Domestic and Foreign Policies

Frederick I was the last Duke of Prussia and the first King of Prussia. Due to the ever-expanding size and power of Prussia he felt simply being a Duchy no longer reflected the importance of Prussia. As such an upgrade to a Kingdom was ordered.

The Edict of Nantes, decreed in 1598 by Henry IV of France, gave French Protestants (Huguenots) many rights in French society, despite the nation's majority Catholic population. This had the effect of diminishing the persecution of French Protestants in France.

Perestroika and glasnost were two reform movements initiated during the last communist administration to govern the Soviet Union, led by Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika was the name given to the policy of economic reform that allowed for the development of rudimentary capitalism, and glasnost was the policy of political reform designed to provide openness and governmental transparency.

The Final Solution was Hitler's plan to eradicate all Jewish and non-Aryan people from Germany (and German-conquered regions of Europe). It included concentration camps, mass extermination, and forced labor.

The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV of France in 1598. This consolation to the French Protestants was meant to give them religious freedom and thus put an end to the French Wars of Religion.

Following the death of Sigismund II Poland and Lithuania changed to become an elected monarchy. This meant that a king would be elected by the Polish noble families to rule for life.

The Soviet policy of glasnost was initiated in 1985 and was designed to provide openness and transparency in government by loosening the previously tight restrictions on freedom of the press. It was accompanied by perestroika, a restructuring of the Soviet economy to provide rudimentary moves away from a totally state-run economy.

The Paris Charter of 1990 was an attempt by the governments of Western Europe, the United States, and Canada to seize upon the demise of the Soviet Union and ensure the transition of Eastern European countries into the new world order. The nations of Western Europe wanted to integrate the newly-independent nations of Eastern Europe into their ideological framework of capitalism, democracy, and individual liberty.

The "Auld Alliance" was a later term to denote the era between 1295, when John Balliol of Scotland and Philip IV of France formed an alliance against Edward I of England, and 1603, when James VI of Scotland united the crowns of Scotland and England as James I of England. The alliance was based on each country's long-standing issues with England, which often drew one country into the other's conflicts with the English monarchy.

The Soviet policy of glasnost was initiated in 1985 during the administration of Mikhail Gorbachev. It was designed to provide openness and transparency in government by loosening the previously tight restrictions on freedom of the press. It was accompanied by perestroika, a restructuring of the Soviet economy to provide rudimentary capitalism.