Deck 26: World History

Question 1

Which European state still governs a portion of mainland South America?

A)Spain
B)Portugal
C)France
D)The United Kingdom

Answer 1

France

Question 2

The first human in space was:

A)Alan Shepard
B)Yuri Gagarin
C)John Glenn
D)Vostok Klichenko

Answer 2

Yuri Gagarin

Question 3

Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years primarily at this location before his release and subsequent election to the South African presidency:

A)Manda Island
B)The Seychelles
C)Dassen Island
D)Robben Island

Answer 3

Robben Island

Question 4

In 1997, the United Kingdom transferred the sovereignty of which city-state to the People's Republic of China?

A)Shanghai
B)Beijing
C)Hong Kong
D)Macau

Question 5

When used in reference to politics or geography the acronym UAE stands for:

A)United Americas Exchange
B)United Arab Emirates
C)Under-Auditor of the Exchequer
D)Union Affiliation of Europe

Question 6

World War I was ignited by the assassination of:

A)Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
B)President William McKinley of the United States
C)Nicholas II (Romanov) of Russia
D)Michael Collins of the Irish Republic

Question 7

Other than its primary headquarters in New York City, the United Nations has three other main offices in:

A)The Hague, Netherlands; Paris, France; and Beijing, China
B)Geneva, Switzerland; Vienna, Austria; and Nairobi, Kenya
C)London, England; Paris, France; and Cairo, Egypt
D)Paris, France; Sydney, Australia; and Geneva, Switzerland

Question 8

The 1968 Summer Olympic Games is often best remembered for which act of political speech?

A)Luz Long's Nazi salute from the medal stand after losing to African American sprinter Jesse Owens
B)The boycott of the games that led many nations, including the United States, to not send a team to compete
C)The murder of 11 Israeli athletes
D)The fisted salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the medal stand following the 200 meter race

Question 9

How many official languages does the United Nations recognize?

A)2
B)4
C)6
D)8

Question 10

Which activity is a topographic map best suited for?

A)Determining a city's population
B)Counting the number of states in the US
C)Identifying Kansas's major crops
D)Finding a mountain's height

Question 11

How many countries border Brazil?

A)12
B)8
C)10
D)14

Question 12

Emmeline Pankhurst was a notable member of which political movement?

A)Women's suffrage movement in Great Britain
B)Independence movement in India
C)Women's suffrage movement in the United States
D)The reunification movement in Germany

Question 13

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's composition "Twelve Variations on 'Ah vous dirai-je Maman'," a French folk song dated to 1761, is better known in contemporary culture as which song?

A)"Happy Birthday"
B)"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
C)"Brother John"
D)"Danny Boy"

Question 14

James Joyce's Ulysses, often ranked as one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century, was inspired by Homer's Odyssey and set in which city?

A)Rome, Italy
B)Athens, Greece
C)Dublin, Ireland
D)London, England

Question 15

The Black Death claimed approximately how much of Europe's total population?

A)30%
B)20%
C)40%
D)50%

Question 16

Which organization is considered the standard setter for human rights advocacy?

A)Human Rights Watch
B)Amnesty International
C)Children's Defense Fund
D)Avocats sans Frontières

Question 17

The United States secured rights to build the Panama Canal in 1903 by first aiding the Panamanian attempt to declare independence from which nation?

A)Colombia
B)Spain
C)Brazil
D)Portugal

Question 18

The DNA sample used to positively identify the remains of the two previously unaccounted for Romanov children, bringing to a close an almost century-long mystery about the fates of the Russian royal family, came from this present-day European royal:

A)Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
B)Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
C)Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
D)Prince Ernst August V of Hanover (Germany)

Question 19

Which famous explorer co-patented the first underwater breathing equipment made available to the public?

A)Thor Heyerdahl
B)Jacques Cousteau
C)James Cook
D)Jacques Piccard

Question 20

The final country to abolish slavery was:

A)Saudi Arabia
B)United Arab Emirates
C)Oman
D)Mauritania

Question 21

The Ottoman Empire, which fell at the end of World War I after surviving more than six centuries, contained all or portions of how many present-day countries?

A)46
B)39
C)53
D)27

Question 22

Nearing the end of her 1937 world flight, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean as they were flying to this destination:

A)Lae, New Guinea
B)Majuro, Marshall Islands
C)Howland Island
D)Honolulu, Hawaii

Question 23

The majority of the existing Great Wall of China was constructed during which dynasty?

A)Zhou
B)Tang
C)Jin
D)Ming

Question 24

Who of the following was not a prominent figure of the Enlightenment?

A)William James
B)John Locke
C)Isaac Newton
D)François-Marie de Voltaire

Question 25

The IAEA promotes:

A)The peaceful, responsible use of nuclear power
B)The economic development of countries in the Americas
C)The exploration of the Atlantic Ocean by coastal countries
D)Trade amongst countries that share Atlantic Ocean coastal borders

Question 26

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 gave the United Kingdom a leading role in the conflict between which two states or regions?

A)East Germany and West Germany
B)Ireland and Northern Ireland
C)The Soviet Union and the Baltic States
D)Israel and Palestine

Question 27

The Pax Romana was:

A)An ancient Roman academy where great thinkers came together to discuss politics, philosophy and art
B)The brief peace between Egypt and the Roman Empire
C)A period of relative peace in the Roman Empire that allowed for cultural developments like the aqueduct system and roads
D)The pact shared by the conspirators who murdered Julius Caesar

Question 28

Which weapon was employed for the first time in warfare during World War I to the horror of unsuspecting troops?

