World History MCQs

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Amilcar Cabral was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, pan-Africanist, intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary, political organizer, nationalist and diplomat. He was one of Africa’s foremost anti-colonial leaders. Also known by the name Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau. He was assassinated on 20 January 1973, about eight months before Guinea-Bissau’s unilateral declaration of independence. He was deeply influenced by Marxism and became an inspiration to revolutionary socialists and national independence movements worldwide.

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Jean-Pierre Boyer was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution and President of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the north and south of the country into the Republic of Haiti in 1820 and also annexed the newly independent Spanish Haiti (Santo Domingo), which brought all of Hispaniola under one Haitian government by 1822. Boyer managed to rule for the longest period of time of any of the revolutionary leaders of his generation.

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Indonesia was the location of the event “30 September Movement”. The Thirtieth of September Movement was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian National Armed Forces members who, in the early hours of 1 October 1965, assassinated six Indonesian Army generals in an abortive coup d’etat. Later that morning, the organisation declared that it was in control of media and communication outlets and had taken President Sukarno under its protection. By the end of the day, the coup attempt had failed in Jakarta. Meanwhile, in central Java, there was an attempt to take control of an army division and several cities. By the time this rebellion was put down, two more senior officers were dead.

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Indonesia invaded East Timor through “Operation Lotus”. The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, also known as Operation Lotus, began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-communism to overthrow the Fretilin regime that had emerged in 1974. The overthrow of the popular and briefly Fretilin-led government sparked a violent quarter-century occupation.

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The 14 July Revolution, also known as the 1958 Iraqi coup d’etat, took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq and resulted in the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq that had been established by King Faisal I in 1921 under the auspices of the British. King Faisal II, Prince Abd al-Ilah, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said were killed during the uprising. As a result of the overthrow of the Iraqi Hashemite dynasty, the coup d’etat established the Iraqi Republic.

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Some parts of Kiribati were occupied by Japan during the period of Second World War. These parts were liberated during the Battle of Tarawa.

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The NATO played a significant role by intervening in the Kosovo war to end the war in 1999.

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In March 1918, despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany at Brest Litovsk. However, this peace treaty was very humiliating as Germany annexed almost one third of the total European territories of Soviet Russia in this treaty. Lenin agreed to this treaty so that the Bolshevik party could focus on internal consolidation and winning the civil war. So, statement 1 is correct. Soviet Russia soon became a one-party state as all the parties, other than the Bolshevik Party, were banned. Trade unions were kept under strict party control. The secret police (called the Cheka first, and later OGPU and NKVD) punished those who criticised the Bolsheviks. So, the statement 2 is correct.

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The area in the south-east Asia was once called Indo-china. It consists of modern day Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In a series of planned steps which included threats of war, France became the master of Indo-China by the end of 19th century and the separate states were grouped together under a French governor-general. Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka, was first conquered by the Portuguese, who lost it to the Dutch and eventually British became the masters of Ceylon. Similarly, Malay Peninsula along with the spice islands of Indonesia were once under the control of Dutch. Eventually, British captured the Malay Peninsula along with the Singapore.

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Socialist Parties had been organised in many countries of Europe, including France. Some of them had a large following also. In 1871, the first revolution inspired by the ideas of socialism had taken place in Paris. It is known in the history as the ‘Paris Commune’. This event is entangled with the ‘Franco-Prussian War’. The ‘Commune’ governed the city of Paris for some time. It represented the interest of workers, labourers and soldiers. But, its rule lasted only a few months as the French national forces supported by international groups crushed it. But, it is a very significant international event. The unfolding of the ‘Paris Commune’ episode deeply impacted the theories and writings of Karl Marx.