All AP European History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Social And Economic History
One of the chief effects of the British Agricultural Revolution in the eighteenth century was __________.
increased wealth among the entire area of Great Britain
a massive growth in the population of Great Britain
an increase in famines during lean years for agricultural production
a diffusing of the types of crops being grown on British soil
a lack of technological development in agricultural techniques
a massive growth in the population of Great Britain
The British Agricultural Revolution took place over the entire eighteenth century and was largely spurred by the introduction of crop rotation to the British Isles and the increased use of turnips and clover in fallow fields. This increased the crop yield in Britain exponentially, which allowed the population to nearly double in a century. This effect was a key instigator for the start of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, as many more people could be sustained without having to work in agriculture.
Example Question #1 : Agriculture
Which of the following individuals is well-known for popularizing the use of turnips to keep soil fertile during the British Agricultural Revolution?
James Hargreaves
Charles Townshend
Jethro Tull
William Gladstone
James Watt
Charles Townshend
Charles “Turnip” Townshend was a long-time British politician who upon retiring from public office popularized the use of turnips to keep soil fertile and prevent farmers from having to spend large periods of each year leaving their land fallow. This was an important step in the British Agricultural Revolution.
Example Question #2 : Social And Economic History
The British agriculturalist Jethro Tull pioneered the __________.
Norfolk four-course system
enclosure system
open field system
horse-drawn seed drill
use of horseshoes and horse collars
horse-drawn seed drill
Jethro Tull was a British agriculturist who helped contribute a great deal to the advent of the British Agricultural Revolution in the eighteenth century. He was a deep thinker who wanted to apply the principles of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution to improving the practice of agriculture in Britain. To this end, he pioneered the horse-drawn seed drill and advocated for the use of horses instead of oxen. He also scientifically demonstrated the importance of frequent hoeing to keep the soil healthy.
Example Question #4 : Social And Economic History
The British Agricultural Revolution took many ideas from the agricultural innovations of the people of which country?
France
Ukraine
Belgium
South Africa
India
Belgium
The Waasland region of Belgium was historically a region with very poor-quality soil that led to frequent famine and starvation. It also led to necessary innovation, however. It is from the Waasland that the British imported ideas about the Norfolk four-course system of crop rotation and where Charles Townshend got the idea to use turnips to keep soil fertile and prevent it from needing to lie fallow.
Example Question #5 : Agriculture
Which of the following is the name of the practice that was developed in England during the British Agricultural Revolution and allowed farmers to grow crops and keep livestock year-round while keeping the soil fertile?
Suffolk seasonal course system
Sussex seasonal crop rotation
Derbyshire farming method
The Norfolk four-course system
Yorkshire four-tiered agricultural system
The Norfolk four-course system
The Norfolk four-course system was an important part of the British Agricultural Revolution of the eighteenth century. It was a crop rotation system designed to grow different crops in the same soil at different times of the year. It generally involved a rotation of wheat, turnips, barley, and clover. The advantages were numerous: it allowed farmers to make a much healthier profit, it allowed livestock to be kept and fed year-round, it kept the soil fertile, and it provided greater protection against blights.
Example Question #1 : Social And Economic History
The Enclosure Acts in the early nineteenth century had which of the following effects?
Caused many former farmers to move to the colonies
All of these answers
None of these answers
Led to a decline in subsistence farming
Increased the agricultural production of Britain
All of these answers
Prior to the signing of the various enclosure acts, much of British farming was done on a very small scale. Most farming was merely subsistence farming, done to support the family with a small amount left over as surplus. The land was generally commonly owned, or rather, was organized in an open field system in which land was divided into small patches worked by peasants. Enclosure Acts made this land private and led to the rise of large-scale agricultural production. This had numerous consequences for British society. It led to a massive surge in agricultural production and a decline in the number of people needed to work the fields to feed the population. This in turn caused many farmers to move either to the colonies (providing the raw manpower for British colonialism) or to move to cities (providing the raw manpower for the Industrial Revolution).
Example Question #2 : Agriculture
Which of these individuals is most well-known for pioneering work in the selective breeding of livestock?
Robert Bakewell
James Hargreaves
Jethro Tull
Charles Townshend
Robert Fulton
Robert Bakewell
Robert Bakewell is widely considered one of the most influential figures of the British Agricultural Revolution in the eighteenth century. He was one of the first people known to selectively breed livestock, which led to healthier, sturdier, and more useful sheep, horses, and cattle. The effect of this cannot be understated, for it led to far fewer animals being lost to disease and greatly improved the quality and quantity of meat provided by farm animals.
Example Question #4 : Social And Economic History
What term is used to describe soil that is left unsown for a period of time so as to restore its fertility and ability to produce crops?
Fallow
Fodder
Yielding
Eager
Shoddy
Fallow
To let a field "lie fallow” means to leave it unsown and uncultivated for a period of time so as to restore the soil's fertility and ensure that the nutrients in the soil can be replenished. Human civilization has long understood that using the same land over and over again, without interruption, will cause the nutrients in that soil to be depleted and ensure starvation in the long term. To get around this, people often let fields lie “fallow” for a period of time. One of the innovations of the British Agricultural Revolution was the realization that by rotating four particular crops, those crops would use different nutrients and some would even replenish the nutrients in the ground, leading to much less wasted time and space, and less frequent famine and disease.
Example Question #3 : Agriculture
When did the British Agricultural Revolution take place?
The twentieth century
The fifteenth century
The nineteenth century
The eleventh century
The eighteenth century
The eighteenth century
The British Agricultural Revolution took place from roughly from 1700 to 1800, the eighteenth century. The British Agricultural Revolution witnessed great technological advancements and political reform which caused the supply of food to increase dramatically. One of the most important social and economic consequences of the revolution was that because of the Enclosure Acts—which granted British lords the right to purchase common land—many small scale farmers were forced to migrate to urban centres. This provided the raw manpower to fuel the Industrial Revolution in the next century.
Example Question #6 : Social And Economic History
The Irish potato famine was particularly severe because __________.
the British government gave massive amounts of aid to Ireland
certain people were affected very differently by the effects of the potato blight that invaded Ireland
the potato dominated Irish agriculture to the point of being most people's only real source of food
Irish farmers refused to plant other available crops when their potato crops failed
the Irish population had no ability to leave Ireland for other countries
the potato dominated Irish agriculture to the point of being most people's only real source of food
The potato, originally a South American plant, had been a staple part of European agriculture for centuries by the time of the Irish potato famine in 1845. Estimates put two-fifths of the Irish population as solely dependent on the potato for sustenance, with the other proportion being largely dependent as well. After a blight decimated the Irish potato crop, people starved in large numbers, with the problem exacerbated by slow help from the British government. One million people died during the famine, while another million fled Ireland for other countries, lowering the island's population by about 25%.
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