All Must Knows

ISIS

Started as an al Qaeda splinter group. The group is implementing Sharia Law, rooted in eighth-century Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the region's ancient past. Known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts. It uses modern tools like social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism. Fighters are destroying holy sites and valuable antiquities even as their leaders propagate a return to the early days of Islam.

Sir Isaac Newton

(1643-1727) - One of the most influential scientists in history, his contributions to the fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry helped usher in the Scientific Revolution. His contributions changed the way we see and understand the world around us. He created the modern telescope. He helped develop spectral analysis. His laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. He created the law of universal gravitation and calculus.

Samuel Morse

(1791-1872) An American painter and inventor who is best remembered today for his of the electric telegraph and a unified language that managed to connect the world.

Sun Yat-sen/Sun Yixian

(1866-1925) A Chinese politician, medical doctor and philosopher who served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China; and the first leader of the Kuomintang which he founded. Ousted the Manchu or Qing dynasty from China and set up the Chinese Republic.

Czar Nicholas II

(1868-1918) Last emperor of Russia under Romanov rule (r. 1894-1917). He had very little experience in governing. His poor handling of the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, and Russia's role in World War I led to his abdication and execution.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

(1876-1948) Muslim statesman that led Pakistan's independence from India, and was its first governor-general and president of its constituent assembly. He was convinced that this was the only way to preserve Muslims' traditions and protect their political interests. His former vision of Hindu-Muslim unity no longer seemed realistic to him at this time.

Joseph Stalin

(1878-1953) The dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. He transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. Born into poverty, he became involved in revolutionary politics, as well as criminal activities, as a young man. After Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) died, he outmaneuvered his rivals for control of the party. Once in power, he collectivized farming and had potential enemies executed or sent to forced labor camps. He aligned with the United States and Britain in World War II, but afterward engaged in an increasingly tense relationship with the West known as the Cold War.

Francisco Franco

(1892-1975) Ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death. He rose to power during the bloody Spanish Civil War when, with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, his Nationalist forces overthrew the democratically elected Second Republic. Adopting the title of "El Caudillo" (The Leader), he persecuted political opponents, repressed the culture and language of Spain's Basque and Catalan regions, censured the media and otherwise exerted absolute control over the country. Some of these restrictions gradually eased as he got older, and upon his death the country transitioned to democracy.

Gavrilo Princip

(1894-1918) South Slav nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his consort, Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg, at Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914. His act gave Austria-Hungary the excuse that it had sought for opening hostilities against Serbia and thus precipitated World War I. In Yugoslavia—the South Slav state that he had envisioned—he came to be regarded as a national hero.

Weimar Republic

(1919-1933) Germany's government from, the period after World War I until the rise of Nazi Germany. It was named after the town where Germany's new government was formed by a national assembly after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. From its uncertain beginnings to a brief season of success and then a devastating depression, it experienced enough chaos to position Germany for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

(1928-1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist. He believed that communism would save the impoverished people of Latin America. He was a prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution (1956-59) who went on to become a guerrilla leader in South America. Executed by the Bolivian army in 1967, he has since been regarded as a martyred hero by generations of leftists worldwide. His image remains a prevalent icon of leftist radicalism and anti-imperialism. Others however, still remember that he could be ruthless and ordered prisoners executed without trial in Cuba.

Rape of Nanjing

(1937) During the Sino-Japanese War, the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces, and the Chinese government flees further inland along the Yangtze River. To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city be destroyed. Much of the city was burned, and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians. The Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male "war prisoners," massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. Shortly after the end of World War II, Matsui was found guilty of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and executed.

People's Republic of China

(1949- ) On October 1, 1949, the communist revolutionary, Mao Zedong named himself head of state this new state. Zhou Enlai was named its premier. The proclamation was the climax of years of battle between Mao's communist forces and the regime of Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who had been supported with money and arms from the American government. The loss of China, the largest nation in Asia, to communism was a severe blow to the United States, which was still reeling from the Soviet Union's detonation of a nuclear device one month earlier.

Sundiata

(c. 1217-c. 1255) Founder of the Mali Empire. It was during his reign that Mali first began to become an economic power and controlled the region's trade routes and gold fields. Reported to have introduced cotton and weaving in Mali. The famous Malian ruler Mansa Musa who made a pilgrimage to Mecca was his grandnephew.

Henry Hudson

(c. 1565-1611) - An English sea explorer and navigator that lived during the early seventeenth century. He made two attempts on the behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northwest Passage to China. He explored the region around modern metropolitan New York under the sponsorship of the Dutch East India Company. He explored the river that was eventually named for him and laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region.

Hamas

A Palestinian Islamist political organization and militant group that has waged war on Israel since the group's 1987 founding, most notably through suicide bombings and rocket attacks. It seeks to replace Israel with a Palestinian state. It also governs Gaza independently of the Palestinian Authority.

Smallpox

A contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease that has affected humans for thousands of years. Fatality rates during outbreaks in Native American populations were as high as 80-90%. An unprecedented global immunization campaign eradicated it worldwide by 1980.

Champa rice

A quick-maturing, drought resistant grain that can allow two harvests, of sixty days each in one growing season. Introduced to China as tribute from Vietnam during the Song Dynasty. The hardiness and productivity of various varieties of this grain were and are in large part responsible for the density of population in South, Southeast, and East Asia.

Iron Curtain

A term that received prominence after a Winston Churchill speech. He was referring to the boundary line that divided Europe in two different political areas: Western Europe had political freedom, while Eastern Europe was under communist Soviet rule. The term also symbolized the way in which the Soviet Union blocked its territories from open contact with the West.

Appeasement, 1938

Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sign the Munich Pact, which seals the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace. Upon return to Britain, Chamberlain would declare that the meeting had achieved "peace in our time."

1861 - Italian unification

Also known as Risorgimento; was the political and social movement that consolidated different states of a prominent Mediterranean peninsula into the single state; it led to a series of political events that freed the states from foreign domination and united them politically.

State

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs.

Isolationism

During the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward one that advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics.

Operation Meetinghouse

Firebombing of Tokyo - On March 9, 1945, U.S. warplanes launched a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Masses of panicked and terrified Japanese civilians scrambled to escape the inferno, most unsuccessfully. The human carnage was so great that the blood-red mists and stench of burning flesh that wafted up sickened the bomber pilots, forcing them to grab oxygen masks to keep from vomiting. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.

Fluyt

First built in 1595, they soon allowed the Dutch to dominate international maritime trade, first to the Baltic and then to India and the Far East. It was the favored vessel of the Dutch East India Company, which dominated the Far East trade for almost a century.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Founded as both a political party and a revolutionary movement in 1921. Grew quickly, and by 1949 it had driven the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) government from mainland China, leading to the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

1853 - Commodore Perry opens Japan

Four American ships entered the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between this Asian nation and the western world. It concluded with the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade for supplying and refueling, and guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked sailors. Although it opened its ports to modern trade only reluctantly, once it did, it took advantage of the new access to modern technological developments. Its opening to the West enabled it to modernize its military, and to rise quickly to the position of the most formidable Asian power in the Pacific.

2000 - 2nd Palestinian Intifada

High numbers of casualties were caused among civilians as well as combatants. The Palestinians engaged in numerous suicide bombings, rock throwing and gunfire, while the Israelis responded with gunfire, tank and air attacks, and numerous targeted killings. The death toll, including both military and civilian, is estimated to be about 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreigners. Many consider the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit in 2005 to be the end. Palestinian President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon agreed that all Palestinians factions would stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, while Israel would cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere.

1848 - European revolutions

High unemployment combined with high prices sparked series of liberal republican revolts against monarchies; beginning in Sicily, and spreading to France, Germany, Italy, and the Austrian Empire. The events in France made Austria's Prince Clemens von Metternich's saying seem true: "When France sneezes, Europe catches a cold." They all ended in failure and repression, and were followed by widespread disillusionment among liberals.

1991 - 1st Gulf War

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait. Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait, and led to a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 42 days of relentless attacks by the allied coalition in the air and on the ground, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a ceasefire; by that time, most Iraqi forces in Kuwait had either surrendered or fled. Though this was initially considered an unqualified success for the international coalition, simmering conflict in the troubled region led to a second conflict-known as the Iraq War-that began in 2003.

Satyagraha

Meaning "clinging to truth," in reference to Gandhi's campaigns in South Africa and India, such as the famous Salt March of 1930. It can be understood as the vast inner strength or "soul force" required for nonviolent acts. Gandhi never defined nonviolence as passive resistance because he saw nothing passive about what he was doing. He believed that a dedicated adherent to nonviolent resistance by taking authentic action to represent truth and working to uphold a just cause would inevitably reach the heart of the oppressor. It is a positive and spiritually based form of resistance that starts in the heart of the one resisting and inevitably produces creative action.

Samurai

Members of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, began as provincial warriors before rising to power in the 12th century with the beginning of the country's first military dictatorship, known as the shogunate. As servants of the daimyos, or great lords, the samurai backed up the authority of the shogun and gave him power over the Mikado (emperor).

1994 - Genocide in Rwanda

Members of the Hutu ethnic majority in an east-central African nation murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority. Started by Hutu nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide spread throughout the country with shocking speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were incited by local officials and the Hutu Power government to take up arms against their neighbors. By the time the Tutsi-led Patriotic Front gained control of the country through a military offensive, hundreds of thousands were dead and 2 million refugees (mainly Hutus) fled, exacerbating what had already become a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

1815 - Battle of Waterloo

Napoleon's final defeat, ending 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe. It was fought during the Hundred Days of Napoleon's restoration from exile on Elba. Napoleon's forces were defeated by the British and Prussians; marked the end of his reign and of France's domination in Europe.

Diaspora

People settled far from their ancestral homelands; the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland

Duma

Russian national assembly created as one of the reforms following the Revolution of 1905; progressively stripped of power during the reign of Nicholas II. Failed to forestall further revolution.

League of Nations

Was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. A precursor to the United Nations, it achieved some victories but had a mixed record of success, sometimes putting self-interest before becoming involved with conflict resolution, while also contending with governments that did not recognize its authority. It effectively ceased operations during World War II.

Militarism

When a country aggressively pursues the policy of a strong military to defend itself or to expand its territory in the name of national interests. Before World War I, it led to an arms race between countries that used industrial resources to mass produce the latest military technology, such as breech loading rifles, artillery, and machine guns.

1939 - Germany attacks Poland/WWII Begins

At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million troops invaded all along the 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the Luftwaffe bombed airfields, and warships and U-boats attacked naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany.

Alexander Graham Bell

Best known for his invention of the telephone, for which he received his first patent in 1876. Despite the hundreds of lawsuits that would challenge his claim to the invention, none would prove successful. Born in Scotland and later becoming a U.S. citizen, he spent his life in pursuit of scientific discovery, and despite his myriad accomplishments as a scientist and inventor, he saw himself first and foremost as a teacher of the deaf, dedicating the majority of his work to that field.

Amerigo Vespucci

(1454-1512) - An Italian explorer, navigator, and cartographer. He was the first to demonstrate that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts as Columbus had believed. Instead he said that they constituted an entirely separate landmass they hadn't known about before. Originally referred to as the New World, it eventually was named for this explorer.

Suleiman I the Magnificent

(1494-1566) - Under his administration, the Ottoman state ruled over 15 to 25 million people. Personally led Ottoman armies in conquering Christian strongholds, until his conquests were checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. He annexed much of the Middle East in his conflict with the Safavids and large areas of North Africa as far west as Algeria. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and through the Persian Gulf. Instituted major legislative changes relating to society, education, taxation and criminal law. Harmonized the relationship between the two forms of Ottoman law; sultanic (Kanun) and religious (Sharia).

Johannes Kepler

(1571-1630) - A German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He was a key figure in the 17th century Scientific Revolution, and he is best known for his laws of planetary motion. His works were the foundation for Newton's laws of universal gravitation. He incorporated religious arguments into his work, motivated by the belief that God had created the world accessible through reason.

Czar Alexander III

(1845-1894) Emperor of Russia from 1881 to 1894, opponent of representative government, and supporter of Russian nationalism. He adopted programs, based on the concepts of Orthodoxy, autocracy, and narodnost (a belief in the Russian people), that included the Russification of national minorities in the Russian Empire as well as persecution of the non-Orthodox religious groups.

Open Door Policy

(1899-1900) Aimed to secure an international agreement to the U.S. policy of promoting equal opportunity for international trade and commerce in China, and respect for China's administrative and territorial integrity. British and American policies toward China had long operated under similar principles, but putting them into writing, it became the official U.S. policy towards the Far East in the first half of the 20th century. Ironically, at the same time the U.S. Government was doing everything in its power to close the door on Chinese immigration to the United States.

Ayatollah Khomeini

(1902-1989) An Iranian religious and political leader, who in 1979 made Iran the world's first Islamic republic. He became a religious scholar and in the early 1920s rose to become an '__________', a term for a leading Shia scholar.

Fourteen Points

(1918) A statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson.

Battle of El Alamein

(1942) A significant Allied victory and the most decisive in Africa with respect to closing of a war front, although Rommel did not lose hope until the end of the Tunisia Campaign. After three years, the African theater was cleared of Axis forces and the Allies could look northward to the Mediterranean.

Zaibatsu

A Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War II.

Bureaucracy

A type of government administration managed by departments staffed with nonelected officials. Often criticized for their complexity, inefficiency, inflexibility, and seen as a threat to individual freedom. Today, it refers to the administration governing any large institution.

Conferences at Yalta, Potsdam, and Tehran

Allied meetings held toward the end of World War II meant to both plan an end to the war and make proposals for a post war world. Led to tensions between western capitalist nations and the communist Soviets.

Kongo (Congo)

An African kingdom located in west central Africa. It consisted of several core provinces but was ruled by a central lord. Largely existed as an independent state but from from 1390 to 1814, it was a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal. Adopted its own form of Christianity after several rulers made efforts to convert the people. Became a source of slaves for Portuguese traders.

1935 - Italian invasion of Ethiopia

Benito Mussolini, ordered his troops to invade. The fascist government had embarked upon a policy of colonial expansion in northeast Africa. Haile Selassie, the Emperor of this northeast African state , appealed to the League of Nations for assistance to halt the aggression. Canada, along with Britain and France, refused to support military intervention, but there was a proposal of economic sanctions. Many refused to support this measure and as a result, no action was taken. The League of Nations clearly demonstrated that it could not provide collective security for its member states.

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec empire. Located at the site of modern Mexico City, it was founded c. 1325 in the marshes of Lake Texcoco. The location was chosen in accordance with Aztec mythology, the precise spot being marked by an eagle sitting on a prickly-pear cactus (nopal) and devouring a snake.It formed a confederacy with Texcoco and Tlacopán and was the Aztec capital by the late 15th century. At the heart of the city was a large sacred precinct dominated by the huge pyramid, known as the Temple Mayor, which honored the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc.

Domino Theory

Cold War idea that suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states.

Obeah/Candomble/Vodun

Groups of African religious ideas and spiritual and healing practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the Latin America and the Caribbean.

Indulgences

In Catholic theology, it is a remission of the punishment inflicted by the Church for a previously forgiven sin. They became increasingly popular in the late Middle Ages and people began to abuse them. They saw them as a way to have their sins forgiven by simply paying for it. Selling these became a major issue and one of the things most harshly criticized by the Protestants.

Urbanization

Refers to the increasing number of people that live in urban areas. It predominantly results in the physical growth of urban areas, be it horizontal or vertical. Closely linked to modernization, industrialization, and the sociological process of rationalization (becoming more efficient).

1750 - Industrial Revolution begins

Series of changes in the economy of Western Europe between 1740 and 20th century; stimulated by rapid population growth, increase in agricultural productivity, commercial revolution of 17th century, and development of new means of transportation; in essence involved technological change and the application of machines to the process of production.

Gothic

Style of architecture prevalent in western Europe in the 12th-16th centuries, characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses, together with large windows and elaborate tracery.

millet (Islamic)

System in which, non-Muslim communities were organized. Gave minority religious/ethnic/geographical communities a limited amount of power to regulate their own affairs - under the overall supremacy of the Ottoman administration.

Axis Powers

The coalition headed by Germany, Italy, and Japan that opposed the Allied powers in World War II. The alliance originated in a series of agreements between Germany and Italy, (October 25, 1936), with the two powers claiming that the world would henceforth rotate on the Rome-Berlin axis. This was followed by the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact against the Soviet Union (November 25, 1936).

Middle class

The group of people in the center of a social hierarchy. It is the broad group of people who fall socio-economically between the working class and the upper class. The term originated to define the intermediate group between the nobility and the peasantry of Europe during the Middle Ages. It can be defined by education, wealth, upbringing, social network, manners, and values.

Urbanization

The process where an increasing percentage of a population lives in cities and suburbs. This process is often linked to industrialization and modernization, as large numbers of people leave farms to work and live in cities.

Samarkand

This Silk Road town witnessed many upheavals during the times of Alexander the Great, the Arab Conquest, Chinggis Khan Conquest and lastly Tamerlane's. The culture that developed and mixed together Iranian, Indian, Mongolian and a bit of the Western and Eastern cultures.

Mamluks

Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. They eventually founded their own ruling state, ruling Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517. They defeated the Mongols at the important Battle of Ain Jalut. They sponsored numerous religious architecture and art. Were eventually defeated by the Ottoman Empire.

1325-1349 - travels of Ibn Battuta

Visited most of the known Islamic world and many non-Muslim lands. Published accounts of these extensive journeys. Considered to be among the greatest travelers of all time. Included trips to North Africa, West Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Often experienced culture shock in regions where the local customs of recently converted people did not fit in with his orthodox Muslim background, especially concerning women.

Saladin

(1138-1193) A Muslim military and political leader who as sultan (or leader) led Islamic forces during the Crusades. His greatest triumph over the European Crusaders came at the Battle of Hattin in 1187, which paved the way for Islamic re-conquest of Jerusalem and other Holy Land cities in the Near East. During the subsequent Third Crusade, he was unable to defeat the armies led by England's King Richard I (the Lionheart), resulting in the loss of much of this conquered territory. However, he was able to negotiate a truce with Richard I that allowed for continued Muslim control of Jerusalem.

Chinggis (Genghis) Khan/Temujin

(1162-1227) The founder of the Mongol empire. United many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. Started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. Before he died, he split his empire among his descendants into khanates. He also officially adopted a type of script as the Mongol writing system and promoted religious tolerance in his empire. Created a military and civil system he used to govern the empire. One of the most diverse and ethnically tolerant empires in history.

Delhi Sultanate

(1206-1526) Centralized Indian empire of varying extent, created by Muslim invaders. Ushered in a period of Indian culture renaissance. It left a lasting influence on architecture, music, literature, religion, and clothing. The Urdu language was created as a result of the mixing of speakers of Sanskrit and Arabic/Persian immigrants. Only Indo-Islamic empire to have a female ruler at some point. Was eventually absorbed by the emerging Mughal Empire.

Aztecs

(1428-1521) Founded in 1428, also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico. They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax. Their power grew through political alliances and military conquest. Had their capital at Tenochtitlan on an island. Introduced a monarchical system. Their religion reflected their permanent state of war and demanded increasing numbers of human sacrifices. Merchants controlled long-distance trade and women had substantial power. Conquered by the Spanish in 1521.

Kingdom of Songhai

(1430-1591) - A state located in western Africa. From the mid-fifteenth to the late sixteenth century, it was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. It bears the same name as its leading ethnic group. Thought to have settled as early as 800 before eventually being conquered by the Mali Empire. Became a thriving cultural and commercial center. Trade was prevalent throughout the empire. Local chiefs maintained autonomy over much of their territory.

Ivan III

(1440-1505) - A Grand Prince of Moscow and the ruler of all of Russia. He tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over Russia, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Got rid of the old patriarchal systems of government and compiled a law code. He was one of the longest-reigning rulers in Russian history.

John Cabot

(1450-1499) - An Italian navigator and explorer whose voyages in 1497 and 1498 helped lay the groundwork for the later British claim to Canada. After setting sail in May 1498 for a return voyage to North America, Cabot's final days remain a mystery.

Bartolomeu Dias

(1450-1500) - A Portuguese explorer who was a nobleman of the royal household. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so. Appointed by King John II of Portugal to do this in hopes of finding trade routes to India. Named his discovery The Cape of Good Hope on his return voyage became it opened a route to the east, eliminating the middlemen.

Christopher Columbus

(1451-1506) - An Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer born in Genoa, Italy. Under the sponsorship of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, he completely four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to European awareness of the American continents. His efforts to establish permanent settlements initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World. Incorrectly believed that he had reached the eastern edges of Asia.

Leonardo da Vinci

(1452-1519) - An Italian Renaissance man that epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and maybe one of the most diversely talented people in history. His most famous works include the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Made important discoveries in anatomy, engineering, and hydrodynamics but he did not publish his findings.

Vasco da Gama

(1460-1524) - Portuguese nobleman that sailed from Lisbon in 1497 on a mission to reach India and open a sea route from Europe to the East. After sailing down the western coast of Africa and rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his expedition made numerous stops in Africa before reaching the trading post of Calicut, India, in May 1498. He was sent on a second expedition to India in 1502, during which he brutally clashed with Muslim traders in the region. Two decades later, he again returned to India, this time as Portuguese viceroy; he died there of an illness in late 1524.

Moctezuma II

(1466-1520) - The ninth ruler of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec Empire from 1502 until 1520. The first contact between indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign. During his reign, the Aztec Empire reached its largest size through warfare. He was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when Cortes attacked Tenochtitlan.

Desiderius Erasmus

(1466-1536) - A Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian.. He was a proponent of religious toleration and used humanist techniques for working on texts. Raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation. Called for reform but kept his distance from Luther and continued to recognize the authority of the pope.

Francisco Pizarro

(1471-1541) - The Spanish conquistador that conquered the Inca Empire in 1533. He was tantalized by Cortes's success in Mexico and the reports of wealth. Captured the emperor Atahualpa, which allowed him to take over the empire. Has been criticized for his destruction of the indigenous culture.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

(1475-1519) - 16th-century Spanish conquistador and explorer, helped establish the first stable settlement on the South American continent on the coast of the Isthmus of Panama. In 1513, while leading an expedition in search of gold, he sighted the Pacific Ocean. He claimed the ocean and all of its shores for Spain, opening the way for later Spanish exploration and conquest along the western coast of South America. He was falsely accused of treason and executed in early 1519.

Pope Leo X

(1475-1521) - The head of the Catholic Church from 1513 until his death in 1521. He was the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He is best remembered for granting indulgences to people who donated to the Church. This practice was directly challenged by Martin Luther. He didn't take this seriously and it developed into the Protestant Revolution. Spent heavily and was a significant patron of the arts.

Michelangelo

(1475-1564) - An Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Was considered the greatest artist of his time. Two of his most famous sculptures are the Pieta and David. Painted biblical scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Ferdinand Magellan

(1480-1521) - A Portuguese explorer who became known for having organized the expedition that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth. He served King Charles I of Spain and was in search of a trade route to the Spice Islands. He did not actually complete the entire voyage himself because he was killed during a battle in the Philippines. His crew included 270 sailors on five different ships.

Babur

(1483-1530) - A conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty in the Indian subcontinent and became its first emperor. Was a direct descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan. Culturally influenced by the Persians. Pursued interests in art and literature.

Martin Luther

(1483-1546)- A German monk, former Catholic priest, and a professor of theology. He was a central figure of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. He strongly disputed the claim that the selling of indulgences could buy forgiveness of sins. He confronted his opponents by writing his Ninety-Five Theses. He was excommunicated by Pope Leo X. Translated the Bible into the vernacular. Taught that faith is the most important part of any religion. He was a flawed figure and anti Semite that was cited many times by the Nazis, see "On the Jews and Their Lies" (1543).

