Enlightenment: 18th-century movement that valued reason, science and individual rights
Age of Reason: Another name for the Enlightenment
John Locke: English thinker who argued people have natural rights to life, liberty and property
Natural rights: Rights people have simply by being human
Social contract: Idea that governments get their power from agreement with the governed
Thomas Hobbes: Wrote Leviathan; argued people need a strong ruler to avoid chaos
Montesquieu: French thinker who urged separation of powers
Separation of powers: Dividing government into branches so none has too much power
Voltaire: French writer who defended freedom of speech and religion
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Wrote The Social Contract; said the general will of the people should rule
Mary Wollstonecraft: Wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Adam Smith: Wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776), about markets and free trade
Isaac Newton: Described gravity and the laws of motion
Scientific Revolution: Era of new discoveries in astronomy, physics and medicine
Salons: Gatherings where thinkers discussed ideas
Encyclopedia: Diderot edited a French encyclopedia collecting knowledge
Enlightened despots: Rulers who followed some Enlightenment ideas but kept power, like Catherine the Great
Absolute monarchy: Government where a king or queen has total power
Louis XIV: French Sun King, ruled 1643-1715, built Versailles
Versailles: Grand palace outside Paris
English Civil War: 1642-1651 conflict between king and Parliament
Glorious Revolution (1688): Parliament replaced King James II with William and Mary peacefully
English Bill of Rights (1689): Limited the monarch's power and protected Parliament's rights
Constitutional monarchy: King or queen with powers limited by law
American Revolution: Colonies won independence from Britain, 1775-1783
French Revolution: 1789 uprising that ended the monarchy in France
Estates: Three social groups in France: clergy, nobles and everyone else
Third Estate: Common people, the vast majority of the French population
Estates-General: French assembly called in 1789 that began the Revolution
National Assembly: Group formed by the Third Estate in 1789
Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789): Crowd attacked a Paris prison, a symbol of royal power
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: 1789 French document of rights
Liberty, equality, fraternity: Slogan of the French Revolution
Louis XVI: French king executed in 1793
Marie Antoinette: Queen of France, executed in 1793
Guillotine: Device used for executions during the Revolution
Reign of Terror (1793-94): Period of extreme violence led by Robespierre
Robespierre: Revolutionary leader of the Terror, later executed
Napoleon Bonaparte: Army general who took power in France in 1799
Napoleonic Code: French legal code that spread ideas of legal equality
Emperor Napoleon: Crowned himself emperor in 1804
Battle of Waterloo (1815): Napoleon's final defeat, in Belgium
Duke of Wellington: British commander who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo
Congress of Vienna (1815): European leaders tried to restore order after Napoleon
Haitian Revolution: Enslaved people in Haiti rebelled and won independence in 1804
Toussaint Louverture: Leader of the Haitian Revolution
Haiti: First nation led by formerly enslaved people to win independence
Simon Bolivar: Led independence movements in northern South America
Jose de San Martin: Led liberation efforts in Argentina, Chile and Peru
Miguel Hidalgo: Priest who began Mexico's fight for independence in 1810
Mexican independence: Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821
Brazil's independence: Declared in 1822 by Pedro I
Revolutions of 1848: Uprisings across Europe demanding liberal reforms
Nationalism: Strong pride in one's nation
Unification of Italy: Italy became one kingdom in 1861 with leaders like Garibaldi and Cavour
Giuseppe Garibaldi: Italian general who led volunteers to take Sicily and Naples in 1860
Otto von Bismarck: Prussian statesman who united Germany in 1871
German Empire (1871): Formed after the Franco-Prussian War
Liberalism: Belief in individual freedom and limited government
Conservatism: Belief in tradition and gradual change
Romanticism: Art and literature stressing feeling, nature and imagination
Abolition of slave trade: Britain banned the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in its empire in 1833
William Wilberforce: British politician who campaigned against the slave trade
Olympe de Gouges: French writer of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
Tennis Court Oath: Third Estate members swore in 1789 not to separate until France had a constitution
Bourgeoisie: Middle class of merchants and professionals
Sans-culottes: Working-class Parisian revolutionaries
Directory: Five-man government that ruled France from 1795 to 1799
Metric system: Created in revolutionary France, based on tens
Catherine the Great: Russian empress (1762-1796) who corresponded with Voltaire
Frederick the Great: King of Prussia, supporter of the arts and reforms

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