A)Aerial bombardment
B)Automatic firearm
C)Atom bomb
D)Mustard gas

Question 29

Which bloc of states was never recognized by the international community as part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, even though the Soviet Union included them in all maps and government documents?

A)Central Asia
B)Baltic States
C)Eastern Europe
D)Southern Caucasus

Question 30

The two islands within the city of Paris are:

A)Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis
B)Île Saint-Louis and Île la Seine
C)Île de la Cité and Île-de-France
D)Île-de-France and Île Saint-Louis

Question 31

In July 2011, Sudan, the largest country in Africa at the time, split into two nations. The majority of the country remained Sudan. What name did the seceding faction take?

A)The Republic of North Sudan
B)The Republic of East Sudan
C)The Republic of South Sudan
D)The Republic of West Sudan

Question 32

Following World War II, the remaining officials of the Nazi regime were put on trial in:

A)The Hague
B)Paris
C)Nuremberg
D)Berlin

Question 33

The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was:

A)Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
B)Wangari Maathai
C)Winnie Madikizela Mandela
D)Tawakel Karman

Question 34

The Magna Carta, considered the first document in modern history to recognize inherent human rights that governments could not deny through absolute rule, was signed in:

A)1525
B)1375
C)1255
D)1215

Question 35

Johannes Gutenberg was pivotal in world history because:

A)He was the father of the philosophical movement known as Idealism.
B)He invented the printing press.
C)He was a famous composer known by the nom de plume, Ludwig van Beethoven.
D)He founded the Nazi Party.

Question 36

Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation in 1517 when he posted which text on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany:

A)The Ninety-Five Theses
B)The Seventy-Eight Theses
C)The Fifty-Nine Theses
D)The Sixty-Nine Theses

Question 37

The combined population of European Union member states constitutes approximately how much of the world population?

A)3%
B)7%
C)11%
D)1%

Question 38

Abraham Lincoln was born on the same exact day as which famed European intellectual?

A)Louis Pasteur
B)Karl Marx
C)Charles Darwin
D)John Stuart Mill

Question 39

Which of the following religions does not feature the figure known as Jesus or Jesus Christ of Nazareth in either its teaching or cultural history?

A)Islam
B)Judaism
C)Jainism
D)Buddhism

Question 40

Which of the following American presidents has not won the internationally renowned Nobel Peace Prize, handed out annually in Oslo, Norway?

A)John Kennedy
B)Barack Obama
C)Theodore Roosevelt
D)Woodrow Wilson

Question 41

NATO carried out air strikes against which former Soviet region in March 1999?

A)Montenegro
B)Albania
C)Bosnia
D)Kosovo

Question 42

This nation annually celebrates the anniversary of a failed, circa 1605 attempt to assassinate nearly every member of its government in an explosion:

A)Russia
B)Spain
C)England
D)France

Question 43

Which of the following political leaders was not assassinated?

A)Leon Trotsky
B)Benazir Bhutto
C)Anwar Sadat
D)Vladimir Lenin

Question 44

Which of the following is not one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

A)Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
B)Colossus of Rhodes
C)Hanging Gardens of Babylon
D)The Great Sphinx of Giza

Question 45

The final years of this Dynasty were marred by dual assassinations which claimed one regent, and less than 40 years later, claimed his grandson, the final member of the family to rule:

A)Habsburg-Lorraine Dynasty of Austria-Hungary
B)Romanov Dynasty of Russia
C)Tudor Dynasty of England
D)Ming Dynasty of China

Question 46

Who was the first woman to venture into outer space?

A)Valentina Tereshkova
B)Sally Ride
C)Christa McAuliffe
D)Svetlana Savitskaya

Question 47

Napoleon Bonaparte was twice forced into island exile when his political career floundered, first in 1814, then again after a comeback that was squandered on a defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The two islands to which he was remanded were:

A)Corsica and St. Helena
B)Bellisle and Corsica
C)Elba and St. Helena
D)Elba and Corsica

Question 48

Which two nations were involved in the diplomatic debacle known as the XYZ Affair of 1798?

A)The United States and England
B)The United States and France
C)France and Russia
D)England and France

Question 49

Australia shares a colonial history similar to that of which U.S. state?

A)Florida
B)Virginia
C)Massachusetts
D)Georgia

Question 50

Mohandas Gandhi cited The Kingdom of God Is Within You and A Letter to a Hindu by this Russian writer as integral to the formation of his personal ideology:

A)Alexander Pushkin
B)Leo Tolstoy
C)Fyodor Dostoyevsky
D)Vladimir Lenin

Question 51

Which of the following documents encouraged President Franklin Roosevelt to begin the Manhattan Project and develop the first atom bomb, which ultimately featured into the final acts of World War II?

A)A letter from German émigré scientists who asserted that Hitler was already pursuing the goal and would unquestionably employ the weapon if developed
B)Personal correspondence between Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in which the two leaders ultimately decided that ridding the world of the Axis powers was their only moral option in the best interest of the human race
C)Scientific documents acquired through espionage in Poland and smuggled to the United States that detailed the progress German scientists had already made on the building a nuclear weapon
D)Intercepted communication between Japan and one of its allies in which they discussed attacking the United States with a weapon of mass destruction the havoc of which had never before been seen