Deck 4: The Growing Power of Western Europe, 1640-1715

Question 1

The zone of Europe from which much of modern European or "Western" civilization radiated after about 1640 includes:

A) southern Italy, Poland, and Spain.
B) southern Italy, Ireland, and Austria.
C) northern Italy, southern Scotland, and France.
D) Norway, Denmark, and Portugal.

Answer 1

northern Italy, southern Scotland, and France.

Question 2

The increasing influence of western Europe grew in the half-century following the:

A) Italian Renaissance.
B) end of the Middle Ages.
C) Peace of Westphalia.
D) reign of Philip II.

Answer 2

Peace of Westphalia.

Question 3

During the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, all of the following occurred except:

A) France conquered most of the continent of Europe.
B) French styles in clothes, cooking, and etiquette became the accepted standard for European elites.
C) Louis enjoyed the longest reign of any monarch in European history.
D) French became the common language of Europe.

Answer 3

France conquered most of the continent of Europe.

Question 4

Louis XIV's territorial ambitions included:

A) the Spanish Netherlands, Austria, and England.
B) Franche-Comté, the Spanish Empire, and Austria.
C) the Spanish Empire, Rome, and Switzerland.
D) the Spanish Empire, the Spanish Netherlands, and Franche-Comté.

Question 5

Basically, the aim of statesmen pursuing the balance of power in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was to:

A) preserve their independence of action by allying against any state threatening to dominate Europe.
B) dominate Europe by pretending to cooperate with other countries.
C) ensure that neither Russia nor France dominated Europe.
D) ensure that neither Russia nor Germany (the Holy Roman Empire) dominated Europe.

Question 6

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch excelled at all of the following except:

A) international law.
B) painting.
C) biological sciences.
D) sculpture.

Question 7

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch adopted a policy of religious:

A) repression.
B) isolation.
C) skepticism.
D) toleration.

Question 8

The major economic business of the Dutch was:

A) shipping.
B) tulip growing and exportation.
C) the exportation of manufactured goods.
D) the exportation of farm produce.

Question 9

Amsterdam became a great European financial center because:

A) of the founding in 1609 of the Bank of Amsterdam.
B) the Dutch produced gold florins of unchanging weight and purity.
C) the Dutch government guaranteed the safety of deposits in the Bank of Amsterdam.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 10

The seventeenth-century government of the Estates General of the United Provinces:

A) was highly centralized.
B) lacked a strong central authority.
C) was headed by a stadholder from the house of Hanover.
D) was highly centralized and was headed by a stadholder from the house of Hanover.

Question 11

Evidence for the naval and commercial power of the Dutch can be found in all of the following except:

A) throughout the seventeenth century, they owned most of the shipping of northern Europe.
B) they established colonies in Brazil and Guiana.
C) during three wars between 1652 and 1674 they were defeated by the English.
D) they monopolized European trade with Japan.

Question 12

In the context of economic activity, which of the following is true of England in the seventeenth century?

A) The main wealth of England was in the land.
B) England's leading source of wealth was from coal mining.
C) The most profitable of England's economic operations was that of its overseas operations in the eastern Mediterranean.
D) England was economically limited to purely mercantile and seafaring occupations.

Question 13

Which of the following is true of the Petition of Right passed by the Parliament of James I in 1628?

A) It granted the king parliamentary right to make reforms in Ireland.
B) It allowed the king to collect funds to modernize the navy without parliamentary consent.
C) It asserted that taxes could only be raised by the king through parliamentary consent.
D) It asserted that the Parliament would grant adequate revenue to the king only for financial reasons.

Question 14

The ship money issue:

A) dealt with the question of whether the king could tax the interior counties of England to pay for the country's navy.
B) was a protest against the suspiciously large navy kept by the king in peacetime.
C) greatly angered the king when Hampden won his case.
D) was a protest against the suspiciously large navy kept by the king in peacetime and greatly angered the king when Hampden won his case.

Question 15

Parliament's contention that it, rather than the king, should authorize taxes:

A) was a new idea that first found expression in late sixteenth-century Dutch philosophy.
B) sprang from Calvinist theory and practice.
C) was rooted in the Middle Ages.
D) was based on Roman law.

Question 16

The Long Parliament, which met from 1640-1660:

A) created the Star Chamber.
B) generally supported the king.
C) opposed the king peacefully.
D) used the Scottish rebellion as a means of pressing its own demands.

Question 17

The Commonwealth under Cromwell:

A) brought religious toleration to the British Isles.
B) converted the Scots to puritanism.
C) brought about religious violence.
D) created a democracy.

Question 18

The Levellers, a party that arose at the time of Cromwell, _____.

A) called for the end to all private property
B) asked for a nearly universal manhood suffrage
C) demanded the collectivization of most land
D) called for the execution of all nobles and aristocrats

Question 19

The period of the Commonwealth left England with:

A) a backlash against this era of standing armies, major generals, and grim Puritans.
B) a dream to recreate a "godly" England.
C) an enthusiasm for democracy.
D) a permanent political consciousness in the lower classes.

Question 20

In 1660, the restoration in England restored all of the following except:

A) the house of Orange's return to the throne.
B) Parliament's resumption of its pre-1640 position of authority.
C) the Church of England's old rights.
D) the English aristocracy's position of authority.

Question 21

Cromwell devised a written constitution for England called:

A) the revised Magna Carta.
B) the Compact of Government.
C) the Act of Settlement.
D) the Instrument of Government.

