Raphael(1483-1520) - Florentine painter and architect of the Italian High Renaissance.
Rasputin, Father Grigori(1872-1916) - Russian mystic having great influence over the wife of Tsar Nicholas II's wife Alexandra, ultimately leading to the downfall of the Romanov dynasty and the Bolshevik Revolution.
Rationalism - The philosophical idea that truth is derived from reason and analysis, instead of from faith and religious dogma (Renaissance).
Realism(Renaissance) - Depiction of images which is realistic instead of idealistic.
Realism(19th century) - Artistic movement originating in France as a reaction to Romanticism; depiction of commonplace instead of idealized themes.
Realpolitick(Politics of reality) - A term coined by Otto von Bismarck which refers to foreign politics based on practical concerns rather than theory or ethics.
Reconquista - The Spanish "reconquering" resulting in the removal of Jews and Muslims from the state, and a unification of Spain under Catholicism.
Red Guards(Russia) - The main strike force of the Bolsheviks, created in March 1917.
Reichstag(Imperial Diet) - Between 1871 and 1945, the German parliament.
Rembrandt van Rijn(1606-1669) - A baroque painter and engraver of the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age.
Renaissance - A cultural movement started in Italy in the 14th century marked by a rebirth of classic art and scientific learning of ancient Greece and Rome.
René Descartes(1596-1650) - Mathematician (inventor of the Cartesian coordinate system) and rationalist philosopher ("I think, therefore I am").
Risorgimento(resurrection) - The gradual unification of Italy, culminating in the declaration of the Kingdom of Italy (1861) and the conquest of Rome (1870).
Rite of Spring - A ballet composed by Russian Igor Stravinsky; controversy due to its subject, pagan sacrifice.
Robert Owen(1771-1858) - Welsh social reformer, father of the cooperative movement.
Robespierre(1758-1794) - One of the best known leaders of the French Revolutions; known as "the Incorruptible"; leader of the Committee of Public Safety.
Romanticism(18th century) - Artistic and intellectual movement, after the Enlightenment period, stressing strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions.
Rotten borough - A small British parliamentary constituency which could be 'controlled' by a patron and used to exercise undue and unrepresentative influence within parliament.
Roundheads - Puritans under Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War; named after the round helmets they wore; also known as Parliamentarians.
Royal Society of London(1660) - An institution of learning committed to open content, the free availability and flow of information.
Royalists - An adherent of a monarch or royal family; sometimes refers to Cavaliers(English Civil War).
Russian Civil War(1918-1920) - Conflict between communists and monarchists, after the Russian Revolution of 1917.
