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Holy Alliance: Alliance among Russia, Prussia, and Austria in defense of the established order; formed by the most conservative monarchies of Europe during the Congress of Vienna.
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Decembrist uprising:
Unsuccessful 1825 political revolt in Russia by mid-level army officers advocating reforms.
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Crimean War (1854 -1856):
Began with a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire; France and Britain joined on the Ottoman side; resulted in a Russian defeat because of Western industrial might; led to Russian reforms under Alexander II.
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Emancipation of the serfs:
Alexander II in 1861 ended serfdom in Russia; serfs did not obtain political rights and had to pay the aristocracy for lands gained.
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Zemstvoes:
Local political councils created as part of Alexander II’s reforms; gave the middle class professional experience in government but did not influence national policy.
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Trans-Siberian railroad:
Constructed during the 1870s and 1880s to connect European Russia with the Pacific; increased the Russian role in Asia.
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Count Sergei Witte:
Russian minister of finance (1892-1903); economic modernizer responsible for high tariffs, improved banking system; encouraged Western investment in industry.
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Intelligentsia:
Russian term for articulate intellectuals as a class; desired radical change in the Russian political and economic systems; wished to maintain a Russian culture distinct from that of the West.
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Anarchists:
Political groups that thought the abolition of formal government was a first step to creating a better society; became important in Russia and was the modern world’s first large terrorist movement.
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Lenin:
Russian Marxist leader; insisted on the importance of disciplined revolutionary cells.
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Bolsheviks:
Literally “majority” party, but actually a political group backed by a minority of the population; the most radical branch of the Russian Marxist movement; led by Lenin.
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Russian Revolution of 1905:
Defeat by Japan resulted in strikes by urban workers and insurrections among the peasantry; resulted in temporary reforms.
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Duma:
Russian national assembly created as one of the reforms after the Revolution of 1905; progressively stripped of power during the reign of Nicholas
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Stolypin reforms:
Russian minister who introduced reforms intended to placate the peasantry after the Revolution of 1905; included reduction of land redemption payments and an attempt to create a market-oriented peasantry.
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Kulaks:
Agricultural entrepreneurs who used the Stolypin reforms to buy more land and increase production.
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Terakoya:
Commoner schools founded during the Tokugawa shogunate to teach reading, writing, and Confucian rudiments; by the middle of the 19th century resulted in the highest literacy rate outside of the West.
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Dutch studies:
Studies of Western science and technology beginning during the 18th century; based on texts available at the Dutch Nagasaki trading center.
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Matthew Perry:
American naval officer; in 1853 insisted under threat of bombardment on the opening of ports to American trade.
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Meiji restoration:
Power of the emperor restored with Emperor Mutsuhito in 1868; took name of Meiji, the Enlightened One; ended shogunate and began a reform period.
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Diet:
Japanese parliament established as part of the constitution of 1889; able to advise government but not control it.
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Zaibatsu:
Huge industrial combines created in Japan during the 1890s.
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Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895):
Fought in Korea between Japan and China; Japanese victory demonstrated its arrival as new industrial power.
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Yellow Peril:
Western term for perceived threat from Japanese imperialism.
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