Hernan Cortés

(1485-1547) - A Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521 and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of Spain in the early sixteenth century. Chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. Used the strategy of allying with some indigenous people to defeat the powerful Aztec. Began the first phase of Spanish colonization of the Americas.

King Henry VIII (England)

(1491-1547) - The ruler of England from 1509 until his death. The second monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Known for his six marriages and the role he played in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. Was excommunicated eventually. Allied himself with the Holy Roman Empire and invaded France but achieved little. He ruled with considerable power and was an accomplished author and composer.

Ignatius of Loyola

(1491-1556) - A Spanish knight from a noble family who founded the Society of Jesus. Underwent a spiritual conversion after being seriously wounded in a battle. He emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation. His devotion was characterized by absolute obedience to the pope. Devoted himself to God and studied theology. Canonized in 1622 and is the patron saint of soldiers and the Jesuits.

Atahualpa

(1497-1533) - The last ruler of the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquest. Became emperor when he defeated his half-brother in a civil war sparked by the death of their father. He was captured by Francisco Pizarro during the Spanish conquest and used to control the Incas. He was eventually executed, effectively ending and disintegrating the empire.

Safavid Empire

(1501-1722) - Was based in what is today Iran. This Islamic empire was strong enough to challenge the Ottomans in the west and the Mughals in the east. The state religion was Shi'a Islam, all other religions, and forms of Islam were suppressed. The Empire's economic strength came from its location on the trade routes. The Empire made Iran a center of art, architecture, poetry and philosophy. The capital, Isfahan, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The key figures in the Empire were Isma'il I and Abbas I. The Empire declined when it became complacent and corrupt.

Francis Xavier

(1506-1552) - A Roman Catholic missionary from Spain. He was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a companion of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows in 1534. He led an extensive mission into Asia, which was mainly parts of the Portuguese Empire at the time. His most influential evangelization work took place in India.

John Calvin

(1509-1564) - An influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later named for him. He broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530 and fled to Switzerland after religious tensions provoked violent uprisings against Protestants. Introduced new forms of church government and liturgy, despite the opposition of people in power.

Mughal Empire

(1526-1857) - Founded by Babur, it ruled most of India and Pakistan in the 16th and 17th centuries. It consolidated Islam in South Asia, and spread Muslim (and particularly Persian) arts and culture as well as the faith. They were Muslims who ruled a country with a large Hindu majority. However for much of their empire they allowed Hindus to reach senior government or military positions. They Mughals many changes to India including Centralized government that brought together many smaller kingdoms, delegated government with respect for human rights, Persian art and culture, Persian language mixed with Arabic and Hindi to create Urdu, periods of great religious tolerance, style of architecture (e.g. the Taj Mahal), a system of education that took account of pupils' needs and culture.

Ivan IV (the Terrible)

(1530-1584) - The Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then the Tsar of All Rus' until his death. His conquests of the Khanates transformed Russia into a multiethnic state spanning almost one billion acres. He oversaw the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned Tsar of all the Russians. Popular among the common people but treated the nobility harshly.

Elizabeth I

(1533-1603) - The queen of England from 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Daughter of Henry VIII. Established a Protestant church that became the Church of England. Became famous for her "virginity" and never produced an heir. Was relatively tolerant of religions and avoided persecution. Cautious in foreign affairs. Economic and military problems weakened her popularity towards the end of her reign.

Akbar (the Great)

(1542-1605) - The greatest ruler of the Mughal Dynasty in India. Enlarged the Empire to include nearly all of the Indian subcontinent. Established a centralized system of administration and adopted a policy of integrating conquered rulers through diplomacy. Tolerant, which won him the support of his non-Muslim subjects. Developed a strong and stable economy, leading to commercial expansion and a growth of culture. Patron of art and literature. Powerful military system.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

(1543-1616) - In 1600 he seized power after the Battle of Sekigahara, thereby achieving supremacy in Japan. In 1603 Emperor Go-Yōzei, ruler only in name, gave him the historic title of shogun. His shogunate ruled until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He worked hard to restore stability to Japan and encouraged foreign trade, which included the exchange of gifts with James I of England and other European rulers. It was only later, that his successors, effectively isolated Japan from foreign contact.

Francis Bacon

(1561-1626) - An English philosopher, statesman, and scientist. He served as both the Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. He has been called the creator of the modern-day scientific method. His works remained extremely influential even after his death. His ideas may have also been at least partially responsible for the dawning of the Industrial Revolution.

James I (England)

(1566-1625) - The king of England from 1603 until his death in 1625. He first ruled just Scotland but through the union of the Scottish and English crowns became the sovereign of both. He had repeated conflicts with Parliament and found it hard to achieve his goals. The golden age of Elizabethan literature and drama continued under his reign. Sponsored the translation of the Bible that was named after him.

William Harvey

(1578-1657) - English royal physician to James I and Charles I. He was the first to correctly describe blood's circulation in the body. He showed that arteries and veins form a complete circuit. He made his discoveries because he ignored the conventional wisdom of medical textbooks, preferring to make his own observations and form his own conclusions when he dissected animals. Western medical beliefs and theories about blood and circulation had advanced little since Galen wrote his medical textbooks in Rome 1400 years earlier.

Queen Nzinga

(1583-1663) - A resilient leader who fought against the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in Central Africa.. Converted to Christianity in order to strengthen her peace treaty with the Portuguese. They didn't respect this treaty so she eventually made an alliance with the Dutch against Portugal. She is remembered for her political and diplomatic actions, intelligence, and her brilliant military tactics.

Cardinal Richelieu

(1585-1642) - A French clergyman and noble. He was first consecrated as a bishop but later entered politics. He rose to Secretary of State and then to Louis XIII's chief minister. He was succeeded by Mazarin, who had been his student. Sought to consolidate royal power by restraining the influence of the nobility. Tried to ensure French dominance in the 30 Years War by checking the power of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Famous patron of the arts.

Thomas Hobbes

(1588-1679) - Known for his views on how humans could thrive in harmony while avoiding the perils and fear of societal conflict. In Leviathan, written during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), he argues for the necessity and natural evolution of the social contract, a social construct. He also advocates rule by an absolute sovereign, saying that chaos--and other situations identified with a "state of nature" (a pre-government state in which individuals' actions are bound only by those individuals' desires and restraints)--could be averted only by a strong central government, one with the power of the biblical Leviathan (a sea creature), which would protect people from their own selfishness.

Shah Jahan

(1592-1666) - The fifth Mughal emperor of India who ruled from 1628 until 1658. His rule has been called a golden age and is one of the most prosperous periods of Indian civilization. Was an orthodox and pious Muslim and adopted policies that reflected that. Erected many splendid monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal. Celebrated Islamic festivals and ordered the demolition of some Hindu temples.

Oliver Cromwell

(1599-1658) - An English military and political leader during the English Civil war. He was an elected member of Parliament and signed the warrant for King Charles I's death. He served as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1653 until his death, acting simultaneously as head of state and head of government of the new republic. As a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. One of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles. Historians opinions vary as he is considered a regicidal dictator, a military dictator, a hero of liberty, and a revolutionary bourgeois. His tolerance of Protestant sects did not extend to Catholics; his measures against them in Ireland have been characterized by some as genocidal or near-genocidal and his record is harshly criticized in Ireland. He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. When the Royalists returned to power along with King Charles II in 1660, they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded.

Cardinal Mazarin

(1602-1661) - An Italian Catholic clergy member, diplomat, and politician, who served as the chief minister of France. He was a noted collector of art and jewels and is known for bequeathing diamonds to Louis XIV. He studied at a Jesuit College and served as a captain of the infantry. Was not liked by ordinary Frenchmen. Very involved in the politics of the Church and France.

Tokugawa period (Edo period)

(1603-1867) - 250 years of peace and prosperity in Japan, including the rise of a new merchant class and increasing urbanization. To guard against external influence, they also worked to close off Japanese society from Westernizing influences, particularly Christianity. But when the shogunate grew increasingly weak by the mid-19th century, two powerful clans joined forces in early 1868 to seize power as part of an "imperial restoration" named for Emperor Meiji. The Meiji Restoration spelled the beginning of the end for feudalism in Japan, and would lead to the emergence of modern Japanese culture, politics and society.

Aurangzeb

(1618-1707) - The sixth Mughal Emperor that ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent. His reign lasted for 49 years. Among the wealthiest of all the Mughal rulers. A pious Muslim that abandoned some of Akbar's secular policies. Seen by Hindus and Sikhs as a cruel and ruthless emperor that restricted freedoms and imposed a religiously intolerant regime on the people. Also regarded as a strong and effective ruler, and with his death the great period of the Mughal Dynasty came to an end.

Qing (Manchu) Dynasty

(1644-1912) - People of northern China began to unite against the Ming Dynasty. They formed a somewhat military society and mobilized a large army. In 1644, they crossed the Great Wall and invaded China. They soon took control of the Chinese capital city, Beijing, and declared the beginning of a new dynasty. In the early 1900s, it began to crumble. Multiple natural disasters, internal rebellions, and war with Japan all led to famine and a poor economy. Finally, in 1911, a group of revolutionaries overthrew the government. The last emperor, a six-year-old boy named Puyi, officially gave up his throne in 1912 and the Republic of China took over.

Peter the Great

(1672-1725) - a Russian czar in the late 17th century who is best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation. He created a strong navy, reorganized his army according to Western standards, secularized schools, administered greater control over the reactionary Orthodox Church, and introduced new administrative and territorial divisions of the country. Although he proved to be an effective leader, he was also known to be cruel and tyrannical. The high taxes that often accompanied his various reforms led to revolts among citizens, which were immediately suppressed by the imposing ruler. He was handsome but daunting at 6 1/2 feet tall, he also drank excessively and harbored violent tendencies.

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

(1694-1778) - French philosopher and one of the leading writers of the Enlightenment. Inspired by ideals of a free and liberal society, along with freedom of religion and free commerce. He was a deist — not by faith, according to him, but rather by reason. He looked favorably on religious tolerance, even though he could be severely critical towards Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Candide (1759), which is considered his greatest work. Candide is filled with philosophical and religious parody, and in the end the characters reject optimism. There is great debate on whether he was making an actual statement about embracing a pessimistic philosophy or if he was trying to encourage people to be actively involved to improve society. He was often at odds with French authorities over his politically and religiously charged works, he was twice imprisoned and spent many years in exile.

War of Spanish Succession

(1702-1713) - Spanish ruler, Charles II, left the throne of Spain to Louis XIV's grandson, Philip V. This went against a previous agreement that Charles II would be succeeded by an Austrian. Other countries feared a coalition of Spain and France would ruin the balance of power in Europe. Ends with the Peace of Utrecht which: allowed Philip V, a Bourbon, to keep the Spanish throne, but had to renounce his descendants' rights to the French throne, Austria gets former Spanish Netherlands, France concedes property in New World to England, Spain gives England Gibraltar, control of the slave trade (Asiento).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

(1712-1778) - French philosopher and writer of the Age of Enlightenment. His Political Philosophy, particularly his formulation of social contract theory ("Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."), strongly influenced the French Revolution and the development of Liberal, Conservative and Socialist theory. A brilliant, undisciplined and unconventional thinker throughout his colorful life, his views on Philosophy of Education and on religion were equally controversial but nevertheless influential. Strongly endorsed religious toleration and was upset that his deistic views were forcefully condemned.

Thomas Paine

(1737-1809) An influential 18th-century writer of essays and pamphlets. Among them were "The Age of Reason," regarding the place of religion in society; "Rights of Man," a piece defending the French Revolution; and "Common Sense," which was published during the American Revolution. "Common Sense," his most influential piece, brought his ideas to a vast audience, swaying (the otherwise undecided) public opinion to the view that independence from the British was a necessity.

Miguel Hidalgo

(1753-1811) Mexican Catholic priest. On September 16, 1810, he rang the church bell to announce revolution against the Spanish. His announcement, "Grito de Dolores," ("Cry of Dolores") became the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. Indians and mestizos marched with him and captured major cities but were halted at the gates of the capital. Hidalgo fled north but was caught and shot in 1811.

Monroe Doctrine

(1820) Declared that European countries were not allowed to attempt re-colonization of the newly independent nation-states in Latin America. Also states that only the U.S. government or U.S. merchants had the right to intervene in Latin American countries if debts or other financial matters needed to be solved.

Franco-Prussian War

(1870-1871) This conflict was caused by ambitions to extend German unification and French fears of the shift in the European balance of power that would result. Some historians argue that the chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war in order to draw the independent southern German states into an alliance with the North German Confederation, while others contend that Bismarck did not plan anything and merely exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. None, however, dispute the fact that Bismarck must have recognized the potential for new German alliances and unification, given the situation as a whole.

Vladimir Lenin

(1870-1924) A Russian communist revolutionary and head of the Bolshevik Party who rose to prominence during the Russian Revolution of 1917, one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. The bloody upheaval marked the end of the oppressive Romanov dynasty and centuries of imperial rule in Russia. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party, making him leader of the Soviet Union, the world's first communist state. In a testament to his standing in Russian society, his corpse was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square.

Winston Churchill

(1874-1965) He is considered one of the defining figures of the 20th century, remembered for his inspirational speeches and for leading Britain to victory in the Second World War. Though he was born into a life of privilege, he dedicated himself to public service. His legacy is a complicated one: He was an idealist and a pragmatist; an orator and a soldier; an advocate of progressive social reforms and an unapologetic elitist; a defender of democracy; as well as of Britain's fading empire.

Syngman Rhee

(1875-1965) An American-educated Korean exile who returned to his country to become the first President of South Korea in 1948. A fierce anticommunist but also an unpopular autocrat, he led his nation—rather ineffectually—throughout the Korean War.

Zulu Wars

(1879) Took place in South Africa between the British Empire and an independent state in South Africa. It resulted in one of the most bloody wars ever to take place on South African soil. The main cause of the war was border disputes between the independent South African state and Boers. The eventual result was a British victory and the end of the native nation's dominance of the region.

Emiliano Zapata

(1879-1919) A leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican revolution. He and his followers never gained control of the central Mexican government, but they redistributed land and aided poor farmers within the territory under their control. On April 10, 1919, he was ambushed and shot to death by government forces. His influence has endured long after his death, and his agrarian reform movement remains important to many Mexicans today.

Leon Trotsky

(1879-1940) His revolutionary activity as a young man spurred his first of several ordered exiles to Siberia. He waged Russia's 1917 revolution alongside Vladimir Lenin. As commissar of war in the new Soviet government, he helped defeat forces opposed to Bolshevik control. As the Soviet government developed, he engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin, which he lost, leading to his exile again and, eventually, his murder, with a mountaineering ice ax, that punctured his skull. For decades, he was discredited in the Soviet Union, the result of Stalin's hatred and his totalitarian control. However, 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet government, in 2001, his reputation was officially "rehabilitated" by the Russian government. His legacy of being the most brilliant intellect of the Communist Revolution and his reputation as a tireless worker, rousing public speaker and decisive administrator was restored.

Albert Einstein

(1879-1955) German-born physicist, developed the first of his groundbreaking theories while working as a clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern. After making his name with four scientific articles published in 1905, he went on to win worldwide fame for his general theory of relativity and a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his explanation of the phenomenon known as the photoelectric effect. An outspoken pacifist who was publicly identified with the Zionist movement, emigrated from Germany to the United States when the Nazis took power before World War II. He lived and worked in Princeton, New Jersey, for the remainder of his life.

Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)

(1881-1938) An army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. He then served as Turkey's first president from 1923 until his death, implementing reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country. Under his leadership, the role of Islam in public life shrank drastically, European-style law codes came into being, the office of the sultan was abolished and new language and dress requirements were mandated. But although the country was nominally democratic, at times he stifled opposition with an authoritarian hand.

Alexander Kerensky

(1881-1970) served at the head of the Russian Provisional Government from July-October 1917; with the Bolshevik October Revolution he was forced to flee the country, remaining in exile for the remaining 53 years of his life.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

(1882-1945) He was elected as the nation's 32nd president in 1932. With the country mired in the depths of the Great Depression, he immediately acted to restore public confidence, proclaiming a bank holiday and speaking directly to the public in a series of radio broadcasts or "fireside chats." His ambitious slate of New Deal programs and reforms redefined the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans. Reelected by comfortable margins in 1936, 1940 and 1944, he led the United States from isolationism to victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II. He spearheaded the successful wartime alliance between Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and helped lay the groundwork for the post-war peace organization that would become the United Nations. The only American president in history to be elected four times, he died in office in April 1945.

Benito Mussolini

(1883-1945) He went by the nickname "Il Duce" ("the Leader"), was an Italian dictator who created the Fascist Party in 1919 and eventually held all the power in Italy as the country's prime minister from 1922 until 1943. An ardent socialist as a youth, he followed in his father's political footsteps but was expelled by the party for his support of World War I. As dictator during World War II, he overextended his forces and was eventually killed by his own people in Mezzegra, Italy.

Harry S. Truman

(1884-1972) He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's vice president for just 82 days before Roosevelt died and he became the 33rd president. In his first months in office he dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. His policy of communist containment started the Cold War, and he initiated U.S. involvement in the Korean War. He left office in 1953.

Jawaharlal Nehru

(1889-1964) An influential leader in the Indian independence movement and political heir of Mahatma Gandhi, he became the nation's first prime minister in 1947. Although faced with the challenge of uniting a vast population diverse in culture, language and religion, he successfully established various economic, social and educational reforms that earned him the respect and admiration of millions of Indians. His policies of non-alignment and principles of peaceful coexistence guided India's international relations until the outbreak of the Sino-Indian War in 1962, which contributed to his declining health and subsequent death in 1964, ending his 17-years in office.

Ho Chi Minh

(1890-1969) Vietnamese Marxist revolutionary leader and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule. The leader of the North Vietnamese when war with the United States broke out. In Vietnam today, he is regarded by the Communist government with god-like status in a nationwide cult of personality, even though the government has abandoned most of his economic policies since the mid-1980s.

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) A Chinese communist leader and founder of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death. He was responsible for the disastrous policies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Nikita Khrushchev

(1894-1971) Led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from 1958 to 1964. Though he largely pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after he positioned nuclear weapons 90 miles from Florida. At home, he initiated a process of "de-Stalinization" that made Soviet society less repressive. Yet he could be authoritarian in his own right, crushing a revolt in Hungary and approving the construction of the Berlin Wall. Known for his colorful speeches, he once took off and brandished his shoe at the United Nations.

Treaty of Shimonoseki

(1895) Agreement that concluded the first Sino-Japanese War, which ended in China's defeat. Under the terms, China was obliged to recognize the independence of Korea, over which it had traditionally held control; to cede Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and the Liaodong (south Manchurian) Peninsula to Japan; to pay an indemnity of 200,000,000 taels to Japan; and to open the ports of Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou to Japanese trade.

Zhou Enlai

(1898-1976) He was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China. He was China's head of government, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976. He served under Chairman Mao Zedong and was instrumental in the Communist Party's rise to power, and later in consolidating its control, forming foreign policy, and developing the Chinese economy.

Platt Amendment

(1901) This established the terms under which the United States would end its military occupation of Cuba (which had begun in 1898 during the Spanish-American War) and "leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its people." It stipulated the conditions for U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs and permitted the United States to lease or buy lands for the purpose of the establishing naval bases (the main one was Guantánamo Bay) and coaling stations in Cuba.

Ngo Dinh Diem

(1901-1963) Vietnamese political leader who served as president, with dictatorial powers, of what was then South Vietnam, from 1955 until his assassination. His imprisoning and, often, killing of those who expressed opposition to his regime—whom he alleged were abetting communist insurgents—further alienated the South Vietnamese populace, notably Buddhists, who increasingly protested the discrimination against them. Matters with the Buddhists came to a head in 1963 when, after government forces killed several people at a May rally celebrating the Buddha's birthday, Buddhists began staging large protest rallies, and three monks and a nun immolated themselves. Those actions finally persuaded the United States to withdraw its support from him, and his generals assassinated him during a coup d'état.

Deng Xiaoping

(1904-1997) Leader of the Communist Party of China, was a reformer who led China towards a market economy. His economic policies were at odds with the political ideologies of Chairman Mao Zedong. As a result, he was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution but regained prominence in 1978 by outmaneuvering Mao's chosen successor.

Salvador Allende

(1908-1973) Chile's first socialist president in 1970. His regime was supported by working-class constituencies, but was opposed in covert actions by U.S. President Richard Nixon. Following a military coup led by General Augustine Pinochet, he took his own life on September 11, 1973.

Ronald Reagan

(1911-2004) U.S. President whose first term in office was marked by a massive buildup of U.S. weapons and troops, as well as an escalation of the Cold War (1946-1991) with the Soviet Union, which the president dubbed "the evil empire." Key to his administration's foreign policy initiatives was a doctrine, under which America provided aid to anti-communist movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 1983, he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a plan to develop space-based weapons to protect America from attacks by Soviet nuclear missiles.

Republic of China

(1912-1949) - Ruled the Chinese mainland between 1912 and 1949. It was established after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. Its government moved to Taipei in December 1949 due to the Kuomintang's defeat in the Chinese Civil War.

Kim Il Sung

(1912-1994) His parents took the family to Manchuria in the 1920s to flee the Japanese occupation of Korea. During the 1930s, he became a Korean freedom fighter, working against the Japanese. He eventually relocated to the Soviet Union for special training, where he joined the country's Communist Party. He remained in the Soviet Union from 1940 until the end of World War II. He returned to Korea in 1945, and in 1950, led an invasion into the south looking to unify the country under northern control, thereby initiating the Korean War.

Armenian Genocide

(1914-1923) The atrocities committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during WWI. The Armenian people were subjected to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The great bulk of the Armenian population was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria, where the vast majority was sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger. Large numbers of Armenians were methodically massacred throughout the Ottoman Empire. Women and children were abducted and horribly abused. The entire wealth of the Armenian people was expropriated. After only a little more than a year of calm at the end of WWI, the atrocities were renewed between 1920 and 1923, and the remaining Armenians were subjected to further massacres and expulsions.

Zimmerman Telegram

(1917) A notorious letter intercepted by British code breakers meant for the German ambassador to Mexico. The message gave the ambassador a now-famous set of instructions: if the neutral United States entered the war on the side of the Allies, the ambassador was to approach Mexico's president with an offer to forge a secret wartime alliance. The Germans would provide military and financial support for a Mexican attack on the United States, and in exchange Mexico would be free to annex "lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona." In addition, the ambassador was told to use the Mexicans as a go-between to entice the Japanese Empire to join the German cause. It was handed over to the United States and its scandalous contents were splashed on the front pages of newspapers nationwide. Coupled with the submarine attacks, it finally turned the U.S. government in favor of entering World War I.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

(1918) Russia signed it with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) ending its participation in World War I. By its terms, Russia recognized the independence of Ukraine, Georgia and Finland; gave up Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Germany and Austria-Hungary; and ceded Kars, Ardahan and Batum to Turkey. The total losses constituted some 1 million square miles of Russia's former territory; a third of its population or around 55 million people; a majority of its coal, oil and iron stores; and much of its industry. Lenin bitterly called the settlement "that abyss of defeat, dismemberment, enslavement and humiliation." With the November 11, 1918, the armistice ending World War I and marking the Allies' victory over Germany, it was annulled. By the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to give up its territorial gains from this.

Spanish Influenza

(1918) The most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world's population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States.

