Map Quiz 1 - Landforms

1. Atlantic Ocean

2. Norwegian Sea

3. North Sea

4. English Channel

5. Bay of Biscay

6. Strait of Gibraltar

7. Adriatic Sea

8. Baltic Sea

9. Mediterranean Sea

10. Black Sea

11. Aegean Sea

12. Iberian Peninsula

13. Jutland Peninsula

14. Italian Peninsula

15. Balkan Peninsula

16. Scandinavian Peninsula

17. Alps

18. Pyrenees Mountains

19. Apennine Mountains

20. Balkan Mountains

21. Rhine River

22. Danube River

23. Northern European Plain

24. Massif Central

Map Quiz 2 - Countries and Cities

1. Lisbon, Portugal

2. Madrid, Spain

3. Rome, Italy

4. Athens, Greece

5. Paris, France

6. Luxembourg, Luxembourg

7. Brussels, Belgium

8. Amsterdam Netherlands

9. Berlin, Germany

10. Bern, Switzerland

11. Vienna, Austria

12. Reykjavick, Iceland

13. Dublin, Ireland

14. London, England

15. Oslo, Norway

16. Stockholm, Sweden

17. Helsinki, Finland

18. Copenhagen, Denmark

19. Edinburgh, Scotland

20. Belfast, Northern Ireland

21. Warsaw, Poland

22. Prague, Czech Republic

23. Slovakia

24. Hungary

25. Romania

26. Bulgaria

27. Serbia

28. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

29. Albania

30. Macedonia

31. Croatia

32. Slovenia

33. Montenegro

History of Europe

13. The practice of agriculture and domestication of animals began about 10,000 years ago In Central and Southwest Asia. A sedentary lifestyle allowed for extra food to be produced and the division of labor to occur. Extra time allows for the creation of goods and trade then develops. These innovations spread to Europe.

14. The first European civilization developed on the Balkan Peninsula with the Greeks (800-86 B.C.). Greek artists, philosophers, and mathematicians were fascinated with the workings of both the natural world and human societies.

15. Two geographic advantages helped the Mediterranean to become the region where European civilization was born. First, the mild climate made survival there easier than in other areas and, as such, societies had time to develop complex institutions such as government. Second, the nearby Mediterranean Sea encouraged overseas trade. When different societies trade with each other, they also exchange ideas, and the spread of ideas often leads to advances in knowledge.

16. The region is mountainous, so those villages were isolated from each other and developed into separate city-states. A city-state is a political unit made up of a city and its surrounding lands.

17. The city-state of Athens developed the first democracy (demos = people, cracy = rule), a government in which the people rule. In Athens, all free adult males who were citizens had the right to serve in the lawmaking assembly. Greek science, philosophy, drama, politics, and art helped shaped modern culture.

18. As Greece lost power, Rome, to the west, began to expand its influence. Rome ruled most of the Italian Peninsula by 275 BCE. At the time, Rome was a republic, a government in which citizens elect representatives to rule in their name. The Roman Empire expanded, but eventually emperors began to rule in Rome, ending the republic. By CE 395, the empire was too big for a single government, so it split into eastern and western halves—the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. The Western Roman Empire grew weak, in part because of German invaders from the north, and fell in 476 CE. The Eastern Roman Empire lasted nearly 1,000 years longer. The Balkan Peninsula was part of that Eastern Roman Empire (also called the Byzantine Empire) for nearly 1,000 years. The invaders who overran the Italian Peninsula had no tradition of strong central government. Italy eventually became divided into many small states and remained so for centuries. Aspects of Roman engineering have continued in use: aqueducts, arch, dome.

19. As the Roman Empire declined in the 5th century AD, Europe entered the Medieval Period or Dark Ages (450-1400). The Catholic Church dominated religion, politics, and daily life throughout Europe. Feudalism developed in Europe, which was a political system in which powerful lords owned most of the land. Over time, strong kings gained power over feudal lords, and nationalism evolved. Nationalism is the belief that people should be loyal to their nation, and the people with whom they share the land, culture, and history. Nationalism, often, was the way to deflect attention away from the poor living conditions the majority of the people experienced. However, the internal loyalty within a country was often affected by the diverse groups within that “nation.” The nation-states of Europe became strong rivals. From the 1600s to 1945, wars repeatedly broke out between France and Austria or between France and the German states.

