High School World History - from California Standards Tests (CSTs)
Multiple-Choice Exercise From the California Department of Education. California Standards Tests (CSTs). Internet. Available from http://www.startest.org; accessed February 2, 2012.; All rights reserved. No commercial, for-profit use of this material is allowed. E-mail comments and questions to Tami Maloney.
Choose the correct answer for each question.
Jewish and Christian beliefs differ from the Greco-Roman tradition in matters concerning the importance of
the role of law.
individual morality.
belief in one God.
the family unit.
Who believed that in an ideal society the government should be controlled by a class of “philosopher kings”?
Muhammad
Plato
Lao-tzu
Thomas Aquinas
Which feature of modern Western democratic government reflects Aristotle’s views as given above?
the direct election of members of the legislature
the power of the courts to review the law
the granting of emergency powers to the chief executive
the requirement that government actions must adhere to the law
Which of the following is a concept from classical Athens that is central to Western political thought today?
Individuals should fight against nature and society to achieve greatness.
Individual achievement, dignity, and worth are of great importance.
Individual recognition impedes societal progress.
Individuals play an insignificant role in shaping ideas, society, and the state.
From Aristotle’s statement above, it can be inferred that
monarchs protect citizens from tyranny.
only elected officials should impose laws.
laws maintain the stability of the nation.
majority rule ensures a stable government.
Which of these is a source for the ideas outlined in the Japanese Constitution?
Charter of the United Nations
legal writings of Thomas Hobbes
writings on constitutions by Voltaire
United States Constitution
When a country’s constitution requires the branches of government to remain independent of each other, it is adhering to the constitutional principle of
popular sovereignty.
separation of powers.
federalism.
direct democracy.
The English philosopher John Locke argued that life, liberty, and property are
natural rights that should be protected by government.
political rights to be granted as determined by law.
economic rights earned in a capitalistic system.
social rights guaranteed by the ruling class.
Which philosopher’s ideas were the basis for this quotation from the Virginia Declaration of Rights?
Charles-Louis Montesquieu
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
John Locke
Voltaire
Both the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man emphasized the idea that governments must
guarantee economic prosperity.
protect the rights of people.
support established religious beliefs.
operate on a system of checks and balances.
Use the following information to answer the question below.
What document best exemplifies the natural rights philosophy described above?
The Communist Manifesto
Plato’s Republic
Luther’s Ninety-five Theses
The Declaration of Independence
How did the Magna Carta (1215) contribute to the development of the English government?
It created a two-house parliament.
It extended voting rights.
It provided for a bill of rights.
It limited the power of the monarch.
In which of the following documents is the principle of limitation of governmental power first stated?
Magna Carta
Declaration of Independence
English Bill of Rights
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
women’s suffrage.
short-term military rule.
strategic alliances.
a lasting constitution.
Which leader was inspired by the ideas of the American Revolution and the Enlightenment to lead the liberation of much of South America from Spain?
Simón Bolívar
Padre Miguel Hidalgo
José Martí
Antonio López de Santa Anna
The principles of the American Revolution and the French Revolution are similar in many ways. Which of the following best summarizes their similarities?
Both favored representative governments.
Both limited voting rights to an economic elite.
Both retained certain hereditary rights for aristocrats.
Both supported equal rights for women.
When members of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath (1789) at the start of the French Revolution, they were attempting to
establish a military government.
draft a new national constitution.
restore the king to power.
persuade Napoleon to take power.
Which of these first demonstrated that popular protest would play a role in the French Revolution?
the reign of the Committee of Public Safety
the trial of Louis XIV
the fall of the Bastille
the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
What was one factor that enabled Napoleon to seize control of France?
the weakness of the French government
the endorsement by foreign governments
the support Napoleon received from French aristocrats
the strong democratic reforms Napoleon advocated
Between 1815 and 1848, the Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe suppressed nationalism by
ensuring a balance of power between nations.
promoting democratic institutions.
sharing colonies among the great powers.
establishing international economic ties.
The agricultural changes which took place in England during the 1600s contributed to England’s later industrial development by
strengthening the importance of the family farm.
breaking large estates into smaller farms.
encouraging city dwellers to return to farming.
producing more food with fewer workers.
Louis Pasteur’s research into germ theory in the nineteenth century is significant because it
created safety standards for machine workers.
led to techniques that increase crop production.
identified the importance of vitamins to nutrition.
proved that cleanliness helps to prevent infections.
Use the information to complete the statement.
