Deck 16: The Middle East in the Age of Nasser: the Radicalization of Arab Politics

Question 1

When the Hashimite monarchy was overturned in Iraq, an important pillar of the Western alliance system was felled. Who overthrew the Hashimite monarchy?

A) Prince Abd al-Ilah
B) Abd al-Karim Qasim
C) King Faysal II
D) None of these is correct

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is true of the Kurds in 1950s Iraq?

A) They opposed Pan-Arabism
B) They were Iraq's most volatile minority group
C) They variously sought their own cultural autonomy and political independence
D) All of these statements are true

Answer 2

D

Question 3

As part of their pro-Hashimite strategy following WWI, the British appointed Sharif Husayn's two sons, Faysal and Abdallah, as leaders of which two countries?

A) Jordan and Syria
B) Syria and Iraq
C) Iraq and Syria
D) Iraq and Jordan

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The Iraqi revolution ____________________________.

A) was a movement led by nationalist officers in the Iraqi army to overthrow the Hashimite monarchy
B) brought an end to British and Western influence in Iraq
C) led to the establishment of an Iraqi republic
D) All of these answers are correct

Question 5

The Kurds in Iraq are concentrated in __________________.

A) the south of the country
B) the north of the country
C) Qasr
D) Basra

Question 6

From the end of World War II to the 1960s, which city was viewed as a glittering metropolis that served as an economic and cultural bridge between the West and the Middle East?

A) Istanbul
B) Cairo
C) Beirut
D) Baghdad

Question 7

Territorial losses of the June War of 1967 include ______________________.

A) the Sinai oil fields and Suez Canal in Egypt
B) the West Bank in Jordan
C) the Golan Heights in Syria
D) All of these answers are correct

Question 8

The blocking of the Straights of Tiran was a major cause in starting which war?

A) The 1948 Arab-Israeli War
B) The 1952 Tunisian War of Independence
C) The June War of 1967
D) The 1990 Gulf War

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT true of the 1967 War?

A) The Arab armies attacked Israel in the hope of destroying it
B) Incorrect Soviet and Syrian intelligence told the Egyptians that Israel was massing troops on the Syrian border
C) Egypt's air force was destroyed before it could leave the ground
D) The Palestinians learned that the Arab states would not be able to return their lost land to them

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT true about the origins of the Ba'th Party?

A) It was a Pan-Arab party
B) It supported monarchy
C) It supported socialism and anti-imperialism
D) It was founded by an Orthodox Christian

Question 11

Which of the following statements most accurately represents the ideas expressed by the Ba'th party ideologue Michel Aflaq?

A) He believed in the existence of a single Arab nation and was committed to achieving Arab unity
B) He excluded Islam from his construction of Ba'thist ideology, as he believed secularism was the key expression of Arabism
C) He argued that European imperialism could only be overcome by a Ba'th-led offensive jihad against the occupying powers
D) He maintained that the Islamic world had declined into a state of jahiliyyah which could only be overcome by a revolutionary vanguard

Question 12

Which of the following countries was referred to as the Switzerland of the Middle East because of its emergence as a regional banking center in the aftermath of World War II?

A) Egypt
B) Israel
C) the United Arab Emirates
D) Lebanon

Question 13

Which of the following statements most accurately describes Mustafa al-Barzani?

A) He was a brigadier in the Iraqi army who overthrew King Faysal II in a bloody coup in 1958
B) He was the first king of Jordan (crowned in 1948) and the brother of King Faysal II
C) He was Lebanon's first post-independence president
D) He was a Kurdish nationalist leader in Iraq who led a rebellion against the regime (1961-1963)

Question 14

Which of the following most accurately describes a za'im?

A) A political boss from a leading family in a given region who manipulates elections and distributes political favors and financial rewards
B) A land tenure system in which land was held in common and distributed amongst its members to mitigate the agricultural risks brought on by natural disasters
C) A piece of property endowed for a religious institution or charity
D) Often translated as "truce," a za'im is dinstinct from the shorter-term calming of events known as ?tahdiya

Question 15

What implications did the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 have on Transjordan?

A) Transjordan lost more than half of its population and territory as a result of Israel's occupation of the West Bank
B) Transjordan's armed forces were decimated during the conflict, and the country was consequently forced to rely on Gamal Abd al-Nasser for military protection from Israel
C) The war left Transjordan in control of the West Bank and a Palestinian population larger than the existing Transjordanian population
D) The war resulted in a close relationship between Jordan and Egypt that endured uninterrupted until Gamal Abd al-Nasser's death in 1970

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a similarity that Qasim and Nasser shared?

