Deck 31: Civilizations in Crisis: the Ottoman Empire, the Islamic Heartlands, and Qing China

Question 1

Which of the following was NOT a weakness associated with the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century?

A) Weak rulers
B) Competition within factions of the elite
C) Conversion of much of the population to Christianity
D) Deteriorating conditions for artisans as a result of competition with the West

Answer 1

Conversion of much of the population to Christianity

Question 2

Which of the following statements concerning the Muslim economy at the beginning of the 18th century is most accurate?

A) The Muslim economy remained dependent on Arab merchants who traded predominantly with Africa.
B) By holding the Europeans at bay, the Muslims were able to capitalize an indigenous industry based on the production of cotton textiles.
C) The prosperity of the industrial base of the Muslim empires led to a close alliance between the artisans and the government.
D) Merchants within the empire, especially those who were Jews or Christians, grew more dependent on commercial dealings with European counterparts, accelerating the influx of Western goods.

Answer 2

Merchants within the empire, especially those who were Jews or Christians, grew more dependent on commercial dealings with European counterparts, accelerating the influx of Western goods.

Question 3

Which of the following European powers seized territories of the Ottoman Empire in the early decades of the 18th century?

A) Austria-Hungary
B) Britain
C) France
D) Italy

Answer 3

Austria-Hungary

Question 4

In the later 1700s what power became the main threat to the Ottomans? survival?

A) Britain
B) Austria-Hungary
C) France
D) Russia

Question 5

The first region to successfully rebel and achieve independence from the Ottoman Empire was

A) the Crimea.
B) Greece.
C) Serbia.
D) Palestine.

Question 6

By the 1870s, the Ottoman Empire

A) had recovered most of their territorial losses to European powers.
B) had ceased to rule any portion of Asia Minor.
C) had been driven from virtually all of the Balkans.
D) had driven the Russian armies back to the steppes.

Question 7

What European nation supported the Ottoman Empire in order to prevent other European powers from gaining access to the Mediterranean?

A) Britain
B) France
C) Russia
D) Austria-Hungary

Question 8

What was the result of the reforms of Sultan Selim III (1789 -1807)?

A) Western-style education was introduced throughout the empire
B) The Janissary corps was eliminated as a political and military force
C) The sultan was toppled from the throne by a Janissary revolt
D) Railways were constructed, connecting the empire with Europe

Question 9

What Ottoman sultan successfully eliminated the Janissary corps as a military and political influence?

A) Selim III
B) Mahmud II
C) Abdul Hamid
D) Selim II

Question 10

Which of the following statements concerning the reforms of Mahmud II is most accurate?

A) Mahmud patterned his reform program on Western precedents, including the creation of a diplomatic corps.
B) Despite subtle military and administrative reforms, Mahmud was unable to shake off the influence of the Janissaries.
C) Mahmud, with the consent of the ulama and the ayan returned to a traditional Islamic form of government.
D) Mahmud?s program of reform was actually less ambitious than that of his predecessor, Selim III.

Question 11

Which of the following was NOT part of the Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire?

A) The introduction of Western-style education in the universities
B) The addition of state-run postal and telegraph systems
C) The creation of a constitution based on European prototypes
D) The elimination of religious protection for minority religious groups

Question 12

In what year was the revised constitution introduced as part of the Tanzimat reforms?

A) 1839
B) 1848
C) 1876
D) 1898

Question 13

What group within the Ottoman Empire actually suffered as a result of the Tanzimat reforms?

A) Ayan
B) Ulama
C) Artisans
D) Merchants

Question 14

Which of the following statements concerning the improvement of women?s status as a result of the Tanzimat reforms is most accurate?

A) The inclusion of reforms for women was not even considered in Ottoman society during the period of the Tanzimat reforms.
B) Despite widespread discussion of the practices of seclusion, polygamy, and veiling, few improvements in women?s social status were won in the 19th century.
C) While not all women benefitted, elite women were freed from the restrictive aspects of Muslim society during the period of the Tanzimat reforms.
D) Muslim restrictions against the social equality of women were swept away as part of the Tanzimat reforms.

Question 15

What Ottoman sultan attempted to roll back the Tanzimat reforms and reinstitute an absolute monarchy in 1878?

A) Selim III
B) Mahmud II
C) Yazid II
D) Abdul Hamid

Question 16

In which of the following areas did Sultan Abdul Hamid continue to press for increased Westernization?

