Glossary

an Islamic terrorist organization financed and led by militant Saudi Arabian national Osama bin Laden and responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001

the nations that united to oppose Germany and Austria-Hungary, originally, Russia, France, and Britain

an ideology advocating that government be abolished

a South African policy of racial segregation that ended in 1991

a cease-fire agreement

a device for navigation that used constellations as a guide and enabled mariners to find their
north–south position on the earth’s surface

a statement of British and U.S. goals and objectives for the world after World War II; negotiated by British prime minister Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt

a situation in which competing nations have approximately equal military power

a 1917 statement by British foreign secretary Alfred Balfour publicly supporting the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine

an alliance created in 1912 by Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Serbia against the Ottoman Empire

a 1923 attempt by Adolf Hitler and his followers to take over the city of Munich

an operation carried out by Great Britain and the United States to supply West Berlin from the air during the Soviet Union’s blockade of West Berlin

the myth, mostly promoted by English writers, that the Spanish treated Native Americans far more harshly than other European colonizers

a group of countries united for a common purpose

a radical majority faction of Russia’s Social Democratic Party led by Vladimir Lenin

the social class whose members owned the means of production and whose main goal was the preservation of capital

members of the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, an anti-foreign secret society in northern China

term used to refer to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2020

the period from 1858 to 1947 when the British government directly ruled India through the Viceroy of India

pre-internet computer networks that consisted of personal computers connected with each other via modems and phone lines

a system that allowed Europeans to trade with China only if they worked through the Chinese guilds that enjoyed monopoly rights to the tea and silk trades

an economic system in which private individuals and companies own the means of production, and free (unregulated) markets set the value of most goods and services based on supply and demand

an official authorization to conduct a major economic activity such as the creation of a colony

a form of slavery in which one person is owned by another as a piece of property

a movement, also known as northern Renaissance humanism, that stressed the study of the works of Greece and Rome and the early Christian fathers to awaken individual piety

an approach to history that follows a timeline from ancient to modern

broad changes in temperature, weather, storm activity, wind patterns, sea levels, and other influences on the planet

a contest for ideological, social, economic, technological, and military supremacy between the United States and the Soviet Union

the taking over of agriculture by a national government

a practice in which one group of people attempts to establish control over another group, usually
for purposes of economic exploitation

the flow of plants, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western
Hemispheres

the provisional government of revolutionary France from 1793 to 1794

a personal colony of Belgium’s King Leopold II where infamous abuse of African laborers took place

an 1814–1815 meeting of Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria to restore the balance of power and assert principles of conservatism

Spanish explorers in the Americas during the Age of Exploration

a political ideology that emerged in reaction to the freedoms associated with the revolutions of the eighteenth century and advocated submitting to government authority and giving religious doctrine a central role in maintaining social order and stability

the West’s Cold War policy goal of confining communism to the Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe

two assemblies of elected colonial representatives that met in Philadelphia in 1774 and 1775, the second time to adopt the powers of government and approve the Declaration of Independence from Britain

a system in which people sign contracts promising to perform work in exchange for a fee

the 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba

the practice of integrating a culture into the dominant society without forcing it to fully integrate and adopt all the dominant culture’s components

a system in which a person who owes money works (or provides someone else to work) for the creditor until the debt has been repaid

a form of logical reasoning that begins with a general statement and applies it to specific conclusions

a decline in a nation’s or region’s industrial activity

a reduction in family size in the late 1800s caused by falling birth rates in industrialized nations

the relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1970s

an executive council of five men established by the Convention in France to replace the Committee of Public Safety after the decline of the Reign of Terror

the belief that the neighbors of a communist country were likely to become communist themselves

the 1916 rebellion of Irish Nationalists against the British in Dublin

the practice of dominating a foreign country economically

a doctrine issued in 1957 in which a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in his doctrine by authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces “to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism.”

a philosophical concept based on the belief that all knowledge derives from sensory experience

a system of coerced labor based on a grant by the Spanish Crown that entitled conquistadors to
the labor of specified numbers of Indigenous people

the first programmable electronic digital computer, built by the United States during World War II

an absolutist ruler influenced by the principles of the Enlightenment

a French term that referred to free people of color in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti

a 1917 act passed in the United States that made anti-war propaganda illegal

a legislative assembly of the three estates, or orders, of French society: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners

a single-market zone created in 1993 to allow the free movement of goods, services, money, and people among European member states

a presidential order that led to relocation and internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during the war

an economy that primarily provides raw materials for use by other nations

a political movement focused on transforming citizens into committed nationalists striving for unity and racial purity to remedy a perceived national decline

the Nazi plan to eliminate the Jewish population of Europe; developed by senior bureaucrats at the Wannsee Conference

