Sample Quiz Questions: The Western Hegemony

Topic: General:

1. In the 50 years before WWI, industrialized Europe became the chief supplier of world capital. The industrialized countries depended on the rest of the world as a market for finished goods, as a . . . . . . . . . . . and as a . . . . . . . . . .
2. J.A. Hobson and V. Lenin were trenchant critics of the late-19th-c phenomenon known as . . . . . . . . . . Both men agreed that that phenomenon was spurred on by the desire of . . . . . . . . .. . . . to . . . . . . . . . . . LI>European powers moved to control both the government and economies of under-developed states and territories. For example, . . . . . . . felt pressured into such action owing to the accelerated pace of industrial competition from Germany, whereas . . . . supported imperialism as a means of restoring her national prestige after her humiliating defeat in war in 1870
3. Imperialism produced its conquering heroes and brutes throughout the 19th c. Their names became household words in Europe, symbolizing in their countries the claim to international power and status. Examples of these individuals are:
   . . . . . . . . . .. . in . . . . . . . . (overseas territory)
   . . . . . . . . . . .. in . . . . . . . . and
   ....................... in ................
4. The phrase "Take up the white man's burden," a popular rallying cry of late 19th.c. imperialists, suggested that .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5. The great imperialist conquest by the . . . . . . was that of the Philippines, taken from Spain in 1898 after the Spanish-American war
6. Towards the end of the 19th c., it appeared that Britain viewed . . . . . . . as her main international rival and potential enemy. That rivalry ran around much of the periphery of Asia, especially affecting Britain's interests in India
7. Both . . . . . . . .. and . . . . . . . . (individuals) ascribed imperialism primarily to the need to find new outlets for capital investment and condemned it on socialist grounds
8. The . . . . . . . . . and the . . . . . . . . . . were propagandist agencies for colonial endeavors in the Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm II
9. Imperialism in Russia took the form of the colonization of . . . . . . . . . . . and of expansion in the Far East leading to a clash with . . . . . . . . .
10. Two non-European nations which became active in imperialist projects in the late 19th c. were: .......................... and ....................
11. Perhaps the foremost impulse to imperialist penetration of foreign lands by European nations and peoples was the urgent necessity of finding..................... for their highly industrialized and developed economies
12. Only once has there been a truly global thalassocracy (a nation whose fleet and merchant marine were dominant on almost all the seas of the world). This was the case with ...................... in the 19th c.
13. An example of the economic forces behind imperialism is....................... (country) involvement in ......................... (country or region)
14. An example of the political motivation in imperialism is ................ (country) involvement in ........................ (country or region)
15. Before 1875, European powers rarely manifested an impulse to territorial empire in Africa. When they did thereafter, their intrusion was mainly driven by the need to ................
16. Two areas of the non-European world which became subject to French colonial control were .......................... and............................. (be specific)
17. Two of the most ruthless and determined imperialist individuals were ............... and...................
18. The need for national prestige as a primary element in the desire for colonies mainly characterized the activities overseas of ......................... and ......................... , two countries which entered the race for colonial acquisitions at a late date
19. During the quarter- century 1875-1900, almost all of ............................. and parts of .................... were staked out and annexed by the leading European powers
20. By the turn of the century the supposed glories of imperialism had made a considerable impact on public opinion. This was especially the case with .................. (country) whose late entry into the 'race' frustrated its chance for major acquisitions
21. As the French statesman Gambetta exclaimed: "To remain a great nation or to become one, you must ........................"
22. British and American imperialists employed the language of Social Darwinism to promote and justify Anglo-Saxon expansion and domination over other peoples. This theory argued that in the struggle of nations and races.............................
23. Colonies became important to the great nations for political and strategic reasons. But the most important role in the extension of empire was played by ..............................motives
24. In ...................... and ........................ Britain had colonies populated almost exclusively by people of European stock and these were virtually self-governing by the end of the 19th c. In the case of ..............., however, she ruled a densely populated empire whose inhabitants differed in religion, language and cultural traditions from each other and still more from their British rulers
25. Of which country has it been said that on her empire "the sun never set": . . . . . . . . . . .

The Opening-up of Japan

1. Japanese relations with westerners before 1854 were with...................... . only.
2. "Expel the barbarians" and "Strengthen the army" were popular slogans in mid-19thc ............... as it faced the aggressive challenge of ....................
3. When Commodore Perry steamed into Edo Bay in 1853, he was under orders from the government of the .............. to secure from the Japanese ...................and......................
4. The heavily armed ships of Commodore Perry embodied the technological and industrial power of the West at mid-century. It was these that led to the forced opening-up of . . . . . . . .on the demand of ....................... in order to bring her into the orbit of international trade
5. The first important effect of the opening -up of Japan to world trade after 1858 was the political reorganization that abolished the office of ................. and restored the.................. to a position of dignity and authority
6. The leaders of .................... concluded in the 1860s that the only way to deal with the West was to ............................. . By doing so, the country achieved "the most remarkable transformation ever undergone by any people in so short a time"
7. The Japanese were adept in mastering the object lessons of European diplomacy and power politics. Japan's inability to come to terms with ................ over the latter's intrusion into Manchuria led to .......................... in 1905 , by which she earned the status of great power
8. Two countries defeated by Japan on its way to world power were ......... and .........
9. Imperialism in Asia is notable for the expansionist activity of a singularly successful non-European power,......................., which exercised a brutal domination over Korea after 1910
10. The Meiji Restoration brought a rapid transformation of Japan. Among the first reforms were ...................... and ................
11. Japan's constitutional monarchy rendered the position of the emperor inviolable. He commanded the armed forces, directed foreign affairs, and could veto bills passed by the Diet. Notably lacking in the latter representative body, however, was the principle of.....................................

