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HIST 152 Western Civilization Since 1650 MCQs
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Question: Western Europeans rejoiced when the Greeks gained independence in 1830 because
A Europeans identified with the Greeks, since ancient Greece was viewed as the home of all Western civilization
B This was a check to growing Turkish power in the eastern Mediterranean
C The Greek prince Ypsilanti, who led the revolt, was a charismatic and popular figure
D Europeans saw this as the first step toward independence for all subject peoples throughout Europe
Question: The first successful steam-powered passenger railway in the history of the world opened in 1830 and connected
A London and Manchester
B Manchester and Liverpool
C London and Edinburgh
D Liverpool and Edinburgh
Question: Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary (1857) and Édouard Manet’s painting Olympia (1865) both explored
A Middle-class materialism
B Women’s sexuality
C Religious hypocrisy
D The lives of prostitutes
Question: In keeping with an intellectual countercurrent to industrialization, Sir Charles Barry rebuilt the British Houses of Parliament in the
A Classical style
B Baroque style
C Romanesque style
D Gothic style
Question: The new mass journalism of this period was characterized by
A An increase in sensational stories in newspapers and an emphasis on spreading information quickly
B A broadening of the literary scope of newspapers, to keep up with the expansion of commercial fiction
C A merging of political opinions in newspapers toward the center, an increased desire for “objectivity,” and the abandoning of specific liberal, conservative, or socialist points of view
D Increased prices to keep up with mounting wages and to boost profits for the new press barons
Question: The Reform Bill of 1832 was a political landmark because
A It gave representation to manufacturing cities in the north and set a precedent for the expansion of the percentage of eligible voters
B It granted a powerful voice to the numerically superior but materially poorer south
C Universal suffrage was given to all men over the age of twenty-five
D Women were granted the right to initiate divorce on grounds other than abandonment
Question: Bismarck sought to convince William I and the Junkers that a more powerful Germany could be built
A “By convincing Germans in Austria and elsewhere that we are all German brothers”
B Not “by speeches and majority decisions . . . but by iron and blood”
C By “continuing . . . the congress system so effectively pioneered by our Austrian brother Count Metternich”
D “By showing . . . a firm hand to our neighbors, . . . and a generous hand to our citizens”
Question: The founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885 represented
A A milestone in Indian self-government
B A direct and unprecedented challenge to Britain’s right to rule by educated Indian elites
C Yet another British increase in direct political control over the Indian subcontinent
D A liberalization of British policy toward Indian participation in colonial government
Question: In Great Britain, theorist Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) emerged as a practitioner of the new field of
A Sinology
B Political economy
C Sexology
D Sociology
Question: After a brief war in 1898, Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to
A Mexico
B The United States
C Great Britain
D France
Question: The ideology that argued for the restoration of social and religious hierarchies was
A Socialism
B Conservatism
C Liberalism
D Utilitarianism
Question: Violent attacks against Jews in Russia that were condoned by officials were known as
A Pomidors
B Prostudas
C Pogroms
D Podaroks
Question: In exchange for French help in driving Austria out of Italy, Cavour offered Napoleon III
A Unchallenged French occupation of Rome
B Piedmont-Sardinia’s support of French claims in the Balkans
C Savoy and the city of Nice
D Sardinia
Question: In the late nineteenth century, industrialization tended to be capital intensive, which means that
A Industries tended to mass themselves around capital cities
B Companies were expected to produce high returns for their investors
C Large amounts of money were needed to buy expensive machinery and equipment
D A handful of private banks made loans to the most profitable new industries
Question: One example of Metternich’s campaign of repression within the states of the German Confederation was the institution of the
A Enabling Law
B Act of Supremacy
C Burschenschaften
D Carlsbad Decrees
Question: The main difference between colonialism and imperialism was that
A Peoples subject to imperialism developed an articulate and organized opposition; colonized peoples seldom coordinated opposition
B Unlike colonialism, imperialism was a more aggressive, directly exploitative form of political domination
C Colonialism typically involved settlers dependent on slave labor, whereas imperialism involved more indirect forms of economic exploitation and political domination
D Unlike the European greed motivating colonialism, imperialism focused on exerting cultural rather than economic hegemony
Question: In the 1890s, Italy joined the race for imperial acquisitions and sent an army to conquer
A Ethiopia, only to be soundly defeated
B Argentina, successfully establishing Italian control over Buenos Aires
C Ethiopia, defeating the Ethiopian army at the battle of Adowa
D The Sudan, which was, however, claimed by the British
Question: The candidate who won the first presidential election after the French Revolution of 1848 was
A Alphonse de Lamartine
B The marquis de Lafayette
C Louis Blanc
D Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
Question: In the Crimean War of 1853–1856, Britain and France fought to
A Save Greece from the Ottoman Empire
B Defend the Ottoman Empire from dismemberment by Russia
C Protect the Bulgarians from Austro-Hungary massacres
D Stop Prussia from annexing parts of Denmark
Question: In the 1820s, socialists were more hostile to the status quo than were liberals because
A Socialists demanded that workers take over all the large factories without compensating former owners, while liberals said that owners should be reimbursed
