Deck 18: Europe on the Threshold of Modernity, Ca1715-1789

Question 1

Summarize the what, when, why, and so what (results)of the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.What state do you think profited most from these wars, and why?

Answer 1

This should be a simple assignment, especially since the chapter greatly simplifies the causes of the Seven Years' War.Students should mention the countries involved in each war, as well as dates, causes, and results.There should be a reference to the "Diplomatic Revolution." Based on the contents of the chapter, it may be argued that either Austria or Prussia profited most.

Question 2

Discuss the life and thought of Rousseau.What do you think would be the practical consequences of his political system?

Answer 2

There is not much on his life in the chapter, but the interesting point is how much his life contradicted the very positions he took in his writings.Essays should discuss the consequences of Rousseau's idea of the "general will"; it may occur to some students that there are some resemblances to Athenian democracy in its less glorious moments.

Question 3

A key principle of Adam Smith's economic theory was that

A)human behavior is inherently irrational.
B)government should not interfere in the economy.
C)monopolies promote economic well-being.
D)mercantilism is the only viable economic system.
E)laissez faire was a dangerous econo-political theory.

Answer 3

government should not interfere in the economy.

Question 4

What was not one of Voltaire's main themes in Candide?

A)He criticized aristocratic privilege.
B)He criticized the authority of the Catholic Church.
C)He criticized the French Monarchy in particular.
D)He criticized philosophers who assumed Natural Law meant the world was working as it should.
E)He argued all of these in Candide.

Question 5

Explain the changes in manufacture evident in the eighteenth century.

Question 6

Of the following, which is the best description of the Enlightenment?

A)The intellectual revolution that replaced geocentrism with heliocentrism and developed the empirical method
B)Divine revelation at the heart of the Reformation
C)An intellectual movement that applied the new scientific worldview to the study of people and society
D)The revival of Greco-Roman civilization
E)The establishment of a new military philosophy that says "might makes right"

Question 7

Discuss art and culture in the eighteenth century.What were some of its themes? Who were its audience?

Question 8

Describe the ways in which Enlightenment thought was spread.What role did women play in this process?

Question 9

In addition to his work on law, Montesquieu was known for

A)putting all of his children in an orphanage.
B)writing The Count of Monte Christo.
C)defending absolutism.
D)advocating separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers in government.
E)abandoning the rational of Locke's assumption about human educability.

Question 10

A leading proponent of the Enlightenment, Voltaire

A)despised the Catholic Church.
B)portrayed Great Britain as a more rational society than France.
C)traveled extensively, sometime voluntarily, sometimes not.
D)was cautious about the ability of humans to discern truth.
E)All of these.

Question 11

Adam Smith's most important work was

A)Candide
B)On the Spirit of the Laws
C)The Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
D)An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding
E)Encyclopédie

Question 12

What were some elements in the agricultural revolution, and why did new farming techniques not bring general prosperity?

Question 13

Define the Enlightenment.What were the chief concerns of its most prominent representatives, and what connection did their approach to social problems have with the Scientific Revolution?

Question 14

Analyze the attempts of the French kings mentioned in the chapter to improve governmental efficiency and implement reforms.How were those efforts hampered by parlementary obstructionism?

Question 15

In their development of the "laws" of economic life, the physiocrats recommended all of the following except

A)mercantilism, with a focus on commerce and manufacture.
B)the elimination of the collective control of farmland by peasants.
C)the elimination of seigneurial rights over land and labor by landowners.
D)the free flow of produce to market.
E)"let it run on its own."

Question 16

Compare the political history of England in the eighteenth century with that of Prussia.Discuss the main differences between them.What political parties were emerging in England? Did the two states have anything in common?

Question 17

Discuss the principal stages in the colonial rivalry between France and England.What were the results for France in Canada, India, and the Caribbean? What were some reasons for the English victory?

Question 18

Summarize the economic ideas of Adam Smith.How did they reflect Enlightenment optimism about human rationality? Are his views still current today?

Question 19

All of the following are true of Enlightenment thought except it

A)championed the Christian view that human beings are fundamentally evil.
B)aimed at using natural laws to create a new and rational social order.
C)opposed unexamined tradition and superstitions of all kinds.
D)was embodied in the work of the philosophes.
E)was supported by monarchs who considered themselves enlightened.

