Deck 15: European Monarchies and Absolutism 1660-1725

Question 1

Slaves working on sugar plantations in the French Caribbean accounted for the livelihoods of approximately _________ of the French population.

A) One-tenth
B) One-twenty-fifth
C) One-thirtieth
D) One-fiftieth
E) One-sixtieth

Answer 1

One-twenty-fifth

Question 2

The most profitable French colonies were located in:

A) the Caribbean.
B) North America.
C) West Africa.
D) India.
E) islands off the coast of Southern Africa.

Answer 2

the Caribbean.

Question 3

The royal finance minister who increased revenues in France during the reign of Louis XIV was:

A) Cardinal Richelieu.
B) Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
C) Cornelius Jansen.
D) John Locke.
E) François Marie Arouet.

Answer 3

Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

Question 4

The government of France under Louis XIV would be best described as:

A) highly centralized, with everyone being appointed by and reporting to the king.
B) highly decentralized: Louis appointed able people and left them to do their jobs.
C) chaotic, with no clear lines of authority or responsibility.
D) uneven, as every government official simply tried to do what he thought the king wanted.
E) a constitutional monarchy, with a system of checks and balances between the different branches.

Question 5

Louis XIV persecuted some Catholic sects in France because some,like the:

A) Jesuits, challenged absolutism in university settings.
B) Romanists, looked to Rome, rather than Paris, for political guidance.
C) Gallicans, desired an independent French church.
D) Quietists and Jansenists, diminished the role of priests as mediators of the faith.
E) Huguenots, challenged Catholic doctrine.

Question 6

The most important opponents of royal absolutism were:

A) churchmen.
B) peasants.
C) nobles.
D) merchants.
E) soldiers.

Question 7

Which European government developed into an autocracy in the early modern period?

A) England
B) France
C) Sweden
D) Russia
E) Austria

Question 8

In general,the religious policies of Louis XIV aimed to:

A) grant religious toleration to the Arsonists and Quietists.
B) grant religious toleration to all French people.
C) impose religious unity upon all French people.
D) suppress the work of Catholic Jesuits.
E) provide some rights to Protestants living in France.

Question 9

Louis XIV endeavored to control potential rebellions among the noble class by:

A) maintaining garrisons in the lands of all potentially subversive nobles.
B) arresting any noble suspected of fomenting revolt.
C) insisting that all nobles spend part of the year with Louis at Versailles.
D) having spies infiltrate the households of powerful nobles.
E) according the nobles of France their traditional rights.

Question 10

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,absolutism was a political theory that:

A) encouraged rulers to turn over control of their governments to Parliament.
B) allowed rulers to govern by divine right and according to their own will.
C) discouraged military and economic competition among European states.
D) built on the democratic ideals of early Renaissance republics.
E) allowed countries, regardless of their form of government, to assume authority over its citizens.

Question 11

The court culture at Versailles was ordered by:

A) a general desire to please the king.
B) incredibly detailed rules of etiquette.
C) the daily rhythm of Catholic canonical hours.
D) the whim of the king.
E) the king's love of hunting.

Question 12

Louis XIV recruited members of the _________ to work as royal intendants.

A) Educated peasant class
B) Nobility
C) Military
D) Bourgeoisie
E) Clergy

Question 13

Louis XIV asserted his authority over the Marquis of Canillac and other nobles who acted independently by:

A) trying and convicting them in courts of law.
B) capturing and imprisoning them.
C) killing them.
D) insisting that their presence was perpetually needed in Paris.
E) declaring war against them.

Question 14

The wars of Louis XIV:

A) were fought to eradicate the Huguenots and Jansenists.
B) allowed Louis to construct his palace at Versailles.
C) led to the defeat of Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession.
D) were an enormous drain on the treasury of France.
E) were enormously successful and extended French power throughout Europe.

Question 15

Under the reign of Louis XIV,French colonies dominated the:

A) slave trade.
B) tobacco trade.
C) sugar trade.
D) rum trade.
E) firearms trade.

