European History Exam 2020

Section I PART A: MULTIPLE-CHOICE Questions 1–4 refer to the passage below. “It is not right when some make the simple folk believe that diligent confession and a worldly gift grants a papal indulgence and that thereby they can attain the forgiveness of sins. For the clink of the coin that falls into the money box will not free the sinner of his sins. Forgiveness requires first and above all else a truly contrite heart. Also, it is beyond doubt that the person may attain forgiveness of his sins by a true, honest contrition even without all the indulgences that he can avail himself of. But it is incredible and without any basis to attain pardon of sins even with papal grace if there is not first a true, heartfelt contrition over sins. . . . It is also the greatest foolishness to think sins may be greater than God’s mercy. The mercy of God is without measure and infinitely great. No one who seeks it will be denied it.” Johannes von Staupitz, Catholic theologian and dean of the faculty at the University of Wittenberg, sermon, 1516 1. Which of the following best describes the main claim made by von Staupitz in the passage? (A) Church authorities are the best judges of whether someone is truly repentant. (B) The collection of money for the forgiveness of sins has corrupted the church. (C) Forgiveness of sins depends on repentance, not on a monetary payment. (D) Bishops, rather than the pope, should have the power to forgive sins. 2. The passage best reflects which of the following developments of the early sixteenth century? (A) The rejection of Protestant ideas by members of the Catholic hierarchy (B) The beginning of Europeans’ self-identification with national and ethnic groups (C) The questioning of established Catholic Church doctrine (D) The attempt to restrict access to new ideas made available by the printing press 2020 3. Based on the passage and the historical context in which it was published, which of the following would most likely have challenged the author’s assertions? (A) Protestant reformers, such as Martin Luther (B) Catholic authorities, such as the pope (C) Secular authorities, such as the German princes (D) Radical religious groups, such as the Anabaptists 4. The controversy over the power to forgive sins referred to in the passage contributed to which of the following results in Europe over the next century? (A) Widespread rejection of organized religion by Europeans (B) Establishment of state-sponsored Catholic churches in most of Europe (C) Religious violence and the end of Catholic authority over much of the continent (D) Abandonment by the papacy of claims to spiritual authority over Christians 2020 Questions 5–7 refer to the table below. INDEXED COMPARISON OF WAGE LEVELS FOR STONEMASONS AND PRICE LEVELS FOR WHEAT IN ANTWERP 5. Years Wages Wheat Prices 1491–1500 100 100 1500–1513 100 92 1514–1520 114 102 1521–1542 128 156 1544–1556 172 199 1561–1574 300 290 1580–1592 514 515 1594–1600 600 596 Based on the relationship between wages and prices shown in the table, in which period were living conditions for Antwerp stonemasons likely the most difficult? (A) 1500–1513 (B) 1521–1542 (C) 1561–1574 (D) 1594–1600 6. The trends in wages and prices shown in the table were most directly the result of which of the following? (A) The continuing negative effects of the plague and other diseases on urban populations (B) The development and growth of the money economy (C) The transfer of New World food crops to Europe (D) The institution of mercantilist economic polices 7. Which of the following would indicate a limitation of the data as a basis for conclusions about the effect of economic changes on sixteenth-century workers? (A) Wheat was the most important agricultural product in most Europeans’ diets in the sixteenth century. (B) Antwerp remained under Habsburg imperial control during the Dutch war for independence. (C) The Antwerp stonemasons’ guild was unusually powerful and was frequently able to bargain successfully for higher wages. (D) Wages and prices increased significantly more in the sixteenth century than they had in the previous century. 2020 Questions 8–11 refer to the passage below. “Foreign trade can bring great wealth, but it also exposes us to great risks. The domestic economy of a state is its real treasure. For Spain, foreign trade has become a great chain binding us to vast overseas territories. Rather than worry daily about their preservation, we must pay greater attention to those certain sources of wealth in our domestic economy. We lost Flanders, we lost Italy, so why could we not lose Mexico and Peru? Little Prussia has given the world a surprising example of what a medium-sized kingdom can do on its own. . . . It is necessary to inform the people of the motives for a law, and of the evils the law seeks to avoid or the benefits it seeks to provide. This is especially true in monarchies in which the people have no part of legislative authority. The true measure of good laws is the extent to which they apply equally to all citizens. Happy is the kingdom whose ruler is governed by the maxims of justice and who can balance sovereign authority with civil liberty. Happy the king who realizes that political oppression is bad for the longevity of the state and that mutual confidence and unity between citizens cannot be established if the relationship between rulers and the ruled is akin to that between masters and slaves.” Letter by an anonymous Spanish government official to the Count of Llerena, Spain's minister of finance, 1789 8. The author’s mention of Prussia as an example for Spain most likely refers to which of the following? (A) Prussia’s dynastic union with Brandenburg, which was similar to Castile’s dynastic union with Aragon (B) Prussia’s diplomatic maneuvering during the Thirty Years’ War, which had enabled it to expand its territory (C) Prussia’s success in eighteenth-century conflicts such as the Seven Years’ War, which occurred despite its lack of significant overseas colonies (D) Prussia’s emergence as an early leader in industrialization among German