World History MCQs

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King Wilhelm, I became the King of Prussia and he appointed Otto von Bismarck as the Minister-President and Foreign Minister on 23 September 1862. He favoured a ‘blood-and-iron’ policy to create a united Germany under the leadership of Prussia.

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Zollverein refers to Customs Union which was established in 1818 in Prussia. Consequently the internal taxes on commercial goods were abolished and free trade was established. There was no tax was imposed on raw-materials coming into Prussia from outside.

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Allied Powers won the First World War. The main countries that were part of the Allied Powers included United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Russia was the part of the Allied Powers at the starting of the war but ended up surrendering after the Russian Revolution.

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Every country which was involved in the Great Depression believed that by increasing trade barriers and devaluating their currencies it could manage to keep its economy afloat. But after the Great Depression, it was demonstrated that this won’t work.

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Bolsheviks created the Soviet Union from the Russian Empire. The Russian Revolution took place in 1917, during the final phase of World War I. Russia was removed from the war which brought about the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), replacing Russia’s traditional monarchy with the world’s first Communist state.

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General Franco established dictatorship in Spain with the support of Hitler and Mussolini. He was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War.

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The “1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War” was the second and final stage of the 1947–49 Palestine war. The Middle East region has probably suffered more rivalry and conflict than any other part of the world. The 1948 Arab-Israeli war was the first instance of a bloody and hostile battle, triggered by the declaration of Israel’s independence on 14 May 1948. The 1948 war was caused by a number of ‘international and intraregional factors’ intertwining to create a complex situation and catalyst for war. The war resulted in Israel’s victory, yet had significant consequences on not only regional politics of this area, but also international relations, which are still visible today. This war resulted in – Israeli victory, Jordanian partial victory, Palestinian Arab defeat, Egyptian defeat, Arab League strategic failure, 1949 Armistice Agreements; Israel keeps the area allotted to it by the Partition Plan and captures ~60% of the area allotted to Arab state; Jordanian rule of West Bank, Egyptian occupation of the Gaza Strip.

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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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After the second Italo-Ethiopian war, Italy occupied and annexed Ethiopia in 1936 and made Italian Ethiopia. Italy unleashed a ruthless administration in Ethiopia. The infamous Yekatit 12 Massacre sanctioned by Italian administration happened during this period. During World War II, the British Empire defeated the Italian rulers of Ethiopia and restored the full sovereignty of Ethiopia in 1941. In 1947, Italy recognized the sovereignty and independence of Ethiopia.

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Gerboise Bleue was the codename of the first French nuclear test. It was conducted by the Nuclear Experiments Operational Group (GOEN), a unit of the Joint Special Weapons Command on 13 February 1960, at the Saharan Military Experiments Centre near Reggane, French Algeria in the Sahara desert region of Tanezrouft, during the Algerian War. General Pierre Marie Gallois was instrumental in the endeavour and earned the nickname “father of the A-bomb”.