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Summaries

3. The Renaissance is a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and
17th centuries. It is an extension of the Middle Ages, and is bridged by the Age of
Enlightenment to modern history. It grew in fragments, with the very first traces found
seemingly in Italy, coming to cover much of Europe, for some scholars marking the beginning
of the modern age.

4,5 The Age of Discovery, or the Age of Exploration (approximately from the beginning of
the 15th century until the end of the 18th century) is an informal and loosely defined term for
the period in European history in which extensive overseas exploration emerged as a powerful
factor in European culture and was the beginning of globalization. It also marks the rise of the
period of widespread adoption in Europe of colonialism and mercantilism as national policies.
Conquistadors (from Spanish or Portuguese is a term used to refer to the soldiers and
explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense. During the Age
of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa, and
Asia, conquering territory and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for
Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

Colonise - To establish a colony, to settle.

6. Capitalism, or free-market economy or free-enterprise system, Economic system in which


most of the means of production are privately owned, and production is guided and income
distributed largely through the operation of markets. Capitalism has been dominant in the
Western world since the end of mercantilism. It was fostered by the Reformation, which
sanctioned hard work and frugality, and by the rise of industry during the Industrial
Revolution, especially the English textile industry (16th–18th centuries). The strong national
states of the mercantilist era provided the social conditions, such as uniform monetary
systems and legal codes, necessary for the rise of capitalism.

Capitalism - an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are
controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
inflation - a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.
Mercantilism – an economic theory and practice common in Europe from the 16th to the
18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation’s economy for the purpose of
augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers

8. Reformation, the religious revolution that took place in the Western church in the
16th century. Its greatest leaders undoubtedly were Martin Luther and John Calvin. Having
far-reaching political, economic, and social effects, the Reformation became the basis for the
founding of Protestantism, one of the three major branches of Christianity.
The Reformation begun when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door
of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517.
Martin Luther precipitated the Reformation with his critiques of both the practices and
the theology of the Roman Catholic Church. John Calvin was the most important figure in the
second generation of the Reformation, and his interpretation of Christianity, known as
Calvinism, deeply influenced many areas of Protestant thought. Other figure is Henry VIII,
king of England, who presided over the establishment of an independent Church of England.

Reformation - A 16th century movement in Western Europe that aimed at reforming some
doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. It resulted in the establishment of the
Protestant churches.
Indulgences - The Catholic practice of pardoning sins in return for a good deed – this was
often paying a sum of money to the church.

9.The Counter-Reformation largely grew as a response to the Protestant


Reformation and was a movement of reform within the Roman Catholic Church. The
Counter-Reformation served to solidify doctrine that many Protestants were opposed to, such
as the authority of the pope and the veneration of saints, and eliminated many of the abuses
and problems that had initially inspired the Reformation, such as the sale of indulgences for
the remission of sin.
The Jesuits helped carry out two major objectives of the Counter-Reformation:
Catholic education and missionary work. The Jesuits established numerous schools and
universities throughout Europe, helping to maintain the relevance of the Catholic church in
increasingly secular and Protestant societies.
Germany, France, and the Netherlands each achieved a settlement of the religious
problem by means of war.

Jesuits - The Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of religious men founded by St.
Ignatius of Loyola
Inquisition - tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church
Counter-Reformation - the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to,
and as an alternative to, the Protestant Reformations at the time.

10. English Civil Wars, (1642–51), fighting that took place in the British Isles between
supporters of the monarchy of Charles I and opposing groups in each of Charles’s kingdoms,
including Parliamentarians in England, Covenanters in Scotland, and Confederates in Ireland.
As result Charles I was executed on January 30, 1649.
Oliver Cromwell led parliamentary forces and was lord protector of England,
Scotland, and Ireland (1653–58) during the republican Commonwealth.
The monarchy in England was restored in 1660.
Glorious Revolution, in English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the
deposition of James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband, William III,
prince of Orange and stadholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