Gamal Nasser

(1918-1970) He was a pivotal figure in the recent history of the Middle East and played a highly prominent role in the 1956 Suez Crisis. He has been described as the first leader of an Arab nation who challenged what was perceived as the western dominance of the Middle East. He remains a highly revered figure in both Egypt and the Arab world.

Amritsar Massacre

(1919) British and Gurkha troops massacre at least 379 unarmed demonstrators meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh, a city park. Most of those killed were Indian nationalists meeting to protest the British government's forced conscription of Indian soldiers and the heavy war tax imposed against the Indian people. The event stirred nationalist feelings across India and had a profound effect on one of the movement's leaders, Mohandas Gandhi. During World War I, Gandhi had actively supported the British in the hope of winning partial autonomy for India, but after this he became convinced that India should accept nothing less than full independence.

May 4th Movement

(1919) Chinese student leaders demonstrated against the Chinese government's perceived submission to the whims of Western powers at the Treaty of Versailles. More specifically, China had joined the First World War on the side of the allies with the expectation that German holdings on its territory would be returned to China in a postwar settlement. None of China's demands were taken seriously by representatives of the allied powers. China demanded an end to extraterritoriality for foreign powers on its soil, a cancellation of Japan's exploitative 'Twenty-One Demands,' and the return of Shandong from the Germans. (At the end of the war, Shandong fell under Japan's administration after it defeated the Germans at Shandong.)

Treaty of Versailles

(1919) Officially ended World War I. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. After strict enforcement for five years, the French assented to the modification of important provisions. Germany agreed to pay reparations under the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, but those plans were cancelled in 1932, and Hitler's rise to power and subsequent actions rendered moot the remainder of its terms. The British and American governments after 1945 sought to avoid many of the problems that had been raised at the end of World War I—especially regarding reparations—and the division of Germany and the Cold War enabled them generously to rebuild the western zones and to integrate them into a western alliance without renewing fears of German aggression. Meanwhile, they deferred certain fundamental issues for so long that no formal peace treaty was ever written to end World War II.

Pope John Paul II

(1920-2005) He extended support to the Solidarity movement in Poland and inspired his fellow Polish by pleading with them to, "not to be afraid," and stand for their freedom and dignity. This religious leader's influence helped in freeing the of parts of Europe from communism.

Pol Pot

(1925-1998) He rose to power as leader of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia's Communist regime, which took control of the country in 1975. During its reign, which ended in 1979, he oversaw the deaths of an estimated one to two million people from starvation, overwork or execution. The mass graves he commanded his people to dig were often referred to as "the killing fields." He was arrested in 1997 and died under house arrest on April 15, 1998.

Fidel Castro

(1926-2016) Established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading the overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until handing off power to his younger brother Raúl in 2008. During that time, his regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms. His Cuba also had a highly antagonistic relationship with the United States-most notably resulting in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two nations officially normalized relations in July 2015, ending a trade embargo that had been in place since 1960, when U.S.-owned businesses in Cuba were nationalized without compensation.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(1929-1968)American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1954 through 1968. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience.

Yasser Arafat

(1929-2004) Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 until his death. From this post, he was at the forefront of years of violence, border disputes and the Palestinian liberation movement, all centering on neighboring Israel. He signed a self-governing pact with Israel in 1991, at the Madrid Conference, and together with Israeli leaders made several attempts at lasting peace soon after, notably through the Oslo Accords (1993) and the Camp David Summit of 2000. Stemming from the Oslo Accords, he and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize, but the terms were never implemented. In November 2013, Swiss researchers released a report containing evidence suggesting that his death was the result of poisoning.

Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere

(1930-45) This is remembered largely as a front for the Japanese control of occupied countries during World War II, in which puppet governments manipulated local populations and economies for the benefit of Imperial Japan.

Desmond Tutu

(1931 - ) A vocal and committed opponent of apartheid in South Africa, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. In the transition to democracy in South Africa, he was an influential figure in promoting the concept of forgiveness and reconciliation. He has been recognized as the 'moral conscience of South Africa' and frequently speaks up on issues of justice and peace.

Mikhail Gorbachev

(1931 - ) Communist leader of the Soviet Union he launched programs of restructuring and openness that introduced profound changes in economic practice, internal affairs and international relations. Within five years, His actions inadvertently set the stage for the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He resigned from office on December 25, 1991.

Boris Yeltsin

(1931-2007) The president of Russia from 1991 until 1999. Though a Communist Party member for much of his life, he eventually came to believe in both democratic and free market reforms, and played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Good Neighbor Policy

(1933) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office determined to improve relations with the nations of Central and South America. Under his leadership the United States emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the hemisphere. Represented an attempt to distance the United States from earlier interventionist policies, such as the Roosevelt Corollary and military interventions in the region during the 1910s and 1920s.

Third Reich

(1933-1945) Nazi Germany is also known as this, meaning "_____Realm" or "_____ Empire", the first two being the Holy Roman Empire (800-1806) and the German Empire (1871-1918).

Saddam Hussein

(1937-2006) President of Iraq for more than two decades and is seen as a figurehead of the country's military conflicts with Iran and the United States. Under his rule, segments of the populace enjoyed the benefits of oil wealth, while those in opposition faced torture and execution. After military conflicts with U.S.-led armed forces, Hussein was captured in 2003. He was later executed.

Munich Conference

(1938 ) The agreement to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudetenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. It also left the Czech nation open to complete domination by Germany. In short, the it sacrificed the autonomy of Czechoslovakia on the altar of short-term peace. The terrorized Czech government was eventually forced to surrender the western provinces of Bohemia and Moravia (which became a protectorate of Germany) and finally Slovakia and the Carpathian Ukraine. In each of these partitioned regions, Germany set up puppet, pro-Nazi regimes that served the military and political ends of Adolf Hitler. By the time of the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the nation called "Czechoslovakia" no longer existed. Signed by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

(1939) Two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. With Europe on the brink of another major war, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin viewed it as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the Soviet military. German chancellor Adolf Hitler used it to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed. It also contained a secret agreement in which the Soviets and Germans agreed how they would later divide up Eastern Europe. It fell apart in June 1941, when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union.

Battle of Britain

(1940-41) In the summer and fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the it ended when Germany's Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting its air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. The decisive victory saved the country from a ground invasion and possible occupation by German forces while proving that air power alone could be used to win a major battle. German code name Operation Sea Lion.

Lend-Lease Program

(1941) Was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. It authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to "the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." By allowing the transfer of supplies without compensation to Britain, China, the Soviet Union and other countries, the act permitted the United States to support its war interests without being overextended in battle.

Quit India Movement

(1942) A civil disobedience campaign in launched in August 1942, in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for the immediate independence of India. Its aim was to bring the British government to the negotiating table through determined, but passive resistance. Unilaterally and without consultation, the British had entered India into World War II, arousing the indignation of large numbers of Indian people. On July 14, 1942, the Indian National Congress passed a resolution demanding complete independence from Britain and massive civil disobedience. In a speech entitled, "Do or Die," given on August 8, 1942, Gandhi urged the masses to act as an independent nation and not to follow the orders of the British. His call found support among a large number of Indians, including revolutionaries who were not necessarily party to Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence. Almost the entire Congress leadership was put into confinement less than twenty-four hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress leaders spent the rest of the war in jail. Despite lack of direct leadership, large-scale protests and demonstrations were held all over the country. The British responded with mass detentions, making over 100,000 arrests. Within a few months the campaign had died down, and when the British granted independence on August 15, 1947, they cited revolts and growing dissatisfaction among Royal Indian Armed Forces during and after the war as the driving force behind Britain's decision to leave India.

Battle of Midway

(1942) Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan's planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.

Battle of Stalingrad

(1942-43) A brutal military campaign between Russian forces and those of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers during World War II. It is infamous as one of the largest, longest and bloodiest engagements in modern warfare: From August 1942 through February 1943, more than two million troops fought in close quarters - and nearly two million people were killed or injured in the fighting, including tens of thousands of Russian civilians. But it (site was one of Russia's important industrial cities) ultimately turned the tide of World War II in favor of the Allied forces.

Vietnam War

(1955-1975) A long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divided Americans, even after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

Warsaw Pact

(1955-1991) A political and military alliance established between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. The Soviet Union formed this alliance as a counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective security alliance concluded between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949. It officially disbanded in March and July of 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Osama bin Laden

(1957-2011) When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, he joined the Afghan resistance. After the Soviet withdrawal, he formed the al-Qaeda network which carried out global strikes against Western interests, culminating in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On May 2, 2011, President Barack Obama announced that he had been killed in a terrorist compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Tet Offensive

(1968) A coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to stir up rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the attacks, news coverage of this event shocked the American public and eroded support for the war effort.

Prague Spring

(1968) Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček introduced more freedoms, including limited democracy. Warsaw Pact countries launched an invasion and put an end to these freedoms.

Glasnost

(1986) Means "openness" and was the name for the social and political reforms to bestow more rights and freedoms upon the Soviet people. Its goals were to include more people in the political process through freedom of expression. This led to a decreased censoring of the media, which in effect allowed writers and journalists to expose news of government corruption and the depressed condition of the Soviet people. It also permitted criticism of government officials, encouraging more social freedoms like those that Western societies had already provided. Yet, the totalitarian state present since 1917 was difficult to dismantle, and when it fell apart, citizens were not accustomed to the lack of regulation and command. The outburst of information about escalating crime and crimes by the government caused panic in the people. This caused an increase in social protests in a nation used to living under the strictest government control, and went against the goals of Gorbachev.

European Union

(1993- ) Created in an effort to integrate Europe since World War II. At the end of the war, several western European countries sought closer economic, social, and political ties to achieve economic growth and military security and to promote a lasting reconciliation between France and Germany. This international organization is comprised of 28 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies. It was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012, in recognition of the organization's efforts to promote peace and democracy in Europe.

Taliban

(1996-) Ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan's communist regime, and the subsequent breakdown in civil order. The group imposed strict Islamic laws on the Afghan people. Women must wear head-to-toe coverings, are not allowed to attend school or work outside the home and are forbidden to travel alone. Television, music and non-Islamic holidays are also banned.

Abbasid Caliphate

(750-1258) Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, they overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad. Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy, and invention during the Golden Age of Islam. Increased the inclusion of non-Arab Muslims into the umma. They fell during the Mongol invasion and sacking of Baghdad.

Thomas Aquinas

(c. 1225-1274) Italian philosopher and theologian, born Combined the theological principles of faith with the philosophical principles of reason. He ranked among the most influential thinkers of medieval Scholasticism. Seen as an authority of the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific writer. Written from 1265 to 1274, Summa Theologica, is maybe his best known work.

Sir Francis Drake

(c.1540-1543-1596) - Participated in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa and earned a reputation for his privateering, or piracy, against Spanish ships and possessions. Sent by Queen Elizabeth I to South America in 1577, he returned home via the Pacific and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe; the queen rewarded him with a knighthood. In 1588, he served as second-in-command during the English victory over the Spanish Armada. The most famous mariner of the Elizabethan Age, he died off the coast of Panama in 1596 and was buried at sea.

Golden Horde

(ca. 1240-1480) Also called Kipchak Khanate, ruled Eastern Russia. The name possibly came from the color of the ruling khans' yurts. Controlled Khwarizm, the Crimea, the northern Caucasus, Bulgaria, Siberia, and the former Volga Bulgar region. They were still a subset of the overall Mongol Great Khanate Empire, which had its headquarters in Karakorum. Unlike the Mongols of the Far East, who settled in cities, they kept their ancestors' nomadic way of life and absorbed other nomads west of traditional Mongolian territory. The Mongol influence on medieval Russia and other regions was deep and lasted for a long time. The Mongols helped unify the new Russian state by providing new political institutions and fostered the rise of a Muscovite (Moscow) autocracy. Russian princes were vassals of the khanate and paid tribute.

Johannes Gutenberg

(ca. 1395-1468) Born in Mainz, Germany. He started experimenting with printing by 1438. His masterpiece, and the first book ever printed in Europe from movable type, is the "Forty-Two-Line" Bible, completed no later than 1455. Played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. It laid the basis for the spread of learning to the masses. Responsible for introducing the era of mass communication.

2001 - 9/11 Attacks

19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.

Machu Picchu

A 15th century Inca site in the Cusco region of Peru. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Sacred Valley and could have been built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. It was built around 1450 but abandoned at the time of the Spanish Conquest. It was built in the classical Inca style with polished dry-stone walls. It is highly possible that it was a sacred religious site or possibly a settlement built to control the economy of the region because of its location.

The Enlightenment

A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its prominent exponents include Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith.

Bourbons

A European royal house of French origin. Members of the family ended up holding thrones in Spain, Naples, and Sicily was well. Ruled in France until the overthrow of the monarchy during the French Revolution but restored to the throne. The Spanish line of the family (starting with Philip V) has been overthrown and restored several times. The first King was Henry IV, a Protestant who defeated his Catholic rivals for the throne.

1683 - Unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Vienna

A battle of the Holy Roman Empire in alliance with the Holy League versus the Muslim Ottoman Empire and their chiefdoms. Marked the beginning of the political hegemony of the Habsburg dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire and central Europe. Won by the combined forces of the Holy League and the Holy Roman Empire. Marked the turning point in the Ottoman-Habsburg wars, stopped Muslim advance into Europe.

1967 - 6-day war

A brief but bloody conflict fought between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Following years of diplomatic friction and skirmishes between Israel and its neighbors, Israel Defense Forces launched preemptive air strikes that crippled the air forces of Egypt and its allies. Israel then staged a successful ground offensive and seized the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The brief war ended with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire, but it significantly altered the map of the Mideast and gave rise to lingering geopolitical friction.

Magna Carta

A charter originally issued in Latin in the year 1215. It was the first document forced onto the King of England by a group of his subjects in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights. It was an important part of the process that led to the rule of constitutional law. It was used as a model for many of the colonies that were developing their own legal systems. It said that King John was required to proclaim certain liberties and that his will was not arbitrary.

Dutch East India Company

A chartered company established in 1602 when the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly on colonial activities in Asia. Was the first company to publicly issue stock. Acquired ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory. Eventually was weighed down by corruption and dissolved in 1800, its possessions being taken over by the government.

Repartimiento System

A colonial forced labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America. Similar to the mita of the Inca Empire. Natives were forced to do labor for a certain number of days each year for low or no wages. It was not slavery but often created slavery-like conditions. Replaced the encomienda system in most parts of New Spain by the beginning of the 17th century.

Hanseatic League

A commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea during the Late Middle Ages. Was created to protect economic interests and diplomatic privileges in the cities along the trade routes the merchants visited. Had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid. Few enjoyed complete autonomy.

Ka'ba

A cuboid building in Mecca that is the most sacred site in Islam. The most sacred mosque is built around it. Muslims are expected to face it during prayers, no matter where they are in the world. Every Muslims is expected to perform the Hajj pilgrimage to this site at least once during their lifetime. It is said to have been built by Abraham and was the first house built for humanity to worship God.

1600 - Battle of Sekigahara

A decisive battle which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. It took him three more years to consolidate his position of power but it is widely considered to be the beginning of the Tokugawa Bakufu, the last shogunate to control Japan. Ieyasu's forces fought against those of Mitsunari. He redistributed the land, rewarding those who had helped him and became quite wealthy himself. After this victory, Japan isolated itself for 250 years.

Boers

A distinct group of the larger Afrikaner nation. It denotes the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the Eastern Cape frontier in southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who had left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in an independent sovereign republic. Their primary motivations for leaving the Cape were to escape British rule and extract themselves from constant border wars.

Predestination

A doctrine in theology that all events have already been decided by God. John Calvin interpreted this to mean that God had decided eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others, which went against the idea that we have free will. Those who followed Calvin and his beliefs used this concept as an issue that eventually caused them to break away from the Catholic Church.

Napalm

A flammable liquid that used in warfare. It is a mixture of a gelling agent and either gasoline (petrol) or a similar fuel. It was initially used as an incendiary device against civilian infrastructure and later primarily as an anti-personnel weapon, as it sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire.

Enlightened Monarchs

A form of absolute rule in which rulers were influenced by the Age of Reason. They embraced its emphasis on rationality and applied them to their territories. They tended to allow religious toleration, freedom of speech and the press, and the right to hold private property. Most fostered the arts, sciences, and education.

Parliamentary monarchies

A form of democratic government in which a nonpolitical ruler acts as head of state within the boundaries of a _______. They may hold formal reserve powers, but they do not set a public policy or choose political leaders. This differs from absolute ______, in which the _____ controls political decision-making.

Theocracy

A form of government in which one person or a group of people rules in the name of a deity or god (or multiple deities and/or gods). Government officials are considered divinely guided, and most laws are derived from sacred texts and religious teachings. Though it is ancient in origin, this form of government is still prevalent in some parts of the world.

Absolute monarchies

A form of government in which the sovereign has complete power over his or her people. Wields unrestricted political power. They are often hereditary positions. In theory, they exercise total power over the land but in practice, they are often counterbalanced by political groups from the aristocracy, clergy, etc. Some have weak or symbolic legislatures. Historical examples include Russia and France for a period of time.

Hagia Sophia

A former Greek Orthodox church and imperial mosque in what was Constantinople. Was built in 537 under the orders of the Emperor Justinian and served as the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople. It is famous for its massive dome and is considered to represent Byzantine architecture. Was converted into a mosque when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453 and Islamic features were added. Today, it is a museum.

Indochina

A geographical region of Southeast Asia. It occupies the easternmost region of the Indochinese Peninsula, on land located directly east of Thailand, and south of China. It was originally comprised of the French colony of Cochin, China, and the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin; Cambodia (formerly Kampuchea), Laos and Vietnam. After the events of World War II, and the end of Japanese influence in southeast Asia, and later, after the defeat of the French in 1954 by the Vietnamese, this area of the world changed dramatically.

Elizabethan Age

A golden age in English history that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the Spanish. Saw the flowering of poetry, music, and literature and is most famous for theatre, including the works of William Shakespeare. A period of largely internal peace between Protestants and Catholics and of Parliament and the monarchy.

Encomienda System

A grant of authority over a population of Amerindians in the Spanish colonies. It provided the grant holder with a supply of cheap labor and periodic payments of goods by the Amerindians. It obliged the grant holder to Christianize the Amerindians. The difference between this system and slavery was often minimal and many natives were subject to extreme punishment and death.

Cossacks

A group of predominantly East Slavic people. They inhabited sparsely populated areas and played an important role in the historical and cultural development of both Russia and Ukraine. They had long military traditions and played an important role in Russia's wars of the 18th-20th centuries. They were similar to the knights of medieval Europe in feudal times and provided military service and protection.

Spheres of influence

A legal agreement by which another state or states pledge themselves to refrain from interference. The term first gained currency in the 1880s when the colonial expansion of the European powers in Africa and Asia was nearing its completion. The last stage of that expansion was characterized by the endeavour of all major colonial powers to carry on the mutual competition for colonies peacefully through agreed-upon procedures.

The Index

A list of publications deemed heretical, or contrary to morality and thus Catholics were forbidden to read them. The aim of the list was to protect the faith and morals of the faithful by preventing the reading of theologically, culturally, and politically disruptive books.

1910-1920 - Mexican Revolution

A long and bloody struggle among several factions in constantly shifting alliances which resulted ultimately in the end of the 30-year dictatorship and the establishment of a constitutional republic. The revolution began against a background of widespread dissatisfaction with the elitist and oligarchical policies of Porfirio Díaz that favoured wealthy landowners and industrialists. In the north, Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa mobilized their ragged armies and began raiding government garrisons. In the south, Emiliano Zapata waged a bloody campaign against the local caciques (rural political bosses). Revolutionary forces took Ciudad Juárez, forced Díaz to resign, and declared Madero president.

"Invisible hand"

A metaphor for how, in a free market economy, self-interested individuals operate through a system of mutual interdependence to promote the general benefit of society at large. It was introduced by Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Smith in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The metaphor distills two critical ideas. First, voluntary trades in a free market produce unintentional and widespread benefits. Second, these benefits are greater than those of a regulated, planned economy.

1905 - Russo-Japanese War

A military conflict in which much of the fighting took place in what is now northeastern China. It was also a naval conflict, with ships exchanging fire in the waters surrounding the Korean peninsula. The brutal conflict in the western Pacific changed the balance of power in Asia and set the stage for World War I.

Bastille

A military fortress and prison stormed on July 14, 1789, in a violent uprising that helped usher in the French Revolution. Besides holding gunpowder and other supplies valuable to revolutionaries, it also symbolized the callous tyranny of the French monarchy, especially King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette.

Sikhs/Sikhism

A monotheistic religion that originated in the sixteenth century in India. Their followers are disciples of the Guru. They believe in the equality of humankind, the concept of universal brotherhood, and one supreme God. It was founded by Guru Nanak and its origins lie in his teachings. They are summed up in their holy book, The Guru Granth Sahib.

Indian National Congress

A movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government. Its membership was middle class, and its demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Mohandas K. Gandhi, it appealed increasingly to the poor, and it organized mass protests demanding self-government and independence.

Humanism

A movement of European scholars, writers, and teachers associated with the study of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, languages, and moral philosophy that was influential in the fifteenth century and later. Prefers individual thought and evidence over established doctrine. Revived classical learning during the Renaissance and demonstrated the benefits of studying classical sources.

Magyars

A nation and ethnic group who speak Hungarian and are primarily associated with Hungary. It was also a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for almost one thousand years. It became a middle power in Europe. Parts of it were conquered by the Turks and it was divided into three parts. The Habsburgs held the throne for awhile and played an important role in their wars against the Ottomans.

Asante (Ashanti)

A nation of people who live predominantly in, and are native to, Ghana and the Ivory Coast of Africa. Prior to European colonization, they developed a large and influential empire in West Africa. Grew from a loose confederation of small city-states. Finally defeated by Britain in 1901 after much resistance.

Magnetic Compass

A navigational instrument that shows the four cardinal directions in reference to the surface of the Earth. Consists of a pointer free to align itself with Earth's ________ field. It greatly improved the safety and efficiency of travel, especially ocean travel. Probably first made in China during the Qin dynasty but it became increasingly common during the Age of Discovery.

Nelson Mandela

A nonviolence anti-apartheid activist, politician and philanthropist who became South Africa's first black president from 1994 to 1999. Becoming actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in his 20s, he joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, nonviolent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. Beginning in 1962, he spent 27 years in prison for political offenses. In 1993, he and South African President F.W. de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle the country's apartheid system.

Baroque

A period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome and spread to most of Europe. Its popularity was encouraged by the Catholic Church, which decided that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement.

Italian Renaissance

A period of great cultural change and achievement that began in the 14th century and lasted until the 16th century. Was the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. There was renewed interest of the culture of the classics. Most of the changes were concentrated in the elite and life didn't change much for the majority of the population. Best known for the humanist, artistic, and literary achievements of people such as Michelangelo, Petrarch, and Machiavelli.

1492 - Reconquista of Spain

A period of history of the Iberian Peninsula that lasted from the first Islamic invasion to the fall of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula. Christian rulers stressed the Christian and Muslim cultural divide and the necessity to drive the Muslims out. They commonly fought among themselves. The European Crusades served to confirm the idea of a Christian attempt to establish their presence throughout the world.

Mfecane

A period of widespread chaos and warfare among indigenous ethnic communities in southern Africa during the period between 1815 and about 1840, caused migrations and alterations in African political organizations.

Manifest destiny

A phrase coined in 1845, expressed the philosophy that drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion. It held that the United States was destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. President Thomas Jefferson kicked off the country's westward expansion in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase and it continued with the annexation of Texas, the settling of the northern border of the Oregon territory, the Mexican-American War, and the annexation of California. U.S. expansion also fueled the growing debate over slavery, by raising the pressing question of whether new states being admitted to the Union would allow slavery or not—a conflict that would eventually lead to the Civil War.

