AP European History key terms

A Renaissance intellectual movement that placed human beings and their potential at the center of study, emphasizing classical texts, rhetoric, and moral philosophy rather than purely theological concerns.

Fourteenth-century Italian poet and scholar often called the father of humanism, known for reviving interest in classical Latin authors and for his sonnets to Laura.

A mechanical device using movable type, developed in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, that made books cheap and abundant and accelerated the spread of Reformation and humanist ideas.

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492, which reshaped diets, populations, and economies on both sides.

A Spanish colonial grant giving a settler the right to demand labor and tribute from indigenous people in exchange for supposed protection and Christian instruction.

The forced transport of millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries to labor on plantations in the Americas.

A 1517 list of propositions by Martin Luther attacking the sale of indulgences, which sparked the Protestant Reformation when it circulated widely in print.

German monk and theologian who taught justification by faith alone and the authority of scripture, breaking with Rome and founding the Lutheran branch of Protestantism.

The 1555 agreement allowing each prince in the Holy Roman Empire to choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for his territory, giving legal recognition to Protestantism.

The Catholic Church's reform and renewal movement in response to Protestantism, marked by the Council of Trent, new religious orders, and stricter discipline.

The Jesuit order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, dedicated to education, missionary work, and defending Catholicism, and influential in courts and overseas missions.

A system of government in which a monarch claims sole and unlimited authority, often justified by divine right and supported by centralized bureaucracy and standing armies.

The doctrine that a monarch's authority comes directly from God, so that resistance to the ruler is a sin and the ruler answers to no earthly power.

King of France from 1643 to 1715 who built the palace at Versailles, tamed the nobility, and became the model of European absolute monarchy.

The principle that governmental power is limited by law, custom, or a written constitution, and that rulers must govern with consent and respect for established rights.

The 1688 overthrow of James II by Parliament, which invited William and Mary to rule and secured parliamentary supremacy and Protestant succession in England.

The 1689 statute that limited royal power, guaranteed parliamentary elections and free speech in Parliament, and prohibited cruel punishments and standing armies in peacetime.

The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century transformation of natural philosophy that replaced Aristotelian views with mathematics, experiment, and mechanical explanations of nature.

The model placing the Sun at the center of the solar system, advanced by Copernicus and confirmed by Galileo and Kepler, overturning the Earth-centered view.

Italian astronomer and physicist who used the telescope to support heliocentrism, formulated laws of falling bodies, and was tried by the Inquisition in 1633.

Isaac Newton's 1687 work setting out universal gravitation and the laws of motion, providing a unified mathematical framework for physics that dominated science for centuries.

An eighteenth-century intellectual movement applying reason and empirical method to religion, government, and society, promoting toleration, natural rights, and progress.

The idea that legitimate political authority rests on an agreement among people, developed differently by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau to explain obligation and resistance.

English philosopher who argued that government exists to protect natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and that people may overthrow a ruler who violates them.

Rule by absolute monarchs who adopted some Enlightenment reforms, such as religious toleration and legal codification, while keeping their power intact.

The French representative assembly of clergy, nobility, and commoners, summoned in 1789 for the first time since 1614 and soon transformed into the National Assembly.

A June 1789 pledge by deputies of the third estate not to disband until France had a constitution, marking the start of the National Assembly's challenge to royal authority.

The period from 1789 to 1799 when France overthrew its monarchy, abolished feudal privilege, and passed through constitutional, radical, and reactionary phases.

The 1793 to 1794 phase of the French Revolution when the Committee of Public Safety executed thousands of supposed enemies of the republic under Robespierre.

French general who seized power in 1799, ruled as emperor, spread legal and administrative reforms across Europe, and was defeated in 1815 at Waterloo.

The 1814 to 1815 gathering of European powers that redrew borders after Napoleon, aiming to restore a balance of power and legitimate dynasties.

The transition beginning in eighteenth-century Britain from hand production to machine manufacturing in factories, driven by coal, iron, steam power, and new capital markets.

The rapid growth of cities as people moved from the countryside seeking factory work, producing crowded housing, sanitation problems, and new social tensions.

The economic doctrine that governments should not interfere in markets, associated with Adam Smith, who argued that self-interest and competition serve the public good.

The theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels holding that history is driven by class conflict and that capitalism will be overthrown by a workers' revolution.

A political outlook favoring tradition, established institutions, monarchy, and social hierarchy, and distrusting rapid change; associated with Edmund Burke's critique of the French Revolution.

The belief that people sharing a common language, culture, or history should form their own nation and that national loyalty outweighs other political attachments.

The nineteenth-century movement, led by Cavour and Garibaldi, that merged the Italian states into a single kingdom by 1870 under the House of Savoy.

Warfare in which a state mobilizes its entire economy, population, and resources and targets enemy civilians and industry, as in both world wars.

The 1919 peace settlement ending World War I, imposing territorial losses, disarmament, and heavy reparations on Germany and creating the League of Nations.

A twentieth-century authoritarian movement glorifying the nation and leader, rejecting liberal democracy and communism, and using violence and propaganda to control society.

The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union after 1945, waged through arms races, alliances, propaganda, and proxy conflicts rather than direct war.

A political and economic union of European states, growing from post-1945 cooperation on coal and steel into a single market with shared institutions and, for many members, a common currency.