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G2 EXAM Key People
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Louis XIV [14th] | A divine right absolute monarch that claimed his power to rule came from God; he was well known for increasing the power of the French Monarchy and for building his magnificent palace at Versailles |
| Akbar the Great | Ruler of the Mughal Empire known for expanding the empire, strengthening the central government, and religious tolerance |
| Suleiman the Magnificent | Ruler of the Ottoman Empire known for strengthening the government and an improved justice system. His rule is considered the golden age of the Ottoman Empire |
| Peter the Great | A Russian Czar that worked to centralize royal power and expand Russia’s territory; in addition, Peter the Great followed a policy of Westernization by bringing ideas to Russia from Western Europe |
| Catherine the Great | German born ruler of an efficient, autocratic Russian government; she expanded South to gain warm water ports. |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | French General who became self-proclaimed Emperor of France. |
| Baron de Montesquieu | Wrote the Spirit of Laws, which designed a three-branch system of government |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Wrote the Social Contract – stressed that man was born free and became corrupted |
| John Locke | Wrote Two Treatises of Government, which outlined the Natural Rights of life, liberty, and property |
| Voltaire | Wrote Candide, which defended freedom of speech and thought |
| Maximilien Robespierre | Chief architect of the Reign of Terror |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | French General who became self-proclaimed Emperor of France |
| Otto von Bismarck | Nationalist Prime Minister of Germany who utilized a plan of “Blood and Iron” to unify the country |
| Camillo Cavour | Italian nationalist who became Prime Minister and worked to end Austrian rule in Italy |
| Giuseppe Garibaldi | Italian nationalist who led his “Red Shirts” in the quest to create Italy |
| Giuseppe Mazzini | Italian nationalist who founded Young Italy |
| Miguel Hidalgo | A Creole priest who fought for Mexican independence |
| Simon Bolivar | “The Liberator”; led successful independence movement against the Spanish in Latin America |
| Marx, Karl | German born social philosopher, considered the “father of communism.” In the mid 1800’s he argued that history was a struggle between the classes that would end with a victory for the proletariat. |
| Malthus, Thomas | English writer in the early 1800’s who predicted that population would outpace the food supply. |
| Smith, Adam | Scottish economist who supported laissez-faire economics and the free enterprise system. |
| Perry, Matthew | American naval Commodore who sailed to Japan in 1853 and demanded that they open their ports to trade. |
| Copernicus | Polish astronomer who proposed the sun-centered model of the universe |
| Galileo | Italian Renaissance astronomer who supported the heliocentric theory |
| Sir Isaac Newton | English scientist who discovered gravity; worked with physics and astronomy |
| Rhodes, Cecil | British imperialist who represented Great Britain in southern Africa. Made a fortune from the control of diamond mines. |
| Boers | Dutch farmers who settled in what is now South Africa. Also referred to as Afrikaners. |
| Sepoy | Indian soldier in an army set up by the French or English East India Company. |
| Boxers | Group of peasants in China who rose up against foreign influence |
| King Leopold II | King of Belgium who colonized in Africa. |
| Archduke Ferdinand | Heir to the Austrian throne, whose assassination in 1914 was the spark that started World War I. |
| Bolsheviks | In 1917, a Russian majority revolutionary group who seized power in Russia during the October Revolution and founded the Soviet Union. |
| Vladimir Lenin | First Communist leader of Russia, who promised “peace, bread and land”. |
| Czar Nicholas Romanov II | The last absolute monarch of Russia who abdicated the throne and was murdered by communists. |
| Rasputin | Russian peasant monk who was able to influence Russian politics by gaining the confidence of the Czarina. |
| Leon Trotsky | A Russian Communist, who led the Red Army and was known for his passionate speeches. |
| Adolf Hitler | Fascist leader of German Nazi Party; ruled Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945; broke the Treaty of Versailles. |
| Benito Mussolini | Fascist leader of Italy from 1922 until 1943; marched on Rome and declared himself Italy’s ruler. |
| Joseph Stalin | Totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union from 1926 until his death in 1953; sought to purge his enemies and was responsible for killing 20 million people. |
| Kulak | A wealthy peasant in the Soviet Union during the 1930’s. |
| Winston Churchill | Prime Minister of Britain during World War II; rallied the British people to resist Hitler and the Nazis. |
| Emperor Hirohito | Emperor who forced the Japanese government to surrender, which ended World War II. |
