Western Civilization_ Volume B_ 1300 to 1815 - Jackson J. Spielvogel [351]
Mannerism a sixteenth-century artistic movement in Europe that deliberately broke down the High Renaissance principles of balance, harmony, and moderation.
manor an agricultural estate operated by a lord and worked by peasants who performed labor services and paid various rents and fees to the lord in exchange for protection and sustenance.
Marshall Plan the European Recovery Program, under which the United States provided financial aid to European countries to help them rebuild after World War II.
Marxism the political, economic, and social theories of Karl Marx, which included the idea that history is the story of class struggle and that ultimately the proletariat will overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish a dictatorship en route to a classless society.
mass education a state-run educational system, usually free and compulsory, that aims to ensure that all children in society have at least a basic education.
mass leisure forms of leisure that appeal to large numbers of people in a society, including the working classes; emerged at the end of the nineteenth century to provide workers with amusements after work and on weekends; used during the twentieth century by totalitarian states to control their populations.
mass politics a political order characterized by mass political parties and universal male and (eventually) female suffrage.
mass society a society in which the concerns of the majority— the lower classes—play a prominent role; characterized by extension of voting rights, an improved standard of living for the lower classes, and mass education.
materialism the belief that everything mental, spiritual, or ideal is an outgrowth of physical forces and that truth is found in concrete material existence, not through feeling or intuition.
mercantilism an economic theory that held that a nation’s prosperity depended on its supply of gold and silver and that the total volume of trade is unchangeable; its adherents therefore advocated that the government play an active role in the economy by encouraging exports and discouraging imports, especially through the use of tariffs.
Mesolithic Age the period from 10,000 to 7000 B.C.E., characterized by a gradual transition from a food-gathering and hunting economy to a food-producing economy.
Mesopotamia the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
metics resident foreigners in ancient Athens who were not permitted full rights of citizenship but did receive the protection of the laws.
Middle Passage the journey of slaves from Africa to the Americas as the middle leg of the triangular trade.
militarism a policy of aggressive military preparedness; in particular, the large armies based on mass conscription and complex, inflexible plans for mobilization that most European nations had before World War I.
millenarianism the belief that the end of the world is at hand and the kingdom of God is about to be established on earth.
ministerial responsibility a tenet of nineteenth-century liberalism that held that ministers of the monarch should be responsible to the legislative assembly rather than to the monarch.
mir a peasant village commune in Russia.
mobilization the organization of troops and supplies for service in time of war.
Modern Devotion a movement founded by Gerard Groote in the fourteenth century, aimed at a practical mysticism based on leading lives serving the needs of fellow human beings.
Modernism the artistic and literary styles that emerged in the decades before 1914 as artists rebelled against traditional efforts to portray reality as accurately as possible (leading to Impressionism and Cubism) and writers explored new forms.
monasticism a movement that began in early Christianity whose purpose was to create communities of men and women who practiced a communal life dedicated to God as a moral example to the world around them.
monk a man who chooses to live a communal life divorced from the world in order to dedicate