World History MCQs

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The Shatt al-Arab waterway was the main factor in the Iran-Iraq War. The Shatt al-Arab is formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The southern end of the river forms the border between Iran and Iraq. The Shatt al-Arab was an important channel for oil exports for both countries. The dispute over the Shatt al-Arab lasted from 1936 until 1975. Iran rejected the demarcation line established in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of Constantinople of November 1913. Iran wanted the border to run along the thalweg, the deepest point of the navigable channel. The Iran-Iraq War lasted from September 1980 until August 1988. The war was also called the First Persian Gulf War or the Imposed War in Iran.

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Oslo Accords or Oslo Process refers to two agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. First is the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington in 1993 and second is Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt in 1995. It resulted in recognition of Israel by the PLO and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in bilateral negotiations.

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Please note that Cyprus got independence in 1960, after an agreement in Zurich and London between the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey

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The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is a legal agreement between countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. It is to evolve rules of game for international trade.

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The BIS was formed in 1930. The main actors in its establishment were the then-Governor of The Bank of England, Montagu Norman, and his German counterpart Hjalmar Schacht, later Adolf Hitler’s finance minister. The Bank was originally intended to facilitate reparation payments imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War. The need for the bank was suggested in 1929 by the Young Committee, and was agreed to in August of that year at a conference at the Hague. A charter for the bank was drafted at the International Bankers Conference at Baden Baden in November. The charter was adopted at a second Hague Conference on January 20, 1930

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The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The bomb, code-named “Little Boy”, was targeted at the city of Hiroshima.

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The Imphal Peace Museum (IPM) has been gifted by Japan to Manipur to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Imphal, which was one of the fiercest battles of the Second World War. The museum was inaugurated at Maibam Lokpa Ching popularly known as Red Hill. Around 70,000 Japanese soldiers, alongside those of Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA), died in battles with the British-led Allied forces in areas around Imphal and Kohima from March to June 1944. The last of these battles was fought at Red Hill, where the Japanese War Memorial was built in 1944 to mark the 50th anniversary of the battle. The museum symbolizes the reconciliation between Japan & Britain and Japan & India. It is to reinforce the message that history changes and makes us learn from the past.

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From the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century Portuguese Empire had a colonial presence in Benin. The Portuguese empire was engaged in the massive slave trade with Benin. This continued till the abolition of slavery through the Slave Trade Act, 1807 which weakened Benin’s (previously Dahomey) status. This lead to the emergence of French power in Benin’s soil during the mid-19th century. And finally, due to the anti-colonial stand of Beninese during the later years, France was forced to independence to Benin in 1960.

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26th of July Movement was a revolutionary organisation and a political party of Cuba led by Fidel Castro. It was active from 1955 to 1965. It was widely remembered as an attack against army barracks on 26th July 1953 to overthrow the rule of dictator Fulgencio Batista. It supported anti-imperialism and left-wing nationalism. Its area of operations was in the Caribean Sea.

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The “Cuban Thaw” was the term used to manifest the normalisation and restoration of friendly relations between the governments of Cuba and the United States of America. This peaceful gesture ended a 54-year stretch of hostility between two nations. This happened on 20 July 2015 and Barack Obama became the first USA president to visit Cuba since 1928. It was mediated by the Pope Francis of the Holy See and the Government of Canada. This restored the diplomatic relations between the two governments.