World History Master Vocabulary – II

(Words in red are honors vocabulary only.)

Asian History from 1300 to 1853 (H + R checked)

bureaucracy – The body of government workers who are organized into a hierarchy and who basically do the paperwork and behind-the-scenes support for the government and the State.

daimyo - large private land [holder]", a major feudal lord, of whom there were several hundred in Japan during the Tokugawa period. They held fiefs of widely varying sizes (measured in terms of the income they produced, in rice).

dynasty - A series of rulers from a single family.

feudalism – A ranked class system in which land owned by someone of higher status was lived on and worked by someone of lower status in return for loyal service. The king, emperor, or shogun was at the top of the pyramid, the peasants at the bottom.

fief – a piece of land granted to a daimyo by the shogun or to a samurai by a daimyo

government – the people who control the State and who control and lead a country.

hierarchy - a group of people, ideas, objects, etc. arranged in a ranked structure (powerful to weak, rich to poor, etc.).

isolationism - a policy of national withdrawal by abandoning alliances and other international political and economic relations

samurai - Literally, "one who serves"; a member of the warrior class, which was the highest ranking social class during most period of Japanese history.

Shogun - the military ruler of Japan during various periods. The military ruler held real power and used the emperor as a figurehead.

State - an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing the ability to rule themselves.

trade imbalance – A situation where a country is importing more goods than it exports. The country doing more importing than exporting must pay cash or borrow money to get the goods it needs.

vassal – a person under the protection of a feudal lord, the person owes the lord allegiance and loyalty

Rise of European Nations (H + R checked)

absolutism - a system of government where the leader has total power; they are see as the same thing as the state itself

constitutional monarchy – When a king rules with limits placed upon him by written laws and other groups of political power-holders.

deficit - The amount by which government spending exceeds its tax receipts for a given year.

divine right of kings – The belief that monarchs hold and exercise power because God will it.

enclosure movement – When Europeans began to fence in their lands, including those that had once been considered common for local farmers and villagers.

enlightened despotism - The idea that the best government was one run by an all-powerful genius who looked out for what was best for everyone.

ethnic cleansing - the mass expulsion and killing of one ethic or religious group in an area by another ethnic or religious group in that area

free enterprise - The idea that every person should be able to go into any business they want to and run it any way they like to make a maximum profit.

inflation – the general rise in prices over time.

L’état c’est moi. – The quote meaning “I am the state” attributed to Louis XIV.

laissez-faire - "let do" or leave things alone

national debt - the total amount of government borrowing still outstanding, owed to individuals and institutions.

natural law - The belief that the universe and human society were organized and run according to unchanging rules.

parliament – A representative assembly in England made up of the House of Lords and House of Commons.

Philosophes - French thinkers who popularized scientific methods and the study of the human condition.

popular sovereignty - The idea that individuals could determine what was best for all members of the society and that this "will of the people" would become law.

rationalism - The Belief that truth can be arrived at only through the careful application of logical thought to observation.

sovereignty - The exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region, group of people, or oneself.

French Revolution & Latin American Independence (H + R checked)

bourgeoisie - the middle class; the owners of the factories and businesses

conservative - wanting to limit change; in favor of keeping things as they are

egalitarian - having to do with the idea that all humans are equal, particularly in social and political matters

Estates General - a meeting of the three traditional classes of French society, the Church, the nobility, and the commoners

faction - a party or group (as within a government) that is often contentious or self-seeking

fraternity - brotherhood

legislate - to write law

moderate - opposed to extremes; preferring to stay within reasonable limits

monarch - a king or queen

National Assembly - a congress of the representatives of the French population who were democratically elected

nationalism - loyalty and devotion to a country or ethnic group that places emphasis on promoting the interests, cultural and social values, or religion of one group above all others

radical - someone who hopes for extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions

reactionary - someone who would like to turn the clock back to some previous better time

salon - A gathering of political and cultural elites, usually at someone's house.

The Terror - the period during the French Revolution when Robespierre and the Committee of Public safety used the guillotine and non-legal arrests and violence to push forward their radical plans

social contract - The belief that government’s right to power comes from a set of rules, either written or understood, between the rulers and the ruled. This set of rules also determines the relationships between citizens and creates the boundaries for behavior of citizens within any given territory.