Question 20

Summarize the reign of Maria Theresa.What formidable political obstacles did she have to overcome? What were some of her reforms? Why did the reforms of her son, Joseph II, arouse hostility and revolt, while hers did not?

Question 21

Eighteenth-century France faced all of the following challenges except

A)a central government constrained by a privileged elite.
B)mounting government debt.
C)rulers who were either lazy and despised or well-intentioned but insecure.
D)an underdeveloped economy.
E)a reform movement initiated by parlement.

Question 22

What group regained power in France when Louis XV became king?

A)The Estates General
B)The Parlements
C)The Aristocracy
D)The Merchant class
E)None of these

Question 23

Rousseau envisioned what kind of a society?

A)A mixed regime with checks and balances
B)Absolute monarchy
C)An aristocratically managed nation
D)Direct democracy of the "General Will" in an all-powerful state
E)One of full gender equity

Question 24

Ossian is associated with

A)a third-century Scottish Highland poet whose works were fabricated; he never existed.
B)a growing fascination with exotic cultures and the more natural culture of a less developed society.
C)an interest in Scottish folklore once the English suppressed the Highlanders in the mid-1700s.
D)a sense of distance that one could use to measure one's own sophistication and superiority.
E)All of these.

Question 25

Which of the following is not true of eighteenth-century art?

A)It found royal patrons
B)It had a "cult of sensibility"
C)It produced the role of art critic
D)The public became more involved
E)It was an age of rigid formalism

Question 26

David Hume was all of the following except a(n)

A)friend of Adam Smith.
B)archskeptic.
C)writer on political and economic philosophy.
D)critic of the moral, economic, and political of views of this time.
E)champion of the reliability of sense knowledge.

Question 27

What does laissez-faire mean?

A)The principle of human progress
B)The underlying belief in state control of economics
C)The economic theory of free trade and exchange
D)A form of deism
E)Religious liberty

Question 28

Which country provided the international intellectual language of the mid-eighteenth century and was the center of cultural life?

A)England
B)France
C)The Netherlands
D)Spain
E)Sweden

Question 29

Which of the following is associated with Salons?

A)Churches were the favorite meeting places of Salons.
B)Females were not allowed to attend Salon meetings.
C)Conversations always deferred to class participation.
D)Salon meetings were kept in secrecy to protect participants.
E)Salon legacies involved the development of an informed body of public opinion that would generate change.

Question 30

Which of the following is not true in describing the Encyclopédie?

A)The Catholic Church held it in high regard.
B)It was both admired and criticized by public and official readers.
C)It assisted thousands of government officials and professionals.
D)It was assembled by leading philosophes in France.
E)It encompassed a belief that human happiness would be advanced by knowledge.

Question 31

Reading habits changed in the eighteenth century in which of the following ways?

A)Literacy increased and access to printed material improved.
B)Ordinary people began to read more secular and contemporary philosophical works.
C)Forerunners to the modern lending libraries made their debut.
D)Solitary reading for reflection and personal pleasure became more widespread.
E)All of these.

Question 32

Which of the following does not apply to eighteenth-century British politics?

A)A representative government that gave most men the vote
B)Tories, who were generally staunch Anglicans, representing the interests of the provincial gentry
C)Whigs, who represented the interests of the great aristocrats and wealthy merchants
D)The emergence of the post of prime minister
E)The increased cooperation between the monarchy and Parliament evolved

Question 33

How does the Encyclopédie reflect the complexities and limitations of the Enlightenment in regard to gender?

A)Some contributors blamed the inequality of women on laws and customs.
B)Some contributors blamed society's plight on women.
C)It assumed that natural equality was grounds for women rights.
D)It increased the advocacy for greater education for women.
E)All of these.

Question 34

The Encyclopédie was

A)the eighteenth-century edition of the Index of Prohibited Books.
B)limited to the fields of botany and entomology.
C)a means of disseminating Enlightenment thought.
D)a compilation of all human knowledge.
E)a collection of information that included much of the empirical knowledge of its time.

Question 35

What is Kant concerned with in his philosophy?