Divine Right

A political and religious doctrine of royal legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God. Thus, the king is not subject to any estate of the realm, including the Church. Rooted in the medieval idea that God had bestowed earthly power on the king.

Medici Family

A political dynasty and later royal house that first began to gather prominence in the Republic of Florence he first half of the 15th century. They produced four popes of the Catholic Church and two queens of France. Their wealth and influence derived from banking and the textile trade. They dominated their city's government and created an environment where art and humanism could flourish.

Muslim League

A political party established during the early years of the 20th century in the British Indian Empire. Its strong advocacy, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, for the establishment of a separate Muslim-majority nation-state, Pakistan, successfully led to the partition of British India in 1947 by the British Empire.

Nationalism

A political, social, and economic ideology and movement characterized by the promotion of the interests of a particular nation, especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty over its homeland. It was a leading cause of World War I.

Agent Orange

A powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and crops for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. Later proven to cause serious health issues—including cancer, birth defects, rashes and severe psychological and neurological problems—among the Vietnamese people as well as among returning U.S. servicemen and their families.

Zionism

A religious and political effort that brought thousands of Jews from around the world back to their ancient homeland in the Middle East and reestablished Israel as the central location for Jewish identity. While some critics call this an aggressive and discriminatory ideology, it has successfully established a Jewish homeland in the nation of Israel. Some historians believe that an increasingly tense atmosphere between Jews and Europeans may have triggered this movement. In one 1894 incident, a Jewish officer in the French army named Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused and convicted of treason. This event, which became known as the "Dreyfus Affair," sparked outrage among Jewish people and many others. Officially established as a political organization by Theodor Herzl in 1897. A Jewish journalist and political activist from Austria, Herzl believed that the Jewish population couldn't survive if it didn't have a nation of its own.

Dreyfus Affair

A scandal that rocked France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that involved a Jewish artillery captain in the French army who was falsely convicted of passing military secrets to the Germans. A French newspaper published an open letter titled "J'Accuse...!" by well-known author Emile Zola in which he defended the falsely accused man and accused the military of a major cover-up in the case. As a result, Zola was convicted of libel. This deeply divided France, not just over the fate of the man at its center but also over a range of issues, including politics, religion and national identity.

Enclosure Acts

A series of agricultural laws passed by wealthy landowners within Parliament during the 18th and 19th centuries. They privatized and fenced off large amounts of farmland that had once been common property (spreading idea of "personal wealth" over the "common good"). Small farmers had to pay rent to large landowners or forfeit their farms. Led to great numbers of farmers moving into the cities, and they provided the labor for the industrialization process that was just beginning (Industrial Revolution). Drove up the price of land and led to many riots and revolts.

Arab Spring

A series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across the Middle East in late 2010. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, beginning with protests in Tunisia.

Tanzimat Reforms

A series of edicts between 1839 and 1876 intended to preserve the weakening Ottoman Empire. These edicts guaranteed life and property rights, instituted tax regulations, outlawed execution without trial, and other liberal reforms which recalled the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789). Reforms were directed at Europe to suggest that the Ottoman Empire belonged among the European nations as well as a commitment to transform the Empire based on European models. The reforms also marked initial changes that would define an Ottoman subject, as opposed to a Muslim, Christian, or Jewish subject of the Empire, and abolished the dhimmi status accorded to non-Muslim subjects. As such, this period reform reflects the first movement towards secularism in the Ottoman Empire, and was strongly opposed by religious scholars (ulama) as well as non-Muslim religious leaders who perceived the reforms as a threat to their authority.

Feudalism

A set of legal and military customs, which was a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor. It revolves around the key ideas of lords, vassals, and fiefs. A lord was a noble who held land, a vassal was granted possession of some of this land, and the land was called a fief. The vassal also had to provide some sort of service in return for protection.

1607 - Foundation of Jamestown

A settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London after several other failed attempts. Served as the capital of the colony for 83 years. The natives provided crucial provisions for the survival of the colonists. They eventually engaged in brutal warfare. Brought Polish and dutch colonists, and eventually Africans to serve as slaves.

Dome of the Rock

A shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The central plan structure was patterned after the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was completed in 691 CE at the order of the Umayyad caliph, becoming the first real work of Islamic architecture. Its significance comes from its religious importance to not only Muslims, but also to Jews and Christians.

Puritans

A significant group of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was founded by some exiles from the clergy as an activist movement against the Church of England. They were blocked from changing the established Church by severe laws. They advocated for more "pure" worship and doctrine as well as better personal piety. They left to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the years after 1630.

1941 - Attack on Pearl Harbor

A surprise military strike in which hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on a U.S. base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

Democracy

A system of government in which all "citizens" have equal political and legal rights, privileges, and protections, as in the Greek city-state of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. They participate in the proposal, development, and creation of laws either directly or through elected representatives. It encompasses social, economic, and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination.

Command economy

A system where the government, rather than the free market, determines what goods should be produced, how much should be produced and the price at which the goods are offered for sale. This a key feature of any communist society.

Dar al-Islam

A term used by Muslim scholars to refer to countries where Muslims can practice their religion freely. It's the area of the world under the rule of Muslims. They are usually cultures where Muslims represent the majority of the population and the government promises to protect them. They are usually close to or border other Muslim societies.

Kashmir conflict

A territorial struggle primarily between India and Pakistan over the northernmost geographic region of the Indian subcontinent. It started after the partition of India in 1947 as a dispute over land and escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. China has also been involved in the conflict in a third-party role.

Social contract

A theory or model that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and usually concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Typically it assumes that individuals have consented, either explicitly or implied, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler (or to the decision of a majority) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights.

Czar (tsar)

A title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. It is derived from the Latin word "Caesar", which was intended to mean Emperor in the European medieval sense of the term. It was first used in reference to a Russian ruler by Ivan III, who ruled from 1462 to 1505. Westerners often saw the title as a barbaric attempt at Russia's ambition to become a "Third Rome."

Peace of Augsburg

A treaty between Charles V and the forces of an alliance of Lutheran princes in 1555 in present-day Germany. It officially ended the struggle between the two groups and made the legal division of Christendom permanent throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Allowed the princes to select either Lutheranism or Catholicism within their domains. Subjects who disagreed with the prince's choice could emigrate to another region.

Maji Maji revolt/Herero Wars

A violent African resistance to colonial rule in the German East Africa in response to a German policy designed to force African peoples to grow cotton for export, lasting from 1905 to 1907. They believed they were magically protected from the German bullets and were mowed down by their machine guns. They finally were starved into surrender after the Germans burned their crops.

Bolsheviks

A wing of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party, which, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized control of the government in Russia (October 1917) and became the dominant political power.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

According to lore, it was a winter's day in 1531 when the Virgin Mary first appeared to Juan Diego, a peasant, as he was crossing a hillside near present-day Mexico City. She appeared as a dark-skinned woman who spoke Nahuatl, Juan Diego's native language. A brown-skinned Mary figure was critical to the eventual conversion of millions of indigenous people to Roman Catholicism. To the present day, Our Lady of Guadalupe remains a powerful symbol of Mexican identity and faith, and her image is associated with everything from motherhood to feminism to social justice.

Raj rule

After 1858, Great Britain ruled India formally as a colony without the veil of the Company or the Mughal crown. Both the English East India Company and the Mughal Empire came officially to an end. Hindi for "rule" or "reign"—in India would last another 90 years (1848-1947). Queen Victoria became Empress of India and in her Proclamation of 1858 she announced that all Indians would be treated equally under British law regardless of race or religion. Failure of the rule to live up to her promises would later become fodder for Indian national movements. The stark contrast between British wealth and Indian poverty continued. In 1877, the year Queen Victoria lavishly celebrated her title as Empress of India, famine killed approximately 4 million Indians.

Marshall Plan

Also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. It was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors - as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.

Truman Doctrine

American Cold War policy in Europe and around the world, stating that the U.S. would support countries with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere. It dealt with Washington's concern over communism's domino effect, it enabled a media-sensitive presentation of the doctrine that won bipartisan support, and it mobilized American economic power to modernize and stabilize unstable regions without direct military intervention.

Time of Troubles

An era of Russian history dominated by a dynastic crisis and exacerbated by ongoing wars with Poland and Sweden, as well as a devastating famine. It began with the death of the childless last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598 and continued until the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. It took another six years to end two of the wars that had started during this time.

1776 - Adam Smith writes Wealth of Nations

Argues for three basic economic principles: pursuit of self-interest, division of labor, and freedom of trade. Proposed the idea of an invisible hand—the tendency of free markets to regulate themselves by means of competition, supply and demand, and self-interest - and laissez-faire philosophies, such as minimizing the role of government intervention and taxation in the free markets.

Crusades

Armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim rule. They brought an end to western Europe's centuries of intellectual and cultural isolation. There were six major campaigns against Muslim territories and numerous minor ones that eventually ended in failure for the Christians. The effects included reopening of Mediterranean trade, the weakening of the Byzantines, and a unification of the Catholic Church under the Pope.

1911 - Chinese Revolution

Arose in response to the decline of the Qing state, which had proven ineffective in its efforts to modernize and confront foreign aggression. Ended with the abdication of the six-year-old Last Emperor, Puyi, and marked the end of 2,000 years of imperial rule and the beginning of China's early republican era. A brief civil war ensued but was ended through a political compromise between Yuan Shikai, the late Qing military strongman, and Sun Yat-sen.

1871 - German unification

Became a modern, unified nation under the leadership of the "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), who between 1862 and 1890 effectively ruled first Prussia. A master strategist, Bismarck initiated decisive wars with Denmark, Austria and France to unite 39 independent states (former Holy Roman Empire states) under Prussian leadership. Although an arch-conservative, Bismarck introduced progressive reforms—including universal male suffrage and the establishment of the first welfare state—in order to achieve his goals. He manipulated European rivalries to make a world power, but in doing so laid the groundwork for both World Wars.

Secular

Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters

1959 - Cuban Revolution

Conducted by Fidel Castro's revolutionary 26th of July Movement and its allies against the authoritarian government of President Fulgencio Batista. Had powerful domestic and international repercussions. It transformed the relationship with the United States. In the immediate aftermath, Castro's government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed the economy and civil society.

Sino-French War

Conflict between China and France in 1883-1885 over Vietnam, which disclosed the inadequacy of China's modernization efforts and aroused nationalistic sentiment in southern China. The Chinese lost control of Vietnam to French and Vietnam became French Indochina.

2003 - 2nd Gulf War

Conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a brief, conventionally fought war in March-April 2003, in which a combined force of troops from the United States and Great Britain (with smaller contingents from several other countries) invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a longer second phase in which a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq was opposed by an insurgency. After violence began to decline in 2007, the United States gradually reduced its military presence in Iraq, formally completing its withdrawal in December 2011.

1967 - Chinese Cultural Revolution

Created by Mao Zedong in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. Believing that current Communist leaders were taking the party, and China itself, in the wrong direction, Mao called on the nation's youth to purge the "impure" elements of Chinese society and revive the revolutionary spirit that had led to victory in the civil war two decades earlier and the formation of the People's Republic of China. It continued in various phases until Mao's death in 1976, and its tormented and violent legacy would resonate in Chinese politics and society for decades to come.

OPEC

Created by five oil-producing developing countries in Baghdad in September 1960 occurred at a time of transition in the international economic and political landscape, with extensive decolonization and the birth of many new independent states in the developing world. Its objective is to coordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.

Kingdom of Mali

Created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade. Founded by Sundiata and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa. Had many profound cultural influences on West Africa, allowing the spread of its language, laws, and customs along the Niger River. It covered a large area and consisted of numerous vassal provinces.

1898 - Spanish-American War

Ended Spain's colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.

1488 - Dias rounded Cape of Good Hope

Europeans sailed around the tip of Africa. The captain was appointed by King John II of Portugal with the hopes of finding a trade route to India. They sailed south along the western coast of Africa, went around the tip, and then turned back before reaching India. The entire expedition took about sixteen months. Significant because they realized they could bypass expensive overland routes and middlemen.

Committee of Public Safety

Formed in April of 1793, and lead by Robespierre, to protect France against its enemies, foreign and domestic, and to oversee the government. Under his leadership, it came to exercise virtual dictatorial control over the French government. Faced with the threat of civil war and foreign invasion, the Revolutionary government inaugurated the Reign of Terror in September. In less than a year, 300,000 suspected enemies of the Revolution were arrested; at least 10,000 died in prison, and 17,000 were officially executed, many by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution. The bloodshed helped Robespierre succeed in purging many of his political opponents. In July 1794, a coup occurred, Robespierre and 21 others were guillotined without a trial in the Place de la Revolution. During the next few days, another 82 Robespierre followers were executed. The Reign of Terror was at an end. In the aftermath, the Committee of Public Safety lost its authority, the prisons were emptied, and the French Revolution became decidedly less radical.

1571 - Battle of Lepanto

Fought between a fleet of the Holy League, an alliance of southern European Catholic states, and the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans were decisively defeated after about five hours of fighting on the edge of the Gulf of Corinth off the coast of Greece. The victory of the Holy League prevented the Ottomans from expanding further along the Mediterranean.

Creation of St. Petersburg

Founded by Czar Peter the Great in May 1703. Meant to be a showcase for Russia, and a true European city. Essentially built on swampland, prone to flooding and with an inhospitable climate, thousands of serfs died during its construction. Historians estimate that as many as 100,000 serfs lost their lives during its construction. Nobles and merchants were compelled to move to the city to build houses and start businesses there. It became capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1712-1728, 1732-1918) and ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Ottoman Turks

Founded by Osman around 1299 and officially ended in 1922 when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. One of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in world history. This Islamic-run superpower ruled large areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for more than 600 years. The chief leader, known as the Sultan, was given absolute religious and political authority over his people. While Western Europeans generally viewed them as a threat, many historians regard them as a source of great regional stability and security, as well as important achievements in the arts, science, religion and culture.

African National Congress

Founded in 1912, with its main goal being the maintenance of voting rights for Coloureds (persons of mixed race) and black Africans in Cape Province. From the 1940s it spearheaded the fight to eliminate apartheid, the official South African policy of racial separation and discrimination. It was banned from 1960 to 1990 by the white South African government; during these three decades it operated underground and outside South African territory. The ban was lifted in 1990, and Nelson Mandela was elected in 1994 to head South Africa's first multiethnic government.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

Founded in 1964 during a summit in Cairo, Egypt. Its initial goals were to unite various Arab groups and create a liberated Palestine in Israel. Over time, it has embraced a broader role, claiming to represent all Palestinians while running the Palestinian National Authority (PA). Although the it wasn't known to be violent during its early years, the organization became associated with controversial tactics, terrorism and extremism.

Holocaust

Historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. Since 1945, the word has taken on a new and horrible meaning: the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews (as well as millions of others, including Gypsies and homosexuals) by the German Nazi regime during the Second World War. To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler's "final solution" came to fruition under the cover of world war, with mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland.

1954 - Vietnamese defeat French at Dien Bien Phu

Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh forces decisively defeat imperial forces. Although the defeat brought an end to their colonial efforts in Indochina, the United States soon stepped up to fill the vacuum, increasing military aid to South Vietnam and sending the first U.S. military advisers to the country in 1959.

Guilds

In medieval Europe, an association of men (rarely women), such as merchants, artisans, or professors, who worked in a particular trade and banded together to promote their economic and political interests. They were also important in other societies, such as the Ottoman Empire. They focused on regulating elements of their trade, solving arguments about their craft, and protecting their members from the control of the government.

Fief

In medieval Europe, land granted in return for a sworn oath to provide specified military service. The use of the land and its income was given to the vassal, but not the actual rights to the property. It was a central element of feudalism and given in return for feudal allegiance and service. The vassals often built manors that they lived in and owned serfs that were tied to the land. They produced crops for their own use and to give to the lord or noble of the vassal.

Romanticism

In part spurred by the idealism of the French Revolution, it embraced the struggle for freedom and equality and the promotion of justice. Painters began using current events and atrocities to shed light on injustices in dramatic compositions. It embraced individuality and subjectivity to counteract the excessive insistence on logical thought. Artists began exploring various emotional and psychological states as well as moods. It was closely bound up with the emergence of newly found nationalism that swept many countries after the American Revolution. Emphasizing local folklore, traditions, and landscapes, it provided the visual imagery that further spurred national identity and pride.

Indian Ocean trade network

In premodern times, a system of seaports, trade routes, and maritime culture linking countries from Africa to Indonesia. Was a dynamic zone of interaction facilitated by long distance trade in dhows and sailboats using the monsoons. It dramatically changed and influenced the economies of these countries as well as the relationships between them and had a huge effect on the growth and development of world culture, trade, technology, and religion.

Reichstag

It was the pseudo-Parliament of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. Following the Nazi seizure of power and the passing of the Enabling Act of 1933, it met only as a rubber stamp for the actions of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship — always by unanimous consent — and to listen to Hitler's speeches. In this purely ceremonial role, it convened only 20 times, the last on April 26, 1942, when it unanimously passed a decree proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People," officially allowing him to override the judiciary and administration in all matters.

Benin

Its shore includes what used to be known as the Slave Coast, the departure point for captives to be shipped across the Atlantic. Elements of the culture and religion brought by slaves from the area are still present in the Americas, including voodoo.

Quipu

Knot-record, was a method used by the Incas and other ancient Andean cultures to keep records and communicate information. In the absence of an alphabetic writing system, this simple and highly portable device achieved a surprising degree of precision and flexibility. Using a wide variety of colours, strings, and sometimes several hundred knots all tied in various ways at various heights, it could record dates, statistics, accounts, and even represent, in abstract form, key episodes from traditional folk stories and poetry. In recent years scholars have also challenged the traditional view that they were merely a memory aid device and go so far as to suggest that they may have been progressing towards narrative records and so becoming a viable alternative to written language just when the Inca Empire collapsed.

1517 - Martin Luther and the start of the Protestant Reformation

Marked by publication of his 95 Theses. He began by criticizing the relatively recent practice of selling indulgences but expanded to touch on many doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. It led to the creation of many new Protestant churches. The core motivation behind these changes was theological but many other factors also played a part.

Huguenots

Members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Inspired by the writings of John Calvin. Roughly 500,000 of them fled France during a series of religious persecutions to Protestant nations such as England, Scotland, Denmark, and Sweden. They had harsh criticisms of the doctrine and worship in the Catholic Church and called for a radical cleansing.

1929 - Stock Market Crash

Most economists agree that several, compounding factors led to this event. A soaring, overheated economy that was destined to one day fall likely played a large role. Equally relevant issues, such as overpriced shares, public panic, rising bank loans, an agriculture crisis, higher interest rates and a cynical press added to the disarray. Many investors and ordinary people lost their entire savings, while numerous banks and companies went bankrupt. While historians sometimes debate whether it directly caused the Great Depression, there's no doubt that it greatly affected the American economy for many years.

Khmer Rouge

Name given to the followers of the Communist Party who were ruled in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide.

1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre

Nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe. However, Chinese troops and security police stormed and fired indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested. The savagery of the Chinese government's attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies.

1346 -1350 - Black Death in Europe

One of the most devastating pandemics in human history, killing approximately 75 to 200 million people. Probably originated in the plains of Central Asia and then traveled along the Silk Road. Carried by rats on merchant ships. Killed 30-60% of Europe's total population. Created a series of religious, social, and economic changes. Shifted the social structure of Europe and resulted in persecution of minorities. Created a general mood of morbidity. Ushered in the Renaissance.

1917 - Russian Revolution

One of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. The ensuing violence marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. The Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Authoritarian government

One ruler or a small group of leaders have the real power in this political system. They may hold elections and they may have contact with their citizens, but citizens do not have any voice in how they are ruled. The leaders do not give their subjects free choice. Instead, they decide what the people can or cannot have. This system does not allow freedoms of speech, press, and religion, and they do not follow majority rule nor protect minority rights. Examples of such regimes include China, Myanmar, Cuba, and Iran.

Collectivization (USSR and China)

Policy adopted by the Soviet government, pursued most intensively between 1929 and 1933, to transform traditional agriculture in the Soviet Union and to reduce the economic power of the kulaks (prosperous peasants). Under this, the peasantry were forced to give up their individual farms and join large farms. The process was ultimately undertaken in conjunction with the campaign to industrialize the Soviet Union rapidly. In China under Mao in the 1950s, agricultural land was removed from private ownership and organized into large state and communal farms.

Solidarity

Polish trade union that in the early 1980s became the first independent labor union in a country belonging to the Soviet bloc. Founded in September 1980, was forcibly suppressed by the Polish government in December 1981, and reemerged in 1989 to become the first opposition movement to participate in free elections in a Soviet-bloc nation since the 1940s.

Modern Welfare State

Refers to a type of governing in which the national government plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions of a good life. Social security, federally mandated unemployment insurance programs and welfare payments to people unable to work are all examples of it. Most modern countries practice some elements of it. That said, the term is frequently used in a derogatory sense to describe a state of affairs where the government in question creates incentives that are beyond reason, resulting in an unemployed person on welfare payments earning more than a struggling worker. It is sometimes criticized as being a "nanny state" in which adults are coddled and treated like children.

Perestroika

Refers to major changes initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev to the structure and function of both political and economic controls in the Soviet Union. Politically, contested elections were introduced to reflect the democratic practices of Western society and allow citizens to have a slight say in government. Economically, it called for de-monopolization and some semi-private businesses to function, ending the price controls established by the government. The goal was to create a semi-free market system, reflecting successful capitalist practices in the economies of Germany, Japan, and the United States. Unfortunately, such an economy took time to thrive, and people found themselves stuck in a worn-out economy, which led to long-lines, strikes, and civil unrest. This and resistance to it are often cited as major catalysts leading to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

1885 - Berlin Conference

Regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power. The conference was organized by Otto von Bismarck; its outcome can be seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa, although some scholars of history warn against an overemphasis of its role in the colonial partitioning of Africa. It ushered in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, which eliminated or overrode most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance.

Catholic Reformation (counter-reformation)

Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church that began in response to the Protestant _________. It clarified theology and changed clerical training and discipline. Began with the Council of Trent in 1545 and ended with the close of the 30 Years War. Seminaries were founded to train priests and new spiritual movements started. Also involved political activities such as the Roman Inquisition.

Gunpowder empires

Scholars often use this term to describe the Islamic kingdoms of the Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals. Each of these three groups had considerable military exploits using the newly developed firearms, especially cannons and small arms, to create their kingdoms. They existed primarily between the fourteenth and the late seventeenth centuries.

1931 - Japanese invasion of Manchuria

Seizure of the city of Mukden by foreign troops, which was followed by the invasion of all of northeast China and the establishment of the foreign-dominated state of Manchukuo in the area. Most observers believe the incident was contrived by the foreign army, without authorization of its government, to justify the invasion and occupation that followed. It contributed to the international isolation of this invading east Asian land and is seen as a crucial event on the path to the outbreak of World War II.

Hundred Years' War

Series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families. Took place from 1337 to 1453. It saw the introduction of weapons and tactics that added to the feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry. It changed the role of peasantry in society by creating a standing army. English nobles' dissatisfaction led to civil wars. France experienced civil war, famine, and epidemics. France was eventually victorious and maintained control of the throne.

Dhows

Ships of small to moderate size used in the western Indian Ocean, traditionally with a triangular sail and a sewn timber hull. Probably originated in China. Usually used for carrying heavy items and traveling up and down coastal areas. They often sailed south with the monsoon in the winter and back north in the early summer.

