Mass Politics in Europe and Imperialism in Africa and Asia Review Questions for AP European History

Answers and Explanations

1. C.   The New Imperialism occurred simultaneously with the full flowering of mass politics in Europe; public opinion, therefore, was of great concern to political elites in Europe and a possible cause of the New Imperialism. Choice A is incorrect because industrialization did create a need for new markets to sell European manufactured goods and to invest newly created capital and was, therefore, a possible cause of the New Imperialism. Choice B is incorrect because the rampant nationalism of the nineteenth century that unified European nations and gave them a sense of historical destiny seemed to justify and require imperial expansion. Choice D is incorrect because the technological innovations in weaponry and transportation made the New Imperialism seem almost inevitable. Choice E is incorrect because the New Imperialism was one way in which European political elites appealed to the newly enfranchised masses for support.
2. D.   The creation of a completely democratic House of Commons required Members of Parliament to be chosen from an open field by universal suffrage. Only the People's Charter came close to making those demands (and even it lacked a provision for women's suffrage). Choice A is incorrect because the Great Reform Bill of 1832 extended voting rights only to the adult, male middle class. Choice B is incorrect because the Reform Bill of 1867 extended the vote to the lower middle class but still excluded the working class. Choice C is incorrect because the Reform Bill of 1884 enfranchised only two-thirds of the adult male population. Choice E is incorrect because the Midlothian Campaign, the first modern political campaign, contained no call for reforms that would have democratized the House of Commons.
3. B.   In Russia, Alexander II resisted calls for liberalization and democratization by constructing a police state. In response, proponents of mass politics turned to terrorism, assassinating Alexander II in 1881. His successor, Alexander III, intensified royal opposition to reform through a policy of Russianization. Choice A is incorrect because Britain led the way with reforms that introduced mass politics in the Reform Bills of 1832, 1867,\ and 1884. Choice C is incorrect because the Hapsburg emperor made numerous reforms culminating in the introduction of universal manhood suffrage in 1907. Choices D and E are incorrect because both France and Germany had mixed records with regards to mass politics. In France, Napoleon III supported it while conservative elites resisted it. In Germany, Bismarck ushered in reforms when doing so coincided with his ultimate goals of consolidating power in the Prussian monarchy.
4. C.   The Kulturkampf, or war for civilization, is a term that describes Bismarck's largely unsuccessful attempt to curtail the influence and rights of Catholics in Germany in the 1870s. Choice A is incorrect because Gladstone's political campaign of 1879 is known as the Midlothian Campaign, for the region in which it was conducted. Choice B is incorrect because the attempt by the French General George Boulanger to overthrow the Third Republic in the late 1880s is known as the Boulanger Affair. Choice D is incorrect because the restoration of the Japanese Emperor and the modernization of Japan in response to Western intervention is known as the Meiji Restoration. Choice E is incorrect because the war between France and Prussia in 1871 is known as the Franco-Prussian War.
5. E.   All of the choices are correct. The connection between the Mediterranean Sea through Egypt to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean was vital to European trade with the East because of the time saved. Without access to the canal, goods either had to be hauled overland or shipped around Africa. Anti-Western sentiment growing in the Egyptian military in the summer of 1882 caused the British to fear a loss of access to the Canal and prompted them to stage a military occupation of Egypt. Subsequently, concerns about the security of Egypt and the Canal led the British to expand southward into the Sudan. In order to gain French acceptance of the British occupation of Egypt, the British supported the expansion of French interests in northwest Africa.
6. E.   It was the fear of being shut out of African territories engendered by the surprisingly rapid expansion of Belgian interests in the Congo that caused the European powers to call the Berlin Conference of 1885. Choice A is incorrect because the Franco-Prussian war was concluded in 1871 and neither it nor the unification of Germany was a direct cause of the Berlin Conference of 1885. Choice B is incorrect because the British occupation of Egypt occurred in the summer of 1882, long before the Berlin Conference of 1885. Choices C and D are incorrect because the establishment of criteria for European claims to African territory and the principle of humane treatment for the African population were goals and results of the Berlin Conference of 1885, not causes.
7. A.   The long-term result of Western imperialism in China was the fall of the Manchu dynasty; its inability to resist Western intrusion and influence undermined its authority until it was finally overthrown in 1911 by a rebellion led by Sun Yat-sen. Choice B is incorrect because the Opium War of 1839–1842 was not a long-term result of Western imperialism in China; instead, it initiated a new wave of Western imperialism in China. Choice C is incorrect because the Treaty of Nanking, which ceded Hong Kong to Britain, established several tariff-free zones for foreign trade, and exempted foreigners from Chinese law, was not the long-term result of Western imperialism in China, but rather a factor that contributed to the fall of the Manchu Dynasty. Choices D and E are incorrect because both were failed rebellions which contributed to the long-term result, the fall of the Manchu Dynasty.
8. B.   The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, a violent uprising of Indian soldiers formerly in the service of the British, caused the British government to abolish the East India Company and to take direct control of India and to restructure the Indian economy. Choice A is incorrect because the development of a sense of Indian nationalism and the resulting formation of the Indian National Congress were results of the more intrusive, direct control of India by the British government, not its cause. Choice C is incorrect because the Berlin Conference of 1885 was the result of Belgian expansion in Africa and was unrelated to events in India. Choice D is incorrect because the Reform Bill of 1884 was concerned with domestic voting rights in Britain, not British policy in India. Choice E is incorrect because the Boxer Rebellion was a Chinese nationalist response to foreign influence and was not related to events in India.