Name______Hour______Test Date Wednesday, Jan 28
Europe Study Guide
1) Study all countries and cities from your political map of Europe.
2) Study just the mountains and rivers from your physical map of Europe.
3) The British Isles includes both large islands See picture on right for visual.
4) The United Kingdom includes the large island on the east and Northern Ireland. See picture on right for visual.
5) A peninsula is a piece of land nearly surrounded by water. Europe is known as the peninsula of peninsulas.
6) After the Roman Empire fell, a political system called Feudalism came in place.
7) Feudalism was a form of government during medieval times which included the King, Lords, Knights, vassals, and peasants.
8) Poorer people who worked the land in return for housing and protection were called serfs.
9) In Medieval times, religion and the government were closely connected.
10) Things you want when determining the site of castle or manor was high ground, a river and good soil.
11) Feudalism ended because of these reasons: the Black Plague, the economy was no longer based on land, cities grew, peasants revolted as they became more valuable, nobles hired soldiers, and Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church.
12) The period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the modern era, from about 476AD to 1453 is called the Middle Ages or Medieval times.
13) A rebirth of creativity, literature, science and learning in Europe from about 1300 to 1600 is known as the Renaissance.
14) Famous artists from the Renaissance include Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
15) Henry VIII was married 6 times. (annulled, beheaded, died, annulled, beheaded, survived) Henry VIII and the Pope had some differences and Henry VIII broke away from the church.
16) Ivan the Terrible appointed himself the first Tsar (czar) of Russia.
17) Tsar, or czar, means emperor or ruler and was the title given to most Russian rulers before the Bolshevik Revolution.
18) Boyars: a group of wealthy, powerful people who tried to influence Russian rulers.
19) Karl Marx was a German economist and philosopher whose ideas about Communism were used by the Bolsheviks.
20) The Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin, were the political party that overthrew the Tsar during the Russian Revolution in 1917. The Bolsheviks won the Russian Revolution.
21) In the Red Square in Moscow, the body of V.I. Lenin is preserved and on display. The Kremlin is also located in the Red Square.
22) The word Kremlin means fortress.
23) Nicholas II was last Tsar of Russia. He was on the losing side of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and was replaced by Lenin of the Bolshevik party. Nicholas II and his family were killed.
24) After the Russian Revolution, Russia was re-named the U.S.S.R., or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
25) Soviet means local governing council.
26) Communism is a type of government where all the political power and means of productions are controlled by the government.
27) Before the Russian Revolution, the majority of Russian people were farmers. When the Bolsheviks took power (and started a communist rule), the small independent farms became large government owned farms. Farmers were now forced to work on the government owned farms instead of working their own farms.
28) Under Stalin, the emphasis went from primarily an agriculture (farm) based economy to a heavy industry based economy.
29) Under Stalin’s reign, 15-20 million people were killed or died from starvation because of his policies.
30) The name Stalin means steel, or man of steel.
31) Gulags were Soviet prison camps that were usually located in Siberia.
32) The shift that began in Britain in the 1760’s from making goods by hand to making them by machine was called the Industrial Revolution.
33) During WWII the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the USA were allies.
34) In June of 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Because of WWII approximately 20 million Soviets had died. USSR was on the winning side of WWII.
35) After WWII, relations between the Soviet Union and the USA became hostile. While no direct war came between the two countries, the military standoff and tension was called the Cold War and lasted until 1991 when the USSR collapsed
36) Khrushchev was the Russian leader during the Cuban Missile crisis during the Cold War. This was when the USSR was placing nuclear weapons in Cuba for possible use against the USA.
37) In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and the people elected Boris Yeltsin president in their first democratic election.
38) Glasnost is the idea of “openness” in which citizens were allowed to say what they wish without government persecution.
39) Perestroika was the plan of economic restructuring begun by Gorbachev. It called for gradual a change to private ownership of farms and businesses.
40) After the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the smaller countries that were once part of the Soviet Union became 15 independent countries. Russia and some former soviet states formed an alliance called the CIS.
41) Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is the loose economic connection between many former Soviet countries.
42) The nuclear meltdown that gave Russia worldwide exposure was Chernobyl.
43) Chernobyl caused cancer, birth defects, disease, and environmental damage.
44) Today, Russia has a democracy.
45) The current president is Vladimir Putin.
46) Vladimir Putin is trying to use his power to make Russia a less democratic country.