The historical era most likely referred to in this quotation is the
Industrial Revolution.
Great Awakening.
French Revolution.
Enlightenment.
What historical trend was most responsible for the change in Birmingham’s population shown above?
immigration from the colonies
industrial growth
improvements in urban health care
famine in rural areas
In the nineteenth century, labor unions developed mostly in response to
increasing unemployment.
government ownership of businesses.
wages and working conditions.
racial and gender discrimination.
To increase production output during the Industrial Revolution, businesses primarily invested in
workers’ wages.
machinery.
training.
marketing.
In the mid-1700s, how did trade contribute to the early growth of an industrial economy in Great Britain?
It allowed the British to educate their workforce.
It provided funds to pay high wages to the new labor class.
It enabled British merchants to hire skilled foreign laborers.
It gave British entrepreneurs the capital needed to open new factories.
The American Civil War decreased Europe’s supply of cotton from the American South. What did the Europeans do to maintain the flow of this natural resource for their textile industries?
European factory owners agreed to pay a higher price for American cotton.
European factory owners supported abolition of slavery to end the Civil War.
European factory owners turned to Egypt and India as new sources of cotton.
European governments intervened militarily to force the resumption of the trade in cotton.
What late-eighteenth-century European artistic movement arose as a reaction against Classicism’s emphasis on reason?
impressionism
realism
romanticism
surrealism
The social criticism of Charles Dickens’s novels Hard Times and David Copperfield was a response to conditions brought about by
colonial conflicts.
industrialization.
unionization.
parliamentary reforms.
At the end of the 1800s, colonies were generally seen as a
place to banish criminals.
sign of a country’s relative power.
location to train military forces.
method for suppressing nationalism.
Economically, what enabled Japan to become a colonial power after 1894?
Agricultural advances increased the population and forced Japan to look for new land.
Japanese trade wars against the United States removed regional competition for colonies.
Industrialization allowed Japan to expend resources on military and colonial expansion.
The Japanese were forced to acquire colonies in Asia when European trade was banned.
In the late nineteenth century, the British commonly referred to the Suez Canal in Egypt as the “Lifeline of the Empire” because it
held large deposits of coal needed by British industries.
provided a strategic shipping route to British colonies.
served as a ship-building center for the British navy.
irrigated several cash crops in the British colonies.
In 1900, anti-foreign sentiment in China led to an uprising known as the
Nian Rebellion.
Boxer Rebellion.
Taiping Rebellion.
Sepoy Rebellion.
The collapse of the last Chinese Empire in 1912 was caused by the imperial government’s failure to
control foreign influence.
educate the masses.
enter into alliances with other nations.
repel communist guerrillas.
Mohandas Gandhi used his philosophy of nonviolent noncooperation in an effort to
form a Marxist government in India.
convince his fellow Indians to support the Allies in World War II.
persuade Pakistanis to separate from India.
achieve India’s independence from Great Britain.
By 1914, Ethiopia and Liberia were the only two African countries to
establish democratic governments.
develop industrial economies.
retain their independence.
colonize other nations.
Why did Great Britain, France, and Russia form the Triple Entente in 1907?
to protect their colonies from invasion by other nations
to develop an economic alliance based on open markets
to suppress minority nationalists in their own countries
to respond to the increased military power of Germany
According to some historians, Europe’s system of alliances prior to 1914 increased the likelihood that
democratic ideals would spread throughout the continent.
nations would be protected from economic exploitation.
colonization of undeveloped nations would cease.
small disputes would develop into large-scale wars.
During World War I, U.S. propaganda posters often portrayed German soldiers as
honorable opponents.
violators of human rights.
unbeatable enemies.
liberators of oppressed peoples.
One major reason for the tension between France and Germany before World War I was that
France had begun to surpass Germany in industrial output.
Germany wanted to join the Triple Entente with Great Britain.
Germany controlled French access to the North Sea.
France wanted to regain lands previously seized by Germany.
Great Britain’s stated reason for declaring war on Germany in 1914 was the
French attacks on German colonies.
U.S. entry into the war.
Serbian assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
German invasion of Belgium.
Why did most of the combat on the Western Front in World War I take place in a relatively small area?
There is only a small amount of flat land in all of Europe.
The armies became immobile because of trench warfare.
Each side cut off the fuel supply of the other.
Germany’s military tactics were based on “static warfare.”
The Schlieffen Plan was designed by the German military to
address U.S. troop deployments in France.
strengthen the defense of Germany’s colonies in Africa.
neutralize Great Britain’s naval control of the North Sea.
avoid the problem of fighting Allied powers on two fronts.
