World History MCQs

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The Velvet Revolution of 1989 was a series of peaceful protests and political events that took place in Czechoslovakia, leading to the overthrow of the Communist government and the transition to a democratic system. The Velvet Revolution, which is also known as the Gentle Revolution, began in November 1989 with a student demonstration in Prague, which was met with a violent response from the government. This sparked widespread protests and strikes, which quickly spread across the country and put pressure on the government to reform. After weeks of protests and negotiations, the Communist leadership was forced to resign, and a new government was formed. The Velvet Revolution is considered to be one of the key events of the collapse of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe.

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The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is a legal agreement between countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. It is to evolve rules of game for international trade.

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The “1989 Tiananmen Square Protests” happened in China. It is also known as the June Fourth Incident. This protests happened in Tiananmen Square of Beijing. The protest’s major goals were to end the corruption of the Communist Party of China; to bring democratic reforms such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of association and to bring economic-free market reforms in China. But, these protests were brutally suppressed by the Chinese Government which lead to the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Notes:
China was associated with the Opium Wars. Opium Wars were the group of two wars between the Qing dynasty of China and the western powers. The First Opium War (1839-1842) was between the Qing dynasty and Great Britain. The Second Opium War (1856-1860) was between the Qing dynasty and western powers such as Great Britain and France. The Qing dynasty waged war against the opium trade of western powers in China. But these wars defeated the Qing dynasty and forced it to grant various favourable terms to western powers.

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The Egyptian Civilization began to flourish almost about 10,000 B.C. around the fertile valley of river Nile. The Nile river acted as the principal source of  life and prosperity of the civilization.

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Mesopotamian civilizations formed on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the modern day Iraq and Kuwait. Some of the major Mesopotamian civilizations are: Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian civilizations.

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Babylonia was a state in ancient Mesopotamia. The city of Babylon, whose ruins are located in present-day Iraq, was founded by Amorite king Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C more than 4,000 years ago as a small port town on the Euphrates River.

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The Assyrians owed their success to three primary factors:
1) Their weapons were made of iron.
2) They used horses and chariots in the war.
3) They were superior warriors, more skilled in warfare.

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The Qin dynasty was the first dynasty of Imperial China which ruled China from 221 to 206 BC. It marked the beginning of the Chinese Empire. During the reign of this dynasty, China was greatly expanded to cover the Ye lands of Hunan and Guangdong.

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Homer wrote the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’ in the 7th century B.C. The subject matter of ‘Iliad’ is the Spartan victory over Troy after a decade-long war, as well as the exploits of their legendary hero, Achilles whereas the ‘Odyssey’ describes the adventurous return journey of Odysseus from Troy.