European History questions from 2016 onwards
 

Part I

I. French Revolution and Napoleonic Era (1789-1815)

a. The connection between the ideas of French Philosophers and the revolution was indirect and remote. The philosophers did not preach revolution rather they undermined the faith of people in the old order. Discuss.

b. How did the French Revolution and the era of Napoleonic conquests stimulate liberalism, nationalism and conservatism in Europe?

c. Rational ideas and ‘fear’ determined the course of French Revolution in the eighteenth century. Discuss.

d. What were the effects of Napoleon Bonaparte-I’s home policy on French society?

e. Why did the post French Revolution phase has been marked by the rational and effective governments in Europe?

f. Describe how Napoleon’s military conquests changed both the map and political balance of power in Europe?

g. How did the peace settlement of 1814-15 restored effective balance of power and paved the way to a European peace.

II. Concert of Europe (1815-1830)

a. What aims and objectives did Congress of Vienna try to achieve? How far was it proved to be successful in the light of future course of events in European History?

b. Compare and contrast the revolution of 1830 and 1848.

c. How would you argue that lessons cannot be drawn from the European Revolutions in 1830s and 40s as historical process is specific to a particular context?

d. “Prince Metternich is regarded as the incarnation of the restoration and reaction”. Why?

e. Describe Concert of Europe foundational principles. Why did the Concert of Europe decline?

f. Congress of Vienna inspire nationalist movements across Europe in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. Analyze.

III. Forces of Continuity and Change in Europe (1815-1848)

IV. The Eastern Question (1804-1856)

V. Unification of Italy

a. Unification of Italy and Unification of Germany occurred simultaneously. Their histories touch and overlap at points and at times helped each other. Discuss.

b. Between Mazzini, Cavour and Garibaldi, who do you think made the most significant contribution to Italian unification?

c. What kinds of symbols were used by the movements for uniting Germany and Italy in the nineteenth century?

d. What social movements led to the political consolidation of various states of the Italian peninsula that unified a single nation of Italy?

e. ‘Italy is a geographical expression Politically speaking there was no Italy’ Comment.

VI. Unification of Germany

a. Unification of Italy and Unification of Germany occurred simultaneously. Their histories touch and overlap at points and at times helped each other. Discuss.

b. What was the German Confederation and how did it attempt to resolve the classical problem of Central Europe?

c. What kinds of symbols were used by the movements for uniting Germany and Italy in the nineteenth century?

d. Write an account of Bismarck’s diplomacy for Germany that made her a leading European State.

e. Write down the results of Franco-Prussian war (1870-71).

f. Evaluate the inherent strengths of Prussia combined with Bismarck’s political skills helped to achieve German unification.

VII. The Origins of WW-I (1890-1914)

a. Would it be a fair assessment of Bismarck’s legacy that in creating a united Germany he laid the foundations of the First World War?

Part II

VIII. The WW-I and its aftermath

a. Critically evaluate the causes of allied victory in World War 1.

b. Describe how the map of Europe was changed because of World war I and post war treaties?

IX. Dictatorships in Europe

a. Discuss the general causes of the rise of dictatorship in Europe after the First World War.

b. How did the First World War generate conditions conducive to the emergence of radical left-wing and radical right-wing movements in Europe?

c. Why did Europe become a continent of dictatorships after the First World War?

d. Bolshevik Revolution

e. Stalin

f. How did the Great Depression in the 1930s effect societies and cultures in Europe?

g. How did violence and Communist ideas shape the events culminating in the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917?

h. Why did Europe become a continent of dictatorships after the First World War?

i. Winston Churchill criticised the appeasement “a total and un-mitigated defeat”. Discuss.

X. The WW-II and its effects on Europe

XI. Post War Europe

a. What was, in your view, the most important factor that led the United States to abandon its historic policy of isolationism and adopted internationalism after 1945?

b. Why did the concept of supranational European institutions emerged in the aftermath of WW II?

c. NATO

d. In what ways did the Marshall plan, the dividing of Berlin, the communist takeover of power in Czechoslovakia and the formation of NATO contribute to the development of the Cold war? Analyze.

e. German Question

XII. Cold War Europe (1955-1991)

a. Cold War

b. Charles de Gaulle

c. The Cuban Missile Crisis

d. The Berlin Wall

e. European Economic Community (EEC)

f. British entry in European Economic community was delayed until 1973. Why? Give reasons.

XIII. Europe (1991-2012)

a. European Union

b. What was the impact of German reunification on Eastern Europe and the USSR?

c. Gorbachev

d. Balkan Crisis 1990s