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[BLANK-1] occurred in 1871 following France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The French government had capitulated but no occupational force arrived in the capital; the National Guard and the remaining citizens became increasingly radicalized and politicized, eventually opening fire on the French army regulars. The people had faced a harsh winter and low rations, resorting even to eating the animals in the city zoo. Eventually, the people formed a provisional government with some liberal and some socialist aspects. Women gained much greater individual rights and workhouses provided plentiful employment for the war-ravaged populace. When the French army returned to the city in May, 1871, this group resisted them, preferring the provisional government they had created and expressing outrage that the army had fled the city and left them. The result was a massacre of the populace by the army as tens of thousands of citizens were killed by their country’s own troops.

By the sixteenth century, Portugal was unable to maintain the dominance it had once held in terms of international trade and Atlantic exploration. Spain, too, was facing serious crises due to prolonged military conflicts (and defeats), a stagnant economy, and a declining population. Spurred on by Portugal’s succession crisis, Spain absorbed the country in what was called [BLANK-1] and Portugal ceased to exist as an independent country from 1580-1640.

A conservative foreign minister, Klemens von Metternich, oversaw [BLANK-1] which had been convened by the Quadruple Alliance in 1814-1815, toward the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In addition to trying to negotiate a lasting peace after decades of war in Europe (owing to the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars), this diplomatic session became a key example of conservatism as a political philosophy (and the dominant philosophy in Europe until the mid-century). Attendees saw the French Revolution, the expansion of the franchise, and republicanism as huge mistakes and sought to return European government to what it had been prior to the revolution. The summit’s goals included limiting Russian influence in Europe, restoring power to the traditional elites like hereditary monarchies and the nobility, preventing France from growing too powerful, and organizing a balance-of-power system in order to prevent general war in Europe.

One major cultural change that occurred during the French Revolution was de-Christianization. An early example of this came in 1790 with [BLANK-1]. Dioceses were redistricted to conform to the new départements, priests were elected by active citizens and forced to take a loyalty oath to France, and church salaries were paid by the state.

Founded in Paris in the 1860s, [BLANK-1] was a famous cabaret that featured a variety of exotic and novel acts. Acts ranged from the rather ordinary dancing and singing to tumbling, belly dancing, erotic dancing, and even kangaroo boxing. This institution and others contributed to making Paris a spectacle city (alongside cities like Vienna and New York) which pushed the boundaries of late-nineteenth century respectability and morality. It provided new and exciting forms of entertainment for the masses and contributed to the rise of mass consumer society. It created a sense of shared experience in the minds of urban dwellers.

Adolf Hitler’s earliest supporters were known as the SA or [BLANK-1]. This group was a paramilitary organization that intimidated or performed acts of violence on Hitler’s political opponents. This group was among the earliest to embrace Nazism as an ideology with many having joined Hitler at the very beginning of his political career. Nonetheless, to consolidate power and to eliminate any potential political rivals, Hitler had his personal guard (the SS) purge the party of the SA. In the summer of 1934, in what became known as the Night of the Long Knives, SS troops secretly rounded up most of the SA, arrested them, and then executed them. Hitler was willing to kill his most loyal supporters in order to ensure absolute power in Germany.

More than 20 million Chinese subjects were killed during [BLANK-1] from 1851-1864. This conflict demonstrated the relative weakness of the Qing Dynasty (led by Manchus who had once been great warriors feared by the Chinese) because the government had to turn to the Chinese scholar-official class in order to raise an effective army. Hong Xiuquan, a moral reformer who became interested in Christianity and believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus of Nazareth, started the conflict. His followers destroyed idols and temples, renounced drugs and alcohol, and tried to form a utopian society based on the equalization of landholdings and the equality of men and women. The uprising ended in 1864, with the death of Hong and the capture and execution of his son (who briefly succeeded him), but it was one of a long list of issues that signaled the declining power of the Qing Dynasty during the nineteenth century.

Russia’s military struggles were evident extremely early in WWI. Just a few weeks into the war, in August 1914, Russia suffered a humiliating defeat to the Germans at [BLANK-1]. In this conflict, Russia suffered 170,000 casualties compared to only 14,000 for Germany. Germany was thus able to turn the tide of war only three weeks after the initial Russian attack.

Under the terms of [BLANK-1] Germany’s yearly reparations were reduced and linked to the level of German economic prosperity. Germany also received large loans from the United States in order to pay reparations to France and Great Britain. Those countries then used that money to pay back their own loans to the United States. This circular flow of international payments was complicated and risky, but worked for a while. It thus facilitated a worldwide economic recovery during the late 1920s.

[BLANK-1], led by moderate socialists Alexander Kerensky, came to power in Russia following the February Revolution (or March Revolution, depending on which calendar system is used) that removed the tsar from power. It was comprised of moderate socialists and liberal democrats who ushered in a number of liberal reforms. It established equality for all Russians before the law, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and it legalized strikes and extended property protections. The administration did not, however, confiscate the large feudal properties of the aristocrats and redistribute them and it did not immediately withdraw Russia from WWI. These key errors allowed Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky to execute a successful coup in the October Revolution (or February Revolution, depending on which calendar system is used) to overthrow Kerensky.