BW Abitur History Bilingual FR LF key terms

Intellectual movement of the eighteenth century that subjected tradition, religion and political authority to reasoned critique, promoting tolerance, natural rights and the idea that society could be deliberately reformed.

Upheaval in France from 1789 that abolished feudal privilege, proclaimed the rights of man and, after 1792, established a republic; its ideas and armies reshaped Europe.

French civil code of 1804 securing legal equality, private property and civil marriage; spread by Napoleonic conquest, it shaped law in western and southern Germany long after 1815.

Period after 1815 in which monarchs and princes restored pre-revolutionary order; in Germany it meant princely sovereignty, censorship and suppression of liberal and national associations.

Years between the 1830 July Revolution and the March 1848 uprising, marked by censorship, economic hardship, and growing liberal and nationalist demands for constitutions and a unified Germany.

Wave of European revolts demanding constitutions, national unity and social reform; in Germany the Frankfurt National Assembly drafted a constitution but failed when Prussia's king refused the crown.

Political conviction that a people sharing language, culture or history should form its own state; in nineteenth-century Europe it drove both unification movements and conflicts over minorities.

Foundation of the German Empire after Prussia's victory over France, combining federal states under a Kaiser with a parliament elected by universal male suffrage but limited budgetary power.

Transition from agrarian and artisanal production to factory industry, railways and mass markets; it created new classes, urban growth and social hardship that provoked reform debates.

Debate over poverty, exploitation and insecurity caused by industrial capitalism, and over whether the state, churches, unions or revolution should remedy it.

Industrial working class that grew with factories and mining; organized in unions and the Social Democratic Party, it became a major political force demanding better wages and rights.

Educated and propertied middle strata whose influence rested on education, professions and commerce rather than noble birth; carriers of liberalism, associational life and public debate.

Bismarck's 1870s conflict with the Catholic Church over state control of schools, clergy and marriage; it mobilized Catholic political identity and largely failed in its aims.

Laws of 1878 to 1890 banning socialist associations, meetings and newspapers while leaving Social Democratic parliamentary candidacies legal; the party grew despite repression.

Late nineteenth-century expansion of European power over Africa and Asia through colonies, protectorates and economic penetration, justified by notions of racial and cultural superiority.

Rule of one territory by another power, involving settlement, resource extraction, forced labour and cultural domination; its legacies include borders, inequality and contested memory.

1884–85 meeting of European powers and the United States that set rules for claiming African territory; it did not partition the continent in one act but accelerated the scramble.

Term coined by historian George Kennan for the First World War, arguing that it destroyed the pre-1914 order and made later catastrophes such as fascism and total war possible.

Five weeks between the Sarajevo assassination and the outbreak of war in 1914, when ultimatums, mobilization plans and alliance commitments escalated a regional conflict into a European war.

1919 peace treaty imposing territorial losses, disarmament, reparations and sole war guilt on Germany; its terms fuelled revisionism and were exploited by nationalist propaganda.

Germany's first parliamentary democracy, 1919–1933, with proportional representation and a strong president; it survived crises but collapsed under economic depression and anti-democratic pressure.

Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933 and the rapid consolidation of Nazi power through the Reichstag fire decree, the enabling law and the banning of parties and unions.

Nazi process of coordinating institutions, federal states, associations and media under party control, eliminating independent organized life outside the regime.

Nazi worldview combining racial hierarchy, antisemitism, social Darwinism, extreme nationalism and the demand for living space; it guided persecution, rearmament and expansionist war.

Hostility toward Jews based on religious, economic or racial stereotypes; the Nazi variant was racial and eliminationist, culminating in systematic mass murder.

1935 laws that stripped Jews of citizenship and forbade marriage or relations between Jews and non-Jewish Germans, embedding racial exclusion in law and preparing further persecution.

Nazi concept of territory needed for German settlement and food supply, especially in eastern Europe; it justified conquest, expulsion and murderous occupation policy.

Global war from 1939 to 1945 begun by the German attack on Poland; it became a war of annihilation in eastern Europe and ended with Germany's unconditional surrender.

Systematic murder of about six million European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, carried out through ghettos, mass shootings and extermination camps.

January 1942 meeting of senior officials that coordinated the organization of the deportation and murder of European Jews, marking the shift to a bureaucratically planned genocide.

German term for the 1945 collapse, used to debate whether it was a radical break or a continuation of older elites and mentalities; historians stress both rupture and continuity.

Post-war Allied policy of removing Nazis from office and re-educating Germans, implemented unevenly through questionnaires and tribunals; its limits shaped later memory debates.

Division of Europe after 1945 into Western and Eastern blocs under the United States and the Soviet Union, marked by NATO and Warsaw Pact membership and ideological confrontation.

Rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from the late 1940s to 1991, fought through arms races, alliances, proxy wars and propaganda rather than direct great-power war.

Division of Germany from 1949 into the Federal Republic and the GDR, sealed by the 1961 Berlin Wall; reunification came in 1990 after the GDR's peaceful revolution.

West German policy from the late 1960s of easing tension with the Soviet bloc through treaties and contacts, accepting existing borders while pursuing gradual change.

1963 treaty between France and West Germany institutionalizing regular consultation on foreign, defence, education and youth policy; a cornerstone of post-war reconciliation.

Franco-German reconciliation after 1945, built on treaties, youth exchanges, town twinning and shared European institutions; it replaced a century of antagonism with structured cooperation.

Process of European cooperation from the Coal and Steel Community through the EEC to the European Union, deepening economic and legal ties while enlarging membership.

Accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, achieved through the round table, free elections, the two-plus-four talks and international consent.

1962 confrontation over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba; it brought the superpowers close to war and led to hotline and arms-control measures.

Methodological principle of examining events from several actors' viewpoints and interests, comparing sources produced by different sides rather than adopting one narrative.

Systematic examination of a source's origin, author, date, purpose, audience and bias before using it as evidence; distinguishes what a source says from what it can prove.

Historical judgement about facts, causes and consequences that can be tested against evidence, as distinct from a value judgement about whether something was right or good.

Judgement expressing approval or condemnation by reference to norms such as justice or human rights; in history it must be reasoned, explicit and separated from factual analysis.

Analytical pair for asking what persisted and what changed across a period, and how quickly; it guards against narratives of pure rupture or pure continuity.

Numerical source such as census, trade or election data; must be read with attention to categories, definitions, collection methods and missing or manipulated figures.