How did Russia’s participation in World War I affect its empire?
A string of decisive military victories gained land from the Central Powers.
Russia’s sale of supplies to its western allies strengthened its economy.
The czar adopted the reforms necessary to win the support of the Russian people.
Economic hardships brought on by the war resulted in the downfall of the czar.
Which of the following most affected the course and outcome of World War I?
Allied withdrawal from the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli
British victories in the Sinai that secured the Suez Canal
American military and financial intervention in the war
the switch in allegiance of Italy from the Central Powers to the Allies
One contribution of overseas colonies to the Allied effort during World War I was that they provided
large numbers of soldiers to reinforce the Allied armies.
protected sites for new Allied industrial factories.
most of the agricultural labor in the Allied nations.
places of refuge for displaced Allied civilian populations.
President Wilson said that his Fourteen Points would provide a framework for
a lasting and just peace.
determining war reparations.
expanding colonial empires.
punishing aggressor nations.
A major goal of France and Great Britain at the Conference of Versailles following World War I was to
create a politically unified Europe.
keep Germany from rebuilding its military forces.
restore pre-war imperial governments to power.
help Germany rebuild its industrial economy.
What aim did Italian leader Vittorio Orlando have during the creation of the Treaty of Versailles?
to gain territory from Austria-Hungary
to assume control of Austria’s industries
to guarantee the partition of Germany
to gain possession of Austria’s overseas colonies
What basic idea was shared by both Britain and France at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919?
Italy should give up its colonies in Africa.
Germany should be divided into occupation zones.
German military power should be permanently restricted.
The Central Powers should divide the cost of the war equally.
Use the information to answer the question that follows.
After World War I, the territories of the Ottoman Empire in Southwest Asia were partitioned. Into which area did nearly 400,000 Jewish people immigrate between 1919 and 1941?
A
B
C
D
A comparison of the two maps indicates that one of the results of the war and the peace treaty was the
partitioning of Germany into zones of occupation.
dismemberment of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
shift of the balance of power from Western to Southern Europe.
new dominant role for Russia in Eastern Europe.
The collapse of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires during World War I contributed directly to the
formation of the European Union.
start of the Cold War.
development of the Marshall Plan.
creation of new nations in Eastern Europe.
One way fascist leaders in the 1920s and 1930s gained popular support was by
promising to maintain peace with other countries.
attracting foreign investment for industrial development.
limiting military influence in the government.
appealing to national pride.
The Nazis blamed most of Germany’s pre–World War II social and economic problems on Jews and the
communists.
military.
industrialists.
Catholics.
Authors Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald are identified with
the lost generation.
romanticism.
the classical era.
naturalism.
How did the Cheka (secret police) help Lenin gain control of Russia?
They infiltrated the Czar’s army.
They organized the redistribution of the land.
They used terror tactics against the enemies of Bolshevism.
They negotiated peace with Germany.
Lenin hoped that the Russian Revolution of 1917 would
inspire the Russians to continue the European war effort.
incite similar socialist rebellions throughout Europe.
persuade the combatants in Western Europe to sign an armistice.
counter U.S. military presence in Eastern Europe.
The excerpt above describes Lenin’s method for dealing with those who opposed
Russian involvement in World War I.
the establishment of a communist government.
technological advances in industry.
the implementation of a market economy.
Stalin’s “Great Purge” from 1934 to 1939
eliminated the army’s dominance in state decisions.
expanded Soviet agriculture at the expense of industry.
brought about the death of millions of people.
replaced agricultural workers with technology.
In the struggle to gain control of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, Stalin’s chief political rival was
Kerensky.
Bukharin.
Romanov.
Trotsky.
From the perspective of Western leaders, Stalin’s actions as leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics reflected an emphasis on which of the following concepts?
individualism
freedom
human dignity
aggression
Both the Italian Fascists and the German Nazis gained power partly because they
had the support of an electoral majority of their nations’ peoples.
carefully followed accepted democratic political practices.
used terror tactics against political opponents.
represented the ideas of compromise and prudent government.
Which of the following does not describe Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and Stalin’s Russia?
They were all totalitarian governments.
Political opponents were killed in each state.
All three nations wanted to expand their borders.
Marxist principles governed all economic activity.
In 1939, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany as a direct result of the German
annexation of Austria.
occupation of the Rhineland.
seizure of the Sudetenland.
invasion of Poland.
