Test: World History - Software Development MCQ

Treaty of Versailles

• On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, France. The treaty was one of several that officially ended five years of conflict known as the Great War—World War I.
• The Treaty of Versailles outlined the conditions of peace between Germany and the victorious Allies, led by the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Other Central Powers (significantly, Austria-Hungary) signed different treaties with the Allies.
• The Treaty of Versailles is one of the most controversial armistice treaties in history. The treaty’s so-called “war guilt” clause forced Germany and other Central Powers to take all the blame for World War I. This meant a loss of territories, reduction in military forces, and reparation payments to Allied powers.

• The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and imposed harsh penalties in terms of loss of territory, massive reparations payments and demilitarization. Far from the “peace without victory” that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had outlined in his famous Fourteen Points in early 1918, the Treaty of Versailles humiliated Germany while failing to resolve the underlying issues that had led to war in the first place.

• Economic distress and resentment of the treaty within Germany helped fuel the ultra-nationalist sentiment that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, as well as the coming of World War II just two decades later.

Key Points

The Fourteen Points  

1. Diplomacy should be public, with no secret treaties.
2. All nations should enjoy free navigation of the seas.
3. Free trade should exist among all nations, putting an end to economic barriers between countries.
4. All countries should reduce arms in the name of public safety.
5. Fair and impartial rulings in colonial claims.
6. Restore Russian territories and freedom.
7. Belgium should be restored to independence.
8. Alsace-Lorraine should be returned to France and France should be fully liberated.
9. Italy’s frontiers should be drawn along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.
10. People living in Austria-Hungary should be granted self-determination.
11. The Balkan states should also be guaranteed self-determination and independence.
12. Turks and those under Turkish rule should be granted self-determination.
13. An independent Poland should be created.
14. A general association of nations must be formed to mediate international disputes.

• The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea. This was a system of hand printing.
• From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper – also invented there – against the inked surface of woodblocks.
• As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘accordion book’ was folded and stitched at the side.
• Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate, with remarkable accuracy, the beauty of calligraphy.
• The imperial state in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material. China possessed a huge bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations.
• Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state. From the sixteenth century, the number of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.

• Tripartite Pact, the agreement concluded by Germany, Italy, and Japan on September 27, 1940, one year after the start of World War II.
• It created a defense alliance between the countries and was largely intended to deter the United States from entering the conflict.
• Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Croatia were later signatories to the pact.

• On October 25, 1936, Germany and Italy completed the Rome-Berlin Axis, a cooperation deal. A month later Japan joined the so-called Axis powers by signing (with Germany) the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist agreement that was primarily directed against the Soviet Union; Italy signed in 1937.

• However, that compact was broken with the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, 1939, which paved the way for Germany to invade Poland the following week, thus starting World War II.

• Against this backdrop, officials from Germany, Italy, and Japan met in Berlin in September 1940 to devise the Tripartite Pact.

• It notably called on signees “to assist one another with all political, economic and military means” when any one of them was attacked by “a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Sino-Japanese Conflict.”

• Such wording notably excluded the Soviet Union, which was already involved in both wars, and was thus seen as a warning to the United States against entering World War II.

• The pact was signed by Joachim von Ribbentrop (Germany), Galeazzo Ciano (Italy), and Kurusu Saburo (Japan). Several other European countries—some of which had been coerced—were later signatories.

The correct answer is Soviet Union.

• The battle of Stalingrad held between the Soviet Union and Germany.
• The Soviet Union won the battle against Germany.
• The German army raced across the Russian plains, inflicting terrible casualties on the Red Army and the Soviet population.
• The Battle of Stalingrad was a brutal military campaign between Russian forces and  Nazi Germany and the Axis powers during World War II.
• February 1943, Russian troops had retaken Stalingrad and captured nearly 100,000 German soldiers, though pockets of resistance continued to fight in the city until early March.

Additional Information

• The capture of Stalingrad was important to Hitler for two primary reasons:
  • ​It was a major industrial city on the Volga River.
  • Its capture would secure the left flank of the German armies as they advanced into the oil-rich Caucasus region with the goal of cutting off fuel to Stalin’s war machine.
• The Soviet generals Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy and Georgy Zhukov, responsible for planning in the Stalingrad area, concentrated massive Soviet forces in the steppes to the north and south of the city.

The correct answer is option 2 i.e. Maximilien Robespierre.

The Reign of Terror in France was started by Maximilien Robespierre began on September 5, 1793 and ended on July 27, 1794.

