During World War I, ships like the H.M.S. Orvieto accompanied Allied civilian ships in order to protect them against German U-boat attacks. The Germans attempted to interfere with supply shipments to Allied powers. Due to the defensive strength provided by armed convoys, Allied powers did not suffer the kind of food and supply shortages that Central powers did under the British naval blockade; therefore, (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect, as German U-boats did not succeed in sabotaging civilian supply shipments enough to impact Allied powers. Though the British Empire was large and spanned multiple continents, the map does not depict them, making (C) incorrect. Ironclad ships were developed and first used by the British navy in 1861, long before the outbreak of World War I; (D) is incorrect.
The increased demand for raw materials during World War I led to an economic boon for countries like Chile, whose nitrate exports were used as an ingredient in gunpowder; (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because, in comparison to other American wars, not many American men evaded the draft. Latin American countries were not directly involved in the fighting, making (B) incorrect. (D) is incorrect because Latin America exported raw materials, not luxury goods.
Many colonial territories relied on exporting one or two main products, leaving them vulnerable to fluctuations in the global market. Global demand for rubber, for example, dramatically decreased during the Depression, due in part to a dip in car tire manufacturing. This was disastrous for colonial economies, making (C) correct. Both (A) and (D) are incorrect as the Great Depression did not directly lead to independence or communist revolution. This occurred more after World War II, when imperial governments were weakened. (B) is incorrect because all global trade and manufacturing contracted, lessening the need for finished goods and raw materials alike.
In response to the global economic crisis spurred by the Great Depression, many countries adopted a policy of economic protectionism, which included raising tariffs in order to restrict imports; therefore, (B) is correct. The Global Depression resulted in political unrest and extremism for many countries, a rise in global unemployment, and the collapse of world financial centers; (A), (C), and (D) are incorrect.
The Russian Bolsheviks gained most of their support from working-class individuals living in the cities, not rural areas. On the other hand, China had an enormous peasant population that was sympathetic to communist policies like land redistribution; (C) is correct. (A), (B), and (D) are incorrect because these were all commonalities between the two communist revolutions. Both Russia and China struggled with how to communize societies that were mainly agricultural and pre-industrial, and accordingly, instituted Five-Year Plans; Russia and China were also similar in their totalitarian methods, as both imprisoned and even killed those who opposed their new regime.
The Sino-Soviet split was a rift that grew from approximately 1956 to 1960 and continued into the 1980s between the Soviet Union and China, the two biggest communist powers in the world at that time. Its origins lay in Nikita Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin and grew to include larger differences in interpretation of communist ideology, dealings with the capitalist West, and communism around the world; (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect as the Soviet Union and China did not have, nor compete for, overseas colonies. Differences in ideology and overall national interests ran far deeper than the fractious relationship between Khrushchev and Mao, making (C) incorrect. (D) is incorrect because the détente between the United States and the Soviet Union was an outcome of the Sino-Soviet split, not a cause.
In the mid-1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev initiated policies that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the U.S.S.R. Glasnost, or “openness,” referred to a policy of cultural and intellectual freedom, leading to increased freedom for the press. Perestroika, or “restructuring,” introduced some aspects of capitalism into the existing economic system; (B) is correct. (A), (C), and (D) are all incorrect as Mao, Stalin, and Castro all did not permit government transparency or freedom for their citizens.
(A) is correct, as the reunification of Germany was a result of the collapse, due to the loss of Soviet control of East Germany. (B) is incorrect because the costly invasion of Afghanistan proved disastrous for the already-stretched Soviet economy. The Solidarity movement in Poland was an anti-communist social movement which successfully overthrew the communist government in 1989. The Soviet Union therefore lost one of its most important satellite states, and many others in similar revolutions in 1989; (C) is incorrect. (D) is incorrect, as implementing the policies of glasnost and perestroika weakened the tight control the Soviet Union had held over its citizens.
Several Latin American countries struggled politically and economically through destabilizing regime changes in the twentieth century, but most moved politically toward representative democracy beginning in the 1980s; (B) is correct. Communism remains limited in the region, fundamentalist regimes have not come to power, and most totalitarian dictatorships have been deposed; therefore, (A), (C), and (D) are incorrect.
By liberalizing markets and encouraging foreign loans and investment, Chile was able to create a much stronger economy than many other Latin American dictatorships, making (A) correct. The regime under Augusto Pinochet was anti-communist, so (B) is incorrect. The Sandinista party was active in Nicaragua, not Chile, eliminating (C). Pinochet’s staunch persecution of communists meant that Chile did not ally with the Soviet Union, making (D) incorrect.