The Scramble for Africa

1. What left Egypt vulnerable to European penetration was the financial excesses of the ruler Ismail. When in 1879 he was unable to .............................., the direction of the country's financial affairs fell to .......................
2. By WWI only two states in Africa remained independent, namely, ................. in western Africa and.................. in the east. The rest of the African peoples lived under colonial flags
3. An example of imperialist rivalry producing dangerous tensions along the River Nile in 1898 was the so-called Fashoda crisis. This contest between ...................... and .................. was resolved in favor of ...........
4. In the 1870s the financial problems of Egypt precipitated the intervention of the European powers ...................... and ........................ over the matter of the Egyptian ruler's ......................
5. When Tunisia became a French protectorate in 1881, the imperialist ambitions of................ there were blocked
6. Among the profitable as well as the most brutal colonial episodes in Africa was the rule of .......................... in ....................... ..
7. The completion of the Suez canal in 1869 made Egypt an area of vital interest to .................... because it offered her a shorter route to her imperial possession in.............
8. The Congo Free State was one of the most striking incidents of rapacious imperialist exploitation. The prime mover in this was ............................(individual) whose economic interest lay in the extraction of .........................
9. The Berlin Conference of 1884-5 laid down certain rules governing the expansion of European powers into Africa. Thus, a power could claim possession of territory only if.............
10. An instance of quite sensational criticism of imperialist exploitation of native peoples was the case made by E.D. Morel and Roger Casement in the case of...........................'s regime in ..............
11. With the opening of the Suez canal, .......... became an area of prime strategic importance, so much so that within a few years .......... had purchased the controlling share of Canal stock so as to better secure her overseas empire in Asia
12. Once the slave trade became illegal, British industrialization stimulated major changes in the commercial economies of west Africa by making that region a producer of such needed primary products as ...........................
13. The greater part of the continent of Africa was divided between the European powers by 1898. Only ..................... (under the patronage of the U.S.) and ................, lately the victor over the Italians, alone retained a measure of independence
14. He became convinced of the peculiar destiny of the Anglo-Saxon people to govern the world beneficently. His dream, also, was of a continuous African land route under British control from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo in the north. "He" here refers to ..............
15. The invasion and occupation of ......... by Britain in 1882 was due in part to a desire to protect the interests of British investors. The decision to remain, however, derived from the need to control a vital section of the route to ...........
16. Having embarked on colonial conquest in............. as far back as 1830, France extended her north African empire in 1881 by establishing a protectorate over.................. and, despite German provocations, over ........................ in 1912
17. The best area of the world in which to follow the course of 19th-c imperialism is ......................... , for nowhere else on the globe were colonial empires achieved so quickly. One example of this penetration of the continent by European nations was that of .................. in ....................
18. There was little motivation for Europeans to penetrate the interior of Africa before the 19th c., for there was little evidence that great profits might be realized. Thus the little penetration that did occur in the early part of the 19th c. was first tied to such ostensibly non-capitalist activities as .................
19. The two major contenders in Africa were .................. and ....................... and a clash between their conflicting aims was almost inevitable. This occurred in 1898 at.......... . . along the River Nile and resulted in the withdrawal of ............

20. Complete the following story:
    Khedive Ismail had tried by diplomatic and financial means to accomplish what his predecessor, Mehmet Ali, had tried unsuccessfully to do by the sword, i.e., to transform ........... into a powerful state, practically independent of his nominal overlord, the .............. . Capital was raised in .......... via the sale of bonds, etc. to finance the modernization of the country, for the state itself did not have the resources for this. By 1875 bankruptcy had overtaken Ismail whereupon he was constrained to call on ............... to send officials to help put his finances back in order. Eventually, a Debt Commission designed to protect the interests of the European bondholders was set up under joint .......... and ........... control which lasted until 1882. This intrusion into the affairs of ............. gave rise to an anti-foreign, nationalist movement in which the Egyptian army officer .................. distinguished himself. When anti-foreign riots led to excesses in Alexandria in June 1882, the ............... responded by ............... an action described as the crowning success of financial imperialism. Yet that intervention might also be interpreted as having a strategic component, for by securing the recently opened (1869) ........., the intruders had also secured the eastern leg of the route to .......... . However, this series of events also ended the understanding and cooperation that had arisen between .......... and .......... and caused difficulties in their relations until 1904.