domestic plans adopted by the Soviet Union in the 1930s to target industrial and agricultural output goals that were usually unrealistic

woman of the 1920s who embraced an independent lifestyle while wearing shorter skirts and hairstyles

a native army commanded by European officers to enforce brutal discipline in the Congo Free State

a 1947 trade agreement among twenty-three countries to reinforce postwar economic recovery, later replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO)

a concept in political philosophy by which the state can be legitimate only if it is guided by the will of the people as a whole

a French term that referred to free people of color in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti

an alliance of thirty-nine mostly German-speaking states developed to replace the
Holy Roman Empire in 1815

a moderate faction of the Jacobin political club in revolutionary France

a Soviet policy encouraging openness, which allowed those who were angry to be critical of the government

a person who sees themselves as responsible to a world community rather than only a national one

the general rise in Earth’s temperature that scientists have observed over approximately the past two hundred years

the interconnectedness of societies and economies throughout the world as a result of trade, technology, and adoption and sharing of various aspects of culture

a monetary system in which the value of a country’s currency is tied directly to the value of gold

the view that it is enough to study the deeds and impact of important leaders to paint an accurate picture of the past

political parties organized around environmental concerns

the value of all the goods and services a country produces in one year

the 1964 resolution that gave President Lyndon Johnson permission to retaliate against North Vietnamese attacks and to act first to defend U.S. lives

the ability to see the past on its own terms, without judgment or the imposition of our own modern-day attitudes

the study of how historians have already interpreted the past

the Nazi genocide that resulted in the murder of more than six million Jewish people and at least
three million members of other, non-Jewish minority groups

the use of images and symbols in art

the policy of gaining direct or indirect control over parts of the world with low-cost resources and no competing mass-produced goods

a system in which colonial powers cooperated with Indigenous elites and allowed local leaders to exercise some authority

a form of logical reasoning that gathers specific examples and observations to arrive at a broad generalization

a way to reduce or cancel the time after death during which people needed to suffer in purgatory
to atone for their sins before reaching heaven

the period during which societies transitioned away from a focus on agriculture and handicraft production to manufacturing, primarily with machines

the history of ideas, which looks at the philosophies that drive people to make certain choices

a state formed by the twenty-six southern counties in Ireland and later called Ireland

a fundamentalist and militant Islamic group that grew in power and waged a war in Iraq and Syria following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003

a radical political club in revolutionary France that supported overthrowing the monarchy

a 1928 treaty signed by more than sixty countries to renounce war as a foreign policy tool

an association that organizes workers of all kinds, both skilled and unskilled

the theory that market forces alone should drive the economy and that governments should refrain from direct intervention in or moderation of the economic system

a multinational organization created by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles to promote the goal of collective security

a German term meaning “living room” and referring to lands seized from countries in eastern Europe in which Adolf Hitler envisioned settling German families to supplant the native Slavic populations

U.S. legislation enacted to provide military assistance to nations important to its defense

a political ideology that promotes freedom of expression, popular sovereignty, the protection of civil rights and private property, and representative government

British workers in the early nineteenth century who resisted industrialization

created the European Union in 1992 signed by 12 member states of the European Community

a system in which control of an area was transferred from one government to another under the oversight of the League of Nations

the U.S. project to build an atomic bomb

a plan extending financial assistance to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II

the idea, espoused by Karl Marx, that recognizing class struggle is central to understanding societies

the use of machines to replace the labor of animals and humans

the period beginning in 1868 when, under Emperor Meiji, Japan began to industrialize

the middle (or second) leg of the three-legged triangular trade that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas

a 1939 agreement between Germany and the USSR in which the two nations agreed not to attack one another or to assist other nations in attacking the other and to divide portions of eastern Europe between them

a radical faction of the Jacobin club in revolutionary France that supported executing the king

a corporate business entity that controls the production of goods and services in multiple countries

an agreement reached in 1938 in which Czechoslovakia granted territorial concessions to Germany, Poland, and Hungary in the hopes that Adolf Hitler would cease his aggressions

a political ideology that promotes the interests of the nation over international concerns and
advocates the uniqueness and inherent superiority of the individual’s own country over others

universal and inalienable rights that cannot be revoked or rescinded by human laws

a literary style that emphasized realistic, detached, impersonal depictions of characters whose actions were molded by their environment in ways they often had no ability to control

a U.S. program of economic reform under Franklin Roosevelt that created work-relief programs

