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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Iron Age Empires
Under the Statesman Pericles in Athens, what type of democracy was used to pass laws?
Direct Democracy
Indirect Democracy
Republican Democracy
Representative Democracy
Direct Democracy
Direct democracy is the answer because the Athenians, under the rule of Pericles, allowed every Athenian male citizen over the age of 18 to have one vote, whenever a political decision needed to be made. In a direct democracy, every citizen who is eligible to vote is able to vote directly on any law. The other choices involved scenarios in which the citizens collectively vote on a representative who can vote on the law, but the individual citizen cannot vote directly on a law.
Example Question #2 : Iron Age Empires
Which of these is NOT a step in the cycle of the Mandate of Heaven?
The Gods send natural disasters and war to punish the dynasty
The dynasty wins back the Mandate of Heaven
A dynasty loses the Mandate of Heaven
A new dynasty emerges with the Mandate of Heaven
The dynasty wins back the Mandate of Heaven
All of the other choices are part of the cycle of the Mandate of Heaven. Once a dynasty loses the Mandate of Heaven they cannot regain it. Instead, a new dynasty arises which overthrows the corrupt dynasty which the gods had forsaken.
Example Question #3 : Iron Age Empires
What is a significant difference between the legacies of the Roman Empire and the Han Empire in China?
While the Han dynasty still remained intact in Eastern China for many centuries, the Roman Empire fell all at once.
Whereas the imperial system in China continued until the 20th century, the Roman empire devolved into a feudal system in Western Europe.
While Rome declined mostly due barbaric invasions, the Han collapse was because of large epidemics that took centuries for China's population to recover.
While Latin-based languages are still widely spoken around Europe, Han Chinese is considered to be a dead language with no resemblance to modern Chinese.
Whereas the imperial system in China continued until the 20th century, the Roman empire devolved into a feudal system in Western Europe.
Due to Rome's over-expansion, increasing power of the Catholic Church, and the emergence of the feudal system, Western Europe 500 years after Rome's collapse was very different. While there were major changes in the 500 years following the Han dynasty in China, much of the institutions and government systems established by the Han remained largely intact.
Example Question #4 : Iron Age Empires
What caused the Late Bronze Age collapse, leading to the Iron Age?
Widespread famine
Religious upheaval in major kingdoms
The cultural collapse of major kingdoms
Decimation of populations from plague
The cultural collapse of major kingdoms
The cultural collapse of the Mycenaean Kingdoms, Hittite Empire, and the Egyptian New Kingdom led to political instability and large-scale war. Most of the major cities in the Near East were destroyed, never to be re-settled. This allowed a new generation of civilizations to rise to power and create the Iron Age.
Example Question #5 : Iron Age Empires
Which of these is not an Iron Age Empire?
The Neo-Babylonian Empire
The Neo-Assyrian Empire
The Middle Kingdom in Egypt
The Kingdom of Israel
The Middle Kingdom in Egypt
The Middle Kingdom is considered to have ended around 1600 BCE, while the Iron Age is not widely considered to have begun until 1300 BCE. The Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian Empires rose from the ashes of the Late Bronze Age Collapse, and the Kingdom of Israel only began its expansion after the Iron Age began.
Example Question #6 : Iron Age Empires
The Kingdom of Israel encompassed all of the following tribes before its fall in 950 BCE EXCEPT _____________.
Hebrews
Philistines
Canaanites
Sumerians
Hittites
Sumerians
The Kingdom of Israel was an iron-age monarchy that expanded through modern-day Northern Israel and Jordan. It expanded quickly, conquering and absorbing nomadic tribes including the Canaanites, Hittites, and Philistines before succumbing to rebellions in 950 BCE and collapsing. The Sumerians were not a part of the Kingdom of Israel; they did, however, build their own empire nearly a thousand years earlier centered around the state of Ur.
Example Question #7 : Iron Age Empires
The earliest evidence of iron use, dating back to 3000 BCE, traces the technology to what region?
Mesopotamia
Southeast Asia
India
The Iberian Peninsula
North Africa
Mesopotamia
States in Mesopotamia including Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria are thought to have been the first to use iron, which then spread to North Africa and Southwest Asia by 1000 BCE. Iron was quickly adopted due to properties that made it superior to bronze, such as strength and durability. The ability to produce massive amounts of iron armor and weaponry allowed for quick expansion by iron age empires.
Example Question #8 : Iron Age Empires
Which empire dominated China for most of the Iron age?
Han Dynasty
Japanese Empire
None (in China the Iron age is known as the Warring States period)
Jin Dynasty
Mongolian Khanate
None (in China the Iron age is known as the Warring States period)
Various kingdoms throughout China fought for regional authority for centuries of the Iron Age. Although the Eastern Zhou Dynasty ruled for some of this period, the emperor was a mere figurehead with no control over the warring states. The period, which began during the 5th Century BCE, followed the Spring and Autumn period and ultimately led to the establishment of the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE.
Example Question #9 : Iron Age Empires
Which of the following is responsible for the increase in range and effectiveness of cavalry seen in the Iron Age?
Domestication of the camel
Increase in available food supplies
New herding and breeding techniques
Innovations in bridle and saddle design
Innovations in bridle and saddle design
During the Iron Age pastoral cultures revolutionized the saddle and bridle, allowing such historic cavalry forces as the Scythians, Cimmerians, and Bedouin to arise.
Example Question #10 : Iron Age Empires
Which of the following cultures is responsible for developing the first written alphabet?
Persia
Qin Dynasty
Phoenicia
Assyria
Phoenicia
The Phoenician alphabet is considered the first written alphabet, with prior scripts referred to as phonetic or syllabic.
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