• The Reign of Terror, or commonly The Terror was a period during the French Revolution when people were arrested and executed on the suspicion that they were not loyal to the revolution.
• The event began following the storming of Bastille in 1793. France, at that time was facing a civil war and foreign power also attacked the country. In such a scenario Maximilien Robespierre took over the government and started the Reign of Terror.
• Robespierre formed the Committee of Public Safety and stated that terror was necessary to bring order to the public life.
• The Committee established several laws, one of them was called the "Law of Suspects" where anyone who was suspected to be an enemy of the revolution was arrested and put on trial.
• Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI of France was the first one to be executed.
• All victims were executed by the guillotine.
• The period ended on July 27, 1794 when Robespierre himself was executed.

The correct answer is German unification.

Key Points

Otto von Bismarck was the architect of German Unification.

• He with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy completed the process of Unification of Germany.
• Three wars were fought with Austria, Denmark, and France over the period of seven years.
• The wars led to the victory of the Prussian army and hence, Germany was unified.

Additional Information

• Kaiser William I, the Prussian king became the German Emperor in January 1871.
• Otto von Bismarck was the chief minister of Prussia.

The Correct Answer is Option 1 i.e 1773.

• Boston Tea Party: 
  • It was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • The sons of liberty organized the Boston tea party.
  • It was a protest by American Colonists against the British government.
  • The introduction of the Tea Act 1773 was one of the causes that leads to the Boston tea party.

The correct answer is Lenin.

Key Points

• Lenin
  • He was the leader of the Bolshevik party.
  • He returned to Russia from his exile in April 1917.
  • He felt that it was time for the Soviets to take overpower.
  • Lenin gave several speeches calling for the overthrow of the provisional government.
  • On April 7, the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda published the ideas contained in Lenin's speeches, which collectively came to be known as the April Theses. Hence, Option 2 is correct.
  • It was a series of 10 directives issued by Lenin mostly aimed at Bolsheviks.
  • Lenin pulled his closest supporters together defined his movement by the slogan "All Power to the soviets" as he sought to agitate the masses against the provisional government.
  • He put three demands which were known as Lenin’s April Theses. They were:
    • The First World War be brought to an end.
    • Land must be transferred to the peasants. 
    • The banks should be nationalized.

Additional Information

• The Russian Revolution 
  • It was a series of revolutions in the early 20^th century that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of a communist government.
  • During the revolution of 1905, on Bloody Sunday, the Tsar’s guards fired upon peaceful protesters, killing hundreds.
  • Concerned his authority might topple, the Tsar conceded to reforms, including the establishment of the Duma, a legislative assembly.
  • Things calmed down until early 1917 when the February Revolution resulted in the Tsar abdicating the throne and the installation of a leftist provisional government.  
  • In October the same year, Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin overthrew the provisional government and established a communist in the October Revolution.
  • Shortly afterward, Vladimir Lenin moved to end Russian involvement in World War-I.
  • On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, formally ending Russia’s participation in the war.

The correct answer is b, a, d, c.

Key Points

• French Revolution:
  • The French Revolution was a mass movement that shook France and had a far-reaching impact on the world.
  • It was Lasting from 1789 to 1799, it is regarded as one of the most important events in world history.
  • The Revolution began with the rebellion of the Third Estate, which comprised a large majority of the population but was neglected.
  • The representatives of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789 pledging not to separate until they had given France a constitution.
  • This was followed by the Storming of the Bastille and the Women’s March on Versailles, incidents through which the Revolution gathered momentum.
  • The execution of King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette resulted in the Revolution entering its most bloody stage known as the Reign of Terror.
  • A coup, led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 brought an end to the French Revolution with the establishment of a Consulate and later an Empire.
  • Major events and their date of the french revolution:
  • Formation of National Assembly- 13 June 1789
  • Fall of Bastille- 15 July 1789
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man- 26 August 1789
  • Establishment of the French Republic-  21 September 1792

Additional Information

•  Other major events of the French Revolution and their dates:

The correct answer is 2 i.e. Bolsheviks.

Some facts about the Russian Socialist Democratic party(RSDP):

• The formation was the party that happened in 1898.
• The party followed Marxist ideas, believing the industrial working class, not peasants, would bring about revolution.
• The party ideas were based on the philosophies of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, namely that despite Russia's agrarian life, the real radical potential extended with the industrial working class.
• They played an important role in the politics of Russia at that time and they also won few seats in the elections.
• It was mainly divided into two groups - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
• The following table will help you to understand them better: