What characteristics defined the Old World?
All exam answers must be in your own words, based ONLY on the course materials. Any evidence of cheating or attempting to use online sources rather than course materials will result in a zero for the exam. You may copy and paste answers you have prepared in advance into the Bb exam (generally you must use the ctrl V command to get things to copy over).
Exam 1 consists of 4 Short Answer Questions:
On the exam I will provide you with 8 of the following questions and you will choose 4 of them to answer. You will have 40 minutes to complete this section. The more complete and correct your answer, the higher your grade will be.
1) What characteristics defined the Old World? In your opinion, based on fact and critical analysis, which of these was the most important to be overturned in order to create a new, better order? Why? Explain fully.
2) The Catholic Church itself was responsible for the Protestant Reformation. To what extent do you agree/disagree? Why? Explain thoroughly.
3) What sorts of people became clergy in the Middle Ages? What kinds of things did they do to ensure a good income/status for themselves and the Church? Should any of these practices have been abolished? Why? If you were a Catholic in the Middle Ages, how likely would you have been to break away from the Catholic Church? Explain.
4) What was the Avignon Papacy? Explain and give the details. In what ways did this help prepare people for the Protestant Reformation? Explain.
5) What was the Investiture Controversy? Explain and give the details. In what ways did this help prepare people for the Protestant Reformation? Explain.
6) Explain Martin Luther’s pivotal role in the Protestant Reformation. Did he set out to break up the Catholic Church? How did that happen then? Explain fully.
7) Explain Henry VIII’s role in the Protestant Reformation. In your opinion, based on fact and critical thinking, was he more important to the splintering of the Catholic Church than Martin Luther? Explain fully.
8) What factors do you think were paramount in leading people to a willingness to leave the Catholic Church in the 1600s? Explain thoroughly.
9) What was the Counter-Reformation? What was it established to do? What methods did it use? To what degree was the Counter-Reformation successful? Be sure to explain, using specific details from the course materials.
10) What was the Spanish Inquisition? How did it develop, what goals did it have, what methods did it use? What do you think led people, especially clergymen, to become willing participants in this?
11) Explain the relationship between African slaves and colonization. Could colonization have happened as rapidly and successfully without the importation of black slaves? Would colonization have been as profitable for colonizers without it (and how might colonization have been different without the option of African slaves)? Conversely, what impact did colonization have on the institution of slavery (how did the nature and scope of the slave trade change as a result of colonization)? How did this new adaptation of slavery reshape both the Old and New Worlds? Explain your answers thoroughly.
12) Describe and explain the effects that colonization had on New World peoples. Based on what you have learned about the Spanish, English, and French as colonizers, which of these would you prefer to colonize your land if you were a New World native? Which power would you least like to colonize your land? Explain thoroughly. Be sure to incorporate material from the “Columbian Exchange” video as well as information from the lectures and primary sources in your answer.
13) What sorts of things contributed to Spain’s rise as a world power in the 16th century? Given this early start at greatness, why did Spain end up a third-rate power? What might Spain have done differently to avoid its decline? When did Spain regain its status as a major European/world power? Explain your answers thoroughly.
14) Explain how religious tolerance and religious intolerance affected the development of Spain, France, England, the Ottoman Empire, and Germany. Based on this historical evidence, should a country strive to have religious tolerance, a state religion, or something else? And, what would religious tolerance mean—simply the right of individuals to choose their own religion or something broader, such as the inability of one religious faction to impose “moral” laws on all citizens of the state? Explain thoroughly.
15) In the excerpt from Christopher Columbus’s journal, what sorts of things does Columbus seem to be most interested in? How does he view the natives he encounters? What does Columbus think natives will be good for? How do you think the viewpoint of men like Columbus shaped the settlement of the New World and interactions between colonizers and natives? Given the time period, are there any ways in which this experience could have been different? Explain.
16) France should have been the premier power in Europe by the 1600s. What sorts of things gave France s seeming advantage? So, why wasn’t France the king of the hill? What held France back from reaching its full potential? Explain fully.
17) What is autocracy? Explain the effect of autocracy or the lack of it on the development of Spain, France, England, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. Based on this historical evidence, is it beneficial for a state to have an autocratic ruler? Explain thoroughly.
18) Describe French colonization in the New World, especially in Quebec. Why did colonization play out so differently here than in other places? Did this mean that there were no negative effects for the natives? Explain.
19) What was Bacon’s Rebellion. Who led it, against whom, and why? What sorts of people joined the rebellion and what did they do? Ultimately, what was the most significant result of Bacon’s Rebellion?
20) What was the Enclosure Movement? What impact did it have on England? Ultimately, what were the results of the Enclosure Movement (both short and long term) and was this a positive or negative development for England? How might the world be different today if not for the Enclosure Movement? Explain.
21) Should England have been the premier European power in the early modern period? Why? What sources of strength did it possess, making it the most powerful country in Europe?
22) What was the Scientific Revolution? Did it affect all Europeans in the early modern era? In what ways? Why did the Catholic Church resist and oppose it (what sorts of things did the Church object to)? What legacies did the Scientific Revolution leave in its wake? Explain.
23) What was the Enlightenment? What were some of the most important ideas to come from it? In what ways would the world be different today without the Enlightenment? Would you like to live in a world without Enlightenment ideas? Explain.
24) What characteristics should have made the Ottomans a successful, powerful state? Why then did the Ottoman Empire end up a failed modernizer and second-rate power? Explain thoroughly.
25) Describe the city of Constantinople. What made it so difficult to conquer (be specific)? When, how, and by whom was the city finally conquered? Why was this significant? Explain thoroughly.
26) What was Russia like in 1800? Did it look different from Russia in 1700? Why? What sorts of things made Russia different from the rest of Europe? Why was it so very difficult to unify? Why didn’t reform transform Russia into a powerful, modern state? Explain thoroughly.
27) Compare the reigns of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. Did either man accomplish what he set out to? Were the reforms of either man lasting? In the final analysis, which of these men was most beneficial to Russia? Why? Explain.
28) Compare and contrast the positive and negative effects of the Industrial Revolution. Based on this, do you think that the industrialism was a mistake in the short term? What about in the long term? Explain. Be sure to incorporate material from the source readings in your answer.
29) In what ways does the Declaration of the Rights of Man reflect Enlightenment ideas? Provide some specific examples and explanation. Are there any things you would change about the Declaration if you were going to implement it? Explain.
30) Was Napoleon good or bad for France? In what ways? Explain fully.
31) How did Germany finally come to be unified? Why do you think, based on historical evidence, that it took so much longer than other European countries to become a country?
32) What might the US have looked like without the Civil War? Why? Would it likely have been a successful modernizer? Explain fully. In your answer, discuss what the US was like before the Civil War as well as the changes that the war ushered in.
33) What kinds of things should have doomed Japan to become a failed modernizer and a weak state? Explain specifically how Japan avoided that fate. What people, circumstances, and actions ensured Japan’s rise to a recognized world power?
34) Based on Alexander II’s Emancipation Manifesto and Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, did Russia and the US abolish serfdom/slavery for the same reasons? Explain. Did both countries offer the same type of freedom to those being freed? If you had to be either a freed serf or a freed slave, which would you choose to be and why? Explain fully.
35) Describe the major reform efforts in the Ottoman Empire. Which, if any, of these were successful? Did they produce a powerful state? Why or why not? What sorts of things specifically held the Ottomans back? Explain.
36) In what ways did each of the following weaken China: decades of peace and prosperity, population, the First and Second (Arrow) Opium Wars, conservatism and traditionalism. Which of these do you think was key in holding China back? Explain.