Industrial Revolution & Communism (H + R checked)

Bolshevik - a member of the extremist wing of the Russian Social Democratic party that seized power in Russia by the Revolution of November 1917

capital - stuff used to make other stuff; money pooled for investment

capitalism - an economic system where factories and resources are owned and controlled by private entities as opposed to the government or community, by investments that are run by private interests, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

collectivization - Stalin's process of moving the individual farmers off their land and onto larger modern farms

communism - a theory of government in which wealth and property are owned in common and production and labor are shared equally among the people. In reality, the means of production and distribution are owned by the state.

entrepreneur - a business risk-taker, someone who uses money and resources to make more money

exploitation - to take advantage of, to use for one's own gain rather than in the interest of the person or thing being used

industrialization - to move to a form of economy characterized by large-scale production of goods in factories

monopoly - when one company controls a particular market

obsolete - no longer useful, out of date

oligopoly - when a few companies conspire to control a particular market

oppression - unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power, something that presses down on someone, especially an unjust or excessive exercise of power

proletariat - the working class

socialism - An economic system in which the basic means of production are primarily owned and controlled collectively, usually by government under some system of central planning.

Imperialism in Asia and Africa (H + R checked)

NOTE: The definitions of colonialism and imperialism are very similar. The key difference is that colonialism usually involves settlement and obvious control, while imperialism can be less obvious.

Assimilation - The process whereby an individual or group is absorbed into the social structures and cultural life of another person, group, or society.

Atavistic – NEED DEFINITION FOR SECOND SEMESTER!

Colonialism – Direct control of overseas territories and peoples by a powerful nation, usually involving the settlement of people from the powerful nation into the controlled territory; a foreign power rules a large group of people; the foreign power uses the controlled territory and people for wealth and has more advanced technology than the controlled people.

Direct rule - a form of colonial administration used primarily by the French, Belgians, Germans, and Portuguese characterized by centralized administrations governed from top to bottom by officials drawn from the imperial country; this model stressed policies of assimilation for the controlled local peoples.

Dominion - dominance or power through legal authority; A name applied to self-governing divisions of the British Empire owing allegiance to the crown.

imperialism - Intentional policy on the part of a nation-state of extending its power and control over other nations and peoples, either by directly taking territory or through the exercise of political or economic power.

Indirect rule - a colonial policy widely practiced by the British and occasionally by imperialistic powers; its purpose was to incorporate the local power structure into the controlling country’s ruling structure. An imperial governor and council of advisors made laws for each colony, but local rulers loyal to the governor kept some of their traditional authority.

Mass movement – a broadly popular political or cultural phenomenon where both elite and common people work together to achieve some common goal.

nationalism - loyalty and devotion to a country or ethnic group that places emphasis on promoting the interests, cultural and social values, or religion of one group above all others. The desire by a colonized people to be free of the foreign power that dominates them.

Partition – to divide into parts, pieces, or sections

Puppet ruler - A person who seems to be of the same culture as the people he or she governs, but who owes his or her existence (or other major debt) to being installed, supported or controlled by a more powerful entity, typically a foreign power.

Raj – the Hindu word for reign; The British colonial government in India from the mid-18th century until the establishment of the state of India in 1947. They established a mixed form of government, ruling that huge country through a network of Indian politicians and civil servants.

WWI, Fascism, and WWII (H + R checked)

Anti-Semitism - Hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism.

arms race - A competition between two or more countries for military supremacy. Each party competes to produce superior numbers of weapons, larger armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation.

balance of power – a condition of international politics where evenly matched military forces avoid conflict for fear of losing.

Balkans – The region of southeastern Europe containing the nations of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, and the European part of Turkey

blitzkrieg - war conducted with great speed and force; specifically : a violent surprise offensive by massed air forces and mechanized ground forces in close coordination

corporatism - A political system in which legislative power is given to civic assemblies that represent economic, industrial, agrarian, and professional groups. Unlike pluralism, in which many groups must compete for control of the state, in corporatism, certain un-elected bodies take a critical role in the decision-making process.

fascism - a political movement that believes in an extreme form of nationalism: denying individual rights, insisting on the supremacy of the state, and advocating dictatorial one-party rule

genocide - the intentional killing of an entire people

Holocaust - the deliberate, systematic murder of the European Jews by the Nazis

militarism – glorification of military power

Nazism - fascism + totalitarianism + hatred of Jews + German nationalism + swastikas

populism - A political philosophy or politician’s style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the "elite" in society, and that the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. Tends to promise something to everyone in society without clearly explaining how promises will be kept.