states, which resulted in the establishment of the Zollverein 9. The author’s statement in the first paragraph concerning Spain’s relationship with its colonies in the Americas is most likely influenced by which of the following late-eighteenth-century developments? (A) The emergence of new economic ideas challenging mercantilist theory and practice (B) The outbreak of armed rebellions in Spanish colonies calling for national independence (C) The formulation of new models of political representation based on the idea of the social contract 2020 10. Based on the second paragraph, the author can best be described as advocating for Spain to adopt the principles of (A) Enlightened absolutism (B) representative government (C) free trade (D) divine-right monarchy 11. Which of the following best describes the most significant effect during the Napoleonic Wars of the ideas expressed in the passage? (A) They made Spaniards more willing to embrace the Enlightenment principles embodied in Napoleon’s policies. (B) They made Spaniards more determined to fight for the preservation of their colonial empire in the Americas. (C) They strengthened Spaniards’ nationalist resistance against the perceived illegitimacy of Napoleon’s rule. (D) They convinced Spaniards that their country needed to overthrow its monarchy and establish a republican government. 2020 Questions 12–14 refer to the passage below. “The single and undisguised object of the League is to put down commercial monopoly; but that cannot be done by saddling upon our backs a fixed duty [tax] on imported corn [grain], which means a differential duty on sugar, on coffee, and monopoly in every other article. The Corn-law is the great tree of Monopoly, under whose baneful shadow every other restriction exists. It is no fault of ours if with this agitation should be mixed up with the question of rents [paid by tenant farmers to large landowners], and should mingle in a degree that would render it difficult to separate the rights of property from the claims of those who labour under the grievance of these intolerable exactions. It is no fault of ours if the nobility of this country should become as much detested at their own baronial hall doors as were the noblesse of France previous to the Revolution. We are responsible for none of these things. The fault lies with those who support monopoly, who are deaf to reason and justice, and who place themselves upon a pedestal of injustice; a pedestal which is always liable to fall, and always certain to bring down those who stand upon it. Free Trade! What is it? Why, breaking down the barriers that separate nations; those barriers, behind which nestle the feelings of pride, revenge, hatred, and jealousy, which every now and then burst their bounds, and deluge whole countries with blood; those feelings which nourish the poison of war and conquest, which assert that without conquest we can have no trade, which foster that lust for conquest and dominion which sends forth your warrior chiefs to scatter devastation through other lands, and then calls them back only to harass and oppress you at home.” Richard Cobden, politician and manufacturer, speech to the anti-Corn Law League, 1843 12. Based on the passage, Cobden would most likely have been associated with which of the following nineteenth-century ideologies? (A) Liberalism (B) Anarchism (C) Utopian socialism (D) Conservatism 13. Which of the following conclusions about the economic and political structure of Great Britain is best supported by the passage? (A) Imperial expansion was extremely unpopular among British elites. (B) In spite of parliamentary reforms, radical political revolution was widely supported by the bourgeoisie. (C) Mercantilist economic policies were widely supported by the British working class. (D) Despite changes brought about by industrialization, landed elites still retained significant power. 2020 14. The eventual adoption of Cobden’s ideas by the British government contributed most directly to which of the following developments in the late nineteenth century? (A) The increase in social tensions between the land-owning aristocracy and other classes in Great Britain (B) The growth of a global economic network (C) The increasing incidence of famine due to decreased food production in Great Britain (D) The rising desire for national self-determination among ethnic minorities 2020 Questions 15–17 refer to the passage below. “I have a family of nine, and what did I have before the kolkhoz [collective farm]? I had all the produce I needed to feed my family, and fuel, and I clothed and shod them. Had a horse and three head of sheep. Delivered to the government twenty poods [1 pood = about 36 pounds] of rye, forty poods of millet, oats, potatoes, and hemp. I have worked on the kolkhoz, I have honestly earned 355 labor-days, but I no longer eat bread, but husks and potatoes, we don’t have enough to resole our shoes. My children have turned black from malnutrition. Respected editors, is there no way to leave the kolkhoz rather than perish here?” A.P. Kokurin, Russian farmer, letter to Izvestia, the official newspaper of the Soviet government, from the Soviet province of Mordoviya, 1932 15. Which of the following groups was the policy described in the passage designed to eliminate? (A) Disloyal military officers (B) Romanov monarchist sympathizers (C) Landowning kulaks (D) Ethnic Germans 16. Which of the following was the most significant factor behind the Russian government’s creation of the collective farms described by the author? (A) The need to address a high unemployment rate (B) The need for rapid economic modernization (C) The need to boost military spending (D) The need to provide more foodstuffs for the Russian peasantry 17. Based on the context of the passage, what was the most likely fate of Kokurin and his family after he sent the letter? (A) They were either exiled to a gulag or executed. (B) They were rewarded as loyal communists. (C) They were allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union. (D) They were given back ownership of their farm. 2020