Lenin’s policy that introduced some aspects of capitalism in response to hardships and growing discontent among the Russian people

a movement that developed in the 1920s as African Americans agitated for increased civil rights

a movement of nations that sought to remain outside the sphere of influence of both the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War

a 1992 trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to reduce trade barriers and allow goods to flow freely

a military alliance among the United States, Canada, and the countries of Western Europe

a series of laws promulgated in Germany in 1935, institutionalizing Nazi racial theories and discrimination against Jewish people

the process of moving some of a company’s operations overseas to access cheaper labor markets

the process of hiring outside contractors, sometimes abroad, to perform tasks a company once performed internally

a movement based on the idea that all people in Africa could work together to achieve greater independence

a 2015 treaty among members of the United Nations to limit global warming to less than 2°C (3.6°F) above levels from the time of industrialization

forced labor assigned as punishment to those convicted of crimes

the agreement between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin about how to divide political influence in Eastern Europe after the war

the restructuring of the Soviet state and economy under Mikhail Gorbachev

violent attacks on Jewish people in the Russian empire

the idea that government should exist only by the consent of the governed

the most immediate reason an event occurred

a document, object, or other source material from the time period under study

the boundary of westward settlement that Britain marked out in its thirteen North American colonies

a school of thought that views history as a straight line to a specific and more democratic destination

the landless working class

wars fought by allies of the Soviet Union and the United States to avoid risking a direct conflict between the two superpowers during the Cold War

shared spaces that enabled the exchange of ideas and information outside the control of state
and church, like coffeehouses and salons

wages measured in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be purchased with them

a literary and artistic style that realistically depicted everyday life in the contemporary world

a period of the French Revolution during which the revolutionary government adopted repressive measures to prevent dissent

monetary payments to be made to the Allied nations by Germany to compensate for destruction they suffered in the war

the problem that makes resource-rich developing countries prone to authoritarianism, high rates of conflict, and low rates of economic growth

the process of altering our interpretation of historical events by adding new elements and perspectives

the way words are used and put together in speaking or writing

an Italian term that refers to the unification of Italy

an artistic movement formed in response to the Industrial Revolution that prized emotion and imagination and took as its subjects the themes of nature, the ordinary person, the exotic, the ancient, and the supernatural

informal gathering in the homes of wealthy aristocrats, generally hosted by women, that served as a site
for the discussion of Enlightenment ideas and philosophies

a two-hundred-mile march led by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi in India in 1930 to protest the British prohibition on collecting salt and the heavy taxes on its purchase

a French term that referred to radicals from the lower and working classes during the French Revolution

a country controlled by another nation

a German war plan to sweep through Belgium and northern France before turning to Russia

German Nazi paramilitary organization designed for security and intimidation

the competition among European countries to establish colonies in Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

a document, object, or other source material written or created after the time period under study

a 1918 act passed in the United States that forbade forms of speech considered disloyal to the war effort

Indian soldiers who served the British in India

a Japanese system in which a military leader, the shogun, and an aristocratic military elite, the samurai, ruled in place of the emperor

a political party organized in 1905 that argued for greater sovereignty for Ireland

ideas such as class and gender created and accepted by the people in a society that influence the way they think and behave

people who favor the creation of a socialist society through democratic means

a field of history that looks at all classes and categories of people, not just elites

an economic system in which the public owns the means of production

an artistic movement in the Soviet Union that took the worker as a subject and was about patriotism as much as art

an act of the British Parliament that imposed taxes on legal documents and other printed materials in its North American colonies in 1765

a person who protested in favor of women’s right to vote

a secret agreement reached between France and Britain in 1916 to partition areas of the Middle East after the war

a system of management that sought to improve workers’ productivity by curbing wasteful movements

an implicit agreement among members of a society to surrender their natural rights to the state, which is then charged with maintaining and protecting those rights

a war fought using all available resources, with no restrictions on weapons or their targets

a form of government in which the state controls all aspects of a person’s life

an association that organizes workers in a particular craft or industry

a 1494 agreement awarding land to Portugal and Spain by dividing the Atlantic Ocean along a line one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa

a 1919 treaty that formally ended World War I, redrew the map of Europe, and created the League of Nations

the trade in goods and enslaved people that took place between the Americas, Europe, and West Africa from the late fifteenth through the early nineteenth centuries

the first successful U.S. test of an atomic bomb

a treaty of alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy

a treaty of alliance between France, Russia, and Britain

the promise of U.S. assistance to any country in danger of being overthrown by communism

German submarines equipped with torpedoes that sank thousands of pounds of cargo over the course of World War I

organizations that support an extreme form of nationalism and often seek ethnically homogeneous homelands

a mix of Roman Catholic and indigenous West African religious practices popular in Haiti

a U.S. federal agency created in 1917 to control the economic and industrial output of factories in times of war

a military and political alliance among the communist nations of Eastern Europe

a British program to help women ensure enough foodstuffs were produced on farms while men served in the military

a 1917 telegram sent by Germany’s foreign minister offering an alliance with Mexico in return for Mexico causing disturbances along its U.S. border