Modern European History

114 flashcards by MentisLibrary

Europe from the Peace of Westphalia to the present: absolutism and the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and Napoleon, industrialisation, the unification of Italy and Germany, the world wars, the division and reunification of the continent, and the European Union.

What did the Peace of Westphalia settle?
It ended the Thirty Years War and the Dutch revolt, fixing religious arrangements in the Empire and recognising the near-independence of its princes
What happened to Charles I of England?
He was tried by a court set up by the victorious parliament and beheaded in Whitehall
What did Louis XIV mean by absolutism in practice?
Personal rule without an assembly, a court that drew the nobility to Versailles, and a state church controlled from Paris
What was Newton's Principia?
The work setting out the laws of motion and universal gravitation in mathematical form
What was the Glorious Revolution?
Parliament invited William of Orange to replace James II, and the new monarchs accepted limits set out in the Bill of Rights
What did John Locke argue in the Two Treatises of Government?
That government rests on consent and exists to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government which breaks that trust may be replaced
What did Peter the Great change in Russia?
He rebuilt the army and navy on western models, reorganised the state and church, and founded a new capital on the Baltic
What did the Treaty of Utrecht establish?
It ended the War of the Spanish Succession, separated the French and Spanish crowns and redistributed territory to keep any one power from dominating
What was Montesquieu's central idea?
That liberty is protected by dividing government among separate powers that check one another
What was the Encyclopedie?
A vast reference work gathering knowledge of arts, crafts and sciences, written with a sceptical eye toward church and monarchy
What did Rousseau argue in The Social Contract?
That legitimate authority comes from the general will of the people, not from tradition or divine right
What was the Seven Years War?
A war fought in Europe, North America, the Caribbean and India, in which Prussia survived against Austria, France and Russia while Britain took French colonies
What was enlightened absolutism?
Rule by monarchs who kept absolute power while adopting legal, educational and economic reforms in the name of reason and utility
How did Poland disappear from the map?
Russia, Prussia and Austria annexed its territory in three partitions until nothing was left
What did Adam Smith argue in The Wealth of Nations?
That the division of labour raises productivity and that competitive markets can coordinate an economy better than state direction
Why were the Estates-General called in 1789?
The French crown was effectively bankrupt and needed consent to new taxes, so it summoned an assembly that had not met since 1614
What was the Tennis Court Oath?
Deputies of the Third Estate, locked out of their hall, swore not to disperse until France had a constitution
Why does France mark 14 July?
A Paris crowd stormed the Bastille fortress, a state prison and arsenal, after the king moved troops toward the city
What happened on the night of 4 August 1789?
The National Assembly abolished feudal dues, seigneurial courts, tithes and noble privilege in a single session
What does the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen assert?
That men are born free and equal in rights, that sovereignty rests in the nation, and that law is the expression of the general will
Who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman?
Olympe de Gouges, who rewrote the 1789 declaration to include women and demanded equal civil and political rights
What was the flight to Varennes?
The royal family's failed attempt to escape France in disguise, stopped near the eastern border and brought back to Paris
How did France become a republic?
After war went badly, a Paris insurrection overthrew the monarchy in August 1792 and the new Convention abolished it the following month
What was the Terror?
A period when the revolutionary government used emergency courts and mass executions against suspected enemies during foreign invasion and civil war
What was the Directory?
The five-man executive and two-chamber legislature that governed France after the Terror, weakened by coups, inflation and war
How did Napoleon take power?
In the coup of 18 Brumaire he replaced the Directory with a Consulate and made himself First Consul
What is the Napoleonic Code?
A unified civil code establishing equality before the law, secular civil status, protection of property and freedom of contract
When did Napoleon become emperor?
He crowned himself in Notre-Dame in December 1804, with the pope present
What did Trafalgar and Austerlitz decide in 1805?
Trafalgar gave Britain command of the sea and ended any invasion threat; Austerlitz destroyed the Austro-Russian army and confirmed Napoleon's mastery on land
When did the Holy Roman Empire end?
In August 1806, when Francis II abdicated the imperial title under French pressure after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine