Unit 5: Middle East
Notwithstanding Holocaust deniers, the Nazis clearly documented that they murdered about how many Jewish people alone (not to speak of nearly that many other person) in their notorious death camps and by other means?
6 million
What was Menachim's role in Middle East history?
A former terrorist (or freedom fighter), he represented Israel in the negotiations that led to the Camp David Accords.
Which of the following best describes the kind of government in place in Iran since the Revolution of 1979?
A theocracy
All the following were true of Arabia EXCEPT:
Arabia has long championed Israel and Zionism
How did the Hamas organization view Yasir Arafat after the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993?
As a traitor
What was Anwar Sadat's role in Middle East history?
As president of Egypt, he established peace with Israel, the first Arab nation to do so.
Why were Western powers suddenly interested in Persia starting shortly after 1908?
Because oil was discovered in Persia in 1908
Since the 1948 and subsequent Arab-Israeli wars, Israel at one time or another has gained control over all the following EXCEPT
Central and northern Lebanon
What did OPEC do in conjunction with the 1973 Yom Kippur War?
Created an oil crisis that especially hurt Western economies.
When did the nations of Western civilization begin that domination of the world regions of non-Western civilizations?
During the Age of Exploration and Discovery of the 1400s
In which part of Europe were Jewish people treated the worst by the late 1800s?
Eastern Europe
Which European country prided itself on being the home of the so-called Aryan race of Nordic-type peoples?
Germany
Which foreign power tried without success to unify Iraq in the 1920s and then pulled out leaving behind Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kurds all still deeply resenting one another in that pitiful country?
Great Britain
Which power created the modern nation of Iraq in the 1920s with its wildly configured borders?
Great Britain
What was US President Eisenhower's response to the 1956 Suez Crisis?
He denounced the British, French, and Israeli seizure of the Canal as aggression without cause.
Why was the Ayatollah Khomeini significant?
He inspired and led the 1979 Iranian Revolution that ended the reign of the shahs.
What was the significance of Kemal Attaturk's role in the Middle East?
He was the "father" of modern Turkey and established the Republic of Turkey after World War One
What was Theodor Herzl's role and significance in Middle Eastern history?
He was the founder of the modern Zionist movement.
Why was Suleiman significant?
He was the powerful ruler of the Ottoman Empire at its height in the 1500s.
What was the Madagascar Plan?
Hitler's plan to relocate Jews to the African nation of Madagascar.
Which, if any, of the following economic systems does the Koran come out strongly in favor of?
In reality, it is silent on the matter and does not seem to favor any one of the major economic systems.
Republican President Ronald Regan's administration provided illegal, secret, undercover aid to whom in the war that took place in the Middle East from 1981-1989 while also favoring the other side in that conflict?
Iran
Saddam Hussein took his nation into an 8-year long disastrous war against which neighboring country?
Iran
Most of what was once called Mesopotamia is now within the borders of which modern nation?
Iraq
What was Saddam's justification for attacking Kuwait in 1991?
Iraq regarded Kuwait as historically being part of Iraq though the British did not include it in Iraq when creating that country in the 1920s
Who are the Taliban?
Islamist fundamentalists who controlled Afghanistan for a number of years in the 1980s.
Despite the irony of US efforts to bring democracy to Iraq, nonetheless the US counts as "friends" highly authoritarian and in some instances even dictatorial regimes in many countries. All the following countries have authoritarian, undemocratic governments EXCEPT
Israel
Terrorists killed a number of athletes from which country at the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany?
Israel
Which one of the following is the only democracy to this date in the Middle East?
Israel
What was accomplished by the Oslo Accords?
Israel and the PLO agreed to recognize one another, cease fighting, and works creating a Palestinian state within Israel.
What was the result of the 1967 Six-Day war in the Middle East?
Israel seized the Sinai peninsula, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights from her enemies.
The Ottoman Empire once ruled the Middle East from its capital city which was called
Istanbul
What was the affect of the Holocaust upon Zionism?
It created international support for Zionism.
What is the significance of the Intifada?
