Domestic and Foreign Policies - AP European History

Neville Chamberlain followed the policy of "appeasement," believing that Hitler would tone down German aggression if given the territory he wanted. Chamberlain resigned from the office of Prime Minister 1940, after the obvious failure of appeasement seen in the beginning of World War II.

The Edict of Nantes, decreed in 1598 by Henry IV of France, gave French Protestants (Huguenots) many rights in French society, despite the nation's majority Catholic population. This had the effect of diminishing the persecution of French Protestants in France.

Following the Wars of Religion Henry wanted to avoid further internal strife like France had just seen. He believed the best way was to centralize power with one monarch that had complete and total control over all of France. He achieved this by largely stripping the French nobility of its powers.

Louis XIV built the Palace of Versailles as the new home of the royal family. His other motivation in building the Palace was to demonstrate the power and majesty of the French Royalty.

The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV of France in 1598. This consolation to the French Protestants was meant to give them religious freedom and thus put an end to the French Wars of Religion.

Following the death of Sigismund II and the end of the Piast Dynasty, Poland transitioned to an elected monarchy. This was because in the final decree of Sigismund he determined that this would be the best form of government for the nation rather than finding a single new royal family. In this system a noble would be elected by a vote of all noble families to rule for life.

By 1700 when Philip of France was named by Charles II of Spain as his successor, Europe had fallen into a delicate balance of power. Austria, Prussia, France, Spain, and England were all independent nations that were powerful enough to balance each other out so that no one nation could conquer the others. However, if France and Spain were now one royal family, combined, their armies could take on the might of any of these nations and win, thus causing the balance of power to swing in the favor of France.

The French Revolution officially ended when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804. This put an end to 15 years of chaos in France at the hands of a revolving door of leadership. The French Government had gone through the hands of dozens of men, most of whom were run out of the country or killed by rivals seeking to fill the power vacuum left by the French Monarchy.

1804-1814 is considered the apogee of Napoleon's political power and authority as Emperor of France. He would be unchallenged as French ruler until after his abdication and exile to Elba in 1814-1815. Both Robespierre and Louis XVI were executed long before 1804. Finally, neither anarchy or a foreign army would rule France entirely, and never at all for more than a year.

Following the death of Sigismund II Poland and Lithuania changed to become an elected monarchy. This meant that a king would be elected by the Polish noble families to rule for life.

Frederick I was the last Duke of Prussia and the first King of Prussia. Due to the ever-expanding size and power of Prussia he felt simply being a Duchy no longer reflected the importance of Prussia. As such an upgrade to a Kingdom was ordered.

Catherine was Born in Germany to her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was also a Prussian General. Her cousins went on to be Kings of Sweden while she was married off to Peter III of Russia in order to build relations between Prussia and Russia.

Sigismund II died with no heirs and thus his dynasty ended. Before he died though, he declared that Poland and Lithuania would transition to a system of elected monarchs after his death rather than finding a new royal family.

The First Moroccan Crisis took place in 1905 when the German Kaiser visited Morocco and declared himself in support of Moroccan independence. This was seen as a direct challenge to French control over the territory and almost led to war. At a conference to decide the issue, Germany found that it was supported only by Austria-Hungary and that Britain, Italy, Russia, and the United States (as well as several other countries) all supported French claims.

Peter was an avid academic and loved the modern ways of Western Europe. He went on an undercover trip around Europe to observe the ways of the Dutch, English, French, and Austrians. This led him to desire these modern ways for Russia, so he used his power as Czar to force the nation to westernize.

The "Auld Alliance" was a later term to denote the era between 1295, when John Balliol of Scotland and Philip IV of France formed an alliance against Edward I of England, and 1603, when James VI of Scotland united the crowns of Scotland and England as James I of England. The alliance was based on each country's long-standing issues with England, which often drew one country into the other's conflicts with the English monarchy.

Following the reign of Philip II, Spain went into a decline after experiencing a "siglo de oro" (golden century). The expulsion of Jews and Muslims may have contributed. Spain began to experience heavy inflation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; a growing population and demand most likely contributed to this inflation, and some historians believe that increased silver bullion imports from Spain's colonies further contributed. Finally, Spain's involvement in religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries contributed to its decline, in part because they were so costly. In Spain's war against England, the famed Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, though the war continued to drag on. Additionally, the Spanish-controlled Netherlands were in revolt through the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, culminating in a free Dutch Republic in 1648. Note, however, that Spain's exploration and colonization efforts during the sixteenth century were highly successful, with many colonies in North and South America, as well as the Philippines in Asia.

Perestroika and glasnost were two reform movements initiated during the last communist administration to govern the Soviet Union, led by Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika was the name given to the policy of economic reform that allowed for the development of rudimentary capitalism, and glasnost was the policy of political reform designed to provide openness and governmental transparency.

Margaret Thatcher was the leader of the British Conservative Party for much of the 1980s. Her policy of Thatcherism defined British conservatism at the time. She wanted to scale back Britain’s welfare state and lower taxes for the wealthiest people in Britain. She did a great deal to fix the British economy, but is widely despised in many sections of British society for her policies that greatly harmed the British working class and the British welfare state.