World History MCQs

Notes:

The War of the Second Coalition, which was fought from 1798 to 1802 was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria, and Russia and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples, various German monarchies, and Sweden, though Prussia did not join this coalition and Spain supported France. Their goal was to contain the expansion of the French Republic and to restore the monarchy in France. They failed to overthrow the revolutionary regime and French territorial gains since 1793 were confirmed. 

Notes:
The “Second Schleswig War” was fought as a part of the wars of German unification. The Second Schleswig War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border into Schleswig. Denmark fought the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire. Like the First Schleswig War (1848–1852), it was fought for control of the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. The war started after the passing of the November Constitution of 1863, which integrated the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom in violation of the London Protocol. The war ended on 30 October 1864, with the Treaty of Vienna and Denmark’s cession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg to Prussia and Austria.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the mechanical movable type printing press, is a German printer. Johannes Gutenberg (1400–1468) was a German goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the introduction of the mechanical movable type printing press. His work started the Printing Revolution and is regarded as a milestone of the second millennium, ushering in the modern period of human history. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Enlightenment, and Scientific Revolution, as well as laying the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.

Notes:
The 1953 Iranian coup d’etat is also known as the “28 Mordad coup d’etat”. The 1953 Iranian coup d’etat, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d’etat, was the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favour of strengthening the monarchical rule of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on 19 August 1953. It was orchestrated by the United States (under the name TPAJAX Project or “Operation Ajax”) and the United Kingdom (under the name “Operation Boot”).

Notes:
1978-1979 was the period of the “Iranian Revolution”. The Iranian Revolution, locally known as the Islamic Revolution (or the 1979 Revolution), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt. The revolution was supported by various Islamist and leftist organizations and student movements.

Notes:
In the past, voting in the Estates General had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote. Louis XVI was determined to continue the same practice. But members of the third estate demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote. When the king rejected this proposal, members of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest. On 20 June, 1789, they assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court in the grounds of Versailles. They declared themselves a National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch. So, statement 1 is incorrect. The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791. Its main object was to limit the powers of the monarch. These powers instead of being concentrated in the hands of one person, were now separated and assigned to different institutions – the legislature, executive and judiciary. This made France a constitutional monarchy. So, statement 2 is correct. The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected. That is, citizens voted for a group of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly. Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a laborer’s wage were given the status of active citizens, that is, they were entitled to vote. The remaining men and all women were classed as passive citizens. So, statement 3 is incorrect.

Notes:
In 1864, the International Working Men’s Association was formed. It was more popularly known as the ‘First International’. The ‘Second International’ was formed in 1889 CE. Leaders of the international socialist movement maintained contacts with the leaders of the colonial countries. Dadabhai Naoroji, the grand old man of India’s freedom movement, attended a congress of the Second International and was greeted warmly. Madame Cama, an Indian revolutionary, unfurled the India’s flag of freedom that she had designed at a Congress of the ‘Second International’. Mahatma Gandhi did not attend any session of the Second International, which became redundant due to the events on the eve of WWI. So, option b is the correct answer.

Notes:
In 1910, the British colonies vis. Natal and Cape Colony, the Boer States, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal had been brought together as a self-governing state- called the Union of South Africa. Some of these areas were conquered by the British in the WWI, the white population of South Africa was only 20% of the total population. The white people comprised people of British origin and the Boers, who were of Dutch origin. The Nationalist Party (NP) which was mainly the party of the Boers (or Afrikaners) was dominated by ideas of extreme white racism. It remained in power for a long time, because a vast majority simply could not vote. It advocated a policy of racial separation (apartheid) in order to maintain the social and political supremacy of the Whites. So, all the three statements are correct.

Notes:
A new military alliance had come into being in April, 1949. The USA and most countries of Western Europe- Britain, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Portugal and Italy- and Iceland and Canada formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). It is believed that the formation of NATO was stimulated by the Berlin blockade by USSR. So, statement 1 is correct. In 1955, when West Germany was admitted as a member of NATO, the Soviet Union and the East European countries ruled by communist parties formed their military alliance which is known as the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact countries, like the NATO countries, had a joint military command. So, statement 2 is correct. Germany was divided into the West and East Germany. While West Germany was admitted into the NATO, the East Germany was incorporated into the ‘Warsaw Pact’. Statement 3 is incorrect.