Download History 103 Study Questions for Exam 1

History 103 Study Questions for Term Exam Two
1. What were the three major crises of the eighteenth century? What is the significance
of the Peace of Utrecht (1713)?
2. Discuss the significance of the Seven Years War (1756-63) in terms of its origins and
effects on both Europe and the world. Discuss the development of Prussia as a power in
Central Europe in terms of its society and governance and the importance to Austria and
Central Europe of the Pragmatic Sanction. What was the importance of the resulting
“German dualism”?
3. Define asiento in the context of the struggle among European colonial empires in the
eighteenth century. Why did Spanish power decline during this era and that of England,
the Netherlands, and France rise? In what ways does Sabatini’s Captain Blood explain
the dynamics of imperial rivalry at the end of seventeenth century and their impact on the
1700s?
4. What were the motives for European exploration and conquest of the world? What
technical advances aided this exploration and conquest?
5. What effects did European expansion have on the peoples of the world? What effects
did this expansion have on Europe?
6. Why is it accurate to say that the scientific revolution replaced a view of the world as
static to a view of the world as dynamic? What conflicts existed between science and
religion during the scientific revolution? Define: (a) geocentric; (b) heliocentric; (c)
rectilinear; (d) kinematics; (e) dynamics. In what way does the theory of atomism
represent one of the most important advances made by the scientific revolution in the
understanding of nature?
7. Define absolutism. Detail the structure of absolutism that allowed it to extend its
power over its subjects. Examine the weaknesses and limitations of “bureaucratic
absolutism.” Why did the “new” absolutist monarchies do better the “old”?
8. What is the importance of the reign of Louis XIV? Why did he revoke the Edict of
Nantes? How did he balance the “aristocratic resurgence” with his policy of “the career
open to talent”? What effects did his reign have on Europe as a whole?
9. Explain the concept of mercantilism and its importance for Europe and the world
during the early modern era.
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10. What were the major ideas and aims of the Enlightenment? In what fundamentally
new way did the Enlightenment define “reason” as opposed to “Reason”?
11. Distinguish between theism and deism in the context of the Enlightenment. Why did
Enlightenment philosophes decry “obscurantism”?
12. In what ways does the concept of “the invisible hand” represent the basic view of the
world held by Enlightenment philosophers? In what ways does Smith’s concept of the
“division of labor” represent Enlightenment ideals?
13. Compare and contrast the doctrines of the liberalism and socialism that grew out of
the Enlightenment.
14. Discuss the social order of the ancien regime. What were its values and who were its
winners and losers? What potential bases for radical change existed within the social and
political status quo of eighteenth-century Europe? What ideas did the Enlightenment
contribute to the theory and practice of revolutionary change? What is the difference
between rebellion and revolution?
15. What were the weaknesses of absolutism in France in particular that contributed to
the genesis of revolution in the late eighteenth century? What solutions to the problems
of governance and economics did the ancien regime explore? What challenges from
whom did the ancien regime prove unable to counter?
16. Discuss the conditions in early 1789 that led immediately to the French Revolution.
What were the aims of each of the estates in the spring of 1789? Through what four
stages did the French Revolution go?
17. Who were the Girondins and the Jacobins and over what did they differ?
18. What is the difference between a “subject” and a “citizen”? To what extent, and
why, did the new revolutionary regime in France establish equality among all of its
citizens? To what extent, and why, did it not establish equality among all citizens of
France? What are the differences between “class” and “estate” and what roles did class
play during and after the revolution?
19. What effects inside and outside of France did the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
have?
20. What events and conditions inside and outside of France led to the “Second French
Revolution” in the summer and fall of 1792? What were the political effects of this
“second revolution” on France and on Europe?
21. Discuss the origins and effects of the Terror. Who were the perpetrators and who
were the victims of the Terror? What were the differences between Danton and
Robespierre? What brought the Terror to an end?
22. Discuss the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Directory. What
problems did the Directory face and what was Napoleon’s role in solving these
problems?
23. In what ways and for what reasons did other countries and peoples respond to the
French Revolution? Who opposed the revolution and why and who supported it and
why?
24. What were the effects of the Napoleonic wars on Europe? What were Napoleon’s
aims? Discuss the Continental System and the coalitions against Napoleon. What factors
produced Napoleon’s military victories between 1802 and 1812? What factors produced
his defeats between 1812 and 1815?
25. In what ways did Napoleon change the government of France?
26. Discuss the significance of the Congress of Vienna and the system it set up to run
Europe between 1815 and 1848. What were the aims of the nations that dominated
Europe during this period? To what extent were they successful in pursuing these aims?
To what extent were they not successful?
27. Who were Louis XVIII and Charles X and what is their significance for the history
of the Bourbon Restoration in France?
28. What trends characterized the Agricultural Revolution? In what ways did the
Agricultural Revolution lead to the Industrial Revolution? What role did primogeniture
play in the connection between the two revolutions in England?
29. What are the differences between “peasant thrift” and “commercial thrift” and what
is their combined significance for the history of the period?