World History MCQs

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A series of Navigation Acts were passed by the British Parliament to control the trade of the American colonies. These Acts insisted that all the goods of both exports and imports should be carried in ships owned by England. Custom collectors were appointed in the colonies to implement the Navigation Acts. But, the American colonies considered these Acts as infringement of their rights. The Molasses Act levied heavy duties on sugar and molasses imported into the American colonies.

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The war started in 1775, when the first battle was fought between the British soldiers and the colonial militia at Lexington in Massachusetts. Soon, George Washington assume the command of the army of the American colonies.

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A large number of soldiers were brought to Versailles and Paris. Necker, the popular minister was also dismissed. On hearing this, the mob of Paris became violent. They attacked the State prison called the Bastille, murdered the guards and freed the prisoners. The fall of the Bastille was regarded in France as a triumph of liberty. The nobles voluntarily surrendered their feudal rights and the privileges on 4th August 1789. Feudalism and serfdom were abolished. The principle of equality was established.

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After the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly, the National Convention met in 1792. It abolished monarchy and declared France as a republic. The king Louis XVI after a summary trail was found guilty of treason was guillotined (head cut off) on Sunday, 21st January 1793. Three days later the queen Maire Antoinette was also guillotined.

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In 1764, Hargreaves invented the ‘spinning jenny’. This machine could spin eight threads at the same time, instead of one.

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The Lusitania ship was drowned by a German submarine and consequently many Americans lost their lives. This resulted in the declaration of war against Germany by the U.S.A. In spite of best efforts, Germany could not stand and ultimately she surrendered in November 1919.

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In Russia when the workers’ organizations were set up they were dominated by Marx’s ideas on socialism. In 1883, the Russian Social Democratic Party was formed by George Plekhanov, a follower of Marx.

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In 1912 Benito Mussolini started the editing of Avanti!, a socialist journal. He was a bitter opponent of the Church.

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Japan followed a policy of militarism and imperialism. Japan defeated China in 1894-95. Subsequently, it defeated the biggest European country Russia in 1904-05. During the First World War Japan captured the Chinese territory of Shantung which was leased to Germany. It also imposed the 21 Demands on China.

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Mikhail Gorbachev became the President of the Soviet Union in March 1985. He instituted a number of political reforms under the name of “glasnost”.