoleon's reforms. |
| emperor | The supreme ruler of an empire; the title Napoleon assumed in 1804. |
| first consul | The chief executive position held by Napoleon in the French government after the coup of 1799, before he became emperor. |
| French Revolution ideals | Principles of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty promoted during the French Revolution that Napoleon spread across Europe. |
| guerilla war | A form of irregular warfare conducted by small groups of combatants using tactics such as ambushes and sabotage against a larger, conventional military force. |
| limitation of women's rights | Restrictions placed on women's legal status, property ownership, and civil liberties under Napoleonic rule. |
| military tactics | Strategic methods and techniques used in warfare and military operations. |
| nationalist responses | Political and social movements in which people of a nation or ethnic group resist foreign rule and assert their own national identity and independence. |
| representative institutions | Governmental bodies designed to represent the people's interests, though often manipulated or limited in actual power. |
| scorched earth policy | A military strategy in which an army destroys resources, infrastructure, and supplies in territory it abandons to prevent the enemy from using them. |
| secret police | A covert law enforcement agency used to suppress opposition and maintain state control through surveillance and intimidation. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| balance of power | A principle of international relations in which no single state or coalition becomes dominant enough to threaten the independence of others, maintained through strategic alliances and territorial arrangements. |
| Congress of Vienna | The 1814-1815 diplomatic conference where European powers negotiated the post-Napoleonic settlement to restore political stability and redraw the map of Europe. |
| Napoleonic rule | The period of European history dominated by Napoleon Bonaparte's military conquests and authoritarian governance, characterized by the spread of French power and influence across the continent. |
| nationalistic upheavals | Sudden political or social disturbances driven by nationalist sentiment and the desire of peoples to establish independent nation-states or assert national identity. |
| revolutionary upheavals | Sudden, violent political or social changes that overturn existing systems of government or society, often inspired by Enlightenment ideals or nationalist movements. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| emotions | Feelings and sentiments that Romantic thinkers emphasized as essential to moral improvement and human experience, in contrast to exclusive reliance on reason. |
| Enlightenment thought | Intellectual movement focused on empiricism, skepticism, human reason, and rationalism that challenged prevailing patterns of thought regarding social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith. |
| mass politics | Political movements and activities involving large numbers of ordinary people rather than just elites, often driven by emotional appeals and nationalist sentiment. |
| Methodism | A Protestant religious movement founded by John Wesley that emphasized personal conversion, emotional faith, and moral improvement. |
| nationalism | A political ideology emphasizing loyalty to one's nation and national interests, which emerged as a reaction to Napoleonic expansion. |
| reason | Rational thought and logical analysis, which Enlightenment thinkers prioritized but Romantic thinkers questioned. |
| religious revival | A movement emphasizing renewed faith, emotional religious experience, and spiritual renewal, occurring in Europe during the Romantic period. |
| Romantic Movement | An intellectual and artistic movement that emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, emphasizing emotion, imagination, and individualism as alternatives to Enlightenment rationality. |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| commercial rivalries | Competition among European states for trade, resources, and economic dominance that influenced diplomatic and military conflicts. |
| Enlightenment thought | Intellectual movement focused on empiricism, skepticism, human reason, and rationalism that challenged prevailing patterns of thought regarding social order, institutions of government, and the role of faith. |
| French Revolution | A period of radical social and political upheaval in France (1789-1799) that fundamentally transformed French society and had lasting effects across Europe. |
| mass politics | Political movements and activities involving large numbers of ordinary people rather than just elites, often driven by emotional appeals and nationalist sentiment. |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | French military leader who seized power during the French Revolution and imposed French control over much of continental Europe before his eventual defeat. |
| nationalism | A political ideology emphasizing loyalty to one's nation and national interests, which emerged as a reaction to Napoleonic expansion. |
| political order | The system of government, institutions, and power structures that organize a state and determine how authority is exercised. |
| political sovereignty | The supreme power and authority of a state to govern itself and make independent decisions without external interference. |
| reason | Rational thought and logical analysis, which Enlightenment thinkers prioritized but Romantic thinkers questioned. |
| Scientific Revolution | A period of European intellectual and cultural change characterized by new scientific methods based on observation, experimentation, and mathematics that challenged classical views of the cosmos, nature, and the human body. |