Study Guide: Historical Understandings of Asia

  1. What is nationalism?
  2. Indian nationalism in the 1800s began as a reaction to ______.
  3. What were the early goals of the Indian National Congress?
  4. Why did the Indians help the British in World War One?
  5. Why were Indians angry about the Rowlatt Act being passed by the British in 1919?
  6. What were the effects of the massacre at Amritsar?
  7. What was Mohandas Gandhi’s plan of civil disobedience?
  8. Why did the Indians turn down dominion status when it was offered to them in the 1930s?
  9. What did Mohandas Gandhi urge Indians to do during World War II?
  10. When independence finally came in 1947, what was it about the decision that made many Indians unhappy?
  11. Which nations were created in 1947 in addition to an independent India?
  12. What European power was the colonial ruler of Vietnam in the 1800s and early 1900s?
  13. What was Vietnam called in the years before WWII?
  14. The leader of the nationalist movement in Vietnam was ______.
  15. What was Ho Chi Minh’s political party?
  16. What was the goal of Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh League?
  17. Why did the French decide to leave Vietnam in 1954?
  18. What decision was made about Vietnam at the 1954 Geneva Conference?
  19. What nation took over temporary control of South Vietnam?
  20. Why did the USA finally leave Vietnam in 1975?
  21. When did the USA first send the Marines to Vietnam?
  22. About how many years passed from the passage of the Tonkin Resolution to the surrender of South Vietnam to North Vietnam?
  23. What was Gandhi’s plan to refuse to obey unjust British laws?
  24. What was Gandhi’s main strategy in dealing with the British?
  25. Which product did Gandhi boycott?
  26. When India became independent, what factor determined where people would live in the new states (nations) that were erected?
  27. What does this quote from Gandhi mean? –“Be the change that you want to see in the world.” (This is not in the book. You must think for yourself.)
  28. What American general was given the task of rebuilding Japan after the end of WWII?
  29. What type of government was created for Japan in the years following WWII?
  30. What was/is the role of the Japanese emperor in the new government?
  31. What is the name of the Japanese parliament?
  32. According to the Japanese constitution what can Japan never do again?
  33. Who led the Chinese communists during most of the 20th century?
  34. When the Nationalist Republic of China was formed in 1929, what happened to Mao’s communist supporters?
  35. In what year did the Communist seize control of China?
  36. Why was the Great Leap Forward a failure?
  37. What was the time period called when Mao attempted to eliminate anyone that criticized the government?
  38. What was the name of the new army of youth Mao used to enforce his policies in the 1960s?
  39. Which jobs did Mao think would lead China to be most prosperous?
  40. Who became leader of China after Mao’s death in 1976?
  41. What happened to many students in 1989 protesting for greater political freedom in Tianamen Square in Beijing, China?
  42. After which figure was the Tiananmen demonstrators’ statue, Goddess of Democracy, modeled?
  43. What was the Soviet Union’s main goal at the end of WWII?
  44. What did the leaders of the Soviet Union feel would provide the most protection for their nation?
  45. What was the disagreement after WWII between the Soviet Union and the USA called?
  46. How was Korea divided after WWII?
  47. What was the Domino Theory?
  48. What did the USA fear would happen in Vietnam and Korea at the end of WWII?
  49. What happened in Korea in 1954?
  50. Why did the USA object to Ho Chi Minh being the leader of Vietnam?
  51. What happened to Vietnam in 1975 after the USA pulled its remaining forces out in 1973?