AMERICAN REVOLUTION A history of the revolutionary era in America can be found in S. Conway, The War of American Independence, 1775–1783 (New York, 1995), and C. Bonwick, The American Revolution (Charlottesville, Va., 1991).
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GLOSSARY
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abbess the head of a convent or monastery for women.
abbot the head of a monastery.
absolutism a form of government in which the sovereign power or ultimate authority rested in the hands of a monarch who claimed to rule by divine right and was therefore responsible only to God.
Abstract Expressionism a post–World War II artistic movement that broke with all conventions of form and structure in favor of total abstraction.
abstract painting an artistic movement that developed early in the twentieth century in which artists focused on color to avoid any references to visual reality.
aediles Roman officials who supervised the public games and the grain supply of the city of Rome.
agricultural revolution the application of new agricultural techniques that allowed for a large increase in productivity in the eighteenth century.
Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution see Neolithic Revolution.
anarchism a political theory that holds that all governments and existing social institutions are unnecessary and advocates a society based on voluntary cooperation.
anticlericalism opposition to the power of the clergy, especially in political affairs.
anti-Semitism hostility toward or discrimination against Jews.
apartheid the system of racial segregation practiced in the Republic of South Africa until the 1990s, which involved political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites.
appeasement the policy, followed by the European nations in the 1930s, of accepting Hitler’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia in the belief that meeting his demands would assure peace and stability.
Arianism a Christian heresy that taught that Jesus was inferior to God. Though condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325, Arianism was adopted by many of the Germanic peoples who entered the Roman Empire over the next centuries.
aristocracy a class of hereditary nobility in medieval Europe; a warrior class who shared a distinctive lifestyle based on the institution of knighthood, although there were social divisions within the group based on extremes of wealth.
audiencias advisory groups to viceroys in Spanish America.
Ausgleich the “Compromise” of 1867 that created the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Austria and Hungary each had its own capital, constitution, and legislative assembly but were united under one monarch.
authoritarian state a state that has a dictatorial government and some other trappings of a totalitarian state but does not demand that the masses be actively involved in the regime’s goals as totalitarian states do.
auxiliaries troops enlisted from the subject peoples of the Roman Empire to supplement the regular legions composed of Roman citizens.
balance of power a distribution of power among several states such that no single nation can dominate or interfere with the interests of another.
Baroque an artistic movement of the seventeenth century in Europe that used dramatic effects to arouse the emotions and reflected the search for power that was a large part of the seventeenth-century ethos.
benefice in the Christian church, a position, such as a bishopric, that consisted of both a sacred office and the right of the holder to the annual revenues from the position.
bicameral legislature a legislature with two houses.
Black Death the outbreak of plague (mostly bubonic) in the mid-fourteenth century that killed from 25 to 50 percent of Europe’s population.
Blitzkrieg “lightning war.” A war conducted with great speed and force, as in Germany’s advance at the beginning of World War II.
Bolsheviks a small faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party who were led by Lenin and dedicated to violent revolution; they seized power in Russia in 1917 and were subsequently renamed the Communists.
bourgeoisie (burghers) inhabitants (merchants and artisans) of boroughs and burghs (towns).
boyars the Russian nobility.
Brezhnev Doctrine the doctrine, enunciated by Leonid Brezhnev, that the Soviet Union had a right to intervene if socialism was threatened in another socialist state; used to justify moving Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Burschenschaften student societies in the German states dedicated to fostering the goal of a free, united Germany.
caliph the secular leader of the Islamic community.
capital material wealth used or available for use in the production of more wealth.
cartel a combination of independent commercial enterprises that work together to control prices and limit competition.
Cartesian dualism Descartes’s principle of the separation of mind and matter (and mind and body) that enabled scientists to view matter as something separate from themselves that could be investigated by reason.
celibacy complete abstinence from sexual activity. Many early Christians viewed celibacy as the surest way to holiness.
centuriate assembly the chief popular assembly of the Roman Republic. It passed laws and elected the chief magistrates.
chansons de geste a form of vernacular literature in the High Middle Ages that consisted of heroic epics focusing on the deeds of warriors.
chivalry the ideal of civilized behavior that emerged among the nobility in the eleventh and twelfth centuries under the influence of the church; a code of ethics knights were expected to uphold.
cholera a serious and often deadly disease commonly spread by contaminated water; a major problem in nineteenth-century European cities before sewerage systems were installed.