Question 16

Absolute monarchs developed all of the following institutions to enhance their power EXCEPT:

A) armies.
B) systems to collect taxes.
C) systems of collecting tariffs on trade.
D) representative legislative bodies.
E) customs controls.

Question 17

Louis XIV's finance minister,Jean-Baptiste Colbert,was a confirmed mercantilist who believed that France's wealth would increase if it:

A) only traded with its colonies.
B) adopted policies that encouraged free trade.
C) closed its borders to trade.
D) reduced its exports and increased its imports.
E) reduced its imports and increased its exports.

Question 18

Louis XIV used the palace of Versailles to:

A) demonstrate the grandeur of his rule and to control the French nobility.
B) create touring artistic exhibitions that would benefit all Frenchmen.
C) withdraw from public life and spend time with close friends and family.
D) practice military tactics and train France's elite fighting force.
E) create a place that all French people would feel comfortable visiting.

Question 19

To achieve the goal of absolutist rule,_________ was an absolute necessity.

A) A groundswell of popular support from the peasants
B) A well-oiled propaganda machine
C) A court school dedicated to teaching absolutist theory
D) The support of every noble in the realm
E) A strong, centralized, loyal bureaucracy

Question 20

The theory of absolutism became popular in the seventeenth century in response to:

A) public distrust of the constitutional monarchy in England.
B) the desire of the lower classes to be responsible directly to the king rather than to local lords.
C) a desire for order after the chaos and war of the previous century.
D) public distrust of the republican governance in the Dutch Republic.
E) growing public concern about brigands and criminals that required a strong centralized government to control.

Question 21

In his Two Treatises of Government,John Locke argued that:

A) no group of people has the right to dissolve civil society.
B) wealth should be distributed equally among all members of society.
C) kings should rule society absolutely, as fathers rule households.
D) legitimate government authority is conditional and contractual.
E) the theory upholding the absolute, divine right of kings was unassailable.

Question 22

The new diplomatic goal that emerged in western and central Europe in the late seventeenth century was:

A) balance of power politics.
B) resolving disputes through diplomacy, not war.
C) promoting religious tolerance across western and central Europe.
D) creating a free trade zone across western and central Europe.
E) becoming as isolationist as possible.

Question 23

The outcomes of the War of the Spanish Succession made clear that military dominance in Europe lay with the:

A) French Army.
B) French Navy.
C) British Navy.
D) British Army.
E) Spanish Navy.

Question 24

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire,Austria's main rival in central Europe was:

A) Russia.
B) Saxony.
C) Bavaria.
D) Venice.
E) Brandenburg-Prussia.

Question 25

Peter the Great's authority to rule Russia was threatened during the early part of his reign by:

A) a peasant rebellion.
B) an attempt to depose him and place his half sister on the throne.
C) an assassination attempt.
D) questions about his paternity.
E) a long childhood illness.

Question 26

Frederick William I made Prussia strong by:

A) emphasizing religious toleration.
B) scoring victories against the armies of Louis XIV.
C) exerting prudent financial leadership and building a large army.
D) establishing a lavish palace in Berlin and constructing a "theater" of absolutism.
E) allying himself with, and receiving military aid from, Great Britain.

Question 27

The real political authority in the Dutch Republic lay with:

A) the stadtholder.
B) powerful merchants.
C) powerful aristocrats.
D) Calvinist consistories.
E) the governments of independent towns.

Question 28

During the Glorious Revolution,violence broke out to protest:

A) James II's support of Catholicism.
B) James II's moves toward absolutist government.
C) James II's support of Catholicism and his absolutist policies.
D) James II's secret alliance with France.
E) James II's cowardice in fleeing to France after the invasion of William of Orange.

Question 29

The War of the Spanish Succession broke out when:

A) William of Orange's daughter succeeded to the Spanish throne.
B) the Austrian king, Leopold I, succeeded to the Spanish throne.
C) Louis XIV's grandson succeeded to the Spanish throne.
D) the named heir of the Spanish throne, Philip V, renounced his claim.
E) Leopold I's nephew succeeded to the Spanish throne.

