Part 2 — Answer key

Compare your answers after you have finished Part 1.

1. Which treaty is best known for creating the European Union framework and setting Europe on the path toward a single currency?
   Treaty of Maastricht
2. The Peace of Westphalia is most closely associated with ending which conflict?
   The Thirty Years’ War
3. The Renaissance first flourished in Italian city-states like Florence and Venice before spreading across Europe.
   True
4. Which event is often treated as the symbolic flashpoint of the French Revolution in Paris?
   Storming of the Bastille
5. Constantine’s refounding of Byzantium as Constantinople helped shift the Roman Empire’s center of gravity eastward.
   True
6. A museum label says “1517, a challenge posted on a church door sparked a religious break.” Who is it referring to?
   Martin Luther
7. The Peace of Augsburg introduced the principle often summarized as “cuius regio, eius religio,” letting many German rulers choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for their territories.
   True
8. When people talk about the failed “Spanish Armada,” which opponent are they usually thinking of?
   England
9. The Black Death struck Europe in the 1300s and killed a substantial share of the population in many regions.
   True
10. You are touring London and see the idea “the king is not above the law” tied to a 1215 agreement. What is it?
    Magna Carta
11. One reason Napoleon’s coronation is remembered is that he did something startling during the ceremony. What was it?
    He crowned himself rather than being crowned by the pope
12. The Congress of Vienna was designed to encourage nationalist revolutions by breaking up empires into smaller states.
    False
13. Which city did Peter the Great build as a “window to the West” and make Russia’s capital for a time?
    St Petersburg
14. In 19th-century diplomacy, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes labeled the “sick man of Europe.”
    True
15. If you had to place the start of the Industrial Revolution in one European country, which is the usual answer?
    Britain
16. You are trying to label a conflict that began after a dramatic event in Prague and spiraled into a continent-wide struggle mixing religion and great-power politics. Which war fits best?
    The Thirty Years’ War
17. The Treaty of Versailles ended World War II and created the United Nations.
    False
18. A documentary says Germany’s early World War I strategy depended on sweeping through a neutral country to outflank France. Which plan is being described?
    Schlieffen Plan
19. If a historian says “after this siege, the Ottoman push into central Europe was decisively checked,” which event are they most likely pointing to?
    Battle of Vienna
20. The Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved in the Napoleonic era, in 1806.
    True
21. A map shows a European state disappearing as its territory is divided among Prussia, Russia, and Austria. Which state is it?
    Poland-Lithuania
22. When tracing the chain of events to World War I, which single incident is usually treated as the immediate spark?
    The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
23. The Crimean War was fought mainly on the Balkan Peninsula.
    False
24. You are reading about a “bloodless” change of monarch in 1688 that strengthened Parliament’s role in England. Which event is it?
    The Glorious Revolution
25. A French Protestant family in a novel says their legal protection was granted under a royal decree in the late 1500s. Which decree fits?
    Edict of Nantes
26. The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial network of cities around the Baltic and North Seas.
    True
27. A museum exhibit describes diplomats trying to restore monarchies and build a “balance of power” after Napoleon. Which meeting does this describe?
    Congress of Vienna
28. A historian explains that a treaty left France furious by transferring Alsace-Lorraine to a new German Empire, fueling decades of “revenge” politics. Which treaty is this?
    Treaty of Frankfurt
29. A diplomat in 1713 wants to prevent one royal family from uniting France and Spain under a single crown after a major succession war. Which treaty are they most likely invoking?
    Treaty of Utrecht
30. The Peace of Westphalia included recognition of the Dutch Republic’s independence from Spain.
    True
31. A student memorizes “cuius regio, eius religio” as the rule that a ruler’s faith could determine a territory’s official religion. Which settlement does this phrase most directly refer to?
    Peace of Augsburg
32. A diary from Petrograd describes the tsar’s abdication and a new liberal-led authority trying to keep Russia in the war, while “soviets” also claim legitimacy. What was the new authority called?
    The Provisional Government
33. When people say European leaders “appeased” Hitler by accepting the loss of a region in Czechoslovakia in exchange for promises of peace, what agreement are they referring to?
    Munich Agreement
34. A speech warns that an “Iron Curtain” is descending across Europe. Which leader popularized this phrase in the early Cold War?
    Winston Churchill
35. If you want the war that ended Sweden’s era as a major Baltic great power and confirmed Russia’s rise under Peter the Great, which should you study?
    Great Northern War
36. In 1918, one treaty pulled Russia out of World War I and forced it to cede vast territories to Germany. Which treaty was this?
    Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
37. The Peace of Westphalia instantly created Europe’s modern borders exactly as they exist today.
    False
38. A historian describes a Habsburg emperor who pushed sweeping “rational” reforms, including religious toleration and attempts to reduce serfdom, and then faced backlash across the empire. Who fits best?
    Joseph II
39. A textbook chapter claims that one pre-1914 crisis sharply escalated tensions because Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, enraging Serbia and worrying Russia. What is this crisis called?
    Bosnian Annexation Crisis