Christian (northern) humanism an intellectual movement in northern Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries that combined the interest in the classics of the Italian Renaissance with an interest in the sources of early Christianity, including the New Testament and the writings of the church fathers.
civic humanism an intellectual movement of the Italian Renaissance that saw Cicero, who was both an intellectual and a statesman, as the ideal and held that humanists should be involved in government and use their rhetorical training in the service of the state.
civil disobedience a policy of peaceful protest against laws or government policies in order to achieve political change.
civilization a complex culture in which large numbers of humans share a variety of common elements, including cities; religious, political, military, and social structures; writing; and significant artistic and intellectual activity.
civil rights the basic rights of citizens, including equality before the law, freedom of speech and press, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
Cold War the ideological conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States after World War II.
collective farms large farms created in the Soviet Union by Stalin by combining many small holdings into large farms worked by the peasants under government supervision.
coloni free tenant farmers who worked as sharecroppers on the large estates of the Roman Empire (singular: colonus).
Columbian Exchange the reciprocal importation and exportation of plants and animals between Europe and the Americas.
commercial capitalism beginning in the Middle Ages, an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods in order to make profits.
common law law common to the entire kingdom of England; imposed by the king’s courts beginning in the twelfth century to replace the customary law used in county and feudal courts that varied from place to place.
commune in medieval Europe, an association of townspeople bound together by a sworn oath for the purpose of obtaining basic liberties from the lord of the territory in which the
town was located; also, the self-governing town after receiving its liberties.
conciliarism a movement in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Europe that held that final authority in spiritual matters resided with a general church council, not the pope; it emerged in response to the Avignon papacy and the Great Schism and was used to justify the summoning of the Council of Constance (1414–1418).
condottieri leaders of bands of mercenary soldiers in Renaissance Italy who sold their services to the highest bidder.
confession one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church; it provided for the forgiveness of one’s sins.
conquistadors “conquerors.” Leaders in the Spanish conquests in the Americas, especially Mexico and Peru, in the sixteenth century.
conscription a military draft.
conservatism an ideology based on tradition and social stability that favored the maintenance of established institutions, organized religion, and obedience to authority and resisted change, especially abrupt change.
consuls the chief executive officers of the Roman Republic. Two were chosen annually to administer the government and lead the army in battle.
consumer society Western society that emerged after World War II as the working classes adopted the consumption patterns of the middle class and payment plans, credit cards, and easy credit made consumer goods such as appliances and automobiles affordable.
containment a policy adopted by the United States in the Cold War. Its goal was to use whatever means, short of all-out war, to limit Soviet expansion.
Continental System Napoleon’s effort to bar British goods from the Continent in the hope of weakening Britain’s economy and destroying its capacity to wage war.
cosmopolitan the quality of being sophisticated and having wide international experience.
cottage industry a system of textile manufacturing in which spinners and weavers worked at home in their cottages using raw materials supplied to them by capitalist entrepreneurs.
council of the plebs a council only for plebeians. After 287 B.C.E., however, its resolutions were binding on all Romans.
Crusade in the Middle Ages, a military campaign in defense of Christendom.
Cubism an artistic style developed at the beginning of the twentieth century, especially by Pablo Picasso, that used geometric designs to re-create reality in the viewer’s mind.
cultural relativism the belief that no culture is superior to another because culture is a matter of custom, not reason, and derives its meaning from the group holding it.
cuneiform “wedge-shaped.” A system of writing developed by the Sumerians that consisted of wedge-shaped impressions made by a reed stylus on clay tablets.
curiales city councilors in Roman cities who played an important role in governing the vast Roman Empire.
Dadaism an artistic movement in the 1920s and 1930s begun by artists who were revolted by the senseless slaughter of World War I and used their “anti-art” to express contempt for the Western tradition.
de-Christianization a policy, adopted in the radical phase of the French Revolution, aimed at creating a secular society by eliminating Christian forms and institutions from French society.
decolonization the process of becoming free of colonial status and achieving statehood; it occurred in most of the world’s colonies between 1947 and 1962.
deconstruction (poststructuralism) a system of thought, formulated by Jacques Derrida, that holds that culture is created in a variety of ways, according to the manner in which people create their own meaning. Hence, there is no fixed truth or universal meaning.
