History of Europe practice questions.

Identify the treaty that formally ended the First World War between the Allied Powers and Germany and was signed in June 1919.

• Treaty of Saint-Germain
• Treaty of Versailles
• Treaty of Trianon
• Treaty of Sevres

Answer: Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) settled terms with Germany; Saint-Germain dealt with Austria, Trianon with Hungary and Sevres with the Ottoman Empire.

Determine which article of the Treaty of Versailles assigned to Germany responsibility for causing the war and thereby provided the legal basis for reparations.

• Article 48
• Article 231
• Article 22
• Article 160

Answer: Article 231

Article 231, the 'war guilt clause', held Germany and its allies responsible for the loss and damage of the war, underpinning the reparations demand.

Explain which event provided the pretext for the Enabling Act of March 1933, which allowed Hitler's cabinet to enact laws without the Reichstag.

• The Kapp Putsch
• The Reichstag Fire
• The Night of the Long Knives
• The Munich Putsch

Answer: The Reichstag Fire

The Reichstag Fire of February 1933 was used to justify emergency decrees and pressure the Reichstag into passing the Enabling Act, dismantling democracy.

Identify the 1938 agreement in which Britain and France permitted Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.

• The Locarno Treaties
• The Munich Agreement
• The Anti-Comintern Pact
• The Pact of Steel

Answer: The Munich Agreement

At the Munich Agreement (September 1938), Chamberlain and Daladier conceded the Sudetenland to Hitler, the high point of appeasement.

Determine the immediate cause of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia in October (November, new calendar) 1917.

• The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II
• The July Days
• The signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• The Kornilov Affair

Answer: The Kornilov Affair

The Kornilov Affair (August–September 1917) was the immediate cause: to stop the general’s march on Petrograd the Provisional Government armed the Red Guards, and within weeks the Bolsheviks held majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets. The July Days had set the Bolsheviks back, the Tsar’s abdication came in February 1917, and Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) followed the seizure of power.

Explain the principal aim of Stalin's Five-Year Plans launched from 1928.

• To decentralise the economy toward market forces
• To achieve rapid industrialisation through state planning
• To restore the monarchy's landholdings
• To expand consumer goods production above heavy industry

Answer: To achieve rapid industrialisation through state planning

The Five-Year Plans prioritised rapid, centrally planned industrialisation, especially heavy industry, at the expense of consumer goods and agriculture.