Caravels

Small, highly maneuverable three-masted ships used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic. First developed in the 15th century under the sponsorship of Henry the Navigator. The use of lateen sails gave them speed and the ability to sail into the wind. Their economy, speed, agility, and power made them the best sailing vessels of their time. A drawback included limited space for crew and cargo, which made them less profitable.

Conquistadores

Soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who were at the service of the Portuguese and Spanish Empires. They sailed beyond Europe, conquering territory and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Their goals were to increase their status, acquire land, and become wealthy. They were responsible for the transportation of diseases such as smallpox and typhus to the New World.

1857 - Sepoy Mutiny

Sparked when several companies of native Indian soldiers of the Bengal army were issued new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle. A rumor was spread that the cartridges were made from cow and pig fat. Loading the Enfield required tearing open the greased cartridge with one's teeth. This would have insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices; cows were considered holy by Hindus while pigs were considered unclean by Muslims. Underlying grievances over British taxation and recent land annexations by the British East India Company were ignited by the soldiers who were arrested for refusing to use the new rifles and within weeks dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. The old aristocracy, both Muslim and Hindu, who were seeing their power steadily eroded by the East India Company, also rebelled against British rule. Another important discontent among the Indian rulers was that the british policies of conquest had created unrest among many indian rulers. An immediate result of this was a general house-cleaning of the Indian administration. The East India Company was abolished in favor of the direct rule of India by the British government.The financial crisis caused by this led to a reorganization of the Indian administration's finances on a modern basis. The Indian army was also extensively reorganized.

1804 - Haitian independence

Successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue. It involved blacks, mulattoes, French, Spanish, and British participants—with the ex-slave Toussaint L'Ouverture emerging as a hero. It was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery, and ruled by non-whites and former captives. Due to massive French losses, Napoleon withdrew his forces and sold France's territory in North America to the United States.

1914 - Beginning of WWI

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe—for years. A number of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and other parties had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements. Sparked in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand—heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—was shot to death along with his wife Sophie by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

1588 - Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British

The "Invincible" fleet of Spain suffered a great loss to an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake. The fleet had been on a mission to secure control of the English Channel and transport a Spanish army to the British Isle. Catholic Spain hoped to defeat Protestant England. It consisted of 130 ships carrying 2,500 guns, 8,000 seamen, and almost 20,000 soldiers. Introduced effective long-range weapons to naval warfare.

Détente

The easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. Between the late 1960s and the late 1970s, there was a thawing of the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. This easing took several forms, including increased discussion on arms control.

1433 - End of Zheng He's voyages

The final expeditions carried out by China with the goal of establishing a Chinese presence and imposing imperial control over Indian Ocean trade. He also wanted to impress these foreign people and expand China's tributary system. Sought to attain these goals mostly through diplomacy. Came to an end because the Chinese elite realized that these expeditions went against many Confucian principles.

Gunpowder

The first known chemical explosive that generates heat and a large gas volume. It is widely used as a propellant in firearms. Is believed to have been invented in the 9th century, which led to the invention of fireworks and more advanced weapons in Song China. Similar weapons began to appear in the Arab world, Europe, and Indian with the spread of this technology. Used against the Mongols when they tried to invade China and then adopted by them.

1492 - Columbus sailed the ocean blue

The first voyage of a famous Italian explorer who was sponsored by the monarchs of Spain. This voyage along with his others marked the beginning of the European exploration and colonization of the American continents. He believed falsely that the lands he had reached were part of Asia and refused to accept that, in fact, he had "discovered" the Americas.

Al Qaeda

The global terror network founded by Osama bin Laden has been responsible for thousands of deaths on 9/11 and several other deadly attacks across the globe.

Maori

The indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. They originated with settlers who arrived in several waves of canoe voyages. Over several centuries of isolation, they developed a unique culture with their own language, mythology, crafts, and arts. They formed tribal groups, based on social customs and organization. The arrival of Europeans greatly changed their way of life. They eventually coexisted as part of a new British colony.

1271-1295 - Marco Polo travels

The journeys and adventures of a young merchant from Venice that reached the Mongol court in China after a long trek across Central Asia. He served the emperor Kublai Khan for years as an ambassador and governor of a Chinese province. Some question his reports of the riches of the East. His journey was the first to be widely known and inspired later explorers such as Christopher Columbus. May have influenced the development of European cartography.

Vernacular

The language or variety of a language used in everyday life by the common people of a specific population. In the 13th century Italian authors began writing in their native language rather than in Latin, French, or Provençal. The creation of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s encouraged authors to write in their local languages rather than in Greek or Latin classical languages, widening the reading audience and promoting the spread of Renaissance ideas.

Mongols

The largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, stemmed from the efforts and leadership of one man, Chinggis Khan. Chinggis, his sons and grandsons, created this fast-spreading empire which ruled all across Asia to Eastern Europe and included China, Russia, Hungary, Iran, the Middle East, Mongolia and Indochina. From 1206 to 1368, the Mongol Empire spread out from the Mongolian steppes like a wildfire until it gradually dissolved due to its own complexity and size.

Heian period

The last division of classical Japanese history that lasted from 794 to 1185. It is the period when Buddhism, Taoism, and other Chinese influences were at their height. Also is considered to be the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its poetry and literature. The Imperial Court had power on the surface, but the real power was in the hands of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful aristocratic family.

Mercantilism

The main economic system of trade utilized from the 16th to 18th century. Theorists believed that the amount of wealth in the world was static. Thus, European nations took several strides to ensure their nations accumulated as much of this wealth as possible. The goal was to increase a nation's wealth by imposing government regulation that oversaw all of the nation's commercial interests. It was believed national strength could be maximized by limiting imports via tariffs and maximizing exports.

1958-1962 - Great Leap Forward

The name given to China's Second Five Year Plan. It was born from Mao's impatience to transform China quickly into a modern industrialized state. The social plan mandated collective farming and led to catastrophic grain shortages and a famine that killed tens of millions of Chinese.

Aborigines

The original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. There is great diversity among their communities, each with its own mix of cultures, customs, and languages. Estimates date their arrival up to 60,000 years ago. Most likely migrated from Africa long ago and then became isolated for much of their history. Mainly lived as hunter-gatherers and moved with the availability of food.

Balance of power

The policy in international relations beginning in the eighteenth century, the major European states acted together to prevent any one of them from becoming too powerful. Its basic tenet is that no single European power should be allowed to achieve hegemony over a substantial part of the continent and that this is best curtailed by having a small number of ever-changing alliances contend for power.

Daimyo

The powerful lords of ancient Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast land holdings. They were subordinate only to the shogun and were the most powerful feudal rulers in Japan. They often hired samurai to protect their land and then paid them in food or land. Systems were developed to control the power of these lords such as forbidding shows of military power and forcing them to spend time at the royal court.

Protestant Reformation

The schism within western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and several others in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Began with Luther's 95 Theses, which criticized many practices of the Church, especially selling indulgences. It led to the creation of new national churches that still exist today. There were other motivations for the movement besides just theology. The Church responded with a Counter _______.

1861 - End of Russian serfdom

The system which tied peasants to their landlords was used as an excuse to explain Russia's current weaknesses: it was responsible for military incompetence, food shortages, overpopulation, civil disorder, industrial backwardness. These were oversimplified explanations but there some truth in all of them: it was symptomatic of the underlying difficulties that held Russia back from progress. The Russian state had entered the Crimean War in 1854 with high hopes of victory. Two years later it suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Allied armies of France, Britain and Turkey. The shock to Russia was profound and the system which tied Russian peasants irrevocably to their landlords, was abolished at the command of Czar Alexander II.

Social Darwinism

The theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same laws of natural selection as plants and animals. Now largely discredited, it was advocated by Herbert Spencer and others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was used to justify political conservatism, imperialism, and racism and to discourage intervention and reform. The term itself emerged in the 1880s, and it gained widespread currency when used after 1944 by opponents of these ways of thinking.

Estates General

The traditional assembly representing French society (Old/Ancien Régime): the clergy (First), the nobility (Second), and the commoners (Third). Summoned by King Louis XVI in 1789, it was brought to an end when the Third formed into a National Assembly, inviting the other two to join, against the wishes of the King. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Code of Chivalry

The traditional code of conduct associated with medieval knighthood. Arose from an idealized German custom and developed first among soldiers in Charlemagne's army. Involved gallantry, individual training, service to others, honor, courtly love, and courtesy. Was a moral code that instructed all knights to protect the weak, guard fellow knights, tell the truth, respect women, obey those in authority, keep faith in God, and have the skills to fight in war.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, culture, and technology between the American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres. It happened following the voyages to the Americas in 1492, colonization and trade by Europeans, and the institution of the slave trade. Europe gained new staple crops of potatoes, maize, and tomatoes. Large livestock such as horses and sheep revolutionized life in the New World. They were also devastated by European diseases that killed up to 80% of the native population.

Lateen Sails

These are triangular and mounted at an angle on the mast and running in a front-to-back direction. They date back to Roman navigation but became the favorite of the Age of Discovery. They were common in the Mediterranean, Upper Nile River, and the northwestern parts of the Indian Ocean, where they were used on dhows and several other ships.

Labor unions

These grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. They fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. Their efforts helped to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.

Young Turks

They pushed for a radical secularization of schools, courts, and legal codes; permitted elections and competing parties; established a single Law of Family Rights for all regardless of religion; and encouraged Turkish as the official language of the empire.They also opened modern schools for women, included giving them access to Istanbul University; allowed women to wear western clothing; restricted polygamy; and permitted women to obtain divorces in some situations. In 1915, memberx directed Ottoman soldiers and their proxies in Eastern Anatolia, near the Russian front, to deport or execute millions of Armenians in an event that later came to be known as the Armenian Genocide.

Indentured Servitude

They typically worked four to seven years in exchange for passage, room, board, lodging and freedom dues. Their lives were harsh and restrictive, but it wasn't slavery. There were laws that protected some of their rights.

Schlieffen Plan

This German strategy assumed that Russia, having recently lost the Russo-Japanese War, would take at least six weeks to mobilize its troops and attack Germany from the East. In that time, Germany would stage an attack on France by marching west through neutral territory of the Netherlands and Belgium. This route avoided the heavily fortified direct border with France. Then German forces would swoop south, delivering a hammer blow through Flanders, Belgium and onward into Paris, enveloping and crushing French forces in less than 45 days. Once France was defeated, according to the plan, Germany could transport its soldiers east using its railroad network and deploy them against the Russian troops. This strategy required that France be defeated swiftly - but this didn't happen. That failure led to sustained trench warfare on the Western Front. In those grim battles of attrition, such as the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun, Allied forces ultimately outnumbered the Germans.

Universal male suffrage

Throughout the first half of the 19th century, the right to vote was the goal of men who believed that they did not need to own property to have an interest in the fortunes of their country or to exercise sound judgment on its behalf. They agitated to abolish property requirements for voting. Others found the growing power of the "common man," the shifting industrial economy, and the need for new voters to support their own new political parties were compelling reasons to support voting rights.

1502 - Slaves to Americas

Took place across the Atlantic Ocean until the 19th century. The vast majority of these were Africans from the central and western parts of the continent, sold to European traders by Africans. This system was crucial in helping European countries to create their overseas empires. The Portuguese were the first to engage in it and others followed. It is estimated that 12 million were shipped.

Atlantic slave trade

Took place from the 16th century to the 19th century. The vast majority were Africans from the central and western parts of the continent, sold to European traders, who transported them to both North and South America. Were considered cargo and moved as cheaply and quickly as possible. Estimates of the number shipped is as high as 12 million. Traders included Portugal, Britain, France, and Spain.

Junks/Jongs

Very large flat bottom sailing ships produced in Tang, Ming, and Song Empires, specially designed for long-distance commercial trade. Used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages. They were efficient and sturdy and incorporated numerous technological advances in sail plan and hull designs that were adopted in later shipbuilding. Could carry very heavy loads and sometimes even hundreds of passengers. Are still in use in some places today.

James Watt

A Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.

Jacobins

A democratic club established in Paris in 1789. They were the most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution, and in association with Robespierre they instituted the Terror of 1793-1794. The club was so called because of the Dominican convent in Paris in the Rue Saint-Jacques where they originally met.

Rajas

A monarch in India, parts of Southeast Asia, and Indonesia. The term can designate either a prince or a full-fledged king, depending on local usage. During the colonial era, the British used the term was used to designate their own reign over greater India and Burma.

Imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Throughout the 1800's, an increased need for both raw materials and new markets for manufactured goods led various European nations to pursue these policies. British control over South Africa, the Netherlands control over Indonesia, and French control over Indochina are examples.

Caudillos

A warrior. During wars of liberation, civil wars, and national wars, he was the strongman who could recruit troops and protect his people. In Mexico and Peru, for example, professional military men played an important role in the political process as pressure groups.

Bourgeoisie

Means to be of middle class, which is also referred to as the merchant class. It originated from the French meaning "city-dweller". People are put into this class level based upon their education, wealth, and employment. A person of the middle class in a society; someone whose political, economic, and social views are believed to be determined mainly by concern for property values and respectability. Karl Marx believed that they were the social class that owned the means of production in a capitalist society.

Joint-stock company

A business, often backed by a government charter, that sold shares to individuals to raise money for its trading enterprises and to spread the risks (and profits) among many investors; examples being Dutch East India Company as well as the British East India Company, who both obtained government monopoly over trade in different areas.

Medieval (Middle Ages)

After the fall of the great Roman state and before the "rebirth" of culture that we call the Renaissance. This same period used to be called the "Dark Ages", since it was believed that in these years civilization all but vanished. And indeed, for most Europeans in these centuries, it was a time of poverty, famine, plague, and superstition, rather than the age of magic, dazzling swordplay, towering castles, and knights in splendid armor.

Mujahedin

Anti-Communist Muslim guerrillas (translation is "strugglers") that saw much success in fighting the USSR in Afghanistan (1979-1989).

Carrack

Developed as a fusion between Mediterranean and Northern European-style ships. The first appeared in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The Spanish and Portuguese developed a particular type of ship to trade in the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic. These ships were multi-masted and a combination of square and lateen sails were used. The square sail was used for speed and the lateen rig allowed for maneuverability. It had a wide and deep hull that allowed for bulk cargo. The Portuguese adopted it to move goods to Africa, India, and the Spice Islands.

Concentration camps

In southern Africa, the concept of these had taken root. In 1900, during the Boer War, the British began relocating more than 200,000 civilians, mostly women and children, behind barbed wire into bell tents or improvised huts. A place where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution.

Song Dynasty

Ruled China from 960 to 1279 C.E. with the reign split into two periods: the Northern ____ (960-1125 C.E.) and Southern ____ (1125-1279 C.E.). The Northern ruled a largely united China from their capital at Kaifeng, but when the northern part of the state was invaded by the Jin state in the first quarter of the 12th century C.E., the Song moved their capital south to Hangzhou. Despite the relative modernization of China and its great economic wealth during the period, the court was so plagued with political factions and conservatism that the state could not withstand the challenge of the Mongol invasion and collapsed in 1279 C.E.

Primogeniture

The right of succession belonging to the firstborn child, especially the feudal rule by which the whole real estate of the estate passed to the eldest son. provides a means for keeping an estate unified. It tends to be found in agricultural societies where a person's status and economic prosperity is tied to ownership of land. Usually the younger sons received support from their families, allowing them to pursue careers in the military, church, or state bureaucracy. Daughters received a dowry upon their marriage in lieu of any rights over their father's estate.

Women's suffrage movement

The struggle for the right of women to vote and run for office and is part of overall women's rights. In the mid-19th century, women in several countries—most notably, the U.S. and Britain—formed organizations to fight for the vote. In 1888, the first international women's rights organization formed, the International Council of Women (ICW). Because the ICW was reluctant to focus on suffrage, in 1904 the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) was formed by British women's rights activist Millicent Fawcett, American activist Carrie Chapman Catt, and other leading women's rights activists.

Jizya

Under Islamic law, a per capita tax levied on a section of Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens who meet certain criteria. It was a material proof of the non-Muslim's acceptance of the state and its laws. In return, they were allowed to practice their faith, enjoy a measure of autonomy, be entitled to the Muslim state's protection, and were exempted from military service and some other taxes.

Kublai Khan

(1215-1294) The founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China. A grandson of Genghis Khan. His real power was limited to China and Mongolia but he also had influence in the Il-Khanate and the Golden Horde. He became the first non-Chinese emperor to conquer all of China. He brought the Mongol Empire to national attention and was largely responsible for re-creating a unified, militarily powerful China. He was the only Mongol to win new conquests after 1260.

Yuan Dynasty

(1271-1368) Sometimes called, China's Mongol dynasty, it was completed in 1271 under Chinggis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan(reigned 1260-1294). Set up a Chinese-style administration that featured a centralized bureaucracy, political subdivisions, and a rationalized taxation system. The first dynasty to make Beijing its capital, moving it there from Karakorum 1267. They rebuilt the Grand Canal and put the roads and postal stations in good order, and their rule coincided with new cultural achievements including the development of the novel as a literary form. The vast size of the empire resulted in more-extensive foreign trade and foreign interaction than ever before.

Ottoman Empire

(1299-1922) - A transcontinental kingdom founded by the Turkish tribes in northwestern. With the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, it was transformed into a real power. At the height of its power under Suleiman the Magnificent, it controlled much of Asia, the Middle East, northern Africa, and Southeast Asia. It was the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for over six centuries.

Timur Lang (Tamerlane)

(1336-1405) Turkmen Mongol conqueror, who established an empire extending from India to the Mediterranean Sea. His name is a European corruption/mashup, and was given to him because his left side was partially disabled. Although he was notorious for his cruelty in war and for the many atrocities committed by his armies, he was also a lover of scholarship and the arts. His dynasty, the Timurids, which ruled Transoxiana and Iran until the early 16th century, was noted for its patronage of Turkish and Persian literature. One of his descendants, Babur, founded the Mughal dynasty of India in 1526.

Jan Van Eyck

(1390-1441) A Flemish painter that was active in Bruges. He is generally considered one of the most significant Northern European painters of the 15th century. Served as both the court artist and diplomat and became a senior member of the painters' guild. He was considered a revolutionary master in the handling and manipulating of oil paint.

Henry the Navigator

(1394-1460) - An important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and the Age of Discovery. He was responsible for the early development of European exploration and maritime trade with other continents. Founded a school for explorers and cartographers and sponsored many expeditions down the coast of Africa. Wanted to find the source of the West African gold trade and the legendary Christian kingdom of Prester John.

Giovanni da Verrazzano

(1425-1528) - A Florentine explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He lived from 1485 to 1528. He explored the Atlantic coast of North America, including New York Bay. His original goal was to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean. He came into contact with Native Americans during his expeditions.

King Alfonso I

(1456-1543) - The ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo in the first half of the sixteenth century. Rose to the monarchy by being elected by the people. Wrote a long series of letters to several kings of Portugal about the administration of the country. Welcomed European scientific innovation and the church but refused to adopt their legal code. Tried to convert Kongo to Catholicism. Condemned the Atlantic slave trade.

Niccolo Machiavelli

(1469-1527) - He was a diplomat for 14 years in Italy's Florentine Republic during the Medici family's exile. When the Medici family returned to power in 1512, he was dismissed and briefly jailed. He then wrote The Prince, a handbook for politicians on the use of ruthless, self-serving cunning. While many believe that the book's title character, "the prince," was based upon the infamous Cesare Borgia, some scholars consider it a satire. He is considered the "father of modern political theory."

Ponce de Leon

(1471-1521) - A Spanish explorer and conquistador. He became the first governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He also led the first European expedition to Florida, which he ended up naming. He is also associated with the legend of the Fountain of Youth. Used the harsh encomienda system and treated the natives badly.

Nicolaus Copernicus

(1473-1543) - A Polish, Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center. The publication of his book right before his death contributed to the Scientific Revolution. He possibly delayed the publication of his book because he was afraid of scientific and religious criticism.

Bartolemé de las Casas

(1474-1566) - The first bishop of Chiapas in southern Mexico. He devoted most of his life to protecting Amerindian peoples from exploitation. His major achievement was the New Laws of 1542, which limited the ability of Spanish settlers to compel Amerindians to labor for them. One of the first advocates for universal human rights.

Sir Thomas More

(1478-1535) - An English lawyer, scholar, writer, member of parliament and chancellor in the reign of Henry VIII. Noted for coining the word "Utopia," in reference to an ideal political system in which policies are governed by reason. He was executed for refusing to recognize Henry VIII's divorce and the English church's break with Rome. He was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint in 1935, and has been commemorated by the Church of England as a "Reformation martyr."

Tycho Brahe

(1546-1601) - A Danish nobleman, astronomer, and writer known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. His planetary model was discredited, but his astronomical observations were an essential contribution to the scientific revolution. He was the last major astronomer to work without the aid of a telescope. He was primarily an empiricist who set new standards for precise and objective measurements.

Henry IV (France)

(1553-1610) - The king of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first French monarch of the House of Bourbon. Raised in the Protestant faith by his mother and involved in the French Wars of Religion. Displayed an usual religious tolerance and had great concern for the welfare of his people. However, he was very unpopular during his life. He was considered a usurper by Catholics and a traitor by Protestants. Assassinated by a Catholic extremist.

William Shakespeare

(1564-1616) - English playwright and poet who is widely considered to be the greatest dramatist of all time. Also known as the "Bard of Avon." With the exception of the tragic love story Romeo and Juliet, his first plays were mostly histories. Henry VI (Parts I, II and III), Richard II and Henry V dramatize the destructive results of weak or corrupt rulers, and have been interpreted by drama historians as his way of justifying the origins of the Tudor Dynasty. Julius Caesar portrays upheaval in Roman politics that may have resonated with viewers at a time when England's aging monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, had no legitimate heir, thus creating the potential for future power struggles.

Galileo Galilei

(1564-1642)- An Italian physicist, mathematician, and astronomer who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and the astronomical observations that supported Copernicus and heliocentrism. He was extremely controversial during his lifetime and was met with much opposition from the Church, even being charged with heresy. Some of his writings were placed on a list of banned books.

Michael Romanov

(1596-1645) - He is remembered for the sense of stability he brought to Russia during one of its darkest periods. For more than 20 years during the so-called Time of Troubles, the country had suffered a devastating series of invasions, famines and revolts while a string of would-be leaders tried to fill the void left by the Rurik dynasty's extinction. Once he agreed to lead Russia, the uneducated and physically weak Michael wasn't exactly a strong-willed ruler, but his legitimate presence brought both peace and order to a country on the verge of destruction.

René Descartes

(1596-1650) - French philosopher and mathematician, regarded as the father of modern philosophy for defining a starting point for existence. Applied mathematics and logic to understanding the natural world. This approach incorporated the contemplation of the nature of existence and of knowledge itself, hence his most famous observation, "I think; therefore I am."

John Locke

(1632-1704) - An English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment. Widely known as "The Father of Classical Liberalism." He believed that we are born without innate ideas and that knowledge is determined only by experience. His political theory of government by the consent of the governed as a means to protect "life, liberty and estate" deeply influenced the United States' founding documents. His essays on religious tolerance provided an early model for the separation of church and state.

Louis XIV (France)

(1638-1715) - Known as the Sun King, reign lasted for 72 years, longer than that of any other known European sovereign. In that time, he transformed the monarchy, ushered in a golden age of art and literature, presided over a dazzling royal court at Versailles, annexed key territories and established his country as the dominant European power. During the final decades of his rule, France was weakened by several lengthy wars that drained its resources and the mass exodus of its Protestant population following the king's revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

John VI

(1767-1826) King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil in 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. He was also the nominal Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Pedro I of Brazil, was the monarch of the newly-independent country.