Absolute Monarchy– A system of government headed by a monarch as the only


source of power controlling all functions of the state
Parliament - The representative body of a country or state that has the power to make
laws and to govern.
Civil war - A war between two or more different groups in the same country.
11. Absolutism is a period in French history during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries in which the power of the monarch was theoretically unrestrained and unlimited. It
resulted in exuberant wealth for the French monarchs, such as Louis XIV.
Louis XIV was the king of France (1643–1715) who ruled his country, principally from his
great palace at Versailles, during one of its most brilliant periods and who remains the symbol
of absolute monarchy of the classical age. Throughout his long reign Louis XIV never lost the
hold over his people he had assumed at the beginning. He worked hard to project his authority
in the splendid setting of Versailles and to depict it in his arrogant motto “None his equal” and
in his sun emblem.

Absolutism - a political system in which a single ruler, group, or political party has complete
power over a country
Absolute Monarchy– A system of government headed by a monarch as the only source of
power controlling all functions of the state
Protectionism - the actions of a government to help its country's trade or industry by taxing
goods bought from other countries
Regency – Регентство
Clerk - чиновник

12. Russia
Peter I was the tsar of Russia who reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V (1682–
96) and alone thereafter (1696–1725) and who in 1721 was proclaimed emperor (imperator).
He was one of his country’s greatest statesmen, organizers, and reformers.
At the beginning of Peter’s reign, Russia was backward by comparison with the
countries of western Europe. This backwardness inhibited foreign policy and even put
Russia’s national independence in danger. Peter’s aim, therefore, was to overtake the
developed countries of western Europe as soon as possible, in order both to promote the
national economy and to ensure victory in his wars for access to the seas. Breaking the
resistance of the boyars, or members of the ancient landed aristocracy, and of the clergy and
severely punishing all other opposition to his projects, he initiated a series of reforms that
affected, in the course of 25 years, every field of the national life—administration, industry,
commerce, technology, culture and foreign policy. Russia became a great power, without
whose concurrence no important European problem could thenceforth be settled.

autocracy - a state or society governed by one person with absolute power.


Westernization, the adoption of the practices and culture of western Europe by societies and
countries in other parts of the world, whether through compulsion or influence.

13, 14 Ottoman Empire, empire created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia (Asia Minor) that grew to be
one of the most powerful states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Ottoman period
spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922, when it was replaced by the Turkish
Republic and various successor states in southeastern Europe and the Middle East.
vassal – subordinate or dependent State or Territory
autonomy – (1) Self-government or self-determination. (2) the right to make decisions affecting your own
nation.
The Bulgarian population did not accept their fate and used every opportunity to rebel, taking
advantage of the international involvement of the Ottomans in wars with the Austrian and Russian empires.
In 1598 the Bulgarians raised a large-scale revolt in Tarnovo. Its leaders were Theodore Balina
from Nikopol and the Tarnovo Metropolitan bishop Dionysius Rally. The organization of the uprising
included merchants, priests and local leaders who also sought foreign support. After a series of heroic
battles, the uprising was suppressed.
In 1686 the Bulgarians from Tarnovo revolted again. Preparation for the uprising was connected
with the Moscow Patriarch Joachim and his nephew. A successor of King Ivan Sratsimir was proclaimed
Prince of Tarnovo. The uprising covered large areas but was suppressed.
The Chiprovtsi uprising (1688) and the Karposh uprising (1689) were also part of the anti-Ottoman
resistance from this period.

15. Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries
in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and humanity were synthesized into a
worldview that gained wide assent in the West and that instigated revolutionary developments
in art, philosophy, and politics. Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration
of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own
condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and
happiness.
Locke in England, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot in
France all contributed to an evolving critique of the arbitrary, authoritarian state and to
sketching the outline of a higher form of social organization, based on natural rights and
functioning as a political democracy.

Тhe Enlightenment – A cultural and intellectual movement of the late 17th to late 18th
centuries that emphasized reason and individualism rather than tradition

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