A)Bolstering empiricism
B)Defending Descartes
C)Refuting Voltaire
D)Reconciling Descartes and the Empiricists
E)Promoting atheism

Question 36

Eighteenth-century monarchs increasingly

A)followed pacifist, "rational" foreign policies.
B)sought to stem the spread of the Enlightenment.
C)changed their public image from that of a self-aggrandizing absolutist to that of a diligent servant of the state.
D)turned the governing of their states over to their ministers, while they pursued a life of opulent leisure.
E)saw themselves as products of divine right.

Question 37

Which of the statements about art during the enlightenment is true?

A)Subjects no longer were related to the classical period.
B)Artists had to assume a public that was not literate.
C)Musical structure was developed by Haydn and Mozart
D)Artists seemed fascinated with nature and the naturalness of humans.
E)Art emphasized the evil side of man.

Question 38

How did eighteenth-century gardens represent increased confidence in the relationship between humans and nature?

A)Landscapes attempted to emphasize human creativity.
B)Landscapes were made to emphasize the natural work of nature.
C)Gardens emphasized nature's hostile potential.
D)New World gardens did not resemble Old World gardens.
E)The use of water was never a part of landscapes, as it emphasized the wild side of nature.

Question 39

For what reason had the French national debt grown so great in the eighteenth century?

A)A series of costly wars
B)Extravagant court life
C)Lack of taxation
D)Excessive contributions to the Catholic Church
E)The maintenance of a standing parliament

Question 40

Art and music in the eighteenth century were

A)confined to royal courts.
B)unpopular with most educated people.
C)characterized by a rejection of classical styles.
D)popular and increasingly accessible to the public.
E)not available to the general public.

Question 41

In one of the most successful reform programs of an enlightened despot, Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark

A)dramatically increased agricultural productivity by improving the status of the peasantry.
B)ended a long tradition of noble involvement in government.
C)accomplished the first true separation of church and state.
D)eliminated illiteracy in his country.
E)ended economic problems by military expansion.

Question 42

Efforts to reform the British Parliament in the 1780s foundered on the issue of

A)religion; anti-Catholic feelings were too strong and led to bloodshed.
B)taxation; attempts to increase taxes were blocked by American-inspired opposition.
C)the role of the king; George III refused to become a figurehead monarch.
D)gender; British society was not ready to extend the vote to women.
E)the demands of underrepresented cities.

Question 43

All of the following are true of Catherine the Great except that

A)she had her husband overthrown and killed.
B)her policy was to avoid war unless attacked first.
C)she greatly expanded Russian territory.
D)she admired the thought of the Enlightenment.
E)she corresponded with many of the European intellectual community.

Question 44

All of the following had territory in the Caribbean except

A)Spain.
B)England.
C)Portugal.
D)the Netherlands.
E)France.

Question 45

The political power of Prussia by the time of Frederick II was based on

A)naval dominance of the Baltic trade.
B)exports of coal from Silesia.
C)its large and powerful military.
D)skillful diplomacy in avoiding war with its neighbors.
E)successful royal marriages with the British throne.

Question 46

What political stance most characterizes the Whig party?

A)representing landed interests
B)strong support of the Stuart restoration
C)toleration for Catholics
D)opposition to France and intolerance for Catholics
E)isolationism and support of the monarchy

Question 47

What enabled Britain to challenge France for leadership in the eighteenth century?

A)Strong continental interests
B)A massive standing army
C)The best navy in the world
D)Strong popular democracy with a wide franchise
E)None of these

Question 48

In order to profit from increased farm productivity, landlords

A)moved to cities and became food merchants.
B)formed cooperatives with the peasants.
C)took over village common lands for sheep and cattle raising.
D)improved roads and took charge of transporting cash crops.
E)treated land in a speculative manner.

Question 49

The War of Austrian Succession began when all of the following events occurred except that

A)Emperor Charles VI died without a male heir.
B)Maria Theresa came to the Austrian throne.
C)Russia invaded Austria.
D)Frederick II invaded Silesia.
E)rivals became aware of Austria's weak military.

Question 50

Fighting took place between France and England

A)in India, the Caribbean, and North America.
B)only in India.
C)in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
D)in Canada and the North Sea.
E)in the Pacific islands.

Question 51

What did the political skill of Robert Walpole produce?