20. In 1096, European Christians launched the crusades (11th through 13th centuries), a series of wars to take Palestine from the Muslims. Italians earned large profits by supplying the ships that carried Crusaders to the Middle East. Italian cities such as Florence and Venice became rich from banking and foreign commerce.

21. In October 1347, trading ships sailed into the port of Messina, Sicily, carrying the rats which carried the bacteria for the Bubonic plague/Black Death. The plague continued to spread across Europe following the trade routes for the next 4 years. An estimated 25 million Europeans died, about ¼ of pop.

22. The Renaissance, which began in the Italian city-states, was a time of renewed interest in learning and the arts that lasted from the 14th through the 16th century. The Renaissance was influenced by the Greek, Roman, and Islamic civilizations. Much of the learning of the Greeks and Romans had been preserved by Islamic scholars. Much of that knowledge had been destroyed in Europe. The philosophy of humanism emphasized the dignity and worth of the individual.

23. The Reformation (16th century), a religious movement which questioned Catholic practices, led to problems between Catholics and the new Christian sect of Protestants.

24. The Age of Exploration was a direct outgrowth of the greater openness of the Renaissance, and it began a period of accelerated global commerce and cultural change. Portugal was the first to sail around the Horn of Africa and begin Europe’s trade with Asia. Columbus led the way in sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and the colonization of the Americas. The Europeans developed mercantilism, a strategy to increase a country’s power and wealth not only by acquiring colonies with their human and natural resources, but also by managing all aspects of production, transport, and trade for the colonizer’s own benefit and to the colonies detriment. Mercantilism supported the industrial revolution in Europe by supplying cheap resources for new factories and markets for European manufactured goods. The Portuguese and Spanish continued the ideas of feudalism in their colonies. In addition, Spain and Portugal maintained a strong allegiance with the Catholic Church, which discouraged social and technological change.

25. Britain, in the 1600s, was an island of modest and wealth and resources. In the 17th century, Britain developed a growing trading empire in the Caribbean, North America, and South Asia, which provided access to a wide range of raw materials and to markets for British goods. Specifically, the productions of sugar generated wealth that helped fund industrialization, but also provided a model for ordering the manufacturing process sequentially. Mechanization allowed Britain to provide goods for an increased demand.

26. With expanding trade, Europe’s developed a middle class. The increasing wealth of the middle class allowed that group to put pressure on the feudal system to change.

27. The industrial revolution triggered a demand for skilled and unskilled factory workers leading to a steady migration from rural areas to the factories in the cities. Quite often these workers experienced unsafe working conditions. Occasionally, violence would break out demanding reforms.

28. By the mid-twentieth century, as prosperity became more widespread, the protesters convinced some governments to guarantee to all citizens such basic necessities of life as education, employment, and health care. A social system in which the state accepts responsibility for the well-being of its citizens is known as a welfare state.

29. War in Europe in the 20th Century
a. German strength – By 1900, thanks in part to Bismarck’s diplomatic legacy, Germany was the center of European affairs. The country’s political dominance and military might struck fear in its neighbors, exacerbating rivalries.
b. Independence movements – Nationalism and liberalism had weakened the old multinational Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, opening the door for minority groups within these territories, including the Balkans, to fight for independence.
c. French seek return of territory – France wanted to avenge its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. It especially sought the return of Alsace-Lorraine, a region it lost to Germany in the peace settlement.
d. Competition over colonies – At the turn of the century, Europe’s great powers were in fierce competition over colonial territories in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
e. Ailing alliances – By the 20th century, Bismarck’s alliance system was no longer viable. Germany and Austria-Hungary remained allies, but were flanked by rival France and Russia, who had formed an alliance of their own.
f. Arms race – During the early years of the 20th century, Germany and Britain were locked in a naval arms race that heightened their rivalry. Tensions between the two drove Britain to join the Franco-Russian Alliance.
g. Cult of the offensive – Many European military experts believed that whoever struck first in the next war would win quickly and take few casualties. They also assumed that the war could be contained within a limited area. From this thinking arose a “cult of the offensive” which stressed rapid mobilization and offensive operations.

