Deck 15: Epilogue: the Shaping of the Past and the Challenge of the Future

Question 1

In 1990 Gorbachev and the Soviet Union reached another crisis when confronted by a strong secessionist movement in:

A) Latvia
B) Lithuania
C) Estonia
D) Finland

Answer 1

Lithuania

Question 2

The revolutionary movement that swept across Eastern Europe in 1989 began in:

A) Hungary
B) Czechoslovakia
C) Poland
D) East Germany

Answer 2

Poland

Question 3

In 1983 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to:

A) Pope John Paul II
B) Ronald Reagan
C) Mikhail Gorbachev
D) Lech Walesa

Answer 3

Lech Walesa

Question 4

What was the name of the Hungarian Communist Party secretary who was ousted from power in 1988?

A) János Kádár
B) Imre Nagy
C) Todor Zhivkov
D) Erich Honeker

Question 5

Erich Honeker was the Communist leader in:

A) Hungary
B) Poland
C) Czechoslovakia
D) East Germany

Question 6

In 1991 the Soviet Union implemented a crackdown on political dissent in all but which of the following?

A) Latvia
B) Estonia
C) Poland
D) Armenia

Question 7

In which Eastern European country was the fall of communism followed by the highest level of ethnic strife and the greatest number of atrocities?

A) Bulgaria
B) Yugoslavia
C) Czechoslovakia
D) East Germany

Question 8

Basque terrorists attempted to put pressure on the government of what European country in their demands for independence?

A) Spain
B) France
C) Italy
D) Yugoslavia

Question 9

In Austria, the Freedom Party was primarily:

A) pro-Communist
B) anti-Communist
C) democratic
D) anti-immigration

Question 10

In 2004 a proposal to prohibit the display in public schools of most religious symbols created an enormous controversy in:

A) Germany
B) Britain
C) France
D) Italy

Question 11

In 2011 severe financial problems in which of the following two European countries raised problems about the future of the euro?

A) Spain
B) the Republic of Ireland
C) Denmark
D) France

Question 12

Pope Benedict XVI was originally from:

A) Poland
B) Germany
C) Italy
D) Spain

Question 13

With what country did Mikhail Gorbachev and the Soviet Union reach an agreement in 1988 to work together on issues of nuclear safety and environmental protection?

A) the United States
B) China
C) East Germany
D) West Germany

Question 14

In 2008 the Canadian-based organization Climate Action Network awarded its Fossil Award, given to the country it deems least effective at decreasing emissions contributing to global warming, to:

A) China
B) Japan
C) India
D) Russia

Question 15

Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, there was concern that the Olympics might need to be relocated because of:

A) terrorist threats
B) inadequate facilities
C) poor air quality
D) delay in getting the venues ready on time

Question 16

On which issue did United States citizens seem to be most united in the early years of the presidency of Barack Obama?

A) the killing of Osama Bin Laden
B) health care
C) economic policy
D) the war in Iraq and Afghanistan

Question 17

What was the name of the Polish trade union coalition that demanded that the Polish government abolish censorship, grant religious freedom, and recognize the legality of freely formed trade unions?

Question 18

Over what country did Todor Zhivkov preside as leader of the Communist Party until his resignation in 1989?

Question 19

What was the name of the leader of the Serbian Socialist Party who attempted to preserve power in the 1990s by appealing to Serbian nationalism?

Question 20

What was the main focus of the neofascist movement in Europe after 1989?

Question 21

What famous American beer manufacturer was sold to a Belgian company named Inbev in 2008?

Question 22

What was the name of the environmentally concerned political party that became prominent in West Germany during the 1980s?

Question 23

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of globalization? What forces seem to be uniting people in the early twenty-first century? What forces or concerns are still dividing people?

Question 24

How would you account for the collapse of the Soviet Union? Does the history of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union after 1988 demonstrate that history is shaped by contingent or accidental factors or is there a sense in which the fall of communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union were likely to happen about that time?