Pol 130 Midterm Terms: History

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Modern State System

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The international state system characterized by a relatively small number of relatively large independent or sovereign political units. The the MSS is the result of several complex economic, religious, and military changes, a convenient date for its foundation is 1648, when the Thirty Years War ended with the Peace of Westphalia.

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Feudal Order

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Started at the fall of the Roman Empire. Consisted of a large number of small political units with confusing lines of political authority. Not independent.

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Commercial Revolution

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ECONOMIC REVOLUTION:
The revival of trade and commerce as Europe began to emerge from the stagnation that characterized much of the Feudal Period. This was one of the forces for the creation of larger and more centralized political units, one of essential features of the MSS. Increased trade with Asia. COMMERCIAL CLASS EMERGES (makes $ by trading)

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Gunpowder Revolution

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MILITARY REVOLUTION:
The dramatic military, social, and political changes accompanying the introduction and development of gunpowder weapons in Europe, beginning in the fourteenth century, made previous means of defense less reliable and places a premium on land and larger political units. CONQUEST.

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Protestant Reformation

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Martin Luther's challenge to the Catholic Church in 1517 marked the emergence of a non-Catholic version of Christianity. The growing conflict between Protestants and Catholics was one of the major contributing forces to the Thirty Years War.

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Thirty Years War (1618-1648)

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Name given to a series of bloody and devistating wars fought largely on German lands between 1618 and 1648. Though several complex causes and motivations fueled these wars, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics over the authority of the Catholic Church and the pope was a central issue.

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peace/Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

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The agreement that officially ended the Thirty Years War. Significant in that it marked the origins of modern principles of sovereignty.

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Absolute Monarchism

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The political order prevailing in almost all of Europe before the French Revolution in which kings and queens claimed divine sources for their absolute rule and power unrestricted by laws or constitutions.

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Divine Right of Kings

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The political principle underlying absolutist monarchism in which the legitimacy of rulers was granted by God, not the people over whom leaders ruled. People were "subjects" not citizens.

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Dynastic Nationalism

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Alliance lies with towns or church. Wars are fought between rulers, not nations.

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Balance of Power

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If one ruler started getting too powerful, the other monarchs would stop him because he became a threat.

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French Revolution (1789)

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The popular revolt against the French monarchy in 1789 that resulted in the establishment of the French Republic. Along with the American Revolution (1776), it marked the emergence of modern nationalism.

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Concert of Europe (1815)

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The informal system in which the monarchs of Europe tried to restore international order after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. The victors (monarchs of Europe) agreed to settle their differences through diplomacy, not war, and maintain a balance of power.

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(Modern) Nationalism

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A political creed with three aspects: a sense of connection and loyalty between people and their rulers or governments (people became citizens); popular sovereignty; and a commitment to national or ethnic self-determination.

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Popular Sovereignty

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The principle that governments must derive their legitimacy from the people over whom they rule. Embodied in the French and American Revolutions, this doctrine challenged the principle of the divine right of kings.

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Self-determination

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The principle that each national or ethnic group has the right to determine its own destiny and rule itself.

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1. Nation
2. State
3. Nation-state

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1. Ethnic group
2. Political institution
3. When two coincide

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Multinational state

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A single state or gov ruling over people of many different ethnic identities. Gets weakened by the idea of modern nationalism: DISINTEGRATION. (ex. Austria-Hungary, Russia, Ottoman Empire)

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Multi-state nation

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A single ethnic group divided into several different, independent political groups. Strengthened by modern nationalism: UNIFICATION. (ex. Italians, Germans)

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Otto von Bismarck

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Leader of Prussia who unified Germans in a series of short wars between 1866-1871. PATH TO WWI

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The Great War

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World War I, effect of the unification of Germans. Greeted with enthusiasm across Europe bc it was expected to be short and the public opinion of war was romanticized. Reality of industrial warfare destroyed the idea of glory in war.

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Total War

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A war in which participants mobilize all available resources, human and material, for the purpose of waging war.

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Treaty of Versailles (1919)

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Codified the terms on which WWI was concluded. These terms were particularly harsh on Germany. In addition to requiring the payment of reparations, restrictions of German armed forces, and territorial concessions, the treaty stated that Germany bore full responsibility for WWI. This stipulation was viewed by Germans across the political spectrum as one-sided and unjust. VICTOR'S PEACE.

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German Revisionism

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Germans were hostile towards the winners and they wanted to revise the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Germans knew they would be strong again.

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Appeasement

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A policy in which nations deal with international conflicts by giving in to the demands of their opponents. The term acquired an extremely negative connotation as a result of attempts to appease Hitler and Nazi Germany in the years before WWII. Didn't want to start another war.

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The Munich Crisis/Agreement (1938)

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Often cited as the most egregious example of appeasement, this was an agreement in which France and England allowed Germany to take over the Sudetenland.

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Second Front

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Germany had to fight on both the east, against Russia, and the west, against France, the UK, and the USA. This second front caused the downfall of Hitler. US left Stalin to fight Germany on his own, creating tension between USSR and USA leading into the Cold War.

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Manhattan Project

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US project to develop the A-bomb. Hidden from Stalin but Russian spies find it. Causes tension between USSR and USA.

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George Kennan

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Soviet specialist in US gov who composed an analysis of what the US Cold War policy should be: CONTAINMENT.

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Containment

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The United States' policy of resisting the expansion of Soviet/communist influence during the Cold War. ***make sure global distribution of power favors the US.

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Truman Doctrine (1947)

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Announced by President Harry Truman in 1947, this policy committed the US to assist foreign gov threatened by communist forces. It represented an expansive vision of the policy of containment.

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Cold War

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The conflict between the US and the Soviet Union from the late 1940s until the late 1980s (the fall of the Berlin Wall) or early 1990s (the collapse of the Soviet Union).

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Marshall Plan

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Try to help stabilize the economy of Europe. Fed money into small European countries to deter the appeal of communism.

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Korean War (1950-53)

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US involved itself militarily under aegis of the UN. US didn't want to demonstrate weakness and was afraid of the DOMINO EFFECT.

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Domino Theory

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The belief (and fear) that the spread of communism to one country almost automatically threatened its expansion to neighboring countries. Idea that even if the first country to fall is unimportant, the 3rd or 4th might be crucial.