Page 13 – Major Uprisings
Protestant Reformation
 Challenged Europe’s religious unity; Martin Luther/95 Theses, John Calvin/Predestination,
Henry VIII/Church of England
 Started large numbers of new protestant churches
o Example  religious conflict
Sepoy Mutiny
 Atrocities by both British and Indian Sepoys (Indian troops); caused by British racism and
greed
 Attempt to expel British imperialists
o Example  anti-imperialism
Boxer Rebellion
 Chinese nationalists kill Europeans who exploit them; want all foreign to leave; defeated by
multi-nationalist force
o Example  anti-imperialism
Intifada
 Palestinian Liberation Organization encouraged resistance to Israeli power; acts of terrorism
and civil disobedience
o Example  territorial conflict
Tiananmen Square
 Chinese students seek democratic reform from communist government; protesting corruption
of CCP; tank man; army responds violently and thousands killed and jailed; human rights
violation
o Example  anti-communism
Page 14 – World Thinkers/Leaders 1
Louis XIV
 Divine right absolutism; powerful France; Palace of Versailles; big debt; mercantilism; Sun
King
 Lead up to French Revolution
Peter the Great
 Expanded territory for warm-water ports; modernized Russia/navy/Westernization
 Brought Russia up to date with rest of Europe; St. Petersburg “window to the west”
Catherine the Great
 Expanded territory; warm-water ports (Black Sea); continued serfdom; Enlightened Despot
 Russia becomes a trading power
Martin Luther
 Led 16th century Protestant Reformation; triggered counter-reformation by Catholic church
 Millions of Protestants in Europe and US
Genghis Khan
 Created Mongol empire – largest ever; Pax Mongolia; Connect Asia and European trade
routes
 Conquered China; protected Silk Road
Elizabeth I of England
 Golden Age of arts; defeated Spanish Armada; English Renaissaince
 Leads to England become imperialist power
Alexander the Great
 Conquered Persian Empire; spread Hellenistic (Greek/Egyptian/Persian/Indian) culture to
conquered areas
 Golden age of science at Alexandria
Baron de Montesquieu
 French enlightenment philosophe – idea of separation of powers to create checks and
balances
 Ideas used by the US and other new democracies
Page 15 – World Thinkers/Leaders 2
Qin
 First emperor of China; built Great Wall; standardized money and written Chinese
 Persecuted Confucians
Buddha
 Invented Buddhist religion; taught moderation, nirvana, reincarnation, karma
 Millions of followers in E. Asia
Aristotle
 Greek philosopher; teacher of Alexander the Great; classified animals and studied astronomy
 Big influence on medieval European philosophy
Mohammed
 Creates Muslim religion; Five Pillars, started empire; Mecca and Medina
 Over a billion followers
Octavian/Augustus
 Created Roman Empire from civil war during the republic; starts Pax Romana
 5 centuries of imperial rule
Ashoka
 Adopted Buddhism as official religion of India; just rule; Ashoka’s Edicts; Mauryan Empire
 Missionaries spread to SE and E Asia
Confucius
 Chinese philosopher; how to create peaceful, orderly society; filial piety; 5 Key
Relationships
 Practiced throughout China ever since; influenced Han Dynasty with Civil Service Exam
Tokugawa Ieyasu
 Unified Japan as shogun; ended civil wars; centralized feudalism; closed country edict
 250 years of Japan under his family
Page 16 – World Thinkers/Leaders 3
Pizzaro
 Conquistador destroyed Inca Empire of S. America; brought riches to Spain
 History of native Americans – story of exploitation for wealth
Newton
 Books about universal gravitation, calculus, and optics
 Basis for future scientific discovery; question traditional authorities to explain physical
universe
Machiavelli
 Wrote The Prince, ruthless political handbook of the Renaissance; better to be ruthless than
loved
 History of political writing
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
 Funded Columbus’s expedition to the “Indies”; passed law forcing conversions – Inquisition
and Reconquista
 The history of the Americas; Jews and Muslims
Shakespeare
 37 plays and many poems; icon of the northern Renaissance
 Millions who see/read his works
Calvin
 Theologian responsible for the theory of predestination
 Millions of protestants; further weakened the power of the Church
Henry VIII
 Forced England out of the Catholic Church to grant himself a divorce
 Weakened Roman Catholic Church; rise of British and American protestant branches
Copernicus
 Heliocentric theory; Scientific Revolution
 The history of science; challenged traditional beliefs; emphasize individual
Galileo
 Telescope, confirmed moons of Jupiter
 See above “impacts on”
Page 17 – World Thinkers/Leaders 4
Zheng He
 Chinese explorer during Ming dynasty; collected trade and tribute; reached East Africa
 China closed borders after journeys, starts isolation and decline as world power
Ibn Battuta
 Muslim explorer; spread of Islam throughout S. Asia, M.E., and N. Africa
 Exchange of goods and ideas throughout world – cultural diffusion
Marco Polo
 Venetian explorer; traveled to China and back
 See above “impacts on” and sparked curiosity in foreign civs.
