Deck 10: Napoleonic Europe

Question 1

All of the following are true about the Napoleonic Era (1799-1814) except

A) Napoleon came nearer than anyone before or since to imposing political unity on the European continent.
B) Europe was transformed, not only through resistance to Napoleon but through collaboration in his reforms.
C) the fighting during the period amounted to a world war, involving not only Europe but America.
D) England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, allied against Napoleon from 1799 onwards, resisted defeat by the French until 1812.

Answer 1

England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, allied against Napoleon from 1799 onwards, resisted defeat by the French until 1812.

Question 2

A major reason that the Third Coalition against Napoleon (1805-1807) failed to defeat him was

A) it failed to obtain sufficient financial subsidies from Britain.
B) Prussia refused to join until too late.
C) Russia refused to commit more than a token force.
D) Austria refused to allow Russian and Prussian troops to cross its territory.

Answer 2

Prussia refused to join until too late.

Question 3

In 1806, Napoleon established the "Continental System," which was

A) a military alliance directed against Russia.
B) a military alliance directed against Britain.
C) an attempt to ruin Britain economically by forbidding the importation of British goods into continental Europe.
D) an attempt by France to defeat England at sea through a pooling of all the resources of the continent in a shipbuilding scheme.

Answer 3

an attempt to ruin Britain economically by forbidding the importation of British goods into continental Europe.

Question 4

The reforms of the Napoleonic system were the least successfully implemented in

A) Belgium and the Rhineland.
B) Spain and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.
C) north Italy.
D) Germany.

Question 5

War broke out between the U.S. and Britain in 1812 because

A) Britain seized New Orleans.
B) France offered to remove her restrictions on neutral trade.
C) Britain wished to restore the former thirteen colonies to her empire.
D) the U.S. was intent on annexing New Orleans.

Question 6

Nationalism in Spain

A) drew on counterrevolutionary sentiments.
B) was less anti-French than in Italy.
C) helped the country through the dislocations caused by industrialization.
D) led reforms in that country's parliamentary system.

Question 7

The great nationalist thinker Herder

A) championed the spread of the Enlightenment.
B) championed a German culture arising from the life of the common people.
C) predicted the coming primacy of German civilization.
D) called for the political unification of Germany.

Question 8

In reaction to its humiliating defeat by France, Prussia

A) abolished serfdom, but at the cost of antagonizing the Junker class.
B) freed the peasants but gave them no land.
C) created a class of small landowners similar to the French peasantry.
D) abolished serfdom, but still subjected the peasants to forced labor on the landlords' fields.

Question 9

In order to prevent future French aggression, the Congress of Vienna

A) gave Britain control of Belgium and Prussia control of the left bank of the Rhine.
B) gave Prussia the left bank of the Rhine and Austria Milan and Venice.
C) gave Russia all of pre-partition Poland.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 10

Alexander II's Holy Alliance was signed by all the countries of Europe except

A) Sweden, Switzerland, and Portugal.
B) France, Bavaria, and Denmark.
C) Britain, the Ottoman empire, and the pope.
D) Austria, Britain, and France.

Question 11

The Holy Alliance claimed to uphold Christian principles of charity and peace, but for many it came to signify an alliance

A) against Jews and Muslims.
B) against liberty and progress.
C) aimed at reconquering the Holy Land.
D) against the economic and political imperialism of Britain.

Question 12

At the Congress of Vienna, one of Britain's chief concerns was to prevent

A) Russian domination of the continent.
B) Prussian domination of Germany and central Europe.
C) Austrian domination of Italy and the Mediterranean.
D) a Russo-French rapprochement and alliance.

Question 13

After the defeat of Napoleon and the 1815 peace treaties of Paris and Vienna, the most powerful country in the world was without doubt

A) the Austrian Empire.
B) Russia.
C) Britain.
D) Prussia.

Question 14

The Peace of Vienna accomplished all of the following except

A) the resolution of two centuries of conflict over colonial territories.
B) the resolution of control of Poland.
C) the resolution of Austro-Prussian dualism.
D) the resolution of the wishes of both nationalists and democrats.

Question 15

The French impact on Europe between 1792 and 1814 represented more than mere forcible subjugation. Innovations of the kind made in France by revolution were brought to other countries by administrative decree. Discuss these innovations and analyze their impact on Europe between 1792 and 1814.

Question 16

Describe the rise and fall of the Continental System.

Question 17

Four coalitions were created to contend with Napoleonic expansionism. Why was only the last successful?

Question 18

In your opinion, was Napoleon's empire beneficial or harmful for Europe in the end?

Question 19

Napoleon's rise was meteoric, but his fall was equally dramatic. What were the major reasons for the collapse of his empire?

Question 20

How did Britain and Russia benefit from the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire?

Question 21

The peace settlement of 1814-1815, including the Treaty of Vienna, the treaties of Paris, and the British colonial settlement, was the most far-reaching diplomatic agreement between 1648 and 1919. What were the major provisions of the peace settlement? What were its strengths and weaknesses? Did its benefits outweigh its defects?

Question 22

How did the Napoleonic period promote the rise of nationalism?

Question 23

Describe the rise of nationalism in Germany at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. What were the ideas of such major thinkers as Herder and Fichte about German nationalism?

Question 24

What was the impact of Napoleon's reform on manorialism?

Question 25

To whom did Napoleon's reforms and policies appeal? Why?

Question 26

Why was Napoleon able to garner support for his anti-British agenda?

Question 27

Why did nationalism become a movement of resistance to Napoleon? What aspects of the international system imposed by Napoleon did they resist?

Question 28

What is Volksgeist? Why did the concept fascinate Germans?

Question 29

How did Stein contribute to the transformation of Prussian society?

Question 30

What aspects of the French Revolution and Napoleon's reforms did the charter of 1814 grant to the French people?

Question 31

How did "Congress Poland" represent a compromise at the Congress of Vienna?

Question 32

How did Napoleon use his family to control his empire?

Question 33

How did Napoleon's empire transform eastern Europe?

Question 34

How did Napoleon contribute to the unification of Germany?

Question 35

To what degree did Germans welcome Napoleon's rule? Why?

Question 36

How did the boundaries set by the Congress of Vienna demonstrate the restoration of the state system?

Question 37

Why was the Peace of Vienna unsatisfactory to nationalists, democrats, and liberals?