B Factory workers who supported the socialists far outnumbered the liberals, who were backed by the middle classes
C Many former soldiers voted for socialists rather than liberals in elections because they identified the liberals with the regimes established by the Congress of Vienna
D Socialists believed that society had to be completely reorganized, whereas liberals wanted to make changes without upsetting the basic structure of society
Question: After touring Manchester, England, in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville concluded that
A Conditions of factory workers were much better than previous observers had reported
B The rapid development of industry was spreading wealth throughout society
C Industrialization produced both great misery and great wealth at the same time
D Most workers were secretly engaged in trade union activity or even socialism
Question: The British made Canada a united, self-governing dominion in 1867, in part to
A Reduce colonial administration expenses more urgently needed in India
B Undercut a demand by the United States that it be allowed to annex Canada
C Encourage the Irish to emigrate there
D Encourage other colonies to assimilate British mores, tastes, and opinions more quickly
Question: Napoleon III offered the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph’s brother, Maximilian
A His allegiance in a Franco-Austrian war against Russia
B The chance to replace the former king of Spain, recently overthrown in a military coup
C Control of Mexico and ultimately of all Central America
D His support in Maximilian’s plan to seize the imperial throne from his brother
Question: The Russian Revolution of 1905 was caused by
A Troops firing on a crowd of workers protesting their inhumane working conditions
B Tsar Nicholas II’s refusal to allow Lenin and his Bolsheviks back into the country after their exile
C A bitter dispute between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks in the Duma
D The successful Boxer Uprising in China, inspiring Russian peasants to take up arms
Question: The crop failures of the mid-1840s not only drove up the price of food but also
A Led employers to demand that workers put in unpaid overtime to produce more goods to sell to overseas markets
B Forced the military establishments of Europe to cut back on recruitment
C Destroyed medicines based on plant products, making it harder to fight infections
D Drove down demand for products, thereby creating widespread unemployment
Question: The discovery of this medicine removed a roadblock to European conquest of Africa.
A Quinine
B Cola
C Aspirin
D Sodium bicarbonate
Question: Italian unification in 1861 was led by the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia because
A It had industry, a good economy, a strong army, and the backing of France
B The pope would work only with prime minister Camillo di Cavour and no one else
C It was the home of Giuseppe Garibaldi and most of his “Red Shirts”
D Its strategic location meant that unification would be impossible without its support
Question: Which of the following was not true of the “congress system” established by the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815)?
A It provided a new framework for international relations based on periodic meetings, or congresses, between major European countries
B It served as an important vehicle for maintenance of the European status quo and the forces of conservatism
C It led to a sudden shift of power from Prussia to Austria, as Metternich outmaneuvered the Prussian representative
D It helped to prevent another major war until mid-century and another world war until 1914
Question: In general, large numbers from rural Sicily, Ireland, and Scandinavia emigrated because
A The population was expanding so rapidly that these home countries did not have enough jobs to employ the growing labor pool
B None of these countries was an independent, democratic state, and people left to find more freedom
C American entrepreneurs who needed workers targeted these people and gave them large signing bonuses to emigrate
D These three areas lagged behind the rest of Europe in unionization
Question: Which one of the following statements about the Industrial Revolution is false?
A By the 1840s, a full 35 percent of the British labor force was employed in factories
B By 1850, the German states had nearly twice as many miles of railroad as the French
C During the 1840s, German coal and iron output were 6 or 7 percent of the British output
D In the 1840s, factories in England employed a mere 5 percent of workers
Question: Georges-Eugène Haussmann, who designed urban changes for Paris
A Worked to pipe clean water from the countryside to every dwelling in Paris
B Established public bathhouses in every section of the city
C Installed public toilets for men and women in business districts
D Built multifamily dwellings for workers adjoining factories and railway stations
Question: In 1830, France invaded and established political control over Algeria and
A Tahiti
B Micronesia
C Guyana
D Ischia
Question: As industrialization advanced, the two problems that began to plague entrepreneurs most were skyrocketing start-up costs and
A Excessive state regulatory interference
B An outmoded stock market system
C Supply that was greater than demand
D A steep rise in workers’ wages
Question: The Law of Indemnity, the Law of Sacrilege, the dissolution of the legislature, and the imposition of strict censorship were all undertaken by
A Charles X
B Prince Klemens von Metternich
C Ferdinand VII
D Frederick William III
Question: In 1859, graffiti reading “VERDI,” which appeared on the walls of Italian cities, represented
A Opposition to the monarchy of Victor Emmanuel II, whose opponents used an insulting acronym for “Victor Emmanuel Re d’Idioti” (“king of Idiots”)
B A reference to the green (Italian verde) flag of the Piedmontese nationalists
C The Italian people’s mania for the new operas of Giuseppe Verdi
D A cryptic call for Italian unification under the leadership of Vittorio Emmanuele Re d’Italia (“king of Italy”)
Question: Which of the following relationships was true in the 1960s?
