AP World History: About 1750 to 1914

Declaration of the Rights of Man

Statement of fundamental political rights adopted by the French National Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution.

Scramble for Africa

Term given for the rapid invasion of Africa by the various European powers. This began imperialism in Africa.

The State Duma of Russia

The State Duma was first introduced in 1906 and was Russia's first elected parliament.

Social Darwinism

The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.

Empress Cixi (China)

The dowager empress who encouraged and promoted the Boxer rebellion; helped to modernize China

Taiping Rebellion

The most destructive civil war before the twentieth century. A Christian-inspired rural rebellion threatened to topple the Qing Empire.

Meiji Restoration

The political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism.

Suffrage

The right to vote.

American Revolution

The war between Great Britain and its American colonies, 1775-1783, by which the colonies won their independence.

Muhammed Ali (Egypt)

Turkish ruler of Egypt who won effective independence of Egypt from the Ottomans in early 1800s

Doctrine

a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school

Cartel

a consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service

Corporation

a group of people who are joined into one legal or commercial body

Social Class

a group of people with similar backgrounds, incomes, and ways of living

Trade Union

a labor union of craftspeople or workers in related crafts, as distinguished from general workers or a union including all workers in an industry.

Enlightenment

a movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions; education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge

Factory

a plant consisting of buildings with facilities for manufacturing

Laissez-faire

a policy based on the idea that government should play as small a role as possible in the economy

Communist Manifesto

a socialist manifesto written by Marx and Engels (1842) describing the history of the working-class movement according to their views

Wage Labor

a system of payment whereby workers are compensated on the bases of a wage not tied to the quality of the raw materials, accidents, or other exigencies in the production process

Communism

a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Socialism

a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

Monroe Doctrine

an American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from outside powers

Free Market

an economic system in which prices and wages are determined by unrestricted competition between businesses, without government regulation or fear of monopolies.

Spheres of Influence

areas in which countries have some political and economic control but do not govern directly

Abolish

do away with (e.g. slavery)

Leisure

freedom provided by the cessation of activities; time free from work or duties

Emancipation

freeing someone from the control of another (e.g. Emancipation Proclamation)

Free Trade

international trade free of government interference; the removal of trade barriers so that goods can flow freely between countries

Constitution

law determining the fundamental political principles of a government; the act of forming something

Indemnity

legal exemption from liability for damages

Rural

living in or characteristic of farming or country life

Natural Resources

materials found in nature that are used by living things

Immigration

migration into a place (especially migration to a country of which you are not a native in order to settle there)

Domestic

of concern to or concerning the internal affairs of a nation; involving the home or family

Muslim League

organization formed by Muslims in 1906 to protect their interests against British Rule.

Intolerable Acts

series of laws passed in 1774 to punish Boston for the Tea Party- led to revolution

Enclosure

taking money small farms and making them into bigger ones in England during the 1700's

Industrial Revolution

the change from an agricultural to an industrial society and from home manufacturing to factory production, especially the one that took place in England from about 1750 to about 1850.

Nationalism

the doctrine that your national culture and interests are superior to any other

Declaration of Independence

the document recording the proclamation of the second Continental Congress (4 July 1776) asserting the independence of the Colonies from Great Britain

Marxism

the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be replaced

Reign of Terror

the historic period (1793-94) during the French Revolution when thousands were executed

Russification

the process of forcing Russian culture on all ethnic groups in the Russian empire

Universal Suffrage

the right of all adults to vote for their representatives

Maxim Guns

this was the first automatic machine gun that gave Europeans a huge advantage in fighting African armies

Unequal Treaties

treaties between China and the Western powers after the Opium War that vastly favored the Western powers

Capital

wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value

Rudyard Kipling

(1864-1936) English writer and poet; defined the "white man's burden" as the duty of European and Euro-American peoples to bring order and enlightenment to distant lands

Sino-Japanese War

(1894-1895) Japan's imperialistic war against China to gain control of natural resources and markets for their goods. It ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth which granted Japan Chinese port city trading rights, control of Manchuria, the annexation of the island of Sakhalin, and Korea became its protectorate.

Russo-Japanese War

(1904-1905) War between Russia and Japan over imperial possessions. Japan emerges victorious by a long run.

Emancipation of Serfs

1861 by Czar Alexander II - most ambitious attempt at reform in Russia during 1800s - some government officials began to think that Russia could develop economically only if serfdom were abolished

Boxer Rebellions

1899 rebellion in Beijing, China started by a secret society of Chinese (the Boxers) who opposed the "foreign devils". The rebellion was ended by British troops.

Bloody Sunday

1905, peaceful protest to Czar Nicholas II's palace, led by Father Gapon- fired on by palace guards, hundreds died- possibly start of revolution

Frederich Engels

A German philosopher, who developed the communist theory alongside co-author, Karl Marx.

