Part I. Objective. Be Familiar with the Following Terms
Late Traditional East Asia and Islamic Empires (1500-1800)
Role of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Legalism in China
Centralized power of the Emperor in Ming and Qing China
Introduction of Maize and other New World staples
Gender Roles in China – “Footbinding”
Gentry
Civil Service
Japan – the Shoguns
European Contact – Christianity
The Ottoman Empire
The Sultans – Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66)
Blending of Royal and Islamic Law (Sharia)
Encroachment of Europe by 19th century (Britain, Russia)
The Stuart Dynasty and Absolutism in England (1603-1714)
James I of England –aka James VI of Scotland (1603-1625)
Charles I (1625-1649)
The English Civil War (1642-49)
Parliament v. the King – Roundheads v. Cavaliers – Puritans v. Anglicans
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) “Lord Protector” (1649-58)
The “Great Restoration” of Charles II (1660-1685)
James II (1685-88)
The “Glorious Revolution” (1688)
William and Mary (1688-1702)
Queen Anne (1707-1714) and the Act of Union (1707)
Absolutism in France (1643-1789)
Louis XIV the “Sun-King” (1643-1715)
“Le `Etat cest’ Moi”
Palace at Versailles
Absolutism in Prussia and Austria (1650-1750)
Fredrick-William I of Prussia
Origins of the “Prussian Ideal” – military discipline, etc.
Absolutism in Russia – Peter I “The Great” (1682-1725)
Mir
Boyars – Peter’s command to reform behavior
Modernization
Army, Navy
Warm Water Port
Building of St. Petersburg and the Winter Palace
The Scientific Revolution (1564-1727)
The Astrolabe and the Geocentric Model
Five Elements – Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, and the ‘Quintessence’
“Natural Philosophers”
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)
Heliocentric Theory
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Heliocentric Model
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Elliptical Orbit of the Planets
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Universal Laws of Gravity
“Philosophes”
Francis Bacon – Inductive Reasoning (1561-1626)
Rene Descartes – Skepticism (1596-1650)
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
John Locke (1632-1704)
The Enlightenment (1738-1792)
Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778)
Skepticism
Admirer of Newton and Great Britain
Deism
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788)
The Social Contract
Popular Sovereignty
Charles-Louis de Secondat, or Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Spirit of the Laws
Constitutionalism
Battle for the New World (1715-1783)
The French and Indian War (1754-63) – Britain defeats France – takes control of North America, birth of the British Empire
The American Revolution (1775-83) – The United States of America defeats Great Britain, establishes a Democratic Republic based on Popular Sovereignty and Constitutionalism
Part II. Subjective. Choose two of the following and answer each in at least two well-developed paragraphs.
- What kinds of similarities can you see between the kinds of powers the Emperors of China or the warlords of Japan had with the Sultans of the Ottoman Caliphates? How were gender roles in China and the Caliphates similar? How were they different? How did the Japanese or Chinese look to Confucianism, Buddhism, or Daoism to guide their political or cultural life? What role did the religious dictates of Islam play in the way the Sultans or Caliphates governed Iran or the Ottoman Empire?
- Why were European rulers so obsessed with the magnitude of their own power in the 17th and 18th century? What justifications did kings often cite for wielding the kind of power that they did? Where certain countries (think Britain, France, Prussia, and Russia) that could be considered “more” absolutist than the others? Why or why not? Please use detailed evidence to support your answer.
- Name and briefly describe the contributions of four leaders of the Scientific Revolution. Were their contributions to science focused on just the natural world, or were there other questions being posed by the thinkers of the movement? Did the leaders of the Scientific Revolution have any impact on religion or politics in Europe in the mid or late 1700s? If so, explain. Cite relevant persons and events.
- Name and discuss three prominent leaders of the Enlightenment (1738-92) in France. What were the major intellectual contributions of each? Did they espouse any new ideas about religion? If so, what were they? What influence did the Natural Philosophers of the Scientific Revolution have? To what extent did the ideas of the Enlightenment influence the American or French Revolutions? What influence do Enlightenment ideas still have today?
