Algoma University Midterm Exam - Preparation and Guidelines

Instructions for Midterm Exam

This exam is meant to prepare students for the type of questions, and the expectations for answers, on the Final Exam (which will be written as a three-hour in-class examination during Algoma University’s Official Final Examination Period). The Midterm consists of two parts: in Part A answer five multiple-choice questions. In Part B compose and submit a 600-800 word essay to answer one of the questions given. Remember for the essay portion of the exam, the intent of this exercise is NOT to construct a research essay but to replicate the type of answer that will fulfill the expectations of an answer on the Final Exam, given the time constraints of the Final Exam (approximately one hour per essay) – the Midterm will be graded according to those expectations. This will give students an idea of how to compose study essays to prepare for the
Final Exam, so students should use their lecture notes and textbooks to construct an essay that directly, succinctly, and fully answers the question they choose.

Any use of material from on-line summaries within the submitted answer will be considered plagiarism. In addition, students should not discuss the specifics of their answers with one another – any answers that too closely match another student’s will make both exams suspect. The Midterm must be submitted on or before 25 February 2020. This due date is firm and there will be no extensions. Those who do not submit the Midterm by the due date will have the 10% added to the weight of the Final Exam.

Choose the letter of the choice that best answers each question, then circle that letter on this question sheet.

1. Up until King Louis XVI’s flight from Paris in June 1791, the form of government pursued in the French Revolution could be best described as:
a. constitutional monarchy.               b. oligarchy.
c. theocracy                                       d. socialist utopia.

The Continental System refers to Napoleon’s efforts to:
a. re-create the country of Poland.                          b. conquer Russia
c. create an embargo against British goods.           d. to develop a breakfast culture in France.

Following the Congress of Vienna, Polish territory:
a. was united into a national state                                              b. abandoned Catholicism.
c. was re-absorbed by other European states.                           d. joined as a state with Hungary

4. The Revolutions of 1848 began in:
a. Germany.                          b. France.
c. Austria.                             d. Ireland.

5. These resources were key to industrial development that occurred in Britain from 1750 to 1850:
a. gasoline, cotton, iron.                  b. coal, cotton, steel.
c. coal, iron, cotton.                        d. kerosene, wool, steel. 

You should write your essay on separate pages (if you are using a computer, please double-space the lines). Attach the finished essay to this question sheet to submit.

Answer any one of the following questions in a 600-800 word essay. Be sure to directly respond to the issues and/or question(s) posed, and be sure that your response is in proper essay form, with supporting argument, facts, and examples.

1. Describe the major events and policy initiatives that occurred during the French Revolution in the years from 1789 to 1794 (inclusive), and explain how these events and policies marked significant stages of the Revolution.

2. What were the important conditions, technological developments, and productive innovations that developed in Britain during the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century that spurred on the Industrial Revolution?