Young Turks Party

A Turkish revolutionary nationalist reform party, officially known as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), whose leaders led a rebellion against the Ottoman sultan and effectively ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1908 until shortly before World War I.

Suez Canal

A canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It was a vital trade route in the British Empire during imperialism, and continues to link North Africa and Europe to Asia today.

protectorate

A country or region that is controlled by a more powerful country.

Steam Engine (James Watts)

A machine that turns the energy released by burning fuel into motion. Thomas Newcomen built the first crude but workable steam engine in 1712. James Watt vastly improved his device in the 1760s and 1770s. Steam power was then applied to machinery.

Berlin Conference (1884)

A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa

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.

White Man's Burden

A poem by Rudyard Kipling written in 1899. It is also the name given to the idea that the culture of the native populations where European imperialism was occurring were inferior to western nations. Some interpreted Kipling's poem to mean that it was the duty of imperializing nations to bring western culture and sensibility to the savage native populations that were encountered in far off lands.

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically.

Open Door Policy

A policy proposed by the US in 1899, under which all nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.

Sepoy Mutiny (1857)

A revolt by the hired Hindu and Muslim soldiers of the British East India Company. Both thought the British had used grease from an animal (pig or cow) each religion was not supposed to eat, on the bullets they distributed to them, so they revolted. This resulted in the British government officially taking control of India, making it a colony.

Capitulations

Agreements with European powers that gave European bankers and merchants unfair advantages in the Ottoman Empire

Opium Wars

Also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, they were the climax of trade disputes and diplomatic difficulties between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire after China sought to restrict British opium traffickers (and Britain had refused).

Boer Wars (1899-1902)

Anglo-Dutch wars over British control in Africa- Conflict stemmed from different views on the treatment of natives.

Cecil Rhodes

Born in 1853, played a major political and economic role in colonial South Africa. He was a financier, statesman, and empire builder with a philosophy of mystical imperialism.

The Raj

British dominion over India (1757-1947).

Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith)

British philosopher and writer Adam Smith's 1776 book that described his theory on free trade, otherwise known as laissez-faire economics.

Witte Industrialization Program

Count Sergei Iul'evich Witte oversaw Russia's transition economy from 1892 to 1903. As finance minister, Witte pushed for greater exports, ambitious industrialization, and large foreign loans. He hoped to modernize Russia and make it competitive with other great powers. These policies by and large continued after Witte was dismissed in 1903 and were expanded by Witte when he returned to government as premier in 1905-1906, and by his successors.

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)

Seven Years War (French and Indian)

Fought between Great Britain and France over territory, often considered to be the first world war because it involved most of the globe.

Estates-General

France's traditional national assembly with representatives of the three estates, or classes, in French society: the clergy, nobility, and commoners. The calling of the Estates General in 1789 led to the French Revolution.

Karl Marx

German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary. With the help and support of Friedrich Engels he wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867-1894). These works explain historical development in terms of the interaction of contradictory economic forces, form the basis of all communist theory, and have had a profound influence on the social sciences.

Otto von Bismarck

German statesman under whose leadership Germany was united (1815-1898)

British East India Company

Government charted joint-stock company that controlled spice trade in the East Indies after the Dutch- controlled most of India during the period of imperialism- for more than 200 years.

Spanish American War

In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence

The Jewel in the Crown

India was considered the jewel in the crown of the British Empire.

Execution of Louis XVI (France)

January 21, 1783. Charged with treason and beheaded via the guillotine. (killed due to his monarchical views on ruling France, which all of the citizens greatly disagreed with) Marie Antoinette followed in October of that year.

The Diet of Japan

Japan's legislature made up of two houses

Congress of Vienna

Meeting of representatives of European monarchs called to reestablish the old order after the defeat of Napoleon I.

Miguel Hidalgo (Mexico)

Mexican priest and revolutionary. Although the revolt he initiated (1810) against Spanish rule failed, he is regarded as a national hero in Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain.

Labor Union

Organization of workers for the purpose of increased lobbying power for benefits and wages; created to defend the interests of the members

Mahmut II (Ottoman)

Ottoman sultan; built a private, professional army; fomented revolution of Janissaries and crushed them with private army; destroyed power of Janissaries and their religious allies; initiated reform of Ottoman Empire on Western precedents.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Overthrew French Directory in 1799 and became emperor of the French in 1804. Failed to defeat Great Britain and abdicated in 1814. Returned to power briefly in 1815 but was defeated and died in exile.

Assembly Line

Production method that breaks down a complex job into a series of smaller tasks (Industrial Revolution)

Panama Canal

Ship canal cut across the isthmus of Panama by United States Army engineers (1904-1915). It greatly shortened the sea voyage between the east and west coasts of North America. The United States turned the canal over to Panama on Jan 1, 2000