All European History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : European History
What year did Vikings first land on the shores of Britain?
876
1209
793
1175
1066
793
The first Viking raiding party to land in England occurred in 793 AD in the town of Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne was an island inhabited mainly by monks in a monastery. The monks were either killed or taken away as slaves.
This event marked the beginning of the Viking migration which culminated with William the Conqueror successfully invading Britain in 1066, almost 300 years later.
Example Question #2 : European History
Which of the following was the treaty that divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between Spain and Portugal?
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Tordesillas
The Geneva Convention
The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Tordesillas
The Geneva Convention refers to a series of treaties about humane treatment during wartime, so that would not be the best answer here. The Treaty of Paris was between America and Great Britain and it ended the Revolutionary War, so that too would not be the best answer choice. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the agreements that ended World War I, so that would not be the correct answer to the question. Lastly, the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the newly discovered non-European lands between Spain and Portugal, so that would be the best answer.
Example Question #1 : European History
Which of the following countries was the first to establish a colonial empire?
Spain
France
The Netherlands
England
Portugal
Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in the early 1400s. As the Portuguese explored new lands, they established forts and trading posts, the first markers of colonialism. They were followed by the Spanish and the English later in the fifteenth century.
Example Question #1 : Elite And Popular Culture
Who was considered the wealthiest and most powerful man in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance?
Tycho Brahe
Niccolò Machiavelli
Pope Leo X
Lorenzo de' Medici
Leonardo da Vinci
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo de' Medici was a member and leader of one of the most influential families during the Renaissance, using his wealth and political prowess to effectively rule the Florentine Republic. Although the other answers refer to important figures of the Renaissance, they are incorrect due to their differing professions which did not afford them as much wealth or power as enjoyed by the Medici family.
Example Question #2 : Elite And Popular Culture
Ludwig van Beethoven, John Keats, Lord Bryon, Victor Hugo and Eugene Delacroix are associated with what artistic movement?
Realism
Surrealism
Impressionism
Romanticism
Expressionism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic movement that emphasized emotion, individualism, history and nature. It originated in Europe in the late eighteenth century and peaked in the period from 1800-1850. These artists exemplify the tenets of the Romantic movement in painting, writing and music.
Example Question #3 : Elite And Popular Culture
One key difference between Renaissance art and medieval art is that Renaissance art ____________________.
was produced by and for the middle class
focused on landscapes and nature scenes
featured more realistic and natural depictions of the human form
rarely featured religious subjects
was not supported by the Catholic Church
featured more realistic and natural depictions of the human form
Renaissance painters and sculptors created realistic, multi-dimensional depictions of the human form. In contrast medieval art typically featured less realistic renderings of people.
Example Question #2 : European History
Which French ruler first instituted state-wide universal education?
Louis Adolphe Thiers
Louis XIV
Napoleon Bonaparte
Charles de Gaulle
Napoleon Bonaparte
As a part of his sweeping reform of French domestic policy, Napoleon made universal state-sponsored education available to the masses for the first time in the early nineteenth century. Napoleon believed the introduction of universal state-sponsored education would both help the people of France and allow him to recruit more and better military officers.
Example Question #3 : European History
The increase in literacy among Europeans starting in the 15th century is most closely with which of the following?
The Enlightenment
The Gutenberg printing press
Dr. Theodor Geisel
The Glorious Revolution
None of these
The Gutenberg printing press
The Gutenberg printing press introduced movable type and made it possible to mass-produce books that were previously scribed by hand and therefore took a very long time to reproduce. The greatly increased availability of books contributed to a large increase of the number of people who learned to read.
The Enlightenment was a political and philosophical movement in the 1700's, centered on the belief in universal human rights that helped inspire democratic reforms in government and the American and French Revolutions.
The Glorious Revolution was the bloodless overthrow of England's King James II in 1688.
Dr. Theodor Geisel wrote children's books and is better known by his pen-name, Dr. Seuss.
Example Question #4 : European History
What was the scientific revolution?
A time when the common people revolted and burned all the scientific works with which they disagreed
A time when many important discoveries were made that changed how people observed the world
A movement to make science available to everyone in Italy
A time when people persecuted scientists because they were afraid of their power
An era in which scientists shifted their focus from general science to military science
A time when many important discoveries were made that changed how people observed the world
During the Middle Ages (500-1350 CE), scientific knowledge did not evolve very much. Scholars studied the works of the old scientific thinkers, and accepted their findings as true without question. They began to ask questions and do experiments and found that the results did not always match up to the old accepted theories. This led to an explosion in scientific innovation and methodology which resulted in inventions and discoveries like the telescope, the barometer, the thermometer, the microscope and the scientific revolution. Scientific inquiry, observation and experimentation as we know it today was pioneered by the leaders of the scientific revolution- Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Nicolas Copernicus, Rene Descartes, Galileo and others.
Example Question #5 : European History
Other than its masterful execution, what was unique about Michelangelo’s David?
It was much smaller than most sculptures of the time
It was completed in record time
David was all alone
The quality of the marble was noteworthy
Usually David was portrayed as older
David was all alone
The story of David and Goliath was a well known story which was often the subject of paintings and sculptures at the time. However, usually the artist depicted David victorious after battle or valiantly fighting during it. Everyone was shocked when Michelangelo chose to David all alone, looking confident and contemplative in the moments before the battle. His weapon, the sling shot, is not prominent in the sculpture, it is slung over his shoulder almost out of view as if to emphasize that this hero’s strength lay in his intellect and ingenuity not brute strength.
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