World History MCQs

Notes:
In 1600, approximately one-sixth of India’s land-mass was under cultivation. Now, that figure has gone up to about half. In the colonial period, cultivation expanded rapidly for a variety of reasons. First, the British directly encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton. The demand for these crops increased in nineteenth-century Europe where foodgrains were needed to feed the growing urban population and raw materials were required for industrial production. So, statement 1 is correct. Second, in the early nineteenth century, the colonial state thought that forests were unproductive. They were considered to be wilderness that had to be brought under cultivation so that the land could yield agricultural products and revenue, and enhance the income of the state. So between 1880 and 1920, cultivated area rose by 6.7 million hectares. So, statement 2 is also correct.

Notes:
At the end of 19th century, the British Empire was the biggest in the world, both in terms of the number of people over whom it rules and the area under its rule. The population of her colonial possessions extending over an area of 23 million square kilometer was about 400 millions. France ruled over an empire of over 10 million square kilometer inhabited by over 50 million people. So, statement 1 is incorrect. Within a short period of time after the beginning of  ‘Scramble for Africa’, European imperial powers had carved it out among themselves. In the Berlin Congress, entire Africa was divided between different European powers. At the end of WWI, only Liberia and Ethiopia were free from any sort of colonial control. So, statement 2 is incorrect.

Notes:
German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) advocated Nazism in Germany. led the extreme nationalist and racist Nazi party and served as chancellor-president of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Nazism advocated militant nationalism, war and aggressive imperialism and precipitated the outbreak of the Second World War. Nazism under Hitler led to the extermination of approximately 6 million Jews.

Notes:
The fleet of Ferdinand Magellan in 1519 crossed an arduous 373-mile long passage on the southern end of South America. This strait is now named the Strait of Magellan. Then he entered an ocean which was calmer than the Atlantic. Therefore, he named it the Pacific Ocean.

Notes:
The unemployment problem, poverty and inflation helped the spread of Socialism. The believers in Marxism had a political party called Social Democrats of Italy.

Notes:
Hitler started the National Socialist Party or Nazi Party. By the year 1932, the membership of the Nazi Party increased to 70 lakhs.

Notes:
In April 1940, Germany captured Denmark and Norway. In May 1940, Holland and Belgium were conquered. Germany attacked France and captured it in June 1940. Italy fought against the British forces in North Africa. Mussolini attacked Greece and captured it with German support. Yugoslavia and Crete were occupied by the Germans.

Notes:
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was announced on June 5, 1947 by the then-Secretary of State, George Marshall. The initiative was designed to aid Europe, where economies had been devastated after World War II. The Marshall Plan provided over $13 billion in aid to European countries that had been destroyed during the war.

Notes:
World War II was devastating for Poland, resulting in the death of around 6 million Polish citizens. This tragic loss included both military and civilian lives, with half of the casualties being Polish Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The country’s population and infrastructure suffered immensely due to the war.

Notes:
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 was a pivotal moment in Polish history, marking the largest Jewish revolt during the Holocaust. It was a courageous act of resistance against the Nazi forces occupying Poland, as the Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto fought fiercely for their dignity and freedom, despite facing overwhelming odds.