World History Study Guide
Book Used: Glencoe World History
1. Enlightenment thinkers (17-2)
a. John Locke- tabula rasa; Essay Concerning Human Understanding
b. Montesquieu- three basic kinds of government: republics, despotism, and monarchies; England’s monarchy had three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial; The Spirit of Laws
c. Voltaire- criticized Christianity and believed in religious tolerance; also believed in deism; Treaties on Toleration
i. Deism- God, the clockmaker, had created the universe, set it in motion, and allowed it to run without his interference
d. Denis Diderot- Encyclopedia used against old French society and supported religious toleration
e. Adam Smith- believed that the state should not interfere in economic matter (laissez-faire)
f. Jean-Jacques Rousseau- people had adopted laws and government in order to preserve their private property; social contract and the general will; Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind
g. Mary Wollstonecraft- A Vindication of the Rights of Women
2. Treaty of Paris (17-3)
a. 1763- French withdrew and left India to the British (Seven Years’ War)
b. 1783- Recognized independence of American colonies and granted them control of the Western territory from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River
3. Causes of the French Revolution (18-1)
a. Inequality of Society (long-range causes)
i. Three Estates
1. First Estate- clergy (exempt from taille)
2. Second Estate- nobility (held leadership positions and exempt from taille)
3. Third Estate- commoners of society
ii. Middle class unhappy with privileges of nobles
iii. Aristocrats and bourgeoisie drawn to Enlightenment and upset with monarchical system
b. Financial Crisis (immediate cause)
i. Near collapse of government finances
1. Bad harvests, food shortages, inflation of food prices, unemployment, and luxury spending of government
ii. Louis XVI called to raise new taxes to avoid government financial collapse
4. Practice of the French Revolution
a. Georges Danton- newly appointed minister of justice who led the sans-culottes
b. Jean-Paul Marat- published Friend of the People
c. National Convention establishes a French Republic
i. Louis XVI beheaded
d. Creation of the Committee of Public Safety
i. Led first by Georges Danton, but then by Robespierre
e. Reign of Terror set up to prosecute enemies of the revolutionary republic
f. Nantes- victims executed by being sunk in barges
g. Republic of Virtue
i. “Citizen” and “Citizeness” had replaced “mister” and “madame”
ii. Women wore long dresses inspired from ancient Rome
iii. Slavery abolished in French colonies
iv. Dechristianization
5. Effects of the French Revolution
a. Committee of Public Safety loses power
b. Churches reopen for public worship
c. New constitution
i. Created Council of 500 (legislation) and Council of Elders (accepted or rejected proposed laws)
d. The Directory
i. Five directors acted as executive committee and ruled with legislature
ii. Was an era of corruption and graft
iii. Napoleon topples Directory
6. Napoleon
a. Brought French Revolution to an end
b. At 24, made brigadier general by the Committee of Public Safety
c. Overthrew Directory and was a part of the consulate (new government)
i. Napoleon held absolute power
d. Establishes peace with the Church
e. Codified laws
i. Most important is Civil Code (or Napoleonic Code)
ii. Women now “unequal” to men
f. Spread legal equality, religious toleration, and economic freedom within empire (principles of the French Revolution)
g. Britain and nationalism eventually defeated Napoleon
i. Nationalism
1. French hated as oppressors
2. Showed Europe what nationalism was
h. Napoleon exiled to Elba
i. Bourbon monarchy restored
ii. Napoleon later exiled to St. Helena (near Africa)
7. First and Second Industrial Revolution
a. First Industrial Revolution
i. Cotton, railroads, coal, iron, child labor, poor working conditions, and urbanization
b. Second Industrial Revolution
i. Steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum
8. Crimean War
a. Struggle with Russia and Ottoman Empire
b. Russia wanted Ottoman lands in Balkans
i. Would give access to Dardanelles and thus the Mediterranean Sea
ii. Would then be able to challenge British navy
c. Russia invades Moldavia and Walachia and Ottomans declare war
d. Austria and Russia now enemies after Austria does not help Russia
9. Germ Theory
a. Microscopic organisms cause infectious diseases
b. Proposed by Pasteur
10. Trade Unions
a. After 1870’s right to strike in Britain, workers in factories were organized into trade unions so they could use strikes to achieve reforms
b. They had made some progress in bettering living and working conditions by 1914 in the world
11. Mexican Revolution
a. Porfirio Diaz was dictator of Mexico who looked for interests for the ruling elite
b. Francisco Madero forced Madero out in 1911 since 95% of rural population owned no land
c. Madero’s ineffectiveness, however, led to Emiliano Zapata taking over. Zapata seized estates of wealthy landholders
d. In 1917 a new constitution was enacted and created government led by a president
e. Revolution also led to outpouring of patriotism
12. Effects of World War I
a. Wilson’s Fourteen Points
i. Reaching peace agreements openly rather than through secret diplomacy
b. Paris Peace Conference
i. Most important decisions made by Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George
ii. Conference accepted Wilson’s League of Nations
c. The Treaty of Versailles
i. Germany pay reparations
ii. War Guilt Clause
13. Mandate System
a. A nation officially governed another nation as a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations but did no own the territory
14. Chinese Civil War
a. Qing dynasty collapses
b. General Yuan Shigai became new president
i. Used murder and terror to destroy new democratic institutions
c. After Yuan’s death, China slips into civil war as military warlords seized power
15. The Great Depression
a. Causes
i. Falling food prices because of overproduction
ii. International financial crisis with U.S. stock market crash
b. Responses
i. Lowering wages and raising tariffs
1. Made economic crisis worse
ii. Increased government activity
iii. Renewed interest in Marxist doctrines and more interest in Communism
c. Germany
i. Rise in unemployment and extremist parties
d. France
i. The Popular Front created the French New Deal
1. Gave workers the right to collective bargaining
2. Ended up failing to solve the problems of the Depression
e. Great Britain
i. Lost coal, steel, and textile industries and saw a rise in unemployment
ii. John Maynard Keynes- published his “General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money”
1. Believed government should create public works to get out of depression
f. The United States
i. FDR creates the New Deal
1. Works Progress Administration for building bridges, roads, etc.
ii. Roosevelt enacts Social Security Act
16. Inter-War Period
a. By 1939, only France and Great Britain remained democratic
b. Italy
i. Mussolini established fascist movement
ii. Formed squadristi, or armed Fascists
iii. Established OVRA (secret police)
iv. Recognized Catholicism as sole religion of the state
c. Soviet Union
i. New Economic Policy (NEP)-a modified version of the old capitalist system
ii. Lenin dies, Trotsky vs. Stalin
iii. Stalin gains control of Communist party, Trotsky “dies” (murdered by Stalin most likely) in Mexico
iv. Stalin launches Five Year Plan to get rid of NEP