A) Both enacted land reform laws intended to reduce the wealth and power of the landed elite and improve conditions for peasants
B) Both refused to agree to the Baghdad Pact
C) Both proclaimed political neutrality for their regimes while receiving military weapons from the Soviets
D) Both ultimately refused to join the UAR, for fear of losing their tight grip on domestic power

Question 17

Which of the following was NOT a threat to the consolidation of Husayn's rule over Jordan?

A) Nasserism
B) Breaking ties with Britain and turning to Pan-Arabism
C) Demands from the Palestinian majority within Jordan
D) Tensions with the US

Question 18

Which youth organization in the region was influenced by European fascist political parties?

A) The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
B) The Phalange in Lebanon
C) The Shihabists in Lebanon
D) All of these groups were influenced to some degree by European fascism

Question 19

Which of the following best explains Nasser's actions in the lead-up to the 1967 war?

A) Success in disrupting the monarchical regime in Yemen gave Nasser a false sense of confidence
B) Nasser saw an opportunity to further play up his image as the leader of Pan-Arabism, and failed to realize how much the situation would spiral out of his control
C) Nasser sought the destruction of Israel
D) The Soviets were actually behind the whole conflict-war with Israel was a sure way of challenging the US

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT an accurate description of the aftermath of the June War?

A) After the short six-day war, there were no more military clashes between Nasser and Israel
B) The UN Security Council Resolution 242 failed to provide a basis for a comprehensive peace settlement
C) Israel, Jordan, and Egypt all agreed to UN Security Council Resolution 242
D) New Palestinian military and political organizations rose to prominence

Question 21

Arab nationalists-such as those within Syria's Ba'thist Party-hoped to unify all Arab counties into one state.

Question 22

In 1970, the US's Rogers Plan helped bring to an end the war of attrition between Egypt and Israel.

Question 23

In 1970, a defeated Nasser committed suicide.

Question 24

To restore Egypt's air force and armor to prewar levels, Egypt became completely dependent on the Soviet Union for its military survival after 1967.

Question 25

Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Palestine all endorsed United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. It succeeded in providing a basis for a comprehensive peace settlement within the region.

Question 26

In Lebanon, politics were dominated by established families from which a political boss, or __________________, emerged.

Question 27

In the 1960s, the three most powerful Arab states, Egypt, Syria, and __________________, refused participation within the Western alliance, choosing instead to enter into economic and military agreements with the Soviet Union.

Question 28

In an effort to reclaim ____________ in 1969, Nasser launched a war of attrition, which largely consisted of Israel and Egypt shelling one another with deadly airstrikes.

Question 29

Levi Eshkol was the leader of __________________ during 1967.

Question 30

The social, political and economic reforms initiated by the president of Lebanon in the post-1958 civil war years were collectively known as _________________.

Question 31

Why were the late 1950s and early 1960s called the period of the "Arab cold war?" What were the main sources of rivalry in the region at this time?

Question 32

Describe Fuad Shihab's goals for Lebanon.

Question 33

Describe how the 1967 War created a massive refugee problem.

Question 34

What are the factors that led to the June War in 1967?

Question 35

Describe the atmosphere in Iraq that led to the overthrow of the Hashimite monarchy in Iraq in 1958.

Question 36

Briefly describe the foreign policy of Colonel Abid Shishakli? How does it compare to that of Gamal Abd al-Nasser?

Question 37

Briefly describe the external pressures on Lebanon's early post-independence years. How did these begin to change in the 1960s?

Question 38

What factors contributed to the political instability that characterized Syria between the end of World War II and the creation of the United Arab Republic (UAR)?

Question 39

Briefly describe Lebanon's president Camille Chamoun's relationship with the West and its implication for Lebanon.

Question 40

Briefly describe what Arab critics of Nasserism meant by accusing it of "middleism".

Question 41

Following the assassination of Jordan's first king, Winston Churchill proclaimed that "we have lost a faithful comrade and ally." How was Jordan's relationship with the West different from other states in the region during the years after World War II and the "age of Nasser"? What effects did this have on Jordan's political and economic development?

Question 42

Explain the effects that the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 (the June War) had on Israel and the Arab states. Why did the war mark the end of the "age of Nasser"?