Mansa Musa
 Mali king, converts to Islam, completes Hajj. Empire in West African gold-for-salt belt
 Spread of Islam, wealth through trade
Leo DaVinci
 Renaissance artists; epitomized humanist spirit; sculpture, painter, engineer
 Emphasis on individual, spurred generations of artists
Johannes Gutenberg
 Perfected the moveable type printer; Gutenberg Bible, printed in the vernacular
 One of most important inventions in history, spread Luther’s 95 Theses and Prot. Ref.,
literacy rose
Suleiman the Magnificent
 Ottoman ruler, attempted to capture Vienna, marked the end of golden age; Ottoman law,
arts, science
 Turkish and Middle Eastern history
Jesus of Nazareth
 Jew who preached of God’s love, mercy, and infinite forgiveness
 Changed world history, led to downfall of Roman empire, rise of the Catholic Church, 2
billion Christians worldwide today
Hernan Cortes
 Conquistador who conquered Aztecs and Montezuma for Spain; disease (smallpox) most
valuable ally
 Spanish grew rich off free labor and gold/silver mines; native population decimated
Page 18 – World Thinkers/Leaders 5
Deng Xiaoping
 CCP leader post-Mao; Four Modernizations and mixed economy led to massive economic
growth. No political process – Tiananmen Square Massacre
 Rise of modern, industrial China; human rights violations (Tiananmen and One Child Policy)
Adolf Hitler
 German fascists, Nazi party, rose to power post-WWI/Versailles Treaty, Aryan/racist beliefs,
genocide against Jews, caused WWII, totalitarian leader
 Destroyed European Jewry, caused millions of death, left Germany in ruins
Mikhail Gorbachev
 Soviet premier; perestroika (restructuring), glasnost (openness), mixed-economy led to fall of
the Soviet Union
 Ended the Cold War; satellite states freed
Saddam Hussein
 Iraqi dictator, Baath Party, gassed countrymen (Kurds), Iran-Iraqi War, Persian Gulf Wars
(PGW I – invaded Kuwait for oil/UN forces win and PGW 2 – US invaded/executed
 Unstable ME, unstable country (Kurds vs. Shiites vs. Sunnis)
Nelson Mandela
 ANC leader, anti-apartheid, jailed for 27 years, looks like Morgan Freeman
 South Africa – first black president, ended apartheid and racial inequality
Ho Chi Minh
 Communist nationalist, fought for Vietnamese freedom, led Viet Cong, US policy of
containment
 Defeated US and South Vietnamese, Vietnam became communist
Benito Mussolini
 Italian fascist dictator, ultra-nationalism, black shirts/March on Rome, led Italy into alliance
with Hitler/WWII
 Italian country/economy destroyed in WWII; killed by countrymen in 1945
Simon Bolivar
 Educated creole; led Latin American independence movements against Spanish; inspired by
French/American Revs; called “the Liberator”; wanted to create “Gran Colombia”
 South American independence in early 1800s; post-independence marked by fighting
between caudillos
Fidel Castro
 Cuban communist; overthrew US backed government; center of Cuban Missile Crisis;
 Almost led to nuclear war; trade embargo on Cuba continues to this day; poor country