Western Civilization
Midterm Exam
Course Introduction
Western Civilization explores the development of societies, cultures, political systems, and intellectual traditions in Europe and the wider Western world from ancient times through the modern era. This course examines major historical events, influential philosophers, religious movements, artistic achievements, and key turning points that have shaped the Western cultural and political landscape. Emphasis is placed on the enduring legacies of Greco-Roman antiquity, the impact of Christianity, the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the transformations brought by revolutions and nation-states, and the dynamics of the contemporary West. Through critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, students gain a nuanced understanding of how Western Civilization has influenced global history and continues to affect the present day.
Recommended Textbook
The Worlds History Combined Volume 5th Edition by Howard Spodek
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24 Chapters
1320 Verified Questions
1320 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Dry Bones Speak
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Q1) Modern humans belong to what species?
A) Homo habilis
B) Homo erectus
C) Homo sapiens
D) Ardipithecus ramidus
Answer: C
Q2) The ice ages of 90,000-10,000 years ago impacted ________.
A) northern climates
B) tropical climates
C) the entire globe
D) Asia and Europe
Answer: C
Q3) Which of these was first colonized between 1 and 1000 C.E.?
A) the Philippines
B) Micronesia
C) Sumatra
D) Hawaii
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: From Village Community to City-State
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Q1) Comparison of world cultures indicates that village life ________ farming.
A) often leads to
B) requires
C) is usually associated with D) discourages
Answer: C
Q2) Which of these is the wedge-shaped writing system of ancient Mesopotamia?
A) pictograms
B) cuneiform
C) alphabet
D) quipus
Answer: B
Q3) Mesopotamian ziggurats were above all symbols of ________ power.
A) religious
B) political
C) family
D) financial
Answer: A
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4
Chapter 3: River Valley Civilizations
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Q1) Which of these is closely associated to the development of government in Egypt,as it was also in Mesopotamia?
A) pyramids
B) conquest
C) irrigation
D) commerce
Answer: C
Q2) The role of Isis in the Osiris myth relates to her function as the Egyptian deity of
A) rebirth
B) peace
C) kingship
D) death
Answer: A
Q3) The Middle Kingdom ran from about ________ B.C.E.
A) 2700 to 2200
B) 2030 to 1640
C) 4000 to 3600
D) 1540 to 1540
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: A Polycentric World
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Q1) Which of these created the Americas' first civilization?
A) Toltec
B) Maya
C) Inca
D) Olmec
Q2) Which of these was commonly cultivated in the earliest American cultures?
A) barley
B) rice
C) maize
D) wheat
Q3) Which of these is thought to have been represented by the site of Erlitou?
A) Longshan culture
B) the Shang dynasty
C) Yangshao culture
D) the Xia dynasty
Q4) Which of these dynasties came to power around 1122 B.C.E.?
A) Zhou
B) Xia
C) Shang
D) Win
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Dawn of the Empires
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Q1) Like the other intermediate periods,Egypt's Third Intermediate Period was a time of
A) invasion
B) territorial expansion
C) political fragmentation
D) religious turmoil
Q2) Which of these men founded the Athenian Academy?
A) Plato
B) Aristotle
C) Aristophanes
D) Lysistrata
Q3) Compare the empires created by Assyrian and Egyptian rulers.What were their most important similarities and differences?
Q4) When Pericles says that "our city is an education to Greece," he means that Athens
A) has the most important institutions of learning
B) is home to the greatest philosophers
C) has fostered many great ideas
D) is the best example of a Greek city-state
Q5) What were the most important strengths and weaknesses of Persian rule?
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Chapter 6: Rome and the Barbarians
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Q1) Did Rome want an empire? Answer this question by considering the forces that drove Rome's acquisition of a massive empire.
Q2) Which of these gained in power and autonomy with the expansion of the Roman Empire?
A) senators
B) tribunes
C) generals
D) priests
Q3) Arguably,the most important goal of the Roman political system was ________.
A) equity
B) human rights
C) expansion
D) stability
Q4) Which of these helped to make the Roman Empire a hegemonic empire?
