WORLD HISTORY II
IMPORTANT PEOPLE TO KNOW
RENAISSANCE:
Michelangelo—Renaissance artist famous for the David, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, and the
Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica
Leonardo da Vinci—Renaissance artist famous for the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper
William Shakespeare—Famous Renaissance playwright
Erasmus—Famous humanist
THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION:
John Wycliffe—Religious dissenter prior to Martin Luther who challenged the Catholic Church
and translated the New Testament into English
Jan Hus—Religious dissenter prior to Martin Luther who challenged the Catholic Church and
was burned at the stake
Martin Luther-- Began the Protestant Reformation in Germany; Wrote the 95 Theses
John Calvin-- Believed in predestination and the Protestant work ethic; Spread the Reformation
to Switzerland
King Henry VIII—Began the Protestant Reformation in England; Became the head of the
Anglican Church
Queen Elizabeth I—Made the Anglican Church the official church in England; Defeated the
Spanish Armada
Cardinal Richelieu—Changed the focus of the 30 Years’ War from a religious to a political
conflict
Johann Gutenberg—Invented the printing press
FAMOUS EXPLORERS:
Prince Henry the Navigator—Established a navigational school in Portugal
Vasco da Gama—First to sail directly from Europe to India
Christopher Columbus—“Discovered” the Americas
Hernando Cortez—Conquered the Aztecs
Francisco Pizarro—Conquered the Incas
Ferdinand Magellan—His crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Francis Drake—the English captain who was the first to circumnavigate the globe
Jacques Cartier—French explorer who discovered the St. Lawrence River in Canada
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION:
Nicolaus Copernicus—Heliocentric theory
Johannes Kepler—Planetary motion/Elliptical orbits
Galileo Galilei—Used the telescope to support the heliocentric theory
Sir Isaac Newton—Discovered the laws of gravity
William Harvey—Discovered the circulation of blood
Edward Jenner-Smallpox vaccine
Louis Pasteur—Discovered bacteria
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ABSOLUTE MONARCHS:
Louis XIV—Absolute monarch of France; Built the Palace of Versailles
Peter the Great—Absolute monarch of Russia; Westernization
ENGLAND:
Charles I—English king beheaded during the English Civil War
Oliver Cromwell—Ruled England as a military dictator after Charles I was executed
Charles II—Was restored to the throne after Cromwell’s death; Restoration
William and Mary—overthrew King James II during the Glorious Revolution
ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHERS:
Thomas Hobbes—Wrote Leviathan; Believed that people form governments for self-protection
John Locke—Natural rights; Believed in rule by the people
Baron de Montesquieu—Separation of powers
Jean-Jacques Rousseau—Government was a social contract between the rulers and the people
Voltaire—Believed in religious freedom
FRENCH REVOLUTIONS (AND OTHER REVOLUTIONS):
Louis XVI—French king who was beheaded during the French Revolution
Napoleon Bonaparte—Military dictator who almost conquered all of Europe
Toussaint L’Ouverture—Led the independence movement in Haiti
Simon Bolivar—Liberated the northern areas of South America
Father Miguel Hidalgo—Led the independence movement in Mexico
WRITERS, ARTISTS, AND COMPOSERS:
Johann Sebastian Bach—Baroque composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—Classical composer
Eugene Delacroix—Famous Romantic artist
Miguel de Cervantes—Wrote Don Quixote, the first European novel
ITALIAN AND GERMAN UNIFICATION:
Camillo di Cavour—United northern Italy
Giuseppe Garibaldi—United southern Italy; Leader of the Red Shirts
Otto von Bismarck—United Germany; Realpolitik
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:
James Hargreaves—Spinning jenny
James Watt—Steam engine
Eli Whitney—Cotton gin
Henry Bessemer—Cheaper, easier method for making steel
COMMUNISTS VERSUS CAPITALISTS:
Adam Smith—Wrote Wealth of Nations; A capitalist; No government interference in the
economy
Karl Marx—Wrote the Communist Manifesto; A communist; Wanted government to
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redistribute the wealth evenly among the people
WORLD WAR I:
Archduke Franz Ferdinand—His assassination started WWI
Woodrow Wilson—U.S. President during WWI
Kaiser Wilhelm II—Leader of Germany during WWI
Nicholas II-Leader of Russia at the beginning of the war; Removed from power in 1917; Last
Russian czar
Vladimir Lenin—Led the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917; Ended Russia’s involvement
in WWI; Developed the New Economic Policy
WORLD WAR II:
AXIS POWERS:
Adolf Hitler—Leader of Nazi Germany during WWII; Responsible for the Holocaust
Benito Mussolini—Fascist leader of Italy during WWII
Hirohito—Emperor of Japan during WWII
Hideki Tojo—Prime minister and leading general of Japan during WWII
ALLIED POWERS:
Franklin D. Roosevelt—U.S. President during WWII
Harry S Truman—U.S. President after FDR died; Authorized nuclear bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki; Developed the policy of containment
Dwight D. Eisenhower—Supreme Allied commander in Europe; Led the D-Day invasion
Douglas MacArthur—Allied commander in the Pacific; in charge of rebuilding Japan after
WWII
George Marshall—Army Chief of Staff during WWII; Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe
Winston Churchill—British Prime Minister during WWII
Joseph Stalin—Soviet dictator during WWII; Developed the Five Year Plans
ASIA:
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek)—Nationlist leader of China; Forced to flee to Taiwan
Mao Zedong—Communist leader of China; Established the People’s Republic of China
Ho Chi Minh—Communist leader of North Vietnam
Pol Pot—Communist leader of Cambodia; Responsible for the genocide in Cambodia
Mohandas Gandhi—Leader of the independence movement in India; Civil disobedience and
passive resistance
Jawaharlal Nehru—First prime minister of India who believed in western-style
industrialization
Indira Gandhi—Prime minister of India who developed a close relationship with the Soviet
Union; Developed nuclear weapons program for India
THE MIDDLE EAST (SOUTHWEST ASIA):
Golda Meir—Israeli Prime Minister during the Yom Kippur War
Gamal Abdul Nasser—President of Egypt who nationalized the Suez Canal; Built the Aswan
High Dam; Had a close relationship with the Soviet Union
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DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA:
Jomo Kenyatta—Leader of the independence movement in Kenya
Nelson Mandela—Opposed apartheid; Spent 27 years in prison; Became the first black
president of the Republic of South Africa
THE COLD WAR:
Margaret Thatcher—British prime minister who believed in free trade and developed a close
relationship with the United States
Mikhail Gorbachev—the last leader of the Soviet Union; developed the policies of glasnost and
perestroika
Boris Yeltsin—the first directly elected president of Russia
Deng Xiaopeng—Chinese leader who allowed the Chinese economy to adopt features of
capitalism; Responsible for the Tiananmen Square massacre
FIVE WORLD RELIGIONS:
Abraham—Founder of Judaism
Jesus Christ—Founder of Christianity
Muhammad—Founder of Islam
Siddhartha Gautama—Founder of Buddhism
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