People
Born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, he would become known to history by a more metallic name and for his long reign of brutality
Who was Josef Stalin?
This center of culture is equally significant as a center of war: its capture was the focus of several major wars, and it was the site of the peace negotiations that ended the Seven Years War, The American Revolution, The Spanish-American War, The Franco-Prussian War, and World War One
What is Paris, France?
Ach du lieber Himmel! Little did its inventor, a Rhenish goldsmith, know that this machine simple machine would make possible the spread of a culture-shattering religious revolution.
L'etat? C'est moi... Adherents to this ideology would have complete confidence as to who should call the shots in their domains.
What is absolutism?
This event, which happened on Halloween of 1517, was very spooky indeed... to the Catholic church.
What was Martin Luther's nailing the 95 Theses to the door of Wittenburg church, thereby beginning the Protestant Reformation?
This diagrammatically named group tried - and failed - three times to petition Parliament for greater political rights for the British working class in the 1830s and 40s.
Who were the Chartists?
Perhaps a change of scenery was needed. The United Nations was established in New York City after the League of Nations, which largely failed in its mission of peacemaking, shut its doors in this city.
What is Geneva, Switzerland?
You would be getting more than a close shave if you encountered this device, known cheekily as the "national razor"
What is the guillotine?
Concerned primarily with individual liberties, adherents of this 19th century ideology wishing to gain political power initially found difficulty in doing so: their positions would have given greater political rights to the new, industrial working class, but would have left challenged their right to organize and would have left them without any social or economic safety nets.
What is Liberalism?
The Cavaliers took the L in this bout, but not in Cleveland.
What was the English Civil War?
This former Florentine chancellor was a man of many achievements: he is credited with inventing the tripartite division of history [classical, medieval, modern], the translation of many major Greek works into Latin, and the conception of Civic Humanism
Who was Leonardo Bruni?
Contrary to popular belief, Spain did NOT become a unified kingdom after victory in the Reconquista in 1492. Rather, a political union formed through the marriage of Isabella of the Kingdom of Castile, and Ferdinand of this Kingdom.
What is Aragon?
It was not quite the internet - no memes, no phishing schemes, no tweets - but this French invention did not lack in controversy, and played a major role in the process of democratizing knowledge and information.
What is the encyclopedia?
Often associated with the Romantic movement, this offshoot of Anglican Protestantism was part a broader religious revival, and focused on loving god with "all one's heart, mind, soul, and strength".
What is Methodism?
What was the July Revolution?
The modestly-named Dutch pirates who served as a thorn in Spanish sides during the Dutch Revolt for their interruption of naval operations and trade
Who were the Sea Beggars?
Prior to the Great Northern War of the early 18th century, Peter the Great set his sights to the south where a two year campaign against the Ottomans netted the Russians their first naval base in this city.
What is Azov?
A vast improvement over the lowly "box" ships that preceded them, this Portuguese sailing vessel incorporated Arab technologies - particularly lateen sails - which enabled Europeans to sail into headwinds and, eventually, cross the open ocean.
What is the caravel?
Auguste Comte is credited with the ideation of this theory, which proclaimed that humanity [by the late 19th century] had reached the zenith of its development: all problems could be understood and solved through empirical science, and none needed to rely on religious or mythological explanations.
What is Positivism?
This group of anarchists - having just been besieged by Bismarck's Prussian army - attempted to secede from France over what they perceived to be unfair terms of surrender agreed upon by the French government. This led them to be besieged again, this time by the French army, and ultimately defeated.
What was the [second] Paris Commune?
The man known as the first prime minister of British Parliament who still also holds the record for the longest uninterrupted run in that position - 20 years - due to his policies of keeping peace abroad, lowering taxes at home, and deftly handling the politics King and other MPs
Who was Sir Robert Walpole?
The cheesily-named city in which the ill-behaved Anabaptist ancestors of our mild-mannered Amish folk formed a "New Jerusalem" in which polygamy was mandatory and whose leader was seen as a descendant of the Biblical king, David.
What is Munster, Germany?
Their name - literally meaning 'a piece of land elevated above its surroundings - belies their revolutionary technological importance: these are literally plots of land taken back from the sea and made arable for crops.
What are polders?
This group of Catholics was particularly devoted to the teachings of the early church - especially those of St. Augustine - which brought them into conflict with the most powerful post-reformation Catholics, the Jesuits, and their largest political patron, Louis XIV of France.
Who are the Jansenists
The signing of this treaty in 1878 awarded Russia significant gains in the Balkans following their victory in a short war against the Ottomans, only to have these gains [infuriatingly, to Russia] overturned in the Bismarck-led Congress of Berlin three months later.
What was the Treaty of San Stefano?