A) the power of the Roman military
B) the patron-client relationship
C) the rise of Christianity
D) the expansion of citizenship
Q5) Compare the fates of the eastern and western Roman empires.Why did they differ so much?
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Chapter 7: China
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Q1) Buddhism became popular in China in a period marked by ________.
A) economic collapse
B) invasion
C) political chaos
D) Han stability
Q2) Which of these was founded by the Toba people?
A) the Han dynasty
B) the Northern Wei dynasty
C) the Tang dynasty
D) the Sui dynasty
Q3) Nara was the capital of what nation?
A) Japan
B) Tibet
C) Vietnam
D) Korea
Q4) What were the attractions and applications of Confucianism,Daoism,and Legalism? How did these interact in the lives of the Chinese in the Qin,Han,and Tang periods?
Q5) What do you consider the most important achievement of the Qin dynasty? Why?
Q6) Compare the beginnings and growth of Confucianism and Buddhism in China.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Indian Empires
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Sample Questions
Q1) A jati is an Indian ________.
A) tribal people
B) guild
C) subcaste
D) mystic
Q2) The great temple of Borobudur was built in ________ in the 700s.
A) Cambodia
B) Java
C) Japan
D) the Ganges valley
Q3) The janapadas were ________.
A) subcastes
B) Aryan political groupings
C) guilds
D) religious tales
Q4) India's empires have usually been based ________.
A) in northwest India
B) on maritime commerce
C) in the Ganges valley
D) in the Deccan
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Hinduism and Buddhism
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Sample Questions
Q1) A mudra is a ________.
A) Buddhist temple
B) Hindu priest
C) Buddhist monk
D) symbolic hand gesture
Q2) Which of these is the merging of two practices into a single,new one?
A) mysticism
B) syncretism
C) assimilation
D) sinicization
Q3) Which of these was the earliest form of Buddhism?
A) Theravada
B) Mahayana
C) Pure Land
D) Chan
Q4) Which of these is the Hindu deity of rain and fertility?
A) Surya
B) Varuna
C) Agni
D) Indra
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Chapter 10: Judaism and Christianity
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the early Christian Church,at the bottom of the church hierarchy were ________.
A) deacons
B) bishops
C) presbyters
D) popes
Q2) Which of these is accurately reflected in "Map of the world by Heinrich Bunting"?
A) the shape of Europe
B) the relative sizes of Europe and Africa
C) the place of Jerusalem near the meeting of three continents
D) the position of India in Asia
Q3) Charlemagne's capital was at ________.
A) Paris
B) Rome
C) Aachen
D) Berlin
Q4) Compare Judaism to one of the other religions studied so far.Especially consider the role of each outside of the strictly religious sphere.
Q5) What were the most important lines of development in Judaism?
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Chapter 11: Islam
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Q1) The ulama served to ________ the power of the caliphs. A) increase and protect
B) destroy C) legitimate but also limit
D) serve
Q2) The hadith serve to ________ the Quran's teachings.
A) correct
B) expand upon C) replace D) translate
Q3) Like earlier Indian empires,the Delhi Sultanate was ________. A) focused on the Indus valley
B) based in northern India
C) short-lived
D) created by conquerors
Q4) Which of these was central to Arab spirituality,both before and after Muhammad?
A) the Quran
B) the hadith
C) caliphs
D) the Ka'aba
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Chapter 12: Establishing World Trade Routes
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Q1) In the map "Trading ports and cities,Indian Ocean," which of these had an early lead in urbanization and trading ports?
A) East Africa
B) Southeast Asia
C) Arabia
D) Borneo
Q2) Like Alexander's empire,the Mongol Empire was ________.
A) extremely short lived
B) based in Central Asia
C) conquered by a nomadic people
D) primarily the result of one man's leadership
Q3) Which of these explains the innovation achieved by Chinggis Khan?
A) engaging in raiding
B) a nomadic lifestyle
C) going into warfare using horses
D) leading a large, multiethnic army
Q4) What were the most important trading patterns in Africa? How did these shape African states?
Q5) Compare the roles of China and Arab merchants in the Asian trading network.
