36 exam-style questions on Causes and effects of Early Modern wars (1500-1750) — topic WHT.6 of World History Topics (Paper 2, choose 2 of 12) in the IB History syllabus — with answers and explanations. Samples below; the full set is free with an account.
Identify the 1648 settlement that ended the Thirty Years' War and is often credited with establishing the principle of state sovereignty in European diplomacy.
Answer: The Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended the Thirty Years' War and is associated with the recognition of sovereign states, reshaping the European order.
Determine which event in 1618, the throwing of imperial officials from a window in Prague, is traditionally regarded as the spark that triggered the Thirty Years' War.
Answer: The Defenestration of Prague
The Defenestration of Prague (1618), when Bohemian Protestants threw royal officials from a castle window, is the conventional starting point of the Thirty Years' War.
Identify the underlying religious cause that most contributed to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
Answer: Catholic-Protestant tensions left by the Peace of Augsburg
The 1555 Peace of Augsburg had recognised Lutheranism but not Calvinism, and Catholic-Protestant rivalry within the Empire remained a central cause of the war.
Determine which Swedish king intervened decisively in the Thirty Years' War on the Protestant side before being killed at the Battle of Lutzen in 1632.
Answer: Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden led a major Protestant intervention (from 1630) and died at Lutzen (1632); his campaigns checked Habsburg-Catholic dominance.
Explain which point best accounts for Catholic France, under Cardinal Richelieu, entering the Thirty Years' War against the Catholic Habsburgs.
Answer: France pursued raison d'etat over religious solidarity
France acted on raison d'etat: dynastic and strategic rivalry with the Habsburgs outweighed shared Catholicism, illustrating that political causes could override religious ones.
Identify the ruling dynasty of both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire whose ambitions were a central cause of many early modern European wars.
Answer: The Habsburgs
Habsburg power in Spain and the Empire fuelled fears of encirclement and dominance, provoking coalitions and conflicts throughout the period 1500-1750.
That was 6 of 36 Causes and effects of Early Modern wars (1500-1750) questions.
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36 Causes and effects of Early Modern wars (1500-1750) questions — free with an account. Spaced repetition, streaks and full exam simulations included.
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