deism belief in God as the creator of the universe who, after setting it in motion, ceased to have any direct involvement in it and allowed it to run according to its own natural laws.
demesne the part of a manor retained under the direct control of the lord and worked by the serfs as part of their labor services.
denazification after World War II, the Allied policy of rooting out any traces of Nazism in German society by bringing prominent Nazis to trial for war crimes and purging any known Nazis from political office.
depression a very severe, protracted economic downturn with high levels of unemployment.
de-Stalinization the policy of denouncing and undoing the most repressive aspects of Stalin’s regime; begun by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956.
détente the relaxation of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States that occurred in the 1970s.
developed nations a term used to refer to rich nations, primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, that have well-organized industrial and agricultural systems, advanced technologies, and effective educational systems.
developing nations a term used to refer to poor nations, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, that are primarily farming nations with little technology and serious population problems.
dialectic logic, one of the seven liberal arts that made up the medieval curriculum. In Marxist thought, the process by which all change occurs through the clash of antagonistic elements.
Diaspora the scattering of Jews throughout the ancient world after the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century B.C.E.
dictator in the Roman Republic, an official granted unlimited power to run the state for a short period of time, usually six months, during an emergency.
diocese the area under the jurisdiction of a Christian bishop; based originally on Roman administrative districts.
divination the practice of seeking to foretell future events by interpreting divine signs, which could appear in various forms, such as in entrails of animals, in patterns in smoke, or in dreams.
divine-right monarchy a monarchy based on the belief that monarchs receive their power directly from God and are responsible to no one except God.
domino theory the belief that if the Communists succeeded in Vietnam, other countries in Southeast and East Asia would also fall (like dominoes) to communism; cited as a justification for the U.S. intervention in Vietnam.
Donatism a Christian heresy that argued that the sacraments of the church were not valid if administered by an immoral priest.
dualism the belief that the universe is dominated by two opposing forces, one good and the other evil.
dynastic state a state in which the maintenance and expansion of the interests of the ruling family is the primary consideration.
economic imperialism the process in which banks and corporations from developed nations invest in underdeveloped regions and establish a major presence there in the hope of making high profits; not necessarily the same as colonial expansion in that businesses invest where they can make a profit, which may not be in their own nation’s colonies.
economic liberalism the idea that government should not interfere in the workings of the economy.
Einsatzgruppen in Nazi Germany, special strike forces in the SS that played an important role in rounding up and killing Jews.
empiricism the practice of relying on observation and experiment.
encomienda in Spanish America, a form of economic and social organization in which a Spaniard was given a royal grant that enabled the holder of the grant to collect tribute from the Indians and use them as laborers.
enlightened absolutism an absolute monarchy in which the ruler follows the principles of the Enlightenment by introducing reforms for the improvement of society, allowing freedom of speech and the press, permitting religious toleration, expanding education, and ruling in accordance with the laws.
Enlightenment an eighteenth-century intellectual movement, led by the philosophes, that stressed the application of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of life.
entrepreneur one who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk in a business venture in the expectation of making a profit.
Epicureanism a philosophy founded by Epicurus in the fourth century B.C.E. that taught that happiness (freedom from emotional turmoil) could be achieved through the pursuit of pleasure (intellectual rather than sensual ple
asure).
equestrians a group of extremely wealthy men in the late Roman Republic who were effectively barred from high office but sought political power commensurate with their wealth; called equestrians because many had gotten their start as cavalry officers (equites).
estates (orders) the traditional tripartite division of European society based on heredity and quality rather than wealth or economic standing, first established in the Middle Ages and continuing into the eighteenth century; traditionally consisted of those who pray (the clergy), those who flght (the nobility), and those who work (all the rest).
ethnic cleansing the policy of killing or forcibly removing people of another ethnic group; used by the Serbs against Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s.
Eucharist a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed in celebration of Jesus’s Last Supper; also called the Lord’s Supper or communion.
Eurocommunism a form of communism that dropped its Marxist ideology. It was especially favored in Italy.
evolutionary socialism a socialist doctrine espoused by Eduard Bernstein who argued that socialists should stress cooperation and evolution to attain power by democratic means rather than by conflict and revolution.
exchequer the permanent royal treasury of England. It emerged during the reign of King Henry II in the twelfth century.
excommunication in the Catholic Church, a censure depriving a person of the right to receive the sacraments of the church.
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