A)The restoration of the Catholic Stuarts
B)The permanent success of the Tory party
C)The rise of a centralized, powerful office known later as the Prime Minister
D)War with France
E)None of these

Question 52

Armed forces and warfare in the eighteenth century

A)became increasingly professionalized.
B)were an increased burden on common people.
C)increasingly became a tool for social control.
D)expanded to include powerful navies, especially if a nation was heavily involved in foreign trade and colonies.
E)All of these.

Question 53

The region of eighteenth-century international trade that provided the greatest profit was

A)India.
B)the Baltic.
C)the Mediterranean.
D)the Atlantic.
E)island colonies in the Pacific.

Question 54

What nation is created in 1707 by the Act of Union?

A)Prussia
B)Germany
C)Italy
D)Great Britain
E)Ireland

Question 55

The agricultural revolution was characterized by all of the following practices except

A)cultivation of new crops that did not deplete the soil.
B)allowing more land to lie fallow.
C)cultivating potatoes.
D)feeding livestock on new crops over the winter and using their manure to improve yields.
E)more farmers being driven off their land and made destitute.

Question 56

In the Age of Enlightenment, the slave trade

A)was abolished.
B)abated but was not eliminated.
C)greatly expanded.
D)remained constant.
E)became limited to the Caribbean islands.

Question 57

All of the following are true of Maria Theresa except that

A)her main inspiration was Enlightenment thought.
B)her reforms included universal primary schooling.
C)she was a highly effective ruler.
D)she was a devoted and compassionate Catholic.
E)she improved public access to justice and limited the power of landlords over their serfs.

Question 58

Referring to the chapter feature, "The Global Record: An African Recalls the Horrors of the Slave Ship, " which of the following correctly describes the author of this historical record?

A)It was written 100 years after the slave trade had ended.
B)The author wrote of his experience as a slave trader.
C)The account remains one of the few written records by an African survivor of a slave ship.
D)At the time of the record, the author was an abolitionist leader in America
E)The author was born in the American colonies, where he eventually gained his freedom.

Question 59

The Peace of Paris (1763)

A)returned Guadeloupe to France.
B)made Britain the pre-eminent world power among European states.
C)initiated British political rule in India.
D)gave Canada to Britain.
E)All of these

Question 60

All of the following are true of the Seven Years' War except that

A)Frederick II began it.
B)Prussia was helped by the English.
C)Austria allied with France.
D)Prussia was defeated and partitioned.
E)it showed how fragile a nation was without a powerful military.

Question 61

The Seven Years' War was a land war initiated by Frederick the Great who hoped to prevent the new alliances that were forming in Europe.

Question 62

The putting-out system involved

A)new agricultural techniques.
B)the loan of farm machinery.
C)sending children away to school.
D)attracting urban workers to the country side.
E)production of thread and cloth by country dwellers in their homes.

Question 63

The Encyclopédie was solely focused on scientific matters.

Question 64

Catherine the Great was known to personally correspond with many in the European intellectual community.

Question 65

Kant was a French philosophe who believed that for one to be a good citizen one must cultivate virtue and sensibility rather than manners or refinement.

Question 66

In England cooperatives were formed with peasants and their landlords in order to increase farm productivity.

Question 67

Religion was the driving force behind the successful reform of parliament in 1780.

Question 68

In the eighteenth century, men who attempted to improve their work conditions by bargaining and going on strikes were likely to be

A)pirates.
B)both peasants and sailors.
C)sailors.
D)urban workers.
E)members of guilds.

Question 69

Production of manufactured goods

A)decreased due to lack of demand from self-sufficient colonies.
B)underwent few innovations due to stagnant demand.
C)increased with the invention of new machines.
D)declined in England and France.
E)increased with the production of cheaper kinds of cloth for mass production.

Question 70

The slave trade was almost completely abolished during the Enlightenment.

Question 71

The private gatherings at the Salons, in which anyone, regardless of position and with appropriate manners could attend, were vital to the exchange of ideas during the enlightenment.

Question 72

The "cult of sensibility" was nurtured during the Enlightenment by the increases in literacy and in the greater access to books.

Question 73

Voltaire portrayed Great Britain as being much more irrational than the society he found in France.