A) Freedom of the press
B) Constitutional reform
C) Military reform and the introduction of Western technology
D) Civil liberties

Question 17

Which of the following groups was responsible for the overthrow of the Ottoman sultanate in 1908?

A) Black September
B) The Ottoman Society for Union and Progress
C) The Young Arabs
D) The Mamluks

Question 18

Which of the following reforms resulted from the coup in the Ottoman Empire of 1908?

A) The sultanate was abolished
B) The constitution of 1876 was restored
C) The Janissaries were removed as a political and military force
D) Restrictions against women in Muslim society were removed

Question 19

With what European power did the Ottomans contest the control of Libya just prior to World War I?

A) Britain
B) Germany
C) Austria-Hungary
D) Italy

Question 20

Which of the following statements concerning the relationships between the Young Turks and the Arabs of the Ottoman Empire after the 1908 coup is most accurate?

A) The Young Turks harbored resentment against the Arabs of the empire for failing to support the 1908 coup.
B) Arab support of the 1908 coup waned when they discovered that the Young Turks had no intentions of abandoning the concept of empire.
C) The 1908 coup resulted in the immediate independence of the Arab portions of the Ottoman Empire.
D) The close alliance between the Young Turks and the Arab leaders of the Ottoman Empire continued after the 1908 coup.

Question 21

What nation?s invasion of Egypt in 1798 signalled the beginning of European penetration of the Islamic heartland?

A) France
B) Britain
C) Russia
D) Austria-Hungary

Question 22

What Islamic group ruled Egypt in 1798?

A) The Fatimids
B) The Umayyads
C) The Mamluks
D) The Almoravids

Question 23

By 1801 what ruler had succeeded in establishing his dominance over Egypt?

A) Murad, commander of the Mamluks
B) Napoleon, French emperor
C) Muhammad Ali, an Albanian officer in the Ottoman army
D) Nurhaci, Almoravid military commander

Question 24

Which of the following reforms was NOT introduced in Egypt after 1801?

A) The restoration of the Mamluk armies
B) The introduction of Western-style military conscription
C) The hiring of French military advisors
D) The importation of Western arms

Question 25

What prevented Muhammad Ali from overthrowing the Ottoman Empire?

A) His failure to develop a modern army
B) The lack of a navy
C) His defeat by the Ottomans at Omdurman
D) The opposition of European powers

Question 26

Which of the following reforms undertaken by Muhammad Ali failed?

A) The production of raw materials in demand in Europe (cotton, hemp, indigo)
B) Improvements of Egyptian harbors and irrigation works along the Nile
C) The build-up of an Egyptian industrial sector
D) Modernization of the army

Question 27

Muhammad Ali?s successors as rulers of Egypt were referred to as

A) sultans.
B) khedives.
C) caliphs.
D) kings.

Question 28

European financiers lent money to the profligate successors of Muhammad Ali because they desired access to Egypt?s cheap cotton and, by the 1850s, a share in the

A) Orient Express.
B) Cairo Railway.
C) Suez Canal.
D) Panama Canal.

Question 29

Which of the following was an Islamic moderate in 19th-century-Egypt who urged the adoption of Western scientific knowledge and technology?

A) al-Afghani
B) Ibn Sina
C) Ibn Rochd
D) al-Mansur

Question 30

The khedival government of Egypt was threatened in 1882 by a rebellion of Egyptian military officers under

A) Muhammad Ali.
B) Ahmad Orabi.
C) Muhammad Achmad.
D) Khalifa Abdallahi.

Question 31

What was the result of the rebellion by Egyptian army officers in 1882?

A) The khedival government was overthrown by an indigenous Egyptian government.
B) A new constitution was instituted modeled on the Ottoman constitution of 1876.
C) The rebellion was crushed by the Turkish elements within the Egyptian army.
D) The khedive called on the British to crush the rebellion resulting in British overlordship of Egypt.

Question 32

What was the center of Egyptian administration in the Sudan?

A) Omdurman
B) Cairo
C) Aboukir
D) Khartoum

Question 33

On what basis did Muhammad Achmad claim leadership of the Sudanic resistance to Egyptian rule?

A) He claimed direct descent from Muhammad
B) He claimed to be a direct descendant of the kings of Ghana
C) He was the head of the Sunni ulama in the Sudan
D) He claimed to be a direct descendant of Murad, the last ruler of the Mamluks

Question 34

The successor to the Mahdi, Khalifa Abdallahi,

A) relieved the restrictive social regulations imposed by the Mahdi.
B) immediately lost the military advantage gained by the Mahdi.
C) fell in the Mahdist defeat at the battle of Omdurman in 1898.
D) overthrew the Ottoman sultan and captured Istanbul.