totalitarian - a political system in which the government has control over every aspect of the lives of individual citizens

war of attrition – a type of military conflict characterized by both sides trying to wear down the other; neither side makes quick strikes or sudden advances, but rather each focuses on slowly grinding up the other side’s forces

Zyklon B - a gas used to murder Jews in Nazi concentration camps

The Cold War (H + R checked)

A(tomic)-bomb – The type of nuclear device dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the smaller of the nuclear weapons, based on the fission or splitting of atoms

brinkmanship – the act of moving to the edge of nuclear war without quite going over

command economy – a system in which the government and professional bureaucrats determine what goods and services should be produced, how they should be produced, and for whom they should be produced

containment - the foreign policy strategy of the United States in the early years of the Cold War to defeat the Soviet Union by responding to any attempts by it to expand the territory under Communist control or otherwise extend its influence

coup - the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. It is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system. The term is French for "a sudden stroke, or blow, of a state"

H(hydrogen)-bomb – A nuclear device capable of unleashing destruction far more powerful than the Hiroshima; based on the fusion of hydrogen atoms

ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) – long-range missiles capable of carrying payloads, usually nuclear, to any spot on the Earth

Iron Curtain – A speech given by Winston Churchill defining the division of the world after World War II into two camps, one led by the US and the other by the USSR. Churchill was particularly addressing the geographic division of Europe into communist and non-communist spheres.

market economy – a system in which private businesses and individuals determine what goods and services should be produced, how they should be produced, and for whom they should be produced

M(utually) A(ssured) D(estruction) - a Cold War doctrine described by former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (Kennedy and Johnson administrations) in which full-blown use of nuclear weapons by one side would result in the total extermination of both sides.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) – A defensive military alliance of the Western nations, led by the USA and aimed at opposing Soviet aggression.

Non-aligned Movement – a loose group of countries, generally headed by India, the attempted to join neither the Soviet nor the US side in the Cold War

proxy war – A military conflict where one major country opposes another major country by using a war in third country to stand in place of direct conflict between the two major powers. Thus the two major powers can “fight” without having to kill each other directly, and thus risk an escalation to nuclear holocaust.

Truman Doctrine – A US foreign policy that said the US would support free peoples who were resisting attempted subjugation (conquest) by armed minorities or by outside pressure

Warsaw Pact – The Soviet-led Eastern European military alliance dedicated to defending the communist nations from Western aggression.

Post-WWII World Independence Movements (H + R checked)

Arab - 1 a : a member of the Semitic people of the Arabian peninsula b : a member of an Arabic-speaking people

dependency - a condition in which a country becomes part of the economy of a larger country or the world economic system, providing one or two products for export. The economy and prosperity of such countries are at the mercy of the market for that product.

development - The process by which a city, territory, or country expands its economic (and often military) capacity. This process is usually accompanied by technological, social, and governmental advances.

guerrilla - Irregular force(s) engaged in harassing the enemy in small bands or groups . Operations carried out by small independent forces, to cause delay, disruption, and harass enemy troops and to wear down enemy resistance in general, usually carried on by a number of small groups behind enemy lines, or in occupied countries .

Intifada - an uprising by Palestinian Arabs (in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank) against Israel in the late 1980s and again in 2000; literally, "shaking off" in Arabic

Islam – the religion founded by and based up the teachings of Muhammad

kleptocracy - a pejorative (negative), informal term for a government so corrupt that it doesn't even pretend to be honest. In this form of government, the leaders and bureaucracy are almost entirely devoted to taxing the public at large in order to make massive personal fortunes for the rulers and their cronies (supporters).

Muslim – someone who follows the teachings of Muhammad

Shia - the Muslims of the branch of Islam comprising sects believing in Ali and the Imams as the only rightful successors of Muhammad and in the concealment and messianic return of the last recognized Imam; the smaller of the two major branches of Islam

Sunni - the Muslims of the branch of Islam that adheres to the orthodox tradition and acknowledges the first four caliphs as rightful successors of Muhammad; the majority sect of Islam

Zionism - Movement founded by the Viennese Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl, who argued in his 1896 book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) that the best way of avoiding anti-Semitism in Europe was to create an independent Jewish state in Palestine.