Phillip II of Spain
This large, ill-fated fleet was sent by Philip II in 1588 in an attempt to invade Elizabethan England.
What is the Spanish Armada?
Charles V ruled over an empire so vast that it was the first to be described by this famous geographical phrase, later associated with the British Empire.
What is "the empire on which the sun never sets"?
Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of this powerful European royal house, which ruled Austria for centuries.
What is the House of Habsburg?
Louis XIV is best remembered for transforming his father's hunting lodge into this massive, spectacular palace complex outside of Paris.
What is Versailles?
Though she became one of Russia's greatest and longest-reigning rulers, Catherine was actually born a princess in this European country.
What is Germany? (Accept: Prussia)
A devout Catholic, Philip II was briefly the King of England through his marriage to this English queen, nicknamed "Bloody" for her persecution of Protestants.
Who is Mary I (or Mary Tudor)?
In 1521, Charles V presided over the Diet of Worms, where this German monk and Protestant Reformer refused to recant his teachings.
Who is Martin Luther?
Among Maria Theresa's 16 children was this ill-fated future Queen of France, who was executed during the French Revolution.
Who is Marie Antoinette?
Emphasizing his absolute power and central role in France, Louis XIV famously adopted this radiant celestial nickname.
What is the Sun King?
In 1764, Catherine founded this famous St. Petersburg museum to house her massive personal art collection.
What is the Hermitage Museum?
Philip II moved the Spanish court to this current capital city in 1561, transforming it from a modest town into the center of his global empire.
What is Madrid?
Charles V was a member of this powerful European royal house, which ruled over Spain, Austria, and the Holy Roman Empire.
What is the House of Habsburg?
To allow Maria Theresa to inherit the Habsburg lands, her father issued this 1713 edict, which allowed a female to take the throne.
What is the Pragmatic Sanction?
This ultra-wealthy financial genius served as Louis XIV’s Minister of Finances, championing mercantilism to fund the king's expensive wars and building projects.
Who is Jean-Baptiste Colbert?
Catherine regularly corresponded with this French Enlightenment philosopher, even buying his library when he needed money.
Who was Voltaire?
Philip ordered the construction of this massive royal site—part monastery, part palace, and part burial vault—located just outside Madrid.
What is El Escorial (San Lorenzo de El Escorial)?
Exhausted by decades of war and illness, Charles V shocked Europe in 1556 by doing this and retiring to a Spanish monastery.
What is abdicating the throne? (Accept: resigning/stepping down)
Immediately upon her accession in 1740, King Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded the wealthy Habsburg region of Silesia, sparking this major 8-year European conflict.
What is the War of the Austrian Succession?
In 1685, Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, which reversed this 1598 decree by his grandfather and stripped French Protestants of their religious rights.
What is the Edict of Nantes?
Catherine's reign faced its greatest internal threat from a massive 1773 peasant uprising led by this Cossack, who claimed to be her dead husband.
Who was Yemelyan Pugachev?
In 1571, Philip's half-brother, Don John of Austria, commanded the Holy League's fleet to defeat the Ottoman Empire at this historic naval battle.
What is the Battle of Lepanto?
Signed in 1555, this religious treaty introduced the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, allowing German princes to choose whether their lands would be Lutheran or Catholic.
What is the Peace of Augsburg?
During the Seven Years' War, Maria Theresa's foreign minister orchestrated this dramatic diplomatic shift, which saw Austria ally with its traditional enemy, France, against Prussia.
What is the Diplomatic Revolution (of 1785)
As a child, Louis was forced to flee Paris during this series of civil wars (1648–1653) led by nobles rebelling against the monarchy, an event that fueled his lifelong desire for absolute control.
What is the Fronde?
Under Catherine's rule, Russia significantly expanded its territory southward by annexing this strategic peninsula from the Ottoman Empire in 1783.
What is Crimea?