World History MCQs

Notes:
Japan was the first country in Asia to industrialize on a large scale. Industrialization began in Japan after the fall of the Tokugawa government in 1868. Japan industrialized faster than many European countries.
Japan’s industrialization was prompted by the need to improve the nation’s defenses against foreign threats. Local clans developed industrialization by copying Western examples and using traditional craft skills. Japan’s production included steel, machinery, metal goods, and chemicals, which were produced in quantities large enough for export.
Other Asian countries that have industrialized include: South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

Notes:
The Shatt al-Arab waterway was the main factor in the Iran-Iraq War. The Shatt al-Arab is formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The southern end of the river forms the border between Iran and Iraq. The Shatt al-Arab was an important channel for oil exports for both countries. The dispute over the Shatt al-Arab lasted from 1936 until 1975. Iran rejected the demarcation line established in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of Constantinople of November 1913. Iran wanted the border to run along the thalweg, the deepest point of the navigable channel. The Iran-Iraq War lasted from September 1980 until August 1988. The war was also called the First Persian Gulf War or the Imposed War in Iran.

Notes:
Egypt and Syria formed the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958. The UAR was a sovereign state that was intended to be the first step toward a pan-Arab union. The union was short-lived, ending in 1961 when Syria seceded. Egypt continued to be known as the United Arab Republic until 1971.  The UAR was formed as a single political unit with Gamal Abd al-Nasser as its president. Nasser gave each province two vice-presidents. The provisional constitution of 1958 was adopted. The United States recognized the UAR on February 25, 1958.

Notes:
The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The bomb, code-named “Little Boy”, was targeted at the city of Hiroshima.

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The North-South Dialogue refers to the process through which the developing and newly independent nations of the “third world,” engaged the industrialized countries of North America and Western Europe in negotiations over changes to the international economic system.

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Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict is a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This region is legally recognized under the control of Azerbaijan. The conflict further leads to a full-scale war between 1988 and 1994.

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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.

Notes:
Kuomintang’s were in political power in mainland China from 1912 to 1949. Sun Yat-Sen was its founder President. Kuomintang’s lost to the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. Kuomintang’s lost the control of mainland China and they retreated themselves to Taiwan and formed “Republic of China”. Communist Party of China instead took control of mainland China and proclaimed the establishment of the People ‘s Republic of China in 1949.

Notes:
The Democratic Republic of Congo gained its independence from Belgium in 1960. Belgian expedition under Sir Henry Morton Stanley received patronage from King Leopold II of Belgium to explore and administer Congo from 1870s. Belgians forced the local population of Congo to produce rubber and unleashed abuses through exploitation and diseases. In 1908, Belgian parliament annexed Congo as Belgian colony from King Leopold II of Belgium. In 1960, Mouvement National Congolais under Patrice Lumumba started the nationalist movement and won Parliamentary election. And in June 1960, Congo achieved independence and established as a republic of Congo or Congo-Leopoldville.

Notes:
26th of July Movement was a revolutionary organisation and a political party of Cuba led by Fidel Castro. It was active from 1955 to 1965. It was widely remembered as an attack against army barracks on 26th July 1953 to overthrow the rule of dictator Fulgencio Batista. It supported anti-imperialism and left-wing nationalism. Its area of operations was in the Caribean Sea.