Question 30

The popular name for those who opposed Charles II's move toward absolutism was:

A) Tories.
B) Dissenters.
C) Quietists.
D) Whigs.
E) Unionists.

Question 31

England's Glorious Revolution created the necessary climate to increase the power of the:

A) king.
B) lower class and wage laborers.
C) commercial classes.
D) peasant farmers.
E) clerics of the Anglican Church.

Question 32

Absolutism was difficult for the Habsburgs to achieve in the Holy Roman Empire because:

A) the Habsburgs produced a series of ill and weakened monarchs in the seventeenth century.
B) a powerful middle-class resistance to absolutism emerged in the Holy Roman Empire.
C) controlling the Austrian colonies abroad took all the military power the Habsburg had, so they could not fulfill their ambitions of absolutism in the Holy Roman Empire.
D) the Holy Roman Empire was made up of many individual states that ruled in their own interests.
E) the Austrian Habsburgs were not able to harness propaganda to their advantage enough to convince the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire to accept absolutist rule.

Question 33

The governmental system used by the United Provinces in the Netherlands throughout the seventeenth century was a(n):

A) absolutist monarchy.
B) limited monarchy.
C) oligarchy.
D) republic.
E) constitutional democracy.

Question 34

Ottoman power in southeastern Europe declined rapidly after the Ottomans:

A) failed to capture the Habsburg capital of Vienna.
B) failed to conquer Poland.
C) lost control of Crete and Rhodes.
D) failed to conquer Russia.
E) lost their naval dominance on the Black Sea.

Question 35

James II of England angered his critics and set off a national crisis when he:

A) and his second wife, Mary of Modena, had a son: a Catholic heir to the throne.
B) banned Roman Catholics from all political offices.
C) formed an alliance with William and Mary of Holland.
D) publicly converted to Catholicism after becoming king and advanced the Catholic cause.
E) took the army to Ireland to put down a Catholic rebellion.

Question 36

The balance of power in central and eastern Europe was reshaped at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries because of the loss of power of:

A) Prussia.
B) Austria.
C) Russia.
D) France.
E) the Ottoman Empire.

Question 37

The Treaty of Utrecht (1713)altered the balance of power in Europe by:

A) giving France desirable British territory in North America and the income from those colonies.
B) increasing the power of Spain beyond that of France and Great Britain.
C) placing France and Spain under the same ruler.
D) making Holland the dominant sea power in the New World.
E) giving Great Britain trading rights and desirable French territory in the New World.

Question 38

In general,the centralization of state power in eastern Europe came at the expense of the:

A) autonomy of the Church.
B) political autonomy of the free cities.
C) power of merchants to avoid taxation.
D) freedom of peasants.
E) political power of the aristocracy.

Question 39

The Act of Toleration of 1689 granted:

A) Jews the right to worship freely in England.
B) English citizens the right to peacefully oppose parliamentary policies.
C) English citizens the right to peacefully oppose the king's policies.
D) Catholics the right to worship freely in England.
E) Protestant dissenters the right to worship freely in England.

Question 40

In England,Charles II triggered a crisis not unlike that produced by his father's rule when he:

A) reformed court life to match Puritan sensibilities.
B) began modeling his kingship on the absolutism of Louis XIV.
C) established a family and produced several heirs to the throne.
D) created the Whig Party and used it to increase his influence in Parliament.
E) disbanded Parliament and ruled absolutely.

Question 41

French intendants usually served in the region in which they were born.

Question 42

The goal of Peter the Great's foreign policy was to:

A) annex Prussia.
B) secure year-round ports for Russia.
C) secure territories in the New World.
D) open up a land route to Asia.
E) conquer the Ottoman Empire.

Question 43

In spite of Jean-Baptiste Colbert's efforts,Louis XIV left France's finances in ruins.

Question 44

The absolute monarchs ruled only with the consent of their nobles and people.

Question 45

Under the reign of Peter the Great,Russian colonization efforts were directed toward:

A) the Indian subcontinent.
B) Southeast Asia.
C) the Middle East.
D) Central Asia.
E) Central America.