Montesquieu

(1689-1755) - A French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. His masterwork, The Spirit of Laws, published in 1748, had enormous influence on how governments should work, giving up classical definitions of government for new descriptions. He also established the idea of a separation of powers—legislative, executive and judicial—to more effectively propagate liberty. Was highly regarded in the British colonies of North America as a champion of liberty. Remained a powerful influence on many of the American founders.

Frederick the Great (Prussia)

(1712-1786) - The king in Prussia from 1740 to 1786. He is best known for his military victories, his reorganization of Prussian armies, his innovative drills and tactics, and his final success against great odds in the Seven Years' War. He was a proponent of enlightened absolutism and pursued religious policies that ranged from tolerance to oppression. Reformed the bureaucracy, the judicial system, and limited some freedoms of his citizens.

Adam Smith

(1723-1790) - A Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. In 1776, he wrote, "The Wealth of Nations.," which laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory. Was very controversial in his own day and received a lot of criticism. Worked as a teacher and tutor throughout Europe. Expounded on how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity.

James Cook

(1728-1779) - A British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. He achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Saw action in the Seven Years' War and mapped much of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Was killed in a fight with Hawaiians. Left a legacy of geographical knowledge that influenced his successors.

Catherine the Great

(1729-1796) Born in Prussia, she married into the Russian royal family in 1745. Shortly after her husband ascended to the throne as Peter III, she orchestrated a coup to become empress of Russia in 1762. Remembered in large part for her romantic liaisons, she also expanded Russian territories and sought to modernize its culture through progressive views on arts and education. Her reign was known as Russia's golden age. Assisted by her highly successful generals, Russia expanded rapidly by conquest and diplomacy. Reformed the administration and founded many new cities. Continued to modernize Russia but had several rebellions because serfdom was still in effect.

Louis XVI (France)

(1754-1792) - The last king of France (1774-92) in the line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French Revolution of 1789. He was executed for treason by guillotine in 1793. In the early years of his reign, he focused on religious uniformity and foreign policy. On the homefront, he invoked an edict that granted French non-Catholics legal status and the right to openly practice their faith. His early foreign policy success was supporting the American colonies' fight for independence from France's archenemy Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War. His policy of not raising taxes and taking out international loans, including to fund the American Revolution, increased France's debt, setting in motion the French Revolution. By the mid-1780s the country was near bankruptcy, which forced the king to support radical fiscal reforms not favorable with the nobles or the people.

Louis XVI

(1754-1793) The last Bourbon king of France who was executed in 1793 for treason. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideals. These included efforts to abolish serfdom, increase tolerance toward non-Catholics, and support for the North American colonists. The nobility reacted to this with hostility and discontent among the commoners grew. After a slew of governing missteps, he brought the French Revolution crashing down upon himself.

Marie Antoinette

(1755-1793) Born in Vienna, Austria, she married the future French king Louis XVI when she was 15 years old. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the reviled French monarchy, and she became the target of a great deal of vicious gossip. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the royal family was forced to live under the supervision of revolutionary authorities. In 1793, the king was executed; then, she was arrested and tried for trumped-up crimes against the French republic. She was convicted and sent to the guillotine on October 16, 1793.

Maximilien Robespierre

(1758-1794) He was a radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French Revolution. In the latter months of 1793 he came to dominate the Committee of Public Safety, the principal organ of the Revolutionary government during the Reign of Terror, but in 1794 he was overthrown and guillotined.

Jacques Dessalines

(1758-1806) Born, in Africa, but was enslaved in the French colony of Saint-Domingue. He served as a lieutenant under Toussaint L'Ouverture after the 1791 slave revolt and later eliminated French rule. He renamed the colony Haiti in 1804 and declared himself emperor. Despised for his brutality, yet honored as one of Haiti's founding fathers, he was killed in a revolt in 1806.

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759-1797) An eighteenth-century English writer, philosopher, and advocate for women's rights. She argued that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. Her most famous work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) pressed for educational reforms. She helped to lay the foundation for the feminist movement.

William Wilberforce

(1759-1833) one of Britain's great social reformers involved in campaigns against slavery, the promotion of education, Christianity, strict morality and animal welfare. He saw his life's mission to end slavery and is remembered for his active participation in getting Parliament to outlaw the slave trade. He died, just three days after Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which effectively banned slavery in the British Empire.

Jose Morelos

(1765-1815) A Mexican Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary rebel leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo in 1811. Between 1812 and 1815 he controlled most of Mexico southwest of Mexico City. He called the Congress of Chilpancingo in 1813 to form a government. In November the congress declared Mexico's independence.

Eli Whitney

(1765-1825) American inventor who developed the cotton gin in 1793; also contributed to the concept of interchangeable parts. The cotton gin was one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution, inadvertently helped the spread of slavery, and shaped the economy of the pre-Civil War south.

Napoleon Bonaparte

(1769-1821) A French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, he rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d'état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, he successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, he abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51.

Muhammad Ali

(1769-1849) While failing to achieve formal independence for Egypt during his lifetime, he was successful in laying the foundation for a modern Egyptian state. In the process of building an army to defend and expand his realm, he built a central bureaucracy, an educational system that allowed social mobility, and an economic base that included an agricultural cash crop, cotton, and military-based manufacturing. His efforts established his descendants as the rulers of Egypt and Sudan for nearly 150 years and rendered Egypt a de facto independent state.

Klemens von Metternich

(1773-1859) Austrian diplomat who chaired the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) and was at the center of European affairs for four decades as the Austrian Empire's foreign minister from 1809 and Chancellor from 1821 until the liberal Revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation. A traditional conservative that worked to maintain the balance of power, in particular by resisting Russian territorial ambitions in Central Europe and lands belonging to the Ottoman Empire. He disliked liberalism and strove to prevent the breakup of the Austrian Empire, for example, by crushing nationalist revolts in Austrian north Italy. At home, he pursued a similar policy, using censorship and a wide-ranging spy network to suppress unrest.

Jose de San Martin

(1778-1850) Helped lead the revolutions against Spanish rule in Argentina (1812), Chile (1818), and Peru (1821). The boldness of his plan to attack the viceroyalty of Lima by crossing the Andes to Chile and going on by sea, as well as the patience and determination with which he executed it, was likely the decisive factor in the defeat of Spanish power in South America.

George Stephenson

(1781-1848) An English engineer and the inventor of the first steam locomotive. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", he was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. By the 1840s the era of railroad construction had begun in Europe and the U.S.

Simon Bolivar

(1783-1830) A South American soldier who was instrumental in the continent's revolutions against the Spanish empire. Born into wealth, he was sent to Spain for his education, soon deciding to immerse himself in the political sphere in Europe. After France invaded Spain in 1808, he became involved in the resistance movement and played a key role in the Spanish American fight for independence. In 1825, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created in honor of the inspirational leader, hailed by many as El Libertador (The Liberator).

Shaka Zulu

(1787-1828) A brilliant military organizer, forming well-commanded regiments and arming his warriors with assegais, a new type of long-bladed, short spear that was easy to wield and deadly. They rapidly conquered neighboring tribes, incorporating the survivors into their ranks. By 1823, he was in control of all of present-day Natal. The conquests greatly destabilized the region and resulted in a great wave of migrations by uprooted tribes. In 1827, his mother died, and he lost his mind. In his grief, he had hundreds of his ethnic group killed, and he outlawed the planting of crops and the use of milk for a year. All women found pregnant were murdered along with their husbands. He sent his army on an extensive military operation, and when they returned exhausted he immediately ordered them out again. It was the last straw for the lesser chiefs: On September 22, 1828, his half-brothers murdered him.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

(1789) One of the foundational documents of the French Revolution. Prepared by Gilbert de Motier (the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought in the American Revolutionary War) in collaboration with American President Thomas Jefferson, and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti (the Comte de Mirabeau). It was heavily influenced by documents such as the American Declaration of Independence and American Constitution, and by Enlightenment ideals that explored the political relationship between individuals and the collective as detailed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The role of the state was understood to be the protector of those universal natural rights.

National Assembly

(1789-1791) It played a major role in the French Revolution. It represented the common people of France (also called the Third Estate) and demanded that the king make economic reforms to insure that the people had food to eat. When the king ordered them to disperse, they met at a tennis court where they swore an oath (called the Tennis Court Oath) to keep meeting until the king met their demands. It passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789.

Reign of Terror

(1793-94) Begun by Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre justifies the revolutionary government as a necessary but temporary form of war against the enemies of liberty. Constitutional government, he argues, can only protect liberty once this war has been won, and liberty has been peacefully established. This created almost two years of repressing perceived enemies of the Revolution. It will claim an estimated 18,500-40,000 lives before its ends with the fall of Robespierre on July 27, 1794. The Convention charged Robespierre and his allies with crimes against the Republic. They are accused, condemned, and guillotined within two days.

Mexican-American War

(1846-1848) Started with a border skirmish along the Rio Grande. Ended with the signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S.-Mexican border. Under the treaty, Mexico also recognized the U.S. annexation of Texas, and agreed to sell California and the rest of its territory north of the Rio Grande (Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico) for $15 million plus the assumption of certain damages claims.

The Directory

(1795-1799) A five-member committee that governed France from 1795, when it replaced the Committee of Public Safety, until 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in a Coup d'etat, and replaced by the French Consulate. Three takeaways from this government: 1. The economy of France was in a constant state of crisis during the four years of its existence. In 1795, France's treasury was nearly empty and money had lost nearly all of its value. It tried to respond but, in general, the country's economy slowed and became stagnant. 2. The Directory stopped the mass executions of the Reign of Terror and took measures to relax some of the more radical views of the time. 3. Along with others, Napoleon carried out a coup d'état against the government and replaced it with the French Consulate, with himself as the First Consul. The French Revolution was over.

Pedro I

(1798-1834) Nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. He also reigned briefly over Portugal.

Louisiana Purchase

(1803) Napoleon Bonaparte planned to revive the French empire in the New World. He planned to recapture the valuable sugar colony of St. Domingue from a slave rebellion, and then use land in North America as the granary for his empire. But, the French Army in St. Domingue was being decimated by yellow fever, and war between France and England still threatened. Napoleon decided to give up his plans, and offered French territory in North America for $15 million.

Benito Juarez

(1806-1872) President of Mexico (1858-1872). Born in poverty in Mexico, he was educated as a lawyer and rose to become chief justice of the Mexican supreme court and then president. He led Mexico's resistance to a French invasion in 1863.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

(1807-1881) The foremost military figure and popular hero of the age of Italian unification (through his conquest of Sicily and Naples with his guerrilla Redshirts) known as the Risorgimento with Cavour and Mazzini he is deemed one of the makers of Modern Italy.

Charles Darwin

(1809-1882) English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is now widely accepted, and considered a foundational concept in science. His book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) set forth his theory of evolution.

Camillo di Cavour

(1810-1861) An Italian statesman and a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification. His main aim was to expand the Piedmontese territory and annex other states and so increase the influence of Piedmont. By doing this he contributed towards unifying Italy because he decreased the number of independent states. Seen as the brain of Italian unification as he arranged the circumstances for the unification.

Otto von Bismarck

(1815-1898) Germany became a modern, unified nation under the leadership of the "Iron Chancellor" who between 1862 and 1890 effectively ruled first Prussia and then all of Germany. A master strategist, he initiated decisive wars with Denmark, Austria and France to unite 39 independent German states under Prussian leadership. Although an arch-conservative, he introduced progressive reforms—including universal male suffrage and the establishment of the first welfare state—in order to achieve his goals. He manipulated European rivalries to make Germany a world power, but in doing so laid the groundwork for both World Wars.

Czar Alexander II

(1818-1881) - Emperor of Russia from 1855 until his assassination in 1881. Most significant reform as Emperor was emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861; other reforms, included reorganizing the judicial system, setting up elected local judges, abolishing corporal punishment, promoting local self-government through the zemstvo system, imposing universal military service, ending some privileges of the nobility, and promoting university education.

Karl Marx/Marxism

(1818-1883) A German philosopher, political economist and socialist revolutionary who addressed the matters of alienation and exploitation of the working class, the capitalist mode of production and historical materialism. He is famous for analyzing history in terms of class struggle. His best-known titles are the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto, and the three-volume Das Kapital. Many intellectuals, labour unions, artists and political parties worldwide have been influenced by his work, with many modifying or adapting his ideas.

Victor Emmanuel II

(1820-1878) King of Sardinia-Piedmont and became the first king of a united Italy. Ascending the throne on his father's abdication, he consolidated his position by suppressing the republican left and paying an indemnity to Austria. In 1852 he made the decision to turn the government over to the able, determined Count Cavour, whose skillful maneuvers over the next few years made him king of Italy. Always at war, he secured Venetia and Rome for Italy.

Empress Cixi

(1835-1908) Chinese dowager and regent who effectively controlled the government in the late Qing dynasty from 1861 to 1908. Initially backed the Boxer groups as defenders of the dynasty and declared war on all the invaders. The ensuing defeat was a stunning humiliation. When she returned to Beijing from Xi'an, where she had taken the emperor, she became friendly to foreigners in the capital and began to implement fiscal and institutional reforms that began to turn China into a constitutional monarchy. Refused to adopt Western models of government, she supported technological and military reforms and the Self-Strengthening Movement.

King Leopold II

(1835-1909) He was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken on his own behalf. He extracted a fortune from the Congo, initially by the collection of ivory, and after a rise in the price of rubber in the 1890s, by forced labor from the native population to harvest and process rubber. His regime was characterized by notorious systematic brutality; men, women and children had hands amputated for failing to deliver their quota of rubber; thousands were sold into slavery.

Treaty of Nanjing

(1842) was the result of China's humiliating defeat at the hands of the British in the Opium War. The first of the unequal treaties between China and foreign imperialist powers. China paid the British an indemnity, ceded the territory of Hong Kong, and agreed to establish a "fair and reasonable" tariff. British merchants, who had previously been allowed to trade only at Guangzhou (Canton), were now permitted to trade at five "treaty ports" and with whomever they pleased. A supplement in 1843, allowed British citizens to be tried in British courts and granted Britain any rights in China that China might grant to other countries.

Thomas Edison

(1847-1931) He is credited today for helping to build America's economy during the Industrial Revolution. A savvy businessman, he held more than 1,000 patents for his inventions. Inventions included the universal stock ticker, the phonograph, the first commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb, alkaline storage batteries and the Kinetograph (a camera for motion pictures). His career was the quintessential rags-to-riches success story that made him a folk hero in America. An uninhibited egoist, he could be a tyrant to employees and ruthless to competitors. Though he was a publicity seeker, he didn't socialize well and often neglected his family.

Taiping Rebellion

(1850-1864) A revolt against the Qing dynasty in China, fought with religious conviction over regional economic conditions. The forces were run as a cult-like group called the God Worshipping Society by self-proclaimed prophet Hong Xiuquan, and resulted in the rebels seizing the city of Nanjing for a decade. It eventually failed and though estimates vary, it is believed to have claimed between 20 million and 30 million lives, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in human history.

Crimean War

(1853-1856) Stemmed from Russia's threat to multiple European interests with its pressure of Turkey; this threatened British commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East and India. France, having provoked the crisis for prestige purposes, used the war to cement an alliance with Britain and to reassert its military power. Forced to accept defeat, Russia sought peace in January 1856. It had lost 500,000 troops, mostly to disease, malnutrition, and exposure; its economy was ruined, and its primitive industries were incapable of producing modern weapons. The Peace of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856, preserved Ottoman rule in Turkey until 1914, crippled Russia, facilitated the unification of Germany, and revealed the power of Britain and the importance of sea power in global conflict.

Treaty of Kanagawa

(1854) Ended Japan's two-hundred year period of economic isolation, establishing an American consulate in Japan and 0pened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade, resupplying and refueling; and guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked U.S. sailors.

Sigmund Freud

(1856-1939) An Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the patient. His theories on child sexuality, libido and the ego, among other topics, were some of the most influential academic concepts of the 20th century. Some of Freud's most discussed theories included: Id, ego and superego, Psychic energy, Oedipus complex, and Dream analysis.

Nikola Tesla

(1856-1943) Serbian-American engineer and physicist that made dozens of breakthroughs in the production, transmission and application of electric power. He invented the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology. Though he was famous and respected, he was never able to translate his copious inventions into long-term financial success—unlike his early employer and chief rival, Thomas Edison.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

(1863-1914) In 1900, he gave up his children's rights to the throne in order to marry a lady-in-waiting. While in power, he attempted to restore Austro-Russian relations while maintaining an alliance with Germany. In 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated him. One month later, Austria declared war on Serbia and World War I began.

Meiji Restoration

(1868) Marked a turning point in Japanese history: when the Shoguns decided to end their dividedness and form coherent policies on how to interact with the Westerners. Some of them, those who maintained close ties with the emperor, decided to use the emperor's clout to unify the samurai and the country and to enforce a series of reforms in his name. They decided that to learn from the West was necessary in order to eventually expel the West from Japan. They also knew that to do so meant they had to convince many samurai who were fiercely anti-Western, and the task would best be carried out in the name of the emperor than any shogun or other samurai. This was the final overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the young emperor to his proper central place in Japanese politics, although behind the scenes many pro-emperor samurai were actively devising national policies. Set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism.

Neville Chamberlain

(1869-1940) He served as British prime minister from 1937 to 1940, and is best known for his policy of "appeasement" toward Adolf Hitler's Germany. He signed the Munich Agreement in 1938, relinquishing a region of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis. In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. He lost political support, resigned in 1940 and died a few months later.

Mohandas Gandhi

(1869-1948) Revered the world over for his nonviolent philosophy of passive resistance. Known to his many followers as Mahatma, or "the great-souled one." He began his activism as an Indian immigrant in South Africa in the early 1900s, and in the years following World War I became the leading figure in India's struggle to gain independence from Great Britain. Known for his ascetic lifestyle-he often dressed only in a loincloth and shawl-and devout Hindu faith, He was imprisoned several times during his pursuit of non-cooperation, and undertook a number of hunger strikes to protest the oppression of India's poorest classes, among other injustices. After Partition in 1947, he continued to work toward peace between Hindus and Muslims. He was shot to death in Delhi in January 1948 by a Hindu fundamentalist.

Pancho Villa

(1878-1923) He started off as a bandit who was later inspired by reformer Francisco Madero, helping him to win the Mexican Revolution. After a coup by Victoriano Huerta, he formed his own army to oppose the dictator, with more battles to follow as Mexican leadership remained in a state of flux. In January 1916 he kidnapped and killed 18 Americans. Only months later, on March 9, 1916, he led several rebels in a raid of Columbus, New Mexico, where they ravaged the small town and killed 19 additional people. General John Pershing was sent to Mexico in order to capture him. Despite the Mexican governments support in searching for him, the two hunts that occurred in 1916 and 1919 for the Mexican rebel produced no results. In 1920, Carranza was assassinated and Adolfo De la Huerta became the president of Mexico. In an effort to restore peace to the unstable nation, De la Huerta negotiated with the rebel for his withdrawal from the battlefield. He agreed and retired as a revolutionary in 1920. He was killed three years later on July 20, 1923, in Parral, Mexico.

David Ben-Gurion

(1886-1973) Zionist statesman and political leader, the first prime minister (1948-53, 1955-63) and defense minister (1948-53; 1955-63) of Israel. On May 14, 1948, at Tel Aviv, he delivered Israel's declaration of independence. His charismatic personality won him the adoration of the masses, and, after his retirement from the government and, later, from the Knesset (the Israeli house of representatives), he was revered as the "Father of the Nation."

Chiang Kai-shek/Jiang Jieshi

(1887-1975) Chinese military and political leader that joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (known as the Kuomintang, or KMT) in 1918. Succeeding party founder Sun Yat-sen as KMT leader in 1925, he expelled Chinese communists from the party and led a successful unification of China. Despite a professed focus on reform, his government concentrated on battling Communism within China as well as confronting Japanese aggression. When the Allies declared war on Japan in 1941, China took its place among the Big Four. Civil war broke out in 1946, ending in a victory by Mao Zedong's Communist forces and the creation of the People's Republic of China. From 1949 until his death, he led the KMT government in exile in Taiwan, which many countries continued to recognize as China's legitimate government.

Adolf Hitler

(1889-1945) The leader of Germany's Nazi Party, was one of the most powerful and notorious dictators of the 20th century. He capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and political infighting to take absolute power in Germany beginning in 1933. Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 led to the outbreak of World War II, and by 1941 Nazi forces had occupied much of Europe. His virulent anti-Semitism and obsessive pursuit of Aryan supremacy fueled the murder of some 6 million Jews, along with other victims of the Holocaust. After the tide of war turned against him, he committed suicide in a Berlin bunker in April 1945.

Juan Perón

(1895-1974) Trained as a military officer, he rose to political power following a coup. His three-term presidency led to the reshaping of the Argentine economy; preaching industrialization and government intervention; he promoted a "Third Way" that was neither capitalist or communist. He also severely restricted existing constitutional liberties.

Roosevelt Corollary

(1904) Stated that the United States would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors, and did not violate the rights of the United States or invite "foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations." As it worked in practice, the United States increasingly used military force to restore internal stability to nations in the region. The 26th president declared that the United States might "exercise international police power in 'flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence.'" Over the long term it had little to do with relations between the Western Hemisphere and Europe, but it did serve as justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Bloody Sunday

(1905) A group of workers led by the radical priest Georgy Gapon marched to the czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to make their demands. Imperial forces opened fire on the demonstrators, killing and wounding hundreds. Strikes and riots broke out throughout the country in outraged response to the massacre, to which Nicholas responded by promising the formation of a series of representative assemblies, or Dumas, to work toward reform.

Leonid Brezhnev

(1906-1982) Soviet leader who came to power in 1977. He suppressed democratic reform in Czechoslovakia and other Soviet Bloc nations, but promoted closer relations with the United States and the West. The last five years of his rule were marked by the USSR's costly invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and a return of Cold War tensions.

Augusto Pinochet

(1915-2006) He joined the Chilean army in 1935. He rose through the ranks and was appointed Commander in Chief by President Salvador Allende in 1973. A month later, he led the military coup that overthrew Allende. After 25 years in power, he was put under arrest, but died in 2006, before he could be tried for alleged human rights violations.

John F. Kennedy

(1917-1963) 35th president of the United States, the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic to hold that office. As president, he confronted mounting Cold War tensions in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. He also led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. His assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, sent shockwaves around the world.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

(1921-1928) Economic policy of the government of the Soviet Union, representing a temporary retreat from its previous policy of extreme centralization and doctrinaire socialism. Vladimir Lenin, saw the need to retreat from socialist policies in order to maintain the party's hold on power. Accordingly, in March 1921, measures were introduced. These measures included the return of most agriculture, retail trade, and small-scale light industry to private ownership and management while the state retained control of heavy industry, transport, banking, and foreign trade. Money was reintroduced into the economy in 1922 (it had been abolished under War Communism). The peasantry were allowed to own and cultivate their own land, while paying taxes to the state. It reintroduced a measure of stability to the economy and allowed the Soviet people to recover from years of war, civil war, and governmental mismanagement.

Nuremberg Laws

(1935) Were antisemitic and racial laws in Nazi Germany. They were enacted by the Reichstag at a special meeting convened during the annual a rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbade marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and Germans and the employment of German females under 45 in Jewish households; and the Reich Citizenship Law, which declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens; the remainder were classed as state subjects, without citizenship rights. A supplementary decree outlining the definition of who was Jewish was passed in November, and the Reich Citizenship Law officially came into force then. The laws were expanded to include Romani people. This supplementary decree defined Romanis as "enemies of the race-based state", the same category as Jews.