Which nation sought to establish the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere between 1931 and 1945?
Japan
India
China
Korea
Use the following information to answer the question.
The statement reflects the British belief that which of the following policies would prevent another war?
containment
isolation
reparation
appeasement
Following the United States’ entry into World War II, American and British leaders decided that their highest priority would be to
recapture Pacific possessions lost to the Japanese.
invade Europe and defeat Germany.
send armies to the Russian Front to help the Soviet Union.
strike directly at the Japanese home islands.
Why did Hitler sign a non-aggression treaty with Stalin on the eve of World War II?
to prevent the League of Nations from acting to stop the war
to show that Hitler had changed his views on communism
to allow Germany to invade Poland without Soviet opposition
to insure that Germany had direct access to the Baltic Sea
One major purpose of the Yalta Conference in 1945 was to decide
when to open the second front against Germany.
where to launch the final invasion of Japan.
how to restructure Europe after the war.
which countries to include in the United Nations.
Early in World War II, Allied leaders decided that the enemy they had to defeat first was
the Ottoman Empire.
the Soviet Union.
Imperial Japan.
Nazi Germany.
The purpose of Roosevelt’s speech was to persuade Congress to
end all trade with Japan.
declare war on Japan.
condemn Japan’s aggression in China.
support dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Which of the following countries suffered high civilian and military casualties because it was invaded and partially occupied during World War II?
Great Britain
the Soviet Union
the United States
Japan
Which of these is the main reason that Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania became satellites of the Soviet Union?
These areas were given to the Soviet Union by a League of Nations mandate.
The people in each country voted in free elections to ally with the Soviets.
The Soviet army occupied these areas at the end of World War II.
Hitler surrendered control of these areas to the Soviet Union at the end of the war.
The economic recovery of Japan following World War II focused primarily on
rebuilding its military and weapons capabilities.
exporting raw materials in exchange for consumer goods.
developing an agricultural economy and marine resources.
developing industry and an export economy.
What was one outcome of World War II?
England and France increased their overseas colonial possessions.
The communists gained control over most of Western Europe.
Japan and Germany became dominant military powers in their regions.
The Soviet Union emerged as an international superpower.
Which of the following was a primary cause of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union?
a competition for political influence over other countries
direct, armed conflict between the two nations
a deep reduction in military expenditures
the founding of the United Nations
U.S. intervention in Vietnam came as a result of the Cold War policy of
détente.
brinkmanship.
appeasement.
containment.
What was one major goal of the Soviet Union during the early years of the Cold War?
to establish a competitive market economy
to create a defensive buffer zone in Eastern Europe
to expand individual liberties in the Baltic republics
to attract foreign economic investments
Use the information below to complete the statement that follows.
This quote from a speech delivered in 1947 forms part of the rationale for the
Monroe Doctrine.
New Frontier.
Truman Doctrine.
Good Neighbor Policy.
When the United States sent military aid to African governments to help them resist communism, it was continuing a foreign policy first asserted in the
Marshall Plan.
Potsdam Agreement.
Truman Doctrine.
Teheran Conference.
What crisis brought the Soviet Union and the United States to the brink of nuclear war in 1962?
an attempt by leaders in communist Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact
the creation of East Germany as a separate Soviet military occupation zone
an invasion of South Korea by armed communist forces from North Korea
the installation in Cuba of Soviet offensive intermediate-range missiles
Use the following information to answer the question.
In what country did the events being described above take place?
Czechoslovakia
Yugoslavia
Hungary
Poland
The Soviet Union dealt with uprisings in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia during the 1950s and 1960s by
taking over direct rule of these countries.
crushing the uprisings with military force.
permitting greater democratic reforms in government.
privatizing industrial enterprises.
The Arab oil embargo against the United States in 1973 was initiated because of U.S. support for
Egypt in the Suez Crisis.
Iraq in its conflict with Iran.
Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
Greece in its conflict with Turkey.
NATO was created in order to
develop goodwill between Eastern and Western Europe.
encourage diplomatic solutions to regional problems in North Africa.
facilitate regional economic development in North America.
create a unified military defense between the U.S. and Western Europe.
The Warsaw Pact was developed in 1955 as a response to the
formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
start of the Communist revolution in Cuba.
U.S. development of the hydrogen bomb.
UN intervention in Korea.
During the twentieth century, which factors from this list have made the Middle East significant to the rest of the world?
1 and2
3 and 4
1 and 3
2 and 4
In India and Pakistan, feelings of nationalism are intertwined with religious conflict between