Question 35

Who was responsible for the unification of the Manchu tribesmen prior to the invasion of China in the 17th century?

A) Lin Zexu
B) Nurhaci
C) Cixi
D) Hong Liaquan

Question 36

The dynastic name taken by the Manchu dynasty was

A) Song.
B) Tang.
C) Qing.
D) Chou.

Question 37

Which of the following statements concerning the Manchu government is most accurate?

A) They destroyed the scholar-gentry in order to consolidate their grip on the government.
B) The civil service examination system was eliminated as a means of entering the government.
C) Though Manchus occupied a disproportionate number of the highest political positions, there were few limits on Chinese promotions within the imperial bureaucracy.
D) Chinese officials were eliminated at the local administrative levels in order to prevent the extreme regionalization that had led to the downfall of previous dynasties.

Question 38

In what area did the Manchus attempt to take strong measures of reform?

A) Elimination of the scholar-gentry
B) Removal of social restrictions on women
C) Overturning the Confucian social hierarchy of age and sex
D) Alleviating rural distress and unrest

Question 39

What accounts for the general failure of Manchu attempts at reform?

A) Resistance on the part of the peasantry
B) Enormous population growth and the disappearance of open lands
C) Buddhist resistance
D) Loss of territory to nomads from the Asian steppes

Question 40

The new groups of merchants that developed in China under the more relaxed commercial system of the Manchus were called

A) waiqin.
B) pescadors.
C) compradors.
D) Boxers.

Question 41

All of the following signs of dynastic decline were apparent in the Qing regime by the beginning of the 19th century EXCEPT

A) corruption of the examination system.
B) diversion of revenue from state projects to private fortunes.
C) failure of foreign commerce.
D) food shortages, mass migrations, and banditry.

Question 42

Unhappy about the unfavorable terms of trade in China, British merchants hit on a possible solution to reverse the flow of bullion in the form of

A) cotton textiles.
B) opium from India.
C) teas.
D) industrial machinery.

Question 43

What was the impact of the British opium trade on China?

A) Its use was restricted to the peasantry of northern China, where production of food rapidly decreased.
B) The government was quickly able to halt the importation of opium, so that it did not have the disastrous impact on the Chinese population that was expected.
C) Within years China?s favorable balance of trade was reversed and silver began to flow out of the country.
D) Due to the addiction of the imperial court, the British were welcomed as a valuable trade partner of China.

Question 44

The Chinese official charged with eliminating the opium trade in the 1830s was

A) Cixi.
B) Lin Zexu.
C) Hong Liuquan.
D) Kanxi.

Question 45

What was the outcome of the Opium War?

A) Despite technological advantages, the British forces were overwhelmed by the Chinese numerical superiority and were unable to penetrate China?s isolation.
B) The British soon swept the seas of opposition, but were prevented from entering China by opposition from other European powers who feared Britain?s overthrow of the Manchus.
C) The British victory was so overwhelming that the Manchu dynasty was overthrown by 1850 and replaced by a republic.
D) British victory in the Opium War allowed European powers to force China to open trade and diplomatic exchanges.

Question 46

The semi-Christian rebellion that broke out in southern China in the 1850s and early 1860s was the

A) Boxer rebellion.
B) Kwangxi rebellion.
C) Taiping rebellion.
D) Shandong rebellion.

Question 47

What was the political and social position of the Manchu rulers at the end of the 19th century?

A) The Manchu rulers stubbornly resisted the far-reaching reforms that were the only hope of saving the regime and Chinese civilization.
B) The last decades of the dynasty were dominated by Cixi, a woman who proposed radical reforms of the social order.
C) The Chinese scholar-gentry and the provincial elite allied with the emperors to introduce significant reform of landholding practices and regional administration.
D) The dynasty wholeheartedly embraced the ongoing Westernization of the Chinese government and economy.

Question 48

In what year was the last emperor of China deposed in favor of a republican form of government?

A) 1895
B) 1901
C) 1908
D) 1912

Question 49

How did the emergence of the industrialized West affect the pattern for the decline of civilizations?

Question 50

How did the experience of the Qing dynasty in China and the Ottoman Empire differ between 1700 and 1900?

Question 51

Compare and contrast the conditions leading to the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and the Qing dynasty in 1912.

Question 52

Compare and contrast the British intervention in Egypt with their intervention in China.

Question 53

Contrast the reactions of the Islamic heartlands and China to the challenge of the West.