Spanish Civil War

(1936-1939) An armed conflict between the Republicans and the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco. The left side, known as the Republicans, was formed by the Spanish government together with unions, communists, anarchists, workers, and peasants. On the other side were the Nationalists, the rebel part of the army, the bourgeoisie, the landlords, and, generally, the upper classes. Although it was an internal conflict, several foreign entities also joined. For different reasons closely linked to the European context of the time, the Republican side was supported by the Soviet Union and the European democracies, while the Nationalist side had the support of fascist Germany and Italy, which meant that the latter was better armed. After the Nationalist victory, a dictatorship ruled the country for almost 40 years, from 1939 to 1975, when the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died. Although Franco's side had received German aid, he decided not to get directly involved in World War II because Spain was in terrible condition.

Lech Walesa

(1943- ) Labor activist who helped form and led (1980-90) communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity. The charismatic leader of millions of Polish workers, he went on to become the president of Poland (1990-95). He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983.

Nuremberg Trials

(1945-1949) A series of 13 tribunals, held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. Although the legal justifications for them and their procedural innovations were controversial at the time, they are now regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international court, and an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

NATO

(1949) Created by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. The collective defense arrangements served to place the whole of Western Europe under the American "nuclear umbrella." In the 1950s, one of the first military doctrines emerged in the form of "massive retaliation," or the idea that if any member was attacked, the United States would respond with a large-scale nuclear attack. The threat of this form of response was meant to serve as a deterrent against Soviet aggression on the continent. Although formed in response to the exigencies of the developing Cold War, it has lasted beyond the end of that conflict, with membership even expanding to include some former Soviet states. It remains the largest peacetime military alliance in the world.

St. Francis of Assisi

(c. 1181-1226) An Italian Catholic friar and preacher. Came from a wealthy merchant family but had a vision as a young man that caused him to lose his taste for worldly life. Decided to live in poverty and preach on the streets, and he soon gathered many followers. Was proclaimed a saint in 1228 and is the patron saint of animals, the environment, and Italy. Known for his love of the Eucharist and the Stations of the Cross.

Mansa Musa

(c. 1280 - c. 1337) An emperor of the wealthy Malian Empire that ruled from 1312 to 1337. Was a devout Muslim and made a pilgrimage to Mecca that made him famous throughout much of the Islamic world. He built many mosques along the route and gave money to the places that he visited. He started a large building program in Mali of multiple mosques and other monuments. Brought Timbuktu into the empire, which became a center of trade and culture.

Geoffrey Chaucer

(c. 1343 - 1400) Known as the father of English literature and considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. Achieved fame during his lifetime not only as an author, but he also was politically active as a diplomat. Is best known for writing, The Canterbury Tales. He was crucial in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular language at a time when the literary languages were French and Latin.

Joan of Arc

(c. 1412 - 30 May 1431) A peasant girl living in medieval France, believed that God had chosen her to lead France to victory in its long-running war with England. With no military training, she convinced the embattled crown prince Charles of Valois to allow her to lead a French army to the besieged city of Orléans, where it achieved a momentous victory over the English and their French allies, the Burgundians. After seeing the prince crowned King Charles VII, she was captured by Anglo-Burgundian forces, tried for witchcraft and heresy and burned at the stake in 1431, at the age of 19. Though she was officially canonized in 1920, the Maid of Orléans had long been considered one of history's greatest saints, and an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

(c. 1743-1803) A former Haitian slave who led the only successful slave revolt in modern history. Standing steadfastly, he fought to end slavery and gain Haiti's independence from European powers, France and Spain. Forming an army of former slaves and deserters from the French and Spanish armies, he trained his followers in guerrilla warfare and successfully ended slavery in Hispaniola by 1795. Under the pretense of discussing peace, French General Jean-Baptiste Brunet sent a letter inviting him to his quarters. There he was arrested and sent to Fort-de-Joux in the Jura Mountains of France. Under intense interrogation, he died of pneumonia and starvation on April 7, 1803.

Dutch East India Company

A chartered company established in 1602 when the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly on colonial activities in Asia. It was the first company to publicly issue stock. Acquired ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory. Eventually was weighed down by corruption and dissolved in 1800, its possessions being taken over by the government.

Shogun

A hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan. Because of the military power concentrated in his hands and the consequent weakness of the nominal head of state (the mikado or emperor), he was generally the real ruler of the country until feudalism was abolished in 1867.

Dhimmi

A historical term referring to non-Muslim citizens of an Islamic state. They had their rights fully protected in their communities, but as citizens in the Islamic state, had certain restrictions. They were excluded from specific duties assigned to Muslims, did not enjoy certain political rights, and were subject to payment of a special tax. Was originally the title given to Jews and Christians, meaning "People of the Book."

1324 - Mansa Musa's pilgrimage

A king of Mali's journey to Mecca. Made because he was a devout Muslim and was commanded to do this according to the core teachings of Islam. It made him well-known throughout the Islamic world and fostered the growth of the religion in his empire. Went as part of an overly elaborate procession and gave to the poor and built mosques along the way. His generosity dramatically changed the economy of the region. Many were in awe of his wealth.

Eunuchs

A man who was castrated, usually early in his life, and underwent major hormonal consequences. This was usually done for the purpose of fulfilling a specific social function. They would probably be slaves or servants who had been castrated to make them more reliable servants. Generally, they did not have loyalties to the military, aristocracy, or a family of their own and were seen as more trustworthy.

Suez Canal

A man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. It enables a more direct route for shipping between Europe and Asia, effectively allowing for passage from the North Atlantic to the Indian Ocean without having to circumnavigate the African continent. The waterway is vital for international trade and, as a result, has been at the center of conflict since it opened in 1869.

Viet Cong

A member of the communist guerrilla movement in Vietnam that fought the South Vietnamese government forces 1954-75 with the support of the North Vietnamese army and opposed the South Vietnamese and US forces in the Vietnam War.

Boyars

A member of the highest rank of the feudal Bulgarian and Kievan Russian aristocracies. They were second only to the ruling princes from the 10th century to the 17th century. They wielded considerable power through their military support of the princes. Occupied the highest state offices and received extensive grants of land. Usually similar to knights but after the Mongol invasion, much of their power was lost.

Green Revolution

A period (1950-60) when the productivity of global agriculture increased drastically as a result of new advances. During this time period, new chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides and pesticides were created. The chemical fertilizers made it possible to supply crops with extra nutrients and, therefore, increase yield. The newly developed synthetic herbicides and pesticides controlled weeds, deterred or kill insects, and prevented diseases, which also resulted in higher productivity.

Communism

A political and economic ideology that positions itself in opposition to liberal democracy and capitalism, advocating instead a classless system in which the means of production are owned communally and private property is nonexistent or severely curtailed. The modern ideology began to develop during the French Revolution, and its seminal pamphlet, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels was published in 1848. That pamphlet rejected the previous Christian sentiments of the philosophy, laying out a materialist and - its proponents claim - scientific analysis of the history and future trajectory of human society. "The history of all hitherto existing society," Marx and Engels wrote, "is the history of class struggles."

Totalitarianism

A political concept of a mode of government that prohibits opposition parties, restricts individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism.

Great Zimbabwe

A pre-colonial African kingdom, famous for its capital which was the largest stone structure in southern Africa until recent times. They brought artistic and stone-masonry traditions from previous cultures. The construction of elaborate stone buildings and walls reached its height in this kingdom. Had a rigid three-class system. They taxed other rulers in the region and established rule over a relatively wide region. Controlled the ivory and gold trade to the southeastern coast of Africa.

Jihad

A religious duty of Muslims to struggle against those who do not believe in the Islamic God. The two commonly accepted meanings are an inner spiritual struggle and an outer physical struggle. can take a violent or a non-violent form. Those who support the violent form often justify it by referring to the physical struggle against oppression as "holy war." The purpose of it is to build a better world and one that is safer for Muslims.

Napoleonic Code

A revision of France's outdated and muddled legal system. It organized several branches of law, including commercial and criminal law, and divided civil law into categories of property and family. It made the authority of men over their families stronger, deprived women of any individual rights, and reduced the rights of illegitimate children. All male citizens were also granted equal rights under the law and the right to religious dissent, but colonial slavery was reintroduced. The laws were applied to all territories under French control and were influential in several other European countries and in South America.

1820s - Independence in Latin America

A revolutionary wave, that resulted in the creation of a number of countries. The Peninsular War with France, which resulted from the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, caused Spanish Creoles to question their allegiance to Spain. At the same time, the Portuguese monarchy relocated to Brazil during Portugal's French occupation. After the royal court returned to Lisbon, the prince regent, Pedro, remained in Brazil and declared himself emperor.

1979 - Iranian Revolution

A series of events that involved the overthrow of the last monarch of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of one of the factions. The movement against the United States-backed monarchy was supported by various leftist and Islamist organizations and student movements. It was unusual for the surprise it created throughout the world: it lacked many of the customary causes (defeat at war, a financial crisis, peasant rebellion, or disgruntled military), occurred in a nation that was experiencing relative prosperity, produced profound change at great speed, was massively popular, resulted in the exile of many Iranians, and replaced a pro-Western authoritarian monarchy with an anti-Western totalitarian theocracy based on the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists. Although there was violence in its aftermath, it was a relatively non-violent.

Peace of Westphalia

A series of treaties signed in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic. Initiated a new system of political order in Europe based upon the concept of a sovereign state and established a prejudice in international affairs against interference in another nation's domestic affairs. Represented the triumph of sovereignty over empire.

1618-1648 - 30 Years War

A series of wars fought principally in Central Europe, involving most of the countries of Europe. It was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history. Began with religion as the motivation (Protestant vs. Catholic) but developed into a more general conflict. A major consequence was the devastation of entire regions by famine, disease, and even bankruptcy. Ended with treaties that were part of the Peace of Westphalia.

Sultan

A sovereign ruler. This title restricted to Muslim countries, where the title also carries religious significance.

Article 231/War Guilt Clause

A statement in the Treaty of Versailles that said that Germany was responsible for beginning World War I. It was added in order to get the French and Belgians to agree to reduce the sum of money that Germany would have to pay to compensate for war damage. The article was seen as a concession to the Germans by the negotiators. It was bitterly resented, however, by virtually all Germans who did not believe they were responsible for the outbreak of the war. It was a constant thorn in the side of the Weimar leaders who tried to meet the terms of the agreement while trying to have these terms modified.

Decolonization/national liberation

After World War II, European countries lacked the wealth and political support necessary to suppress far-away revolts. They could not oppose the new superpowers the U.S. and the Soviet Union's stands against colonialism. Between 1945 and 1960, three dozen new states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European colonial rulers. One of the most important effects of this is the instability of the post-colonial political systems, deep economic problems, inhibiting growth and widening disparities between the northern and southern part of the globe.

Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift

After World War II, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone and a French-occupied zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Russians-who wanted Berlin all for themselves-closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin.

British East India Company

An English joint-stock company. Commonly traded in basic commodities such as cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, tea, and opium. They received their royal charter from Queen Elizabeth in 1600. Shares of the company were owned by wealthy merchants and aristocrats. The government had only indirect control. Eventually came to rule large areas of the Indian subcontinent. Dissolved in 1874 and absorbed into the English government.

1994 - 1st all race elections in South Africa

An overwhelming majority chose anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela to head a new coalition government that included his African National Congress Party, former President F.W. de Klerk's National Party, and Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party. Mandela was inaugurated as president, becoming South Africa's first black head of state.

Nation-states

An area where the great majority of the population shares the same culture and is conscious of it. An ideal in which cultural boundaries match up with political ones. According to one definition, "this is a sovereign of which most of its subjects are united also by factors such as language or common descent." It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country need not have a predominant ethnic group.

Northern Renaissance

An artistic movement greatly influenced by the Reformation which questioned and weakened the power of the Catholic Church and set the stage for many new 15th and 16th century ideas and discoveries that changed the world forever. The main centers for art included the Netherlands, Germany and France. Oil paint pioneered by Jan van Eyck was created during this art movement.

Capitalism

An economic system in which capital goods are owned by private individuals or businesses. The production of goods and services is based on supply and demand in the general market (market economy), rather than through central planning (planned economy or command economy). The purest form of it is free market or laissez-faire, in which private individuals are completely unrestrained in determining where to invest, what to produce or sell and at which prices to exchange goods and services, operating without checks or controls. Most modern countries practice a mixed form of this system of some sort that includes government regulation of business and industry.

Socialism

An economic system where everyone in society equally owns the factors of production. The ownership is acquired through a democratically elected government. It could also be a cooperative or a public corporation where everyone owns shares. The four factors of production are labor, entrepreneurship, capital goods, and natural resources. A mantra of this is, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution." Everyone in society receives a share of the production based on how much each has contributed. This system motivates them to work long hours if they want to receive more. Workers receive their share of production after a percentage has been deducted for the common good.

Laissez faire

An economic theory from the 18th century that opposed any government intervention in business affairs. The driving principle behind, a French term that translates as "leave alone" (literally, "let you do"), is that the less the government is involved in the economy, the better off business will be - and by extension, society as a whole. A key part of free market capitalism.

Astrolabe

An elaborate device historically used by astronomers and navigators. Its uses include locating and predicting the positions of the sun, moon, and planets, determining local time, and the users latitude . It was used in the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Was invented in the Hellenistic world in about 150 B.C.E.

Hegemony

An indirect form of government and of imperial dominance in which the leader state rules subordinate states by the means of power, threat of force, rather than by direct military force. Used in ancient Greece to show the political dominance of a city-state over other city-states. The leader state dictates the internal politics and character of the subordinate states. Rebellion is usually suppressed without direct intervention.

Viceroys

An official who runs a country, colony, city, province, or sub-national state, in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin, "in the place of" and the French for "king".

Heresy

Any belief or theory that strongly disagrees with or goes against established beliefs or customs. It is usually used to discuss violations of religious or traditional laws or legal codes. It carries the connotation of behaviors or beliefs likely to undermine accepted morality and cause tangible evils. In certain historical Christian, Jewish, and other cultures including Islam, expressing these ideas was punishable by law.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

April 1961, the CIA launched a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, it did not go well: The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro's troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. According to many historians, the CIA and the Cuban exile brigade believed that President Kennedy would eventually allow the American military to intervene in Cuba on their behalf. However, the president was resolute: As much as he did not want to "abandon Cuba to the communists," he said, he would not start a fight that might end in World War III.

Intifada

Arabic word which literally means "shaking off," though it is usually translated into English as "uprising" or "resistance". Modern examples usually include Palestinian uprisings against the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian Territories.

1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall

As the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. East and West Berliners flocked to gates, drinking beer and champagne and chanting "Tor auf!" ("Open the gate!"). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, "the greatest street party in the history of the world." People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks, while cranes and bulldozers pulled down section after section.

1950-1953 - Korean War

Began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic to the north and the pro-Western Republic to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. After some early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel, the fighting stalled and casualties mounted with nothing to show for them. American officials worked anxiously to fashion some sort of armistice. The alternative, they feared, would be a wider war with Russia and China-or even, as some warned, World War III. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The peninsula is still divided today.

1839 - 1st Opium War in China

British forces fought a war on behalf of drug traffickers. Their victory opened up the lucrative China trade to British merchants. This was all done with the full blessing of the British government. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants. The problem was that the Chinese would not buy British products in return. They would only sell their goods in exchange for silver, and as a result large amounts of silver were leaving Britain. In order to stop this, the East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle an Indian drug into China illegally, for which they demanded payment in silver. This was then used to buy tea and other goods. By the time of the conflict, drug sales to China paid for the entire tea trade. China was easily defeated due to its technological inferiority and led to the concession of Hong Kong as a colony in which foreigners could live and conduct business under their own laws, rights which were similarly granted to the United States and France.

Silk Road

Caravan routes connecting China and the Middle East across Central Asia and Iran. They were central to cultural interaction and linked many groups of people. A significant factor in the development of the civilizations of Eurasia. Many goods, technologies, religions, philosophies, and the bubonic plague traveled along these routes. Developed rapidly with the better domestication of pack animals and technology.

1776 - American Revolution

Caused by growing tensions between residents of Great Britain's 13 North American colonies and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence. France entered on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, independence had effectively been won, though fighting formally ended in 1783. It influenced political ideals and revolutions across the globe.

Crimes against humanity

Certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population. The first prosecution for this took place at the Nuremberg trials.

Filial piety

China's most important moral and entails a strong loyalty and deference to one's parents. Because the family is the building block of society, this hierarchical system of respect is by extension applied to one's country.

Boxer Rebellion

Chinese secret organization called the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists led an uprising in northern China against the spread of Western and Japanese influence there. The rebels - because they performed physical exercises they believed would make them able to withstand bullets - killed foreigners and Chinese Christians and destroyed foreign property. From June to August of 1900, they besieged the foreign district of Beijing (then called Peking), China's capital, until an international force that included American troops subdued the uprising. In the terms of the treaty, China agreed to pay more than $330 million in reparations.

Timbuktu

City in the western African country of Mali, historically important as a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route and as a center of Islamic culture (c. 1400-1600). It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 miles north of the Niger River. In the late 15th century, it experienced its "Golden Age." Books, not gold bars, that brought its prosperity. Hundreds of scholars studied at the nearly 200 Quranic schools. These scholars worked as scribes, thus increasing the number of manuscripts in the city. Visiting strangers were treated like royalty in hopes that they'd share their knowledge and books with scholars. Was one of the world's great centers of learning. Never had African Muslims seen a better time to be a scholar (or a librarian).

D-Day

Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to it, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Containment theory

Cold War foreign policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism by allowing communism to remain where it existed but not allowing it to spread.

1863 - Emancipation Proclamation in the U.S.

Committed the government and armed forces of the United States to liberate the slaves in rebel states "as an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity." Border slave states and all or parts of three Confederate states controlled by the Union army were exempted on the grounds that these areas were not in rebellion against the United States. Also authorized the recruitment of freed slaves and free blacks as Union soldiers; during the next 2 1/2 years 180,000 of them fought in the Union army and 10,000 in the navy, making a vital contribution to Union victory as well as their own freedom.

1956 - De-Stalinization

Consisted of a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of its long-time leader in 1953, and the ascension of Nikita Khrushchev to power The reforms consisted of changing or removing key institutions that helped the former leader hold power: the cult of personality that surrounded him, his political system, and the Gulag labour-camp system, all of which had been created and dominated by him.

Allied Powers

Countries joined in opposition to the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) in World War I they were Great Britain (and the British Empire), France, and the Russian Empire, or to the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) in World War II they were Great Britain, France (except during the German occupation, 1940-44), the Soviet Union (after its entry in June 1941), the United States (after its entry on December 8, 1941), and China.

1948 - Birth of Israel

David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In the distance, the rumble of guns could be heard from fighting that broke out between Jews and Arabs immediately following the British army withdrawal earlier that day. Egypt launched an air assault that evening. Jews joyously celebrated their new nation, especially after word was received that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. It officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine.

Pax Mongolica

Describes the stabilising effects of the conquests of the Mongol Empire on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory that the Mongols conquered in the 13th and 14th centuries. The term is used to describe the eased communication and commerce the unified administration helped to create and the period of relative peace that followed the Mongols' vast conquests.

1945-1991 - Cold War

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin's tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country. For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans' decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Postwar Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fueled many Americans' fears of a Russian plan to control the world. Meanwhile, the USSR came to resent what they perceived as American officials' hostile threats, arms buildup and interventionist approach to international relations.

1956 - Nationalization of Suez Canal

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the transfer to state control of a valuable Egyptian waterway. A joint British-French enterprise had owned and operated it since its construction in 1869. Nasser's announcement came about following months of mounting political tensions between Egypt, Britain, and France. Although Nasser offered full economic compensation for the Company, the British and French Governments, long suspicious of Nasser's opposition to the continuation of their political influence in the region, were outraged. The Egyptian leader, in turn, resented what he saw as European efforts to perpetuate their colonial domination.

Janissaries

Elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and body guards. The force was created in 1383 and not abolished until 1826. They were gathered through a system in which Ottoman soldiers took boys between the ages of six and nine from the Christian villages that they conquered. Similar to the Egyptian mamluks. They were characterized by strict discipline and organization.

Renaissance

Emerged in Italy in the late 14th century; it reached its zenith in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and saw a great revival of interest in classical learning and values of ancient Greece and Rome. Against a backdrop of political stability and growing prosperity, the development of new technologies-including the printing press, a new system of astronomy and the discovery and exploration of new continents-was accompanied by a flowering of philosophy, literature and especially art.

1945 - End of WWII

Ended with the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. On May 8th, the Allies accepted Germany's surrender, about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide. Japan did not surrender at the same time as Germany. It was able to hold out for another few months. In early August, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Between the two bombings, the Soviets, pursuant to the Yalta agreement, invaded Japanese-held Manchuria and quickly defeated the Kwantung Army, which was the largest Japanese fighting force. After that the Imperial government sought the Emperor's personal authority to surrender which he granted. He made a personal radio address announcing the decision. The surrender was signed on September 2nd aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

1789 - French Revolution

Event in modern European history that ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, citizens razed and redesigned their country's political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system. The upheaval was caused by widespread discontent with the monarchy and the poor economic policies of King Louis XVI, who met his death by guillotine, as did his wife Marie Antoinette. Although it failed to achieve all of its goals and at times degenerated into a chaotic bloodbath, it played a critical role in shaping modern nations by showing the world the power inherent in the will of the people.

Black Hole of Calcutta

Event that furnishes an extraordinary instance of the manner in which narratives are constructed in historical narratives. It points equally to the difficulty of ascertaining "truth" in history. In 1756, the Nawab (viceroy) of Bengal, occupied Fort William and Calcutta, then the principal possession of the East India Company. 146 people are said to have been imprisoned, at the orders of the Nawab, in a small and airless dungeon. Next morning, when the door was opened, 123 of the prisoners had died. This story was recounted by the survivor John Holwell, and soon became the basis for representing Indians as a base, cowardly, and despotic people. Innumerable journalistic and historical works recounted the story, but Holwell's account was the sole contemporary narrative. 146 people could not have been accommodated in a room of the stated dimensions of 24 x 18 feet, and it is now almost universally conceded that Holwell greatly embellished his story. Indian scholars have shown the Nawab had no hand in this affair, and that the number of incarcerated prisoners was no higher than 69. It may even be possible to argue that the episode of the never transpired. Though for the British it became an article of faith to accept the veracity of the episode. As Edward Said has suggested in Orientalism (1978), once something is said often enough, it becomes true.

Sinification

Extensive adaptation of Chinese culture in other regions; typical of Korea and Japan, less typical of Vietnam.

Panama Canal

Following the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, the United States commenced building a link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in 1904. The project was helped by the elimination of disease-carrying mosquitoes. Officially opened on August 15, 1914, although the planned grand ceremony was downgraded due to the outbreak of WWI. Completed at a cost of more than $350 million, it was the most expensive construction project in U.S. history to that point. Altogether, some 3.4 million cubic meters of concrete went into building the locks, and nearly 240 million cubic yards of rock and dirt were excavated during the American construction phase. Of the 56,000 workers employed between 1904 and 1913, roughly 5,600 were reported killed.

1899 - Boer War

Fought between Britain and the South African Republic and the Orange Free State over the Empire's influence in South Africa.Initially, the attacks against the British were successful, and although British reinforcements later reversed these, the war continued for years using guerrilla warfare tactics. The British response to guerilla warfare was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. In addition, civilian farms and livestock were destroyed in the scorched earth strategy. Survivors were forced into concentration camps. Very large proportions of these civilians died of hunger and disease, especially the children. With British victory, Great Britain gained control over South Africa.

