World History MCQs

Notes:
In its early period, Estonia was under the colonial subjugation of Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and Russians. In 19th and early 20th centuries, Estonia witnessed a movement promoting and propagating “Estonian National Awakening” in which Estonians started acknowledging themselves as a nation deserving the right to govern themselves. This lead to the Estonian War of Independence from 1918 to 1920 which lead to the Estonian victory and the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty, finally proclaiming the independence of Estonia from Russia. After independence, initially, Estonia followed a democratic political system which got culminated into an authoritarian rule post-Great Depression period from 1934 to 1940. This period was known as the Era of Silence. During World War II from 1939 to 1945, Estonia was under German and Soviet Union occupation, which finally ended with Soviet Union subjugation of Estonia through a puppet government, so as to continue the de jure status of Estonia. Annoyed with the subjugation of Soviet Rule, Estonians started “Singing Revolution” from 1987 to 1991 seeking the restoration of independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from Soviet Rule. This lead to the formal restoration of independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union in 1991.

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Provisional Military Government Of Socialist Ethiopia also known as “Derg”, was the government led by a committee of military leaders or military junta from 1974 to 1987. This government was against the monarchy and supported communism as their ideology to rule Ethiopia. The infamous Qey Shibir Massacre of 1977, which was widely known as the Ethiopian Red Terror, was sanctioned by this government to eliminate political opponents.

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The French Revolution was a period of social and political upheaval in France and its colonies beginning in 1789 and ending in 1799. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, catalyzed violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon, who brought many of the revolution’s principles to areas he conquered in Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas such as equality before the law, the Revolution influenced the decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies.

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The Entente Cordiale was a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors and replaced the modus vivendi that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement. The Entente Cordiale was the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé, France’s foreign minister from 1898, who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security against any German system of alliances in Western Europe. Credit for the success of the negotiation belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon, France’s ambassador, and to the British foreign secretary Lord Lansdowne.

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The Red Army invasion of Georgia (15 February – 17 March 1921), also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia, which forms part of the Russian Civil War and Turkish War of Independence, was a military campaign by the Russian Red Army aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia and installing a Bolshevik regime in the country. The conflict was a result of an expansionist policy by the Russians, who aimed to control as much as possible of the lands which had been part of the former Russian Empire until the turbulent events of the First World War, as well as the revolutionary efforts of mostly Russian-based Georgian Bolsheviks, who did not have sufficient support in their native country to seize power without external intervention.

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Germany’s private army was “Freikorps”. Freikorps were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regardless of their own nationality. In German-speaking countries, the first so-called Freikorps were formed in the 18th century from native volunteers, enemy renegades, and deserters. In the aftermath of World War I and during the German Revolution of 1918–19, Freikorps consisting largely of World War I veterans were raised as right-wing paramilitary militias. They were ostensibly mustered to fight on behalf of the government against the Soviet-backed German Communists attempting to overthrow the Weimar Republic. But, the Freikorps largely despised the Republic and were involved in assassinations of its supporters.

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German Reunification was actually the output/result of the “Peaceful Revolution”. The Peaceful Revolution was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany’s borders with the west, the end of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the transition to a parliamentary democracy, which enabled the reunification of Germany in October 1990. This happened through non-violent initiatives and demonstrations. These events were closely linked to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s decision to abandon Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe as well as the reformist movements that spread through Eastern Bloc countries.

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The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence was an armed Independence conflict that took place in Portuguese Guinea between 1963 and 1974. Fought between Portugal and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, an armed independence movement backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union, the war is commonly referred to as “Portugal’s Vietnam” due to the large numbers of men and amounts of material expended in a long, mostly guerrilla war and the internal political turmoil it created in Portugal. The war ended when Portugal, after the Carnation Revolution of 1974, granted independence to Guinea-Bissau, followed by Cape Verde a year later.

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Toussaint Louverture was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture first fought against the French, then for them, and then finally against France again for the cause of Haitian independence. As a revolutionary leader, Louverture’s military and political acumen helped transform the fledgeling slave rebellion into a revolutionary movement. Louverture is now known as the “Father of Haiti”.

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Hungary was occupied by Nazi German forces during World War II through “Operation Margarethe, 1944”. Operation Margarethe was the occupation of Hungary by Nazi German forces during World War II, as it was ordered by Hitler on 12 March 1944. A plan for the occupation of Romania was devised under the name Operation Margarethe II but was never carried out.