Question 46

In general,the policies of Peter the Great of Russia included:

A) the introduction of Western ideas and customs.
B) reducing the tax burden on the peasantry, so that they could be more productive.
C) abolishing serfdom and giving the freed serfs land.
D) rebuilding the power of the Duma, Russia's national assembly.
E) invading the Ottoman Empire to secure Constantinople as a Russian port.

Question 47

After securing a foothold on the Gulf of Finland,Peter the Great built a capital there named:

A) Riga.
B) Tallinn.
C) Omsk.
D) Moscow.
E) Saint Petersburg.

Question 48

French colonies in North America were largely self-sustaining.

Question 49

The newly efficient taxation systems in many European realms of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries paid for many expenses,but by far the most expensive expenditure made by states was:

A) war.
B) patronage of the arts.
C) public building programs.
D) infrastructure renewal.
E) construction of royal residences.

Question 50

Peter the Great's victory against Sweden in the Great Northern War resulted in Russian ports on the:

A) Black Sea, which facilitated a lucrative silk trade.
B) North Sea, which facilitated a lucrative fur trade.
C) Baltic Sea, which facilitated a lucrative grain trade.
D) Caspian Sea, which facilitated a lucrative salt trade.
E) White Sea, which facilitated a lucrative fish trade.

Question 51

All governments in Europe strove to be absolutist over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Question 52

The purpose of reorganizing class structure in Russia by creating the Table of Ranks was to:

A) encourage competition among Russian nobles.
B) take away the traditional rights of the landholding aristocracy.
C) break the traditional hold of the administrative class on Russian bureaucracy.
D) emphasize the importance of holding land for Russian nobles.
E) strengthen the war machine in Russia by luring nobles into military service.

Question 53

The Russian Table of Ranks reordered the class system in Russia to be,from lowest to highest:

A) military, administrative, landlord.
B) administrative, military, landlord.
C) landlord, administrative, military.
D) administrative, landlord, military.
E) landlord, military, administrative.

Question 54

In the late seventeenth century,European wars almost always had a colonial aspect.

Question 55

The Estates-General in France never met during the reign of Louis XIV.

Question 56

The Glorious Revolution occurred completely without bloodshed.

Question 57

Russian peasants were:

A) politically free.
B) legally the property of their landlords.
C) quite well off in terms of general European standards of living in the eighteenth century.
D) free to pursue nonagricultural economic ventures.
E) able to vote as a class in the Russian Duma.

Question 58

"Tories" was a nickname for the supporters of King Charles II.

Question 59

While Louis XIV persecuted Huguenots in his realm mercilessly,all Catholics enjoyed similar rights and freedoms.

Question 60

The balance of power in eastern Europe was realigned in 1721 with the Peace of:

A) Livonia.
B) Nystad.
C) Utrecht.
D) Estonia.
E) Versailles.

Question 61

What was the role of nature in Locke's ideal government?

Question 62

In what ways can it be said that Peter the Great made Russia a great power?

Question 63

What was the role of the army in the formation of the Prussian state?

Question 64

What was the role of theater and image in the success of absolutism?

Question 65

How were changes in the government structure of the Dutch government related to changes in Dutch power?

Question 66

The "Junkers" were a group of enserfed peasants in Prussia.

Question 67

The League of Augsburg united Holland,England,Spain,Sweden,Bavaria,Saxony,the Rhine,the Palatinate,and the Austrian Habsburgs against Louis XIV.

Question 68

How did the French colonies assist Louis XIV's absolutist project?

Question 69

The degree of social mobility in all absolutist states was extremely low.

Question 70

Unlike many places in Europe during the seventeenth century,there was a high degree of religious tolerance in the Dutch Republic.

Question 71

How did absolute monarchs overcome the obstacles of the Church and the nobility?

Question 72

The Rurik dynasty ruled Russia after the death of Ivan the Terrible.

Question 73

What were the effects of the Glorious Revolution on English society and government?

Question 74

What was the role of the Treaty of Utrecht in redefining the balance of power?

Question 75

What was the role of the peasant in Russian society and government?