The New Power Balance

Front 1

Electricity

Back 1

A form of energy used in telegraphy from the 1840s on and for lighting, industrial motors, and railroads

Front 2

Thomas Edison

Back 2

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recoding on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.

Front 3

Submarine Telegraph Cables

Back 3

Insulated copper cables laid along the bottom of a sea or ocean for telegraphic communication. The first short cable was laid across the English Channel in 1851l the first successful transatlantic cable was laid in 1866.

Front 4

Railroads

Back 4

Networks of iron (later steel) rails on which steam (later electric or diesel) locomotives pulled long trains at high speeds. The first railroads were built in England in the 1830s. Their success caused a railroad-building boom throughout the world that lasted well into the 20th century.

Front 5

Socialism

Back 5

A political ideology that originated in Europe in the 1830s. Socialists advocated government protection of workers from exploitation by property owners and government ownership of industries. This ideology led to the founding of socialist or labor parties throughout Europe in the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Front 6

Labor Union

Back 6

An organization of workers in a particular industry or trade, created to defend the interests of members through strikes or negotiations with employers.

Front 7

Karl Marx

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German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: "The Communist Manifesto" (1848) and "Das Kapital" (Vols, I-III, 1867-1894)

Front 8

Victorian Age

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The reign of Queen Victoria of Great Britain (r. 1837-1901). The term is also used to describe late 19th-century society, with its rigid moral standards and sharply differentiated roles for men and women and for middle-class and working-class people.

Front 9

"Separate Spheres"

Back 9

19th-century idea in Western society that men and women, especially of the middle class, should have clearly differentiated roles in society: women as wives, mothers, and homemakers; men as breadwinners and participants in business and politics.

Front 10

Nationalism

Back 10

a political ideology that stresses people’s membership in a nation—a community defined by a common culture and history as well as by territory. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, nationalism was a force for unity in Western Europe. In the late 19th century it hastened the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. In the 20th century, it provided the ideological foundation for scores of independent countries emerging from colonialism.

Front 11

Liberalism

Back 11

a political ideology that emphasizes the civil rights of citizens, representative gov’t, and the protection of private property. This ideology, derived from the Enlightenment, was especially popular among the property-owning middle classes of Europe and North America.

Front 12

Otto von Bismarck

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Prussian chancellor who was responsible for creating a united Germany.

Front 13

Charles Darwin

Back 13

With Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913) he developed the theory of evolution through natural selection. Their work was first made known simultaneously in 1858.

Front 14

Empress Dowager Cixi

Back 14

Empress of China and mother of Emperor Guangxi. She put her son under house arrest, supported antiforeign movements, and resisted reforms of the Chinese gov’t and armed forces.

Front 15

Meiji Restoration

Back 15

the political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders ser Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization and imperialism.

Front 16

Yamagata Aritomo

Back 16

one of the leaders of the Meiji Restorations

Front 17

Suez Canal

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ship canal dug across the isthmus of Suez in Egypt, designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps. It opened to shipping in 1869 and shortened the sea voyage between Europe and Asia. Its strategic importance led to the British conquest of Egypt in 1882.

Front 18

New Imperialism

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historians term for the late 19th and early 20th century wave of conquests by European powers, the US, and Japan, which were followed by the development and exploitation of the newly conquered territories for the benefit of the colonial powers.

Front 19

Battle of Omdurman

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British victory over the Mahdi in the Sudan in 1898. General Kitchener led a mixed force of British and Egyptian troops armed with rapid-firing rifles and machine guns.

Front 20

Colonialism

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policy by which a nation administers a foreign territory and develops its resources for the benefit of the colonial power.

Front 21

"Scramble" for Africa

Back 21

Sudden wave of conquests in Africa by European powers in the 1880s and 1890s. Britain obtained most of eastern Africa, France most of north western Africa. Other countries (Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain) acquired lesser amounts.

Front 22

Henry Morton Stanley

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British-American explorer of Africa, famous for his expeditions in search of Dr. David Livingstone. Stanley helped King Leopold II establish the Congo Free State.

Front 23

Leopold II

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King of Belgium (r. 1865-1909). He was active in encouraging the exploration of Central Africa and became the ruler of the Congo Free State (to 1908).

Front 24

Savorgnon de Brazza

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Franco-Italian explorer sent by the French gov’t to claim part of equatorial Africa for France. Founded Brazzaville, capital of the French Congo, in 1880.

Front 25

Berlin Conference

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Conference that German chancellor Otto von Bismarck called to set rules for the partition of Africa. It led to the creation of the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium.

Front 26

Afrikaners

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Southern Africans descended from the Dutch and French settlers of the 17th century. Their Great Trek founded new settler colonies in the 19th century. Though a minority among South Africans, they held political power after 1910, imposing a system of racial segregation called apartheid after 1949.

Front 27

Cecil Rhodes

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British entrepreneur and politician involved in the expansion of the British Empire from South Africa. The colonies of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) were named after him.

Front 28

Asante

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African kingdom on the Gold Coast that expanded rapidly after 1680. Asante participated in the Atlantic economy, trading gold, slaves, and ivory. It resisted British imperial ambitions for a quarter century before being absorbed into Britain’s Gold Coast colony in 1902.

Front 29

Menelik II

Back 29

Emperor of Ethiopia (r. 1889-1911). He enlarged Ethiopia to its present dimensions and defeated an Italian invasion at Adowa (1896).

Front 30

Free-trade Imperialism

Back 30

Economic dominance of a weaker country by a more powerful one, while maintaining the legal independence of the weaker state. In the late 19th century, free-trade imperialism characterized the relations between the Latin American republic, on the one hand, and Great Britain and the United States, on the other.

Front 31

Panama Canal

Back 31

Ship canal cut across the Isthmus of Panama by U.S. Army engineers; it opened in 1914. It greatly shortened the sea voyage between the east and west coasts of North America. The U.S. turned the canal over to Panama on January 1, 2000.