Modern European Lingo

Confidence Vote- The vote that was taken in the House of Commons to test their faith in the Prime Minister’s decision regarding an issue that was very controversial; if the prime minister lost he would lose his position

Confirmation- Sacrament only practiced in the Catholic Church in which a grown follower would announce his faith in God and become an adult in the church; similar to Bar mitzvahs in Judaism

Congregationalists- People who sought to establish an autonomous church in England, meaning one that governed itself and followed its own laws

Congress of Vienna, The- Convened in 1814 to settle the problems of the Napoleonic Wars; instated conservative values to prevent the rise of someone like Napoleon; led by Metternich, from Austria; other leaders included Talleyrand(France), Hardenburg(Prussia), Alexander I(Russia), and Castlereagh(Britain)

Conquistadors- Spanish conquerors in the Americas; utilized the Encomiendas and Repartimiento forced labor systems; spread Catholicism; examples: Cortes, Pizarro

Consort- Term for the husband of a queen or the wife of a king; had no political power

Constitutionalism- Movement in England to shift towards a government that is controlled by a balance of power between a monarch and the Parliament; resulted in constitutional monarchy

Consubstantiation- Luther’s interpretation of the Catholic idea of transubstantiation; held that the bread and wine were only symbolic of the body and blood of Jesus Christ

Consulate, The- The system of government in France in which three consuls led the rest of the political officials; essentially a dictatorship once Napoleon was deemed the head consul; began in 1799 with the Coup of Brumaire

Continental System, The- French system that barred trade with Britain and was summarized in the Milan Decree of 1807, which attempted to stop neutral nations from trading with Britain; resulted with the Orders in Council, in which Britain used its navy to block European trade, so American ships were forced to go through British ports; helped Britain to develop new markets in the long run and hurt continental Europe technologically

Convention of Westminster- The defensive alliance that was formed in 1756 between Britain and Prussia; main event of the Diplomatic Revolution; led to the Seven Years’ War

Convoy System- Groups of military or merchant ships that were escorted by the navy during times of war; used during WWI after the German submarine campaign initiated in 1917; in WWII, was used to keep Atlantic trade alive

Corfu Incident, The- In 1923, bandits killed four Italians members of the League of Nations who were marking the Albania-Greece border; an attack on Corfu, a Greek island, was authorized by Mussolini and resulted in Greece paying an indemnity