30. World War I
a. The spark for the war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was murdered on June 28, 1914, by a Serbian nationalist in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.
b. The Central Powers (Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire) fought the Allies [Britain, France, and Russia—the Russians were pledged to help other Slavs (the Serbs)]. Italy joined the Allies in 1915. The U.S. joined the Allies in 1917, prompted by the Germany’s sinking of the ocean liner, Lusitania.
c. New developments in trench warfare, long-range artillery, and the machine gun made it easier to defend territory, even in the face of new weapons such as tanks, poison gas, and airplanes. The war reached a stalemate, lasted 4 years and 21 million people died.
d. Germany finally sued for peace and on November 11, 1918, an armistice was declared. The Allied victors intended to bring about stability. The Treaty of Versailles called for German evacuation of occupied territory, the creation of a neutral zone in the Rhineland, the payment of enormous reparations, and total German disarmament. The terms actually led to WWII.

31. World War II
a. Overbearing treaty demands – Germany resented the Treaty of Versailles, which demanded extensive reparations for damages and transferred territory from Germany to other states. The treaty also assigned all blame for the war to the Germans, which the Germans felt was unfair.
b. Economic collapse – The reparations strained the German economy. As Germany fell behind in payments in the early 1920s, French and Belgian troops moved into the Ruhr Valley, a major industrial center, where they planned to confiscate German goods as they were produced. In protest, the German government encouraged workers to stage a massive strike. To pay these striking workers, Germany printed extra money. This led to hyperinflation, wiping out savings and increasing poverty. Germany’s situation worsened after 1929 as worldwide economic depression set in, sparking massive unemployment.
c. Rise of fascism – German economic collapse opened the door to the fascist, Adolf Hitler, and his National Socialist (Nazi) Party. Fascism is a political belief or regime that glorifies the nation above the individual. Fascists often portray their ethnic group as superior to others as a means of furthering their aims. They emphasize the need for a strong, charismatic leader, one-party rule, a self-sufficient economy, and the limitation of basic civil rights in the name of national strength and domestic law and order. Increasing numbers of Germans embraced Hitler’s extreme views as they struggled to restore their national pride and began to feel the impact of worldwide economic depression. Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933.

32. German expansionism – Under Hitler, Germany embarked on a clear polity of expansion. Glorifying Germans as “the master race,” by the late 1930s Hitler had rejected the Treaty of Versailles, resumed German arms production, and taken over all of Austria and part of Czechoslovakia. The glorification of the Aryan people as the master race helped Hitler justify his quest for Lebensraum (space to live and grow in) as well as his extreme stigmatization of the Jews, Roma (Gypsies), communists, homosexuals, the mentally disabled, and other “deficient” or “corrupt” individuals. Minority groups have often faced discrimination—particularly, Jews, and Gypsies. During WWII the Nazis killed: 6million Jews, 75,000 Poles, 20,000 Gypsies, 15,000 Soviet POWs, and 15,000 others.

33. As a result of two very destructive World Wars, the European countries lost their position as the dominant countries of the world.

34. Cold War
a. Britain and the US wanted European states with democratic governments and free-market economies. In addition, both wanted an economically prosperous, but demilitarized, Germany.
b. The Soviets wanted to spread the communist ideology in Europe and supported pro-Soviet, preferably communist, governments with centralized economic and political systems. The USSR was in a suitable position to promote these ideals, given that it retained a strong military presence in Central and Eastern Europe after the end of the war. IN addition, Moscow wanted to keep Germany weak and punish it for the destruction it had inflicted on the Soviet Union during the war.
c. By the end of the 1980s, much of Eastern Europe had abandoned socialism. This change hastened the economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, because through its quasi-colonial system, the Soviet Union had depended greatly on the resources and skilled labor of Eastern Europe.

35. European Union – Following World War II, Europe sought a way to avoid future confrontations. The Europeans determined to intermingle the economies of the various countries to insure transparency of development and to create a dependency between the various countries.