It is the "uprising" of Palestinian revolutionaries against Israeli control.
What was the significance of the Balfour Declaration?
It signaled Britain's promise to establish a Jewish nation.
What was the significance of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement?
It was a secret agreement between Britain and France as to how they would divide the Ottoman Empire's Middle East territories upon their winning World War One.
Why is the Hagia Sophia significant?
It was first a major church and later a mosque located in what is now Istanbul.
Jerusalem is a holy city to which three relgions (choose one grouping)?
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
What is the name for the large black stone and its housing in Mecca?
Ka'ba
Which one of the following holy cities is the holiest of them all to most Muslims?
Mecca
What is the form of government in contemporary Saudi Arabia
Monarchy
All the following were true of Egyptian leader Nasser EXCEPT:
Nasser found his primary support for pan-Arabism from the kings of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
What is the significance of the West Bank?
Occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War, it is an area in which thousands of Palestinian Arabs live.
Supposedly, ever since the September 11, 2001 attack on the US, Osama bin Laden has been hiding where?
On the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
What did the term anti-Semitism come to mean?
Opposition to and discrimination against Jewish people.
Which branch of Christianity become dominant in the Byzantine controlled parts of the Middle East from the 500s to the 1400s?
Orthodox
What was accomplished by the Camp Davd Accords?
Peace was established between Israel and Egypt, the first Arab country to recognize Israel.
Which gulf was the scene of the Gulf War of 1991?
Persian Gulf
In which country is the city of Mecca located?
Saudi Arabia.
What was the nationality of the majority of the terrorists who carried out the attack on the US on September 11, 2001?
Saudi Arabian
Why was Golda Meir significant?
She was a female Prime Minister of Israel and proved to be as tough as any male leader.
Which group is the religious majority in contemporary Iran?
Sunnis
When Mecca proclaimed independence for Arabia in 1916, which power was it desperately hoping to get military and other assistance from?
The British Empire
What was Lawrence of Arabia's significance in Middle Eastern history?
The British used him in World War One to inspire Arabs to rebel against their Turkish rulers.
Which empire controlled Palestine from the 1400s to World War I?
The Ottoman Empire
What is the so-called "Palestinian Problem?"
The fact that several million Palestinian Arabs are homeless refugees as a result of the wars and fighting that followed the establishment of the nation of Israel.
In 1942 Hitler placed the cruel Reinhard Heydrich in charge of the Final Solution. What was the Final Solution?
The plan to murder all European Jews
What was the ultimate result of the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan in that began in December 1979?
The war became a disaster for the USSR.
All the following were true of the 1981-1988 Iran-Iraq War EXCEPT:
The war was a clear victory for Iran.
Who wrote the book entitled The Jewish State?
Theodor Herzl
All the following are true of the modern state of Israel's history EXCEPT
They lost the 1948 war
What was the purpose of the original Young Turks?
To bring about reforms that would modernize the Ottoman Empire
Why did the US actually give aid to Osama bin Laden's organization in 1979 and the early 1980s?
To undermine the USSR's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
All the following were on the side of the Allied Powers in World War I EXCEPT:
Turkey
Which Near East nation is located in both Asia and Europe?
Turkey
All the following are true of the Kurds and Kurdistan EXCEPT:
US military forces succeeded in defending the Kurds when Saddam Hussein launched chemical attacks upon them during and following the Gulf War of 1991.
What major city was as far as the Ottoman Empire ever penetrated into Europe as it expanded its boundaries and conquests in the 1500s and 1600s?
Vienna, Austria
Which of the following best describes the physical location of most of the historic Middle East?
Western Asia
All the following are bodies of water found in the Middle East EXCEPT
Yellow River
All the following were true of Ataturk EXCEPT:
he fought to create a separate Armenia for the Christians living there.
All the following were true of Saddam Hussein EXCEPT:
he long championed Kurds and their quest for autonomy and independence.
All the following were true of the Ottoman Empire during its height EXCEPT:
it prohibited dances such as those done by the whirling dervishes.