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Chapter 13: The Opening of the Atlantic and the Pacific
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Q1) Like the Buddha,St.Francis epitomized the ________ life.
A) monastic
B) Buddhist
C) ascetic
D) intellectual
Q2) Which of these was discovered in the 1400s,influencing Renaissance mapping?
A) Aristotle's Republic
B) the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas
C) the works of Averroes
D) Ptolemy's Geography
Q3) The first Russian capital was ________.
A) Kiev
B) St. Petersburg
C) Moscow
D) Archangelsk
Q4) The Black Death has traditionally been identified as ________.
A) bubonic plague
B) chicken pox
C) typhoid
D) anthrax
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Chapter 14: The Unification of World Trade
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Q1) The bourse,which opened in Amsterdam in the 1500s,was a ________.
A) university
B) stock exchange
C) scientific academy
D) prison
Q2) The dominant economic policy among European countries in the 1500s to 1700s was
A) capitalism
B) mercantilism
C) laissez-faire
D) socialism
Q3) Which of these conflicts ended in 1763?
A) Seven Years War
B) War of the Austrian Succession
C) French Wars of Religion
D) War of the League of Augsburg
Q4) How did the emergence of the nation-state change the nature of imperialism?
Q5) How did colonization and mercantilism work together? Were their goals mutually supportive or contradictory?
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Chapter 15: Migration
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Q1) Babur is best known for his ________.
A) introduction of Islam to India
B) foundation of the Mughal Empire
C) conquest of India
D) development of Din-i-Ilahi
Q2) James Cook is a best known as a(n)________.
A) explorer
B) botanist
C) conquistador
D) settler
Q3) Australia was first colonized by the ________.
A) French
B) British
C) Portuguese
D) Dutch
Q4) The Columbian Exchange was the product of ________.
A) the peopling of the Americas
B) natural population increase
C) European conquests
D) the spread of disease among Amerindians
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Chapter 16: Political Revolutions in Europe and the Americas
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Q1) In the ideas of John Locke,power comes from ________.
A) royalty
B) God
C) the people
D) representative institutions
Q2) The work of William Harvey was typical of the scientific revolution because it was based primarily on ________.
A) observation
B) innovative technology
C) Muslim knowledge
D) Greek models
Q3) The English Civil War broke out during the reign of ________.
A) Henry VIII
B) Charles I
C) James I
D) William I
Q4) What were the most important factors that shaped the Latin American revolutions?
Q5) What was the relationship of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment?
Page 18
Q6) Compare the American and French revolutions.Consider their causes,their courses,and their outcomes.
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Page 19
Chapter 17: The Industrial Revolution
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Q1) The second stage of the Industrial Revolution differed from the first stage ________.
A) primarily in the kind of power used
B) primarily in terms of what nations dominated C) primarily in the kinds of industries involved D) in almost every aspect
Q2) In the painting Massacre of the Paris Radicals,Manet expresses ________ those pictured.
A) sympathy for B) hatred of
C) fear of
D) ridicule of
Q3) Which of these became a powerful new group in Western society as a result of the Industrial Revolution?
A) labor
B) nobility
C) merchants
D) farmers
Q4) Chose two elements of European or American society and compare how these two were impacted by the Industrial Revolution.
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Chapter 18: Nationalism, Imperialism, and Resistance
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Q1) Compare two examples of nationalism that led to different outcomes.What do you consider the most important factors that changed the outcome?
Q2) The subject of the Berlin Conference was ________.
A) the Mahdi uprising
B) partitioning Africa
C) the Balkans
D) the weakened Ottoman Empire
Q3) Which of these best characterizes the notion of social Darwinism?
A) An expansion of Darwin's ideas concerning human society.
B) The application of Darwin's ideas on human evolution to animals.
C) Darwin's ideas applied in ways the biologist never imagined.
D) The notion that only humans evolve.
Q4) Around 1800,India was governed by ________.
A) the Mughals
B) Britain
C) the Dutch
D) a dozen small states
Q5) How did Japan fit into and escape broader trends in international relations in the late 1800s?
Q6) Were revolts such as the one led by the Mahdi and Usman dan Fodio anticolonial?