Question 22

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 was significant because:

A) it established the primacy of parliamentary government.
B) it extended votes to the majority of the population.
C) it made it possible for people from all social classes to become members of parliament by providing salaries.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 23

For Ireland, the Revolution of 1688 meant:

A) an increased participation by Catholics in local government.
B) that England's governing classes denied rights like the rule of law and even the right of rebellion against tyranny in Ireland.
C) greater opportunities in international trade.
D) a relaxation of the burdens of an alien church and absentee landlords.

Question 24

Bishop Bossuet's doctrine of royal absolutism stated that the king:

A) could act as arbitrarily as he wished.
B) had the right to exercise total authority but must rule justly and reasonably in accordance with the will of God.
C) possessed all executive power but had to obey the law courts (or parlements).
D) had to obey God's law as interpreted by the pope and the Catholic Church.

Question 25

The agents of Louis XIV's government who largely controlled local French administration were called:

A) the prefects.
B) the bailiffs.
C) the sheriffs.
D) the intendants.

Question 26

For positions in his administration, as distinguished from his personal entourage, Louis XIV preferred to use men whose upper-class status was recent because:

A) he wanted to reserve such men for the more exclusive honors of the château.
B) such men could aspire to no independent political influence of their own.
C) he wanted to keep them away from real political agitation in the provinces.
D) of local and aristocratic pressures.

Question 27

Finance was always the weakest point of the French monarchy, and the main weakness arose from an old bargain between:

A) the intermediate tax officials and the private concessionaries.
B) the peasants and the merchants.
C) the French crown and the nobility.
D) the French crown and the unprivileged classes.

Question 28

Colbert's Five Great Farms was:

A) an enormous estate dedicated to scientific agriculture.
B) a scheme for colonization in India.
C) a system of local administration.
D) a large tariff union in central France.

Question 29

Colbert supported all of the following economic measures except:

A) subsidizing silk and tapestry manufacture.
B) improving communications by building roads and canals.
C) increasing the size of the navy.
D) promoting free trade with foreign countries.

Question 30

Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 because:

A) of repeated Huguenot rebellions.
B) he thought religious unity was necessary for the monarchy's strength and dignity.
C) of the pleadings of his wife, Mme. de Maintenon.
D) of an assassination attempt by a deranged Huguenot.

Question 31

Which of the following is true of the War of the Spanish Succession?

A) It was a war in which armies were subjected to sporadic command.
B) It was a war in which religion and commerce were the principal stakes.
C) It was fought by whole peoples rather than by professional armies.
D) It foreshadowed the typical warfare of the eighteenth century.

Question 32

Which of the following statements is true of the treaty of Utrecht of 1713?

A) It ended the reign of the Bourbons in Spain.
B) It confirmed the union of the French and Spanish kingdoms.
C) It partitioned the world of Spain.
D) It removed English influence from Spanish America.

Question 33

Which of the following statements is true of the consequences of the War of the Spanish Succession?

A) The war resulted in the disunification of England and Scotland.
B) The greatest winners of the war were the British as Great Britain made its appearance as a great power.
C) The war resulted in the French entering an era of wholesale smuggling into Spanish America.
D) The Dutch started playing a primary role in European political affairs.

Question 34

The asiento, acquired in the 1713-1714 peace settlement, was far more valuable to Britain than many of its territorial gains. The asiento:

A) permitted British merchants to exploit the fur trade of New France.
B) opened up an era of British illicit trade in nonhuman cargoes in Spanish America.
C) gave special privileges to British merchants wishing to sell goods in Barcelona and Seville.
D) allowed Britain to lay claim to the Spanish Empire in America.

Question 35

Discuss the concept of the balance of power in the last half of the seventeenth century using the policies of William of Orange and Louis XIV to demonstrate the idea of balance.

Question 36

What were the political, economic, and social reasons for the tremendous prosperity of Holland in the seventeenth century?

Question 37

Oliver Cromwell established an effective government in England, but his republic was neither stable nor durable. Why not?

Question 38

In seventeenth-century England, the parliament defeated the king and established a workable form of government. Why did royal absolutism fail in England between 1600 and 1689?

Question 39

Compare and contrast the English treatment of Irish Catholics and the French treatment of the Huguenots during the seventeenth century.

Question 40

What was the relationship of Scotland and Ireland to England in the seventeenth century?

Question 41

How did Louis XIV succeed in establishing absolute monarchy in France?

Question 42

Evaluate Louis XIV's reign. How did his reign benefit France? What harm did it cause?

Question 43

What were the causes and consequences of the War of the Spanish Succession?

Question 44

What did Louis XIV gain by expanding the boundaries of France?

Question 45

How was Louis XIV's expansionist policies resisted?

Question 46

How did power shift between Parliament and the king during the English Civil War?

Question 47

Evaluate the outcome of the English Civil War as seen against the conflicts that plagued the Restoration. How lasting were Parliament's gains?

Question 48

Evaluate Louis XIV's centralizing policies against the diversity of law and administration apparent in the map. How did inconsistencies and privileges allow the royal government to function?

Question 49

How did Britain's gains under the Treaty of Utrecht allow it to emerge as the great European power?

Question 50

In the Atlantic world, which trade routes and ports came under British control? Why were each of those routes and ports important in Britain's rise to dominance?

Question 51

Why was Dutch banking dominant in the seventeenth century?

Question 52

What threats did the Dutch face in the seventeenth century? How did they meet those threats?

Question 53

What was the ship money dispute? How did it illustrate the struggle between the English crown and Parliament?

Question 54

What were the demands of the various dissenters in seventeenth-century England? How did Cromwell, and later Charles II, deal with these radical groups?

Question 55

What was the legacy of the Glorious Revolution? Was it in fact a real revolution?

Question 56

How did Colbert's policies help the French monarchy overcome the problem of increasing revenues?