National Socialist Party (Nazis)

Founded in 1919 as the German Workers' Party, the group promoted German pride and anti-Semitism, and expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the 1919 peace settlement that ended World War I (1914-1918) and required Germany to make numerous concessions and reparations. Hitler joined the party the year it was founded and became its leader in 1921. In 1933, he became chancellor of Germany and his government soon assumed dictatorial powers. After Germany's defeat in World War II (1939-45), it was outlawed and many of its top officials were convicted of war crimes related to the murder of some 6 million European Jews.

Angkor Wat

Founded in the 12th century it was a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. Built as the capital of the Khmer Empire, but instead dedicated to Vishnu, a Hindu god. Gradually transitioned to being used by Theravada Buddhists. Has become an important national symbol of Cambodia. Admired for the style and harmony of its architecture. Its name means "City of Temples."

Liberia

Founded of in the early 1800s, motivated by the domestic politics of slavery and race in the United States as well as by U.S. foreign policy interests. In 1816, a group of white Americans founded the American Colonization Society (ACS) to deal with the "problem" of the growing number of free blacks in the United States by resettling them in Africa. The resulting state would become the second (after Haiti) black republic in the world at that time. The settlers attempted to retain the culture they had brought from the United States and for the most part did not integrate with the native societies. Today, about 5 percent of the population is descended from these settlers.

1991 - Fall of the USSR

Gorbachev believed that a better economy depended on better relationships with the rest of the world, especially the United States. He vowed to bow out of the arms race. He announced that he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan, where they had been fighting a war since 1979, and he reduced the military presence in the Warsaw Pact nations of Eastern Europe. This policy of nonintervention had important consequences, but first, it caused the Eastern European alliances to, as Gorbachev put it, "crumble like a dry saltine cracker in just a few months." The first revolution of 1989 took place in Poland, where the non-Communist trade unionists in the Solidarity movement bargained with the Communist government for freer elections in which they enjoyed great success. This, in turn, sparked peaceful revolutions across Eastern Europe. The Berlin Wall fell and the "velvet revolution" in Czechoslovakia overthrew that country's Communist government. An atmosphere of possibility, frustration with the bad economy combined with Gorbachev's hands-off approach to satellite states inspired a series of independence movements in the republic's fringes. One by one, the Baltic states (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) declared their independence. Then, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine broke away and created the Commonwealth of Independent States. Weeks later, they were followed by eight of the nine remaining republics, Georgia joined two years later.

Spanish Inquisition

In 1478, the Catholic Monarchs began to purify Catholicism in all their territories. They established a tribunal to identify heretics and bring them to justice. They made laws forbidding intermarriage between Christians and Jews or converts, which would destroy their ideal of purity of blood. Due to the increasing animosity, many Jews who did not renounce their faith were killed or expelled from Spain.In reality, the purpose of this stemmed from the Christians' fear that the growing Jewish population would become more powerful than them.

Arab slave trade

In East Africa this was well established before the Europeans arrived on the scene. It was driven by the sultanates of the Middle East. African captives ended up as sailors in Persia, pearl divers in the Gulf, soldiers in the Omani army and workers on the salt pans of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Many of the taken people were domestic servants, working in rich households. Women were taken as sex workers. Traders began to settle among the Africans of the coast, resulting in the emergence of a people and culture known as Swahili. In the second half of the 18th century, this trade expanded and became more organized. There was also a huge demand for ivory, and these laborers were used as porters to carry it. People traded were not limited to a certain race, ethnicity, or religion and included Turks, Europeans, and Berbers.

Mita/Inca Socialism

In this system all the people worked for the government for a certain period. This labor was free to government. People were needed to work only 65 days to provide food for his family. So they had ample time afterwards. When someone's turn came (actually means, turn) he joined. It was like pubic service system of modern times. Government took care of the family who was absent in the while working. People worked in building highways, construction of Emperor and noble's homes, monuments, bridges, temple fields, Emperor fields and also in mines. It was later transformed into a coercive labor system (encomienda) when the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire.

Church of England (Anglican Church)

Initially came about because of a dispute over the annulment of the marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon. Separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 and was established by Parliament in the Act of Supremacy. The Archbishop of Canterbury is its primary leader and acts as a focus for the wider Anglican community.

Balfour Declaration

Issued by the British government in 1917 during World War I announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The influence of it on the course of post-war events was immediate: According to the "mandate" system created by the Versailles Treaty of 1919, Britain was entrusted with the administration of Palestine, with the understanding that it would work on behalf of both its Jewish and Arab inhabitants.

Edict of Nantes

Issued in 1598 by Henry IV of France. It granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation that was still considered essentially Catholic. Henry's primary aim was to promote civil unity. It opened a path for secularism and tolerance. Reinstated Protestant rights such as the ability to work in any field. Marked the end of the religious wars that had afflicted France during the second half of the 16th century.

Scramble for Africa

It refers to a period between the years 1881 and 1914. Also called the "Partition of Africa" or the "Conquest of Africa". During this time, European countries occupied Africa and attempted to colonize it. By the year 1914, around 90% of Africa was under European rule. Prior to the beginning of the Conquest of Africa, only 10% of the continent was being controlled by Europe. Many historians have credited its start to "The Berlin Conference" held in 1884. The purpose of the conference was to control and regulate how the Europeans would colonize and conduct their trades in Africa.

Tributary system

It reflected the Chinese worldview that China was the center of the civilized world, and that all lands desiring relations with China must pay respect to China. The point was acceptance of Chinese cultural superiority. Non-Chinese or barbarians, if willing to travel to court and perform the prescribed rituals, could be accepted into the Confucian sphere of states. Rulers or envoys of vassal states offered gifts and received in return the Chinese emperor's seal of recognition and return gifts, generally much in excess of the tribute. There were four main functions: First, it maintained the preeminence of China among the peripheral peoples. Second, it was a political means of self-defense. Third, it was a means of trade. Fourth, it was a way of conducting diplomacy.

Il-khanate of Persia

It was founded by Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, and was based at Tabriz in modern Azerbaijan. It controlled much of Iran and Iraq and lasted from 1256-1335. It initially embraced many religions, but was particularly sympathetic to Buddhism and Christianity before converting to Islam. Eventually broke up into several rival successor states. Opened Iran to Chinese influence and eased trade across Asia.

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis

Leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. In a TV address, President John Kennedy notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. However, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's offer to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Trench warfare

Long, deep ditches dug as protective defenses, often associated with World War I. Employed primarily on the Western Front, an area of northern France and Belgium that saw combat between German troops and Allied forces from France, Great Britain and, later, the United States.

Holy Roman Empire

Loose confederation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. Started by Charlemagne in 800, but grew to its greatest extent after 962, it lasted until 1806. It never achieved the extent of political unification formed in France, evolving instead into a decentralized elective monarchy composed of hundreds of smaller units. The power of the emperor was limited and the various princes and kings acted as vassals but possessed many privileges.

1949 - Chinese Communist Revolution

Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's. The creation of the PRC also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution of 1911.

Hezbollah

Meaning Party of God in Arabic, is a major force in the Middle East politics. It started off, in 1982, as an Islamic struggle movement and now enjoys the status of one of most influential military, political and social organizations in the Arab context. Based in Lebanon, it gets support of Iran, Syria and other Arab nations for its anti-Israel stand while some Western countries consider it a terrorist organization. It follows the Shi'ite Islamist ideology and enjoys a massive support in Lebanon as well as in many other Arab countries.

1815 - Congress of Vienna

Meeting of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. Metternich had three goals: 1st, he wanted to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries; 2nd, he wanted to restore a balance of power, so that no country would be a threat to others; and 3rd, he wanted to restore Europe's royal families to the thrones they held before the Napoleonic Wars. Yet while conservatives decisively accomplished their objectives at Vienna, the ideas spread during the French Revolution, particularly liberalism and nationalism, would eventually lead to independence movements throughout the world.

Five Year Plans

Method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through the use of quotas, used first in the Soviet Union and later in other socialist states. In the Soviet Union, the first of these (1928-32), implemented by Joseph Stalin, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods. The second (1933-37) continued the objectives of the first. Collectivization led to terrible famines, especially in the Ukraine, that caused the deaths of millions. The third (1938-42) emphasized the production of armaments. The fourth (1946-53) again stressed heavy industry and military buildup, angering the Western powers. In China, the first (1953-57) stressed rapid industrial development, with Soviet assistance; it proved highly successful. Shortly after the second began in 1958, the Great Leap Forward was announced; its goals conflicted with the plan, leading to failure and the withdrawal of Soviet aid in 1960.

1919 - Treaty of Versailles - end of WWI

Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. After strict enforcement for five years, the French assented to the modification of important provisions. Germany agreed to pay reparations under the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, but those plans were cancelled in 1932, and Hitler's rise to power and subsequent actions rendered moot the remaining terms of the treaty.

Seljuk Turks

Nomadic horsemen who converted to Islam and recognized the Abbasid caliph. They conquered much of Central Asia and the Middle East. They were named after one of one their early leaders and converted as a group to Islam through the efforts of Arab missionaries.

Caliphate

Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire. Examples include the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Fatimids. They are led by a supreme religious and political leader. Some believe this leader should be elected democratically and others believe he should be chosen by God. These empire-like offices/states often made significant economic and social changes.

Berlin Wall

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete "Antifascistischer Schutzwall," or "antifascist bulwark," between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this was to keep Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. It stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at it. To this day, it remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over this Japanese city. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb, on another city, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

Operation Barbarossa

On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles. By this point German combat effectiveness had reached its peak; in training, doctrine, and fighting ability, the forces invading Russia represented the finest army to fight in the twentieth century. This was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources.

Battle of Adowa

On March 1, 1896, a massive Ethiopian army routed Italian forces at this battle. The battle marked the largest military triumph of an African state over a European army in the 19th century and helped Ethiopia retain its independence during Europe's "scramble for Africa."; Menelik II, the emperor of Ethiopia defeated the Italians.

Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) erupted across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank this British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the more than 1,900 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,100 perished, including more than 120 Americans. Nearly two years would pass before the United States formally entered World War I, but the sinking of this ship played a significant role in turning public opinion against Germany, both in the United States and abroad.

1973 - Yom Kippur War

On October 6, hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, in 1967, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated attack against Israel on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Taking the Israeli Defense Forces by surprise, Egyptian troops swept deep into the Sinai Peninsula, while Syria struggled to throw occupying Israeli troops out of the Golan Heights. Israel counterattacked and recaptured the Golan Heights. A cease-fire went into effect on October 25.

Nationalist Party/Kuomintang/Guomindang

Originally a revolutionary league working for the overthrow of the Chinese monarchy, they became a political party in the first year of the Chinese republic (1912). Governed all or part of mainland China from 1928 to 1949 and subsequently ruled Taiwan under Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi).

Luddites

Originally, they were British weavers and textile workers who objected to the increased use of automated looms and knitting frames. Most were trained artisans who had spent years learning their craft, and they feared that unskilled machine operators were robbing them of their livelihood. When their appeals for government aid and assistance were ignored, a few desperate weavers began breaking into factories and smashing textile machines. They named themselves after a young apprentice who was rumored to have wrecked a textile apparatus in the late-18th century.

1533 - Pizarro toppled the Inca

One of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and skirmishes, 168 Spanish soldiers and their allies captured the native leader, Atahualpa, at the Battle of Cajamarca. It took decades of fighting but ended in Spanish victory and colonization of the region as the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Habsburgs

One of the most important royal houses of Europe. Occupied the throne of the Holy Roman Empire continuously from 1438 to 1740. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domain to include parts of Spain and Hungary. Became extinct in the 18th century with the deaths of Charles II of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.

1848 - Marx and Engels write, The Communist Manifesto

Political pamphlet that proclaimed that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" and that the inevitable victory of the proletariat, or working class, would put an end to class society forever. Many of the ideas in the pamphlet were not new, but its author had achieved a powerful synthesis of disparate ideas through his materialistic conception of history. It opens with the dramatic words, "A spectre is haunting Europe-the spectre of communism," and ends by declaring: "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite!"

Chinampas

Raised fields constructed along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields. Sometimes referred to as "floating gardens". Used often by the ancient Aztecs in Tenochtitlan. Created by staking off part of the lake bed and then layering it with mud until it was above the level of the lake. Had very high annual crop yields. Common crops grown were maize, beans, squash, and flowers. Made up 1/2-2/3 of the food consumed in Tenochtitlan.

Scientific Revolution

Refers to historical changes in thought and belief, to changes in social and institutional organization, that unfolded in Europe between roughly 1550-1700; beginning with Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who asserted a heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmos, it ended with Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who proposed universal laws and a Mechanical Universe. Replaced the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years.

Swahili

Refers to the people, an ethnic group in East Africa, the culture, of these people, and also their language. A significant fraction of the vocabulary derives from Arabic through contact with Persian-speaking Muslim inhabitants. It is a Bantu language, official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes.

Ming Dynasty

Ruled China from 1368 to 1644 C.E., during which China's population would double. Known for its trade expansion to the outside world that established cultural ties with the West, also remembered for its drama, literature, rebuilding the Great Wall, and world-renowned porcelain.

Deist

Someone who believes that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a Creator, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge. Gained prominence in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment especially in Britain and France. Started among individuals raised as Christians who found fault with organized religion but believed in one god.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Spain and Portugal divided the New World by drawing a line in the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Cape Verde Islands, then controlled by Portugal. All lands east of that line (about 46 degrees, 37 minutes West) were claimed by Portugal. All lands west of that line were claimed by Spain. Ignored were any future claims of the British and French, the other European superpowers of the time, and the millions of native people already living in established communities in the Americas.

1521 - Cortés conquered the Aztecs

Spanish conquistadors laid siege to Tenochtitlan. Numerous battles were fought between the two groups but it was this final siege that was the decisive victory for the Spanish. The natives had the advantage of numbers but they were decimated by European diseases and superior weaponry.

Hundred Days

Started on February 26, 1815, after Napoleon escaped Elba and sailed to the French mainland with a group of more than 1,000 supporters. On March 20, he returned to Paris, where he was welcomed by cheering crowds. The new king, Louis XVIII, fled, and Napoleon took power. Upon Napoleon's return to France, a coalition of allies-the Austrians, British, Prussians and Russians-who considered the French emperor an enemy began to prepare for war. In June 1815, his forces invaded Belgium, where British and Prussian troops were stationed. On June 18, at the Battle of Waterloo near Brussels, the French were crushed by the British, with assistance from the Prussians. On June 22, 1815, Napoleon was once again forced to abdicate.

Cholera

Swept through Britain and the rest of Europe in the early 19th century. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated with feces of an infected person. The spread of this lead to new sewage systems.

Ethnic cleansing

The attempt to get rid of (through deportation, displacement or even mass killing) members of an unwanted group in order to establish a homogenous geographic area. Though these campaigns have existed throughout history, the rise of extreme nationalist movements during the 20th century led to an unprecedented level of brutality, including the Turkish massacre of Armenians during World War I; the Nazis' annihilation of some 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust; and the forced displacement and mass killings carried out in the former Yugoslavia and the African country of Rwanda during the 1990s.

Summa Theologica

The best-known work of Thomas Aquinas. Divided into three parts. Part 1 deals primarily with: the existence and nature of God, the Creation, angels, the work of the six days of Creation, the essence and nature of man, and divine government. Part 2 deals with man: concerning the purpose of man, habits, types of law, vices and virtues, prudence and justice, fortitude and temperance, graces, and the religious versus the secular life. Part 3 deals with Christ concerning the Incarnation, the Sacraments, and the Resurrection.

1258 - Mongols sacked Baghdad

The capture of the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate by Il-khanate forces. Intended to expand their rule into Mesopotamia but not completely overthrow the Caliphate. Destroyed the Abbasids' vast libraries and massacred many of the city's residents. Marks the end of the Islamic Golden Age, which was marked by extended Islamic rule and numerous cultural achievements. Eventually again became an economic center under the Il-khanate.

Manhattan Project

The code name for the American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon during World War II. The controversial creation and eventual use of the atomic bomb engaged some of the world's leading scientific minds, as well as the U.S. military—and most of the work was done in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was started in response to fears that German scientists had been working on a weapon using nuclear technology since the 1930s—and that Adolf Hitler was prepared to use it.

Foot binding

The custom of applying painfully tight wrapping to the feet of young girls to prevent further growth. It possibly originated among court dancers in the 10th or 11th century Imperial China but spread during the Song Dynasty. It became common among all except the lowest classes. It was a popular method of displaying status and was adopted as a symbol of beauty in Chinese culture. Eventually died out because of changing social conditions and campaigns against it.

Iconoclasm

The deliberate destruction within a culture of that culture's own religious symbols, used for religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major religious or political changes. It may be carried out by people of a different religion, but it is often the result of disputes between factions of the same religion. It is often motivated by people who interpret certain writings or laws more literally than they should.

Great Trek

The emigration of some 12,000 to 14,000 Boers from Cape Colony in South Africa between 1835 and the early 1840s, in rebellion against the policies of the British government and in search of fresh pasturelands. It is regarded by Afrikaners as a central event of their 19th-century history and the origin of their nationhood. It enabled them to outflank the Xhosa peoples who were blocking their eastward expansion, to penetrate into Natal and the Highveld (which had been opened up by the tribal wars of the previous decade), and to carry white settlement north to the Limpopo River.

1453 - Ottomans capture Constantinople

The fall of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege led by Sultan Mehmed II. It marked the end of the Roman Empire, which had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. It was also a massive setback for Christianity because it allowed Muslims to advanced much farther into Europe. Some historians use this event to mark the end of the Middle Ages.

1947 - Independence and partition of India

The long-awaited agreement ended 200 years of British rule and was hailed by Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi as the "noblest act of the British nation." However, religious strife between Hindus and Muslims marred Gandhi's exhilaration. In the northern province of Punjab, which was sharply divided between Hindus and Muslims, hundreds of people were killed in the first few days.

1689 - Glorious Revolution and the establishment of the English Bill of Rights

The overthrow of King James II of England by Parliament and William of Orange, who was Dutch. It permanently ended any chance of Catholicism being re-established in England. James's overthrow began modern English parliamentary democracy. After this, the monarch has never held complete power.

Embargo

The partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Considered a strong diplomatic measure imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is imposed.

Harem

The sphere of women in what is usually a polygamous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men. In Islamic society, it often consisted of the women that the head of the house had sexual relations with as well as young offspring and any female relatives. During the Ottoman Empire, another purpose was for the royal upbringing and education of the future wives of nobles and royal men.

Middle Passage

The stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. European powers such as Portugal, England, Spain, and France brought manufactured goods to Africa from Europe and then took the slaves to the Americas and Caribbean. Approximately 15% of the Africans died during the voyage because of the terrible conditions on the ships.

Serfs

The status of many peasants under feudalism. The vast majority of these in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord. This was the essential feature differentiating serfs from slaves, who were bought and sold without reference to a plot of land. They provided their own food and clothing from their own productive efforts. A substantial proportion of the grain they grew on their holding had to be given to his lord.

Code of Bushido

The way of the samurai life, loosely similar to chivalry. A type of moral code that stresses loyalty, the martial arts, and honor. Followed Confucian texts and influenced by Shinto and Buddhism. Demonstrated a wide influence across the whole of Japan. If a samurai failed to follow it, he had to perform ritual suicide. Was widely practiced and varied little over time and geographical/economic backgrounds. Includes compassion for those of lower status and the ultimate aim of living a good life.

Young Ottomans

They favored a more European-style parliamentary and constitutional regime that could curtail the absolute power of the sultan. They defined the empire as a secular state whose people were loyal to the dynasty that ruled it, rather than a primarily Muslim state based on religious principles. In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, this group argued that the empire needed to embrace Western technical and scientific knowledge, while rejecting its materialism. In pursuit of these goals, the group argued that it was possible to find in Islam itself the basis for freedom, progress, rationality, and patriotism.

Fascism

This is used to describe a variety of nationalist movements that existed in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Followers view violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality. This authoritarian form of government is anti-communist, anti-democratic, anti-individualist, anti-liberal, anti-parliamentary, anti-bourgeois and anti-proletarian, anti-conservative on certain issues, and in many cases anti-capitalist.

Straits of Malacca

This runs between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, has long been a major gateway for trade to and from Asia. The world's second-busiest waterway it has been in continuous use since antiquity, with Roman, Greek, Chinese and Indian traders all taking advantage of this natural channel. Its strategic importance has also made it a source of international friction from the 15th century to the modern day. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 only increased its significance as it became a key link between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, reducing the distance between Europe and the Far East by a third.

Balkans

Turkish and means "mountain," and the peninsula is certainly dominated by this type of landform, especially in the west. Ethnic diversity is one of the region's most characteristic social and political features. The most numerous of the groups is the South Slavs, who form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro.

Dollar Diplomacy

U.S. policy with the goal to create stability and order abroad that would best promote American commercial interests. Not only was the goal of the policy to improve financial opportunities, but also to use private capital to further U.S. interests overseas. It was evident in extensive U.S. interventions in the Caribbean and Central America, especially in measures undertaken to safeguard American financial interests in the region. In China, the entry of an American banking conglomerate, headed by J.P. Morgan, into a European-financed consortium financed the construction of a railway from Huguang to Canton. In spite of successes, it failed to counteract economic instability and the tide of revolution in places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China.

1987 - 1st Palestinian Intifada

Uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. In the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, the first riots of the "shaking off," began one day after an Israeli truck crashed into a station wagon carrying workers in the Jabaliya refugee district of Gaza, killing four and wounding 10. Gaza residents saw the incident as a deliberate act of retaliation against the killing of a Jew in Gaza several days before, and on December 9 they took to the streets in protest, burning tires and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and troops. At Jabalya, an Israeli army patrol car fired on attackers, killing a 17-year-old and wounding 16 others. The next day, crack Israeli paratroopers were sent into Gaza to quell the violence, and riots spread to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The uprising lasted from until the Madrid Conference in 1991, though some date its conclusion to 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords.

Spanish Casta System (Peninsulares, Creoles/Criollo, Mestizos, Mulattos, African slaves, Indigenous peoples)

Used to describe mixed-race individuals in Spanish America, resulting from unions of European whites, Amerindians, and Africans. Racial categories had legal and social consequences, since racial status was an organizing principle of Spanish colonial rule. EX: a European born in Spain who later settled in the Americas; a white person with Spanish or other European descent born in the Americas; a person of extended mixed European and Amerindian ancestry; a person of mixed white European and black African ancestry; a person of black African descent, primarily African slaves and their descendants; a person of pure Amerindian ancestry.

1756-1763 - 7 Years War (Europe) and French and Indian War (N. America)

War between Great Britain, France, and their allies. Impacts: Britain conquered Canada. The American colonists no longer needed protection from Britain, and the attempt by Parliament to tax the colonists to help pay for the war sparked the American Revolution; France and Spain embarked upon a major naval buildup; stronger Bourbon navies made possible the American victory in the Revolutionary War; the debts France incurred in this war and later in the American Revolution helped cause the French Revolution. The humiliation of the army led to reforms and innovations which were later used with great success by Napoleon; Prussia survived the war and retained Silesia despite enormous odds and confirmed its place as an important European power; Russia showed itself to be a major power capable of enormous influence; by its lack of participation, The Netherlands showed itself to be in relative decline; despite its glorious past, Spain confirmed that it was a weak client state of France with minimal military power; Britain confirmed itself as the world's dominant naval and economic power and a force to be reckoned with in the European balance of power; Britain became the dominant European power in India enabling it to eventually conquer all of India and used its resources to further expand the empire; some non-"Eurocentric" historians believe British control of India made the Industrial Revolution possible.