Page 21
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Chapter 19: Methods of Mass Production and Destruction
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Q1) Which of these was a Russian popular proletariat uprising?
A) the 1917 revolution
B) the Bolshevik revolution
C) the 1905 revolution
D) the White Terror
Q2) The war aims of Woodrow Wilson ________ the war aims of the Allied and Central powers.
A) supported
B) had nothing to do with
C) were expressed to support
D) undermined
Q3) Which of these was a trigger for the American entry into World War I?
A) the German declaration of war
B) the Zimmerman telegram
C) the formation of the Allied Powers
D) the Russian revolution
Q4) How did World War I differ from earlier conflicts?
Q5) Consider the Russian Revolution in the light of the ideas of Marx and Engels.Did the revolution conform to these ideas?
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Chapter 20: World War II
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Q1) How did the causes,scope,and results of World War I and World War II differ?
Q2) Which of these was the only Asian nation among the Five Great Powers at the Paris peace conference in 1919?
A) China
B) Korea
C) Japan
D) India
Q3) The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is located in ________.
A) Auschwitz
B) New York City
C) Vienna
D) Berlin
Q4) The Kellogg-Briand Pact indicated ________ goals as the League of Nations. A) roughly the same
B) the opposite
C) identical
D) different
Q5) How did the League of Nations and the United Nations differ?
Q6) Consider two different groups that were affected differently by World War II and compare their experiences.
Page 23
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Chapter 21: Cold War, New Nations, and Revolt Against Authority
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Q1) Compare two countries' decolonization experiences.How do you account for these differences?
Q2) Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister of ________ in 1960.
A) the Congo
B) Sudan
C) Nigeria
D) Rwanda
Q3) Russia's first president was ________.
A) Mikhail Gorbachev
B) Viktor Chernomyrdin
C) Boris Yeltsin
D) Sergey Kiriyenko
Q4) Nongovernmental organizations can be characterized as ________.
A) diverse
B) acting under UN authority
C) unregulated
D) commercial
Q5) What were the major factors that led to the Cold War?
Q6) How did the Cold War impact relations among American nations?
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Chapter 22: China and India
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Q1) India's green revolution was a solution to what Indian problem?
A) water pollution
B) urban overcrowding
C) rural population decline
D) starvation
Q2) Which of these made the Pakistan of 1947 unsustainable?
A) It lacked a religious majority.
B) It held India's historic heartland.
C) It was India's poorest state.
D) It was divided geographically.
Q3) Gandhi's leadership can be said to have reversed the British policy of ________.
A) suppressing native Indian religions
B) divide and conquer
C) developing trade with India
D) working with India's regional leaders
Q4) The Indian National Congress was established in what decade?
A) 1920s
B) 1940s
C) 1900s
D) 1880s
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Chapter 23: Contemporary History: Evolution, Settlements, Politics,
and Religion
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Q1) Russia's experience in Afghanistan was very similar to the US experience in
A) Korea
B) Cuba
C) Vietnam
D) Guatemala
Q2) China's government has recently been________ the process of urbanization.
A) hostile to
B) unconcerned with
C) working to assist
D) extremely active in
Q3) Which of these Muslim-majority Russian republics fought for independence beginning in 1994?
A) Ukraine
B) Crimea
C) Mordovia
D) Chechnya
Q4) What are the most important aspects of China's changing role in the world?
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Q5) What are the most important ways that urbanization has changed since the emergence of the first Neolithic cultures?
Chapter 24: Trade,Revolution,Technology,Identity
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Q1) Globalization differs from earlier world trade networks primarily in its ________.
A) scope and volume
B) movement by sea
C) dependence on air travel
D) speed
Q2) Containerization has transformed global commerce by ________ shipping.
A) reducing the volume of
B) standardizing
C) accelerating the speed of
D) eliminating
Q3) Fracking is used to extract ________.
A) petroleum
B) mercury
C) coal
D) natural gas
Q4) Is decolonization still taking place in Asia and Africa?
Q5) What is the role of new technologies in globalization? Are such technologies critical for globalization?
Q6) How does globalization differ from earlier global trade networks?
Page 27
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