| Glossary Terms | Definitions |
| Telephone | Telecommunications device for sending and receiving sound, invented in the mid 1800s |
| Internal-combustion engine | Engine that uses fuel to drive one or more pistons in order to produce power |
| Second Industrial Revolution | (1871-1914) continuation of the Industrial Revolution, led to further mechanization of manufacturing in Europe and North America |
| Textiles | A flexible material comprised of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibres together. |
| Hydroelectric power | Electric power generated cheaply and efficiently by water power |
| Fertilizer | Compounds given to plants to promote growth |
| Cartels | The organization of industries into a monopoly for fixing prices |
| Trusts | A relationship in which a person or entity (the trustee) holds legal title to certain property (the trust property or trust corpus) |
| New Imperialism | The colonial expansion adopted by Europe's powers and, later, Japan and the United States, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; approximately from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I |
| Scramble for Africa | The proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the New Imperialism period, between the 1880s and the start of World War I |
| Social Darwinism | The application of Darwinism to the study of human society, specifically a theory in sociology that individuals or groups achieve advantage over others as the result of genetic or biological superiority |
| Meiji restoration | Also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure, occurred between 1866 and 1869 |
| “best circles” | Members of the aristocracy and upper class comprised this educated elite that dominated the social circles of life in the 1800s |
| Organized Sports | Replaced village sports and unified localities and even nations and creating international competition |
| Tour de France, 1903 | Is the most famous and prestigious road bicycle race in the world. With the exception of war years, it has been held annually since 1903 |
| Emile Zola | Was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France |
| Emilia Pardo Bazan | A Spanish author and scholar. She was also a journalist, essayist and critic |
| Thomas Hardy | An early Radical, the founder and also the first Secretary of the London Corresponding Society |
| Henrik Ibsen | A major Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama, often referred to as the "father of modern drama." One of the most widely known playwrights after Shakespeare |
| Olive Schreiner | A South African writer, critic, and early feminist |
| Mary Morris | An English craftswoman and designer, was an influential embroideress and designer, although her contributions are often overshadowed by those of her father, a towering figure in the Arts and Crafts movement |
| Georges Seurat | A French painter and the founder of Neoimpressionism. His large work Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is one of the icons of 19th century painting |
| Claude Monet | French Impressionist painter. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise |
| Vincent Van Gough | Dutch draughtsman and painter, classified as a Post-Impressionist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces. He suffered from recurrent bouts of mental illness |
| Mary Cassatt | American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists |
| William Gladstone | British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). He was a notable political reformer, known for his populist speeches, and was for many years the main political rival of Benjamin Disraeli |
| Ballot Act of 1872 | Required that British general elections to Parliament and local government election use the secret ballot |
| Reform Act of 1884 | A response to the inequality in the electoral system left by Benjamin Disraeli's Reform Act 1867 |
| Third Republic | Was the governing body of France between the Second French Empire and the Vichy Regime |
| General Georges Boulanger | French general and reactionary politician. Was a military reformer and politician |
| Three Emperor’s League | Alliance in 1873 among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia |
| Kulturkampf | Refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by Otto von Bismarck |
| Pope Leo XIII | Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having succeeded Pope Pius IX (1846–78) on February 20, 1878 and reigning until his death in 1903 |
| Encyclical rerum novarum | An encyclical passed to all bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes, discussed the relationships between government, business, labor, and the church. It supported the rights of labor to form unions, and rejected socialism |
| Treaty of San Stefano | Treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78 |
| Dual Alliance | Was created as a defensive treaty for Germany and Austria-Hungary to counter Russian aggression |
| Triple Alliance | The treaty by which Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy pledged on 20 May 1882 to support each others militarily in the event of an attack against any of them by two or more great powers |
| Leo Tolstoy | Russian novelist, writer, essayist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker and an influential member of the Tolstoy family |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky | Considered one of the greatest Russian writers. His works have had a profound and lasting effect on twentieth-century literature, his novels often feature characters living in poor conditions with disparate and extreme states of mind. |
| The People’s Will | A splinter group of Land and Liberty that killed Tsar Alexander II |
| Assassination of Alexander II,1881 | Killed in 1881 by the People’s Will terrorist group because of his policies |
| Alexander III | Reigned as Emperor of Russia from March 14, 1881 until his death in 1894 |
| Pale of Settlement | Was a western border region of Imperial Russia in which permanent residence of Jews was allowed, extending from the pale or demarcation line, to near the border with central Europe |
| Kaiser William II | The last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling both the German Empire and Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918 |
| Capital-intensive industry | Replaced labor-intensive industry and required expensive machinery |
| Impressionism | A 19th century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists, the name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise. Characteristics include visible brushstrokes and light colours |
| Limited liability corporation | Protected investors from personal responsibility for the firms debt |
| New unionism | In Britain in the 1880s unions began to change and allow for wider and easier membership resulting in a wider spread of unions |
| Outwork | The process of having some aspects of industrial work done outside factories in individual homes |
| Second International, 1889 | A transnational organization of workers established in 1889, mostly committed to Marxian socialism |
| Karl Benz | German engine designer and automobile engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile, credited with building the first commercial automobile |
| Andrew Carnegie | Respected philanthropist, founder of the Carnegie Steel Company, later becaming U.S. Steel. Known for building one of the most powerful and influential corporations in US history, and, later in his life, giving away most of his wealth |
| Sergei Witte | Highly influential policy-maker who presided over extensive industrialization within the Russian Empire. He was also the author of the October Manifesto of 1905, a precursor to Russia's first constitution |
| Economic crisis of 1873 | A time of prosperity during and after the Franco Prussian war gave way to nearly three decades of economic fluctuations following 1873 |
| John Wanamaker | United States businessman, civic and political figure, considered the father of modern advertising |
| 1882 British invasion of Egypt | After investing in the Suez Canal in the 1860s and taking over the Egyptian treasury in 1879 the British needed more insurance of Egyptian cooperation and completely occupied the country in 1882. |
| Belgium Congo | A territory of Africa colonized by the Belgians that suffered greatly due to Leopold II’s greed and cruelty |
| Cecil Rhodes | British-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today controls 60% of the world's diamonds and at one time controlled 90% of the world's diamonds. Colonized Rhodesia |
| Indian National Congress, 1885 | Founded in 1885 by the educated Indian elite in the hope for more representation and equality in the British dominated government |
| Fabian Society | British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means |
| Aletta Jacobs | First woman to complete a university course in the Netherlands and the first female physician. She was born to a Jewish doctor's family |
| William Morris | English artist, writer, socialist and activist. He was one of the principal founders of the British Arts and Crafts movement, best known as a designer of wallpaper and patterned fabrics, a writer of poetry and fiction and a pioneer of the socialist moveme |
| Pall Mall Gazette | An evening newspaper founded in London for gentlemen by gentlemen, was originally a conservative paper but eventually began supporting liberal policies |
| Charles Parnell | Irish political leader and one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and the United Kingdom |
| Indochina | Greatly colonized and supported by France in the late 1800s with the addition of Cambodia, Tonkin, Annam, and Cochin China |
| Armand Peugeot | An industrialist, pioneer of the automobile industry and the founder of the French firm Peugeot |
| Boers | Descendants of Dutch farmers in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State |
| Jingoism | Political sloganeering, a chauvinistic patriotism. In practice, it refers to sections of the general public who advocate bullying other countries or using any means necessary to safeguard a country's national interests |