| Fidel Castro | The leader of the communist revolution in Cuba during the 1950’s, who became an anti-American dictator. |
| Lech Walesa | Leader of Solidarity that helped Poland gain independence from the Soviet Union, later became president of Poland in 1990. |
| Mikhail Gorbachev | The last Communist leader of the Soviet Union. He is known for his work to end Cold War tensions, and changing the Soviet government and economy. |
| Nikita Khrushchev | The leader of the Soviet Union following Stalin ruling from 1953-1964. He favored a peaceful co-existence with the West. |
| Ho Chi Minh | Vietnamese nationalist who brought communism to North Vietnam during the latter part of the 20th century.Jomo Kenyatta |
| Kwame Nkrumah | Worked to remove British imperialists from Africa; became the first Prime Minister of Ghana |
| Mau Mau | Radical revolutionaries in Kenya who took up arms to fight British imperialism. |
| Mao Zedong | Leader of the Chinese Communists; gained massive support from peasants; ruled China from 1949 until his death in 1976. |
| Sun Yixian (Yat-sen) | Chinese nationalist. Founded the Guomindang Party and established his “Three Principles of the People" nationalism, democracy, and economic security. |
| Jiang Jieshi | Chinese nationalist and leader of the Guomindang in the early 1900’s; formally known as Chiang Kai-shek. |
| Guomindang | The Nationalist party that established a government in South China |
| Red Guard | Groups of radical students formed in China during the Cultural Revolution. |
| Mohandas Gandhi | Indian protest leader in the early to mid 1900’s who used passive resistance and nonviolence overthrow British rule |
| David Ben-Gurion | Worked for the creation of the state of Israel; became Israel’s first Prime Minister in 1948 |
| Al-Qaida | An international terrorist group that was led by Osama Bin Laden. |
| Osama Bin Laden | The Saudi Arabian leader of Al-Qaeda. His terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the September 11th attacks. |
| Golda Meir | The progressive Israeli Prime Minister who stepped down in 1974. |
| Hamas | A radical Islamic group active in Palestine. |
| Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.) | A group formed in 1964 that represents Palestinian nationalists and was dedicated to the destruction of Israel. |
| Yasir Arafat | Leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and his goal was the destruction of Israel. |
| Yitzhak Rabin | The Israeli Prime Minister who fell victim to an Israeli assassin in 1995. |
| Saddam Hussein | The former dictator of Iraq, found guilty of human rights violations. He was removed from power by U.S. led forces in 2003. |
| Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini | Was the revolutionary Islamic fundamentalist leader of Iran who came to power in 1979. |
| Shah Reza Khan | Nationalist leader of Iran who modernized and westernized. |
| Gamal Abdel Nasser | Former Egyptian president who attempted to modernize his country. Known for nationalizing the Suez Canal and waging war against Israel. |
| Anwar Sadat | Former Egyptian president who attempted to westernize Egypt by opening the country up to foreign investment. He was the first Arab leader to recognize the state of Israel. |
| Mustafa Kemal Ataturk | Westernized and modernized Turkey in the early 1900’s. |
| Junta | A group of military officers ruling a country after seizing power. |
| Islamic State (ISIS/ ISIL) | An Islamic extremist group that uses terror and violence to achieve their goal of creating a caliphate in the Middle East. |
| Desmond Tutu | An Anglican Bishop who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid in South Africa. |
| F.W. De Klerk | Was elected president of South Africa in 1989. He called for an end to apartheid and freed Nelson Mandela in 1990. |
| Hutus | The ethnic majority group in Rwanda that makes up 85% of the population. |
| Nelson Mandela | A leader in the African National Congress who was imprisoned from 1964 – 1990. He became president of South Africa in 1994, after apartheid ended. |
| Tutsis | The ethnic minority group in Rwanda that were victims of genocide. |
| Aung San Suu Kyi | Pro-democracy leader in Myanmar, who has often been held under house arrest for her opposition to the government. |
| Kim Jong Il | Former communist dictator of North Korea from 1994 until 2011. Developed North Korean nuclear weapons program while repressing political rights of his citizens. |
| Kim Jong Un | Current communist dictator of North Korea, and son of Kim Jong Il. Continues to develop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and threaten war with the United States and South Korea. |
| Khmer Rouge | Were Cambodian Communist guerillas that unleashed a reign of terror under Pol Pot. |
| Pol Pot | Was the leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He killed over one million Cambodians throughout the 1970s. |
| Slobodan Milošević | President of Serbia/ Yugoslavia who held an “ethnic cleansing” campaign (genocide) against Muslims and Croats. |
Created by:
khovey
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