36. The mountainous region of the Balkan peninsula, and its location as a cultural crossroads, has allowed and created a variety of ethnic groups: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Mecedonians, Montenegrans, and Bosnians. The groups were also divided by religion: Eastern Orthodox (Christian) and Muslim. With the fall of Communism, independence was demanded and civil war broke out with ethnic cleansing often occurring.

37. Europe’s history, particularly migration patterns, shaped its culture by determining where languages are spoken and where religions are practiced today. Unlike many areas of Europe that Rome conquered, Greece retained its own language. Greek was the official language of the Byzantine Empire. Many of the European languages evolved from Latin, the language of Rome, and are referred to as Romance languages. The two halves of the Roman Empire also developed different forms of Christianity. The majority religion in Greece today is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Roman Catholicism is strong in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The language of the Germanic tribes, since they were not conquered by the Romans, is not influenced by Latin. The English language is a result of conquests by the Vikings, the Germanic tribes, the Romans, and the French.

38. The rise of Europe to its current prominence is due largely to the aid provided by the US after World War II.

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Chapter 14, Section 1 – Turmoil in the Balkans

1. Eastern Europe is a cultural crossroads, or a place where various cultures cross paths. Because it is a strategic crossroads, many world powers have tried to control it.

a. By about 100 BCE, ancient Rome held the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria, Romania, and parts of Hungary.

b. After the Roman Empire was divided, the Byzantine Empire held onto those lands for centuries and most were Eastern Orthodox.. (300 A.D. - 1200 A.D.)

c. Slavic people migrated from Poland and Russia (the Croats, Slovenes, and the Serbs) between the 400s and the 600s

d. In the 1300s and 1400s, the Ottoman Empire of Turkey gradually took over the southern part of Eastern Europe. Many Bosnians converted to Islam while Serbs clung to Christianity.

e. Beginning in the 1400s, the nation of Austria became a great power and drove the Ottomans out of Hungary

f. Many Serbs fled Kosovo when it was under Muslim rule during the 19th century, leaving the area more Albanian in culture.

g. By 1912, The Balkan nations were free of Ottoman rule

h. In 1913, the Balkan countries fought over who should own that territory. Their actions led to a new word, balkanization. The term refers to the process of a region breaking up into small mutually hostile units. Responding to centuries of foreign rule, most ethnic groups in Eastern Europe fiercely guarded their identities. Many wanted their own nation-states, even though few had a history of self-rule.

i. The Slavic nation of Serbia also wanted to free the Slavs in Austria-Hungary. In 1914, a Serb assassinated an Austrian noble, sparking World War I.

j. After the war (1917), new independent countries evolved: Austria, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Turkey (as what was left of the Ottoman Empire).

k. The Croats siding with the Nazis during World War II led to a split with the Serbs. Many Serbs were killed by the Croat Nazis. (1940-1945)

l. Following World War II, the Soviet Union refused to withdraw from Eastern Europe until it had set up communist governments there. Eastern Europe became a region of satellite nations—nations dominated by another country. (1946-1989)

m. Many Serbs were killed after WWII by the communists under Tito’s regime (1946-1980)

n .In 1989 and 1990, Eastern Europe broke free of Communist control, however, instability followed. The old governments had taught people to be loyal only to the Communist Party. After those governments fell, people returned to ethnic loyalties.

o, The leader of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Slobodan Milosevic, wanted to create a Greater Servia. Croats and Bosnians were opposed.

p. In 1991, Serbia blocked a Croat from becoming president, and Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence. The Serbian-led Yugoslav army invaded both republics.

q. The United Nations intervened and Slovenia and Croatia remained free (1992).

r. In March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence. The Serbs in those areas started a war to stop independence. The Serbs used murder and violence.

s. In 1995, a peace treaty was signed and Bosnia remained independent.

t. In March 1999, NATO started bombing Serbia to force it to stop the violence. In June, Milosevic withdrew his troops from Kosovo. After they pulled out, international officials found horrifying evidence that the Serbs had carried out tortures and massacres.

u. In 2000, the Yugoslav people elected a reform leader named Vojislav Kostunica as president. Ethnic loyalties still create tension. The decade of wars have created millions of refugees and the wars’ destruction have created widespread poverty. Many people in Kosovo and Montenegro still want independence.

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