UNIT 6 VOCABULARY: EUROPE
1. Napoleon Bonaparte - emperor of France in the early 1800s who conquered most of continental
Europe and spread many liberal ideas.
2. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) - military alliance between several nations
requiring all members to come to the defense of a member that is attacked by an outside country.
3. Ethnocentrism - judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own culture.
4. Roman Empire - the territories ruled by ancient Rome, including most of Western Europe.
5. Adolph Hitler - the head of the NAZI party and dictator of Germany from 1934-1945 who
commonly known for his central role in World War II and the Holocaust.
6. Winston Churchill - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II and widely
regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century.
7. Fjord - a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion.
8. North Atlantic Drift - the warm ocean current flowing northeast, under prevailing winds, from
the Gulf of Mexico towards Northwest Europe, warming the NW Europe climate.
9. Republic - a state in which the people have the power and directly or indirectly elect a
representative government.
10. Renaissance - a period of revival of art, literature and learning in Europe from the 14th and 17th
century, which marked the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern world.
11. Crusades - military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th, 12th and
13th centuries for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Muslims.
12. Aqueduct - a bridge-like structure that carries a water conduit or canal across a valley or over a
river.
13. Benelux - a way of referring to the geographic, economic and cultural grouping of Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg
14. Reformation - a religious movement in Europe the 16th century intended to reform the Roman
Catholic Church which led to the establishment of Protestant churches.
15. Feudalism - a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of
land in exchange for service or labour.
16. Nationalism - a belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or
becoming attached to, one's nation.
17. Holocaust - the systematic mass slaughter of six million Jews in Nazi concentration camps
during World War II.
18. Berlin Wall - a concrete wall that separated East Berlin and East Germany from West Berlin and
West Germany from 1961-1989.
19. Nordic - a term used to refer to the people of the countries of Northwestern Europe, specifically,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.
20. Parliament - an assembly of the representatives of a political nation or people, also the name of
the legislature of Great Britian
21. Silicon Glen - a nickname for the computer and technology sector of Scotland
22. Euro - the official currency of several countries that are part of the European Union.
23. European Union - an association of European nations formed in 1993 for the purpose of
achieving political and economic integration.
24. Balkanization - the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions
or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with one another.
25. Satellite Nation - a country that is formally independent, but under heavy political, economic
and military influence or control of another country.
26. Market Economy - a capitalistic economic system in which there is free competition and prices
are determined by the interaction of supply and demand.
27. Anti-semitism - discrimination against or prejudice or hostility towards Jews.
28. Warsaw Pact - a collective defense treaty among eight communist countries of Central and
Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
29. Cold War - intense political, economic, military and ideological rivalry after World War II
between the Soviet Union and its satellites states and the democratic countries of the Western
world, led by the United States.
30. Ethnic Cleansing - the elimination of an unwanted ethnic group or groups from a society
through genocide or forced emigration.