| A | B |
|---|
| adamant | feeling strongly about something |
| coke (British) | coal |
| imminent | about to happen |
| apprehensive | frightened |
| acropolis | hilltop fortress in ancient Greece |
| aristocracy | small, privileged upper class that administered the government in ancient Greece |
| direct democracy | participation in government by all citizens |
| Socratic method | question-and-answer teaching technique |
| patrician | wealthy landowner in ancient Rome, member of the group that controlled the government |
| plebeian | member of the group of common people in ancient Rome who could vote but not hold public office |
| fief | in medieval times, an estate granted by the monarch to a lord, who owed the monarch loyalty and military service |
| vassal | in medieval Europe, a lesser lord who was granted estates by a powerful lord, to whom he owed loyalty and military service |
| knight | in medieval Europe, a mounted warrior who was a vassal of a feudal lord |
| serf | a peasant in feudal society who was tied to the land of a lord, to whom he/she owed service in exchange for protection |
| manor | in medieval Europe, a self-sufficient community consisting of a village and surrounding lands administered by a feudal lord |
| sacrament | one of the seven sacred rites administered by the Roman Catholic Church |
| charter | in the late Middle Ages, written document guaranteeing certain rights to townspeople |
| joint-stock company | private trading company that sells shares of stock to investors to raise capital |
| indulgence | a pardon for sins, sold in the early 1500's by the Roman Catholic Church to raise money |
| predestination | belief of Protestant reformer John Calvin that God decides in advance whether a person will be saved or condemned |
| Absolute monarch | Ruler who had complete authority in government and over the lives of the people he or she governed |
| Divine right | Belief of European absolute monarchs that a ruler’s authority comes from God |
| Limited monarchy | Government in which a monarch does not have absolute power |
| Scientific method | Step-by-step approach to scientific study that emphasizes experimentation and observation |
| Factory system | System that began in the British textile industry during the Industrial Revolution. It brought workers and machines together in one place to manufacture goods. |
| Assembly line | Economical, efficient method of production in which the complex job of assembling many parts is broken down into small tasks, each performed by an individual worker |
| Franchise | Right to vote |
| Appeasement | Making concessions to an aggressor in order to preserve peace |
| Blitzkrieg | German for “lightning war,” in which combined land and air forces launched a joint military attack |
| Holocaust | Nazi genocide against the Jews during World War II |
| Containment | U.S. policy in the late 1940’s and 1950’s to stop Soviet expansion |
| Per capita income | Average income per person in a country or region |
| Welfare state | System under which the government assumes responsibility for its citizens’ social and economic well-being |
| Détente | Period of relaxation of Cold War tensions between the US and the Soviet Union in the 1970’s |
| Romanticism | 19th century (1800’s) European movement that reacted against the Enlightenment and valued feelings and emotions above reason |
| Realism | The depiction in art and literature of life as it really is, popular in Europe in the late 1800’s |
| Impressionism | European school of painting in the late 1800’s that tried to capture fleeting visual “impressions” made by light and shadows |
| Czar | Russian term for emperor |
| Autocrat | Ruler with unlimited power |
| Abdicate | Give up a high office |
| Soviet | Council of workers, soldiers and peasants formed by Russian revolutionaries to challenge the established government |
| Kulak | Prosperous peasant of the Soviet Union |
| Dissident | Someone who speaks out against the government |