A R&B influenced Nashville artists
B Nashville artists influenced R&B
C Neither A nor B
D Nashville artists influenced classical artists
Question: The Economist was established in 1843 to promote the free-trade goals of the
A Alliance Français
B Anti-Corn Law League
C British and Imperial Merchants Association
D Workers’ Alliance for Fair Prices
Question: In pursuing its program for modernization, the Meiji government
A Gave overly favorable trade agreements to technologically advanced Western powers
B Incurred the wrath and intractable resistance of its artisan and merchant classes
C Did not tolerate anyone who opposed modernization
D Received financial support from France
Question: Although Tsar Alexander II freed the serfs, a free, mobile labor force was stymied by
A Lengthy military conscription that kept men in the army for twenty-five years
B A lack of roads and rail transport
C The fact that zemstvos (local councils) often denied former serfs’ requests for permission to move
D The fact that former serfs remained tied to a system of communal landowning and decision making
Question: Which of the following was not a reform granted by Emperor Francis Joseph in Austria-Hungary?
A Ethnic minorities could receive an education
B Ethnic minorities could use their own language to communicate with officials
C Internal trade barriers were lifted
D Compulsory military service ended for nobles and peasants
Question: Scientists Antoine Becquerel, Marie Curie, and Max Planck all argued that
A Fellow scientist Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite in 1866 would one day lead to a worldwide military conflagration
B Completion of the periodic table would revolutionize commercial application of chemical compounds by vastly facilitating their reproduction
C Matter was not solid but, rather, made up of mutable atoms, themselves made up of subatomic particles moving about a core
D The spontaneous emission of radiation occurred directly from unstable atomic nuclei, which, if marshaled, could be used medically to treat tumors
Question: Russia encouraged anti-Japanese groups in which country?
A Indochina
B Formosa
C Korea
D Manchuria
Question: Historians use the concept of a “Second” Industrial Revolution to refer to
A The new sociocultural environment that emerged as a result of industrialization
B German industry’s surpassing of Great Britain in both output and profit
C The rise of heavy industries (coal, iron, and steel), railroads, and electricity in Great Britain after textiles and steam power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
D Industrialization of former colonies like Canada and the United States
Question: The overall European population was growing at the end of the nineteenth century, but
A Most governments worried that they lacked enough manpower for their armies
B The birthrate was falling in almost every country
C Governments still struggled to collect enough taxes to pay for urban improvements
D Average life expectancy did not increase
Question: In terms of their impact, what set Marx and Engels apart from other socialist and communist intellectuals?
A They tried to suppress trade unions because they thought unions would slow the advance of socialism
B The Communist Manifesto became the foundation document for communist revolutions around the world
C They were willing to work with liberals and other reformers in England and Germany
D They put religion, and particularly early Christianity, at the heart of their ideology
Question: Many European countries began to close the industrial gap with Great Britain from 1800 to 1840
A And these countries were generally able to close that gap by 1850 on their own initiative
B But even by 1850, continental Europe was almost twenty years behind British industrialization
C And through economic cooperation and sharing of technical exports, continental countries caught up with Britain’s industrial production
D But by 1850, they had failed to catch up to Great Britain because Britain had capitalized on its early industrialization and pulled even further ahead
Question: The reasoning behind the new British poor law in 1834, dubbed by its critics the “Starvation Act,” was that
A Providing food subsidies only to married women would reduce illegitimacy
B Denying workhouse access to women under thirty years of age would force their families to care for them
C Reducing the amount of food offered to urban workhouse residents would compel them to leave and return to the countryside
D The distress caused by the separation of family members from one another in workhouses would encourage the poor to move to areas of higher employment
Question: The Paris Commune of 1871 was established because
A Parisian workers rebelled against the conservative government installed by Prussia
B The women and men of Paris were outraged that the government planned to tear down their neighborhoods for urban renovation
C The provisional government could not supply sufficient food to the capital during the Prussian siege of the city, so Parisians elected their own government to meet the crisis
D The elections held under the new Third Republic deliberately underrepresented Paris, which was traditionally more radical than the rest of the country
Question: Which one of the following countries spent just as much on education in the last quarter of the nineteenth century as it did on its military?
A Germany
B Great Britain
C France
D Russia
Question: The term modernity was often applied to this period because it
A Outlines the ways in which almost all aspects of European life saw a rejection of past methods, morals, and manners
B Encompasses both the fruits of industrialization and the general acceptance that liberal capitalism was the best method for bringing about social happiness
C Describes the total abandonment of conventional social behavior in Europe, as characterized by extremely lax sexual mores and by anarchical economics
D Captures the accelerated pace of life, urbanization, mass politics, and artistic responses to all of these changes
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