A long and illustrious history

What this chapter covers

• The First World War
• The partition of Ireland
• The inter-war period
• The Second World War
• Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
• Early Britain
• War at home and abroad
• The Black Death
• Legal and political changes
• The Wars of the Roses
• A distinct identity
• Constitutional monarchy - The Bill of Rights

Practice questions — chapter 3

20 of our 301 questions for this chapter. Every answer includes the handbook section it comes from.

1. 1. Old-age pensions, free school meals and financial help for the unemployed were among the social measures introduced in Britain in the early 20th century.

   1. True
   2. False
   Show answer

   Answer: A. True

   The years before the First World War were a period of optimism and social progress. Alongside pensions, free school meals and help for the unemployed, laws improved workplace safety, town planning was tightened to stop slums spreading, and MPs began to be paid a salary so that more people could take part in public life.

   Handbook section 3.4

2. 2. Around how many of the Indian soldiers who fought on behalf of Britain in the First World War were killed?

   1. About 4,000
   2. About 15,000
   3. About 40,000
   4. About 120,000
   Show answer

   Answer: C. About 40,000

   More than a million Indians fought for Britain in many different countries, and around 40,000 of them died. Men from the West Indies, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada also served with the British, showing that the whole Empire was involved.

   Handbook section 3.4

3. 3. What is meant by 'the Troubles'?

   1. The conflict between those wanting full Irish independence and those wanting to stay loyal to the British government
   2. The mass unemployment caused in Ireland by the Great Depression
   3. The dispute between the Irish government and Britain over fishing rights
   4. The refusal of Irish MPs to take their seats in the UK Parliament
   Show answer

   Answer: A. The conflict between those wanting full Irish independence and those wanting to stay loyal to the British government

   People on both sides of the border objected to the split and still wanted a single independent Ireland. Years of disagreement led to a terror campaign in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, and this long conflict is usually called 'the Troubles'.

   Handbook section 3.4

4. 4. Select two countries that fought as part of the Axis powers in the Second World War.

   Select two answers

   1. Italy
   2. Japan
   3. Canada
   4. Poland
   Show answer

   Answer: A. Italy and B. Japan

   The Axis powers were fascist Germany, Italy and the Empire of Japan. Canada and Poland were on the Allied side, along with the UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

   Handbook section 3.4

5. 5. On 6 June 1944, known as 'D-Day', where did the allied forces land?

   1. Normandy
   2. Sicily
   3. Dunkirk
   4. The Netherlands
   Show answer

   Answer: A. Normandy

   Allied troops landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944. After victory on the Normandy beaches they pushed on through France and into Germany itself.

   Handbook section 3.4

6. 6. Which of these statements about the British attack on the Somme is correct?

   1. It began in July 1916 and produced around 60,000 British casualties on the first day alone
   2. It began in July 1916 and produced around 60,000 British casualties over the whole of the four-year war
   Show answer

   Answer: A. It began in July 1916 and produced around 60,000 British casualties on the first day alone

   The opening day of the Somme offensive was one of the bloodiest in British military history, with roughly 60,000 casualties in a single day. Across the entire war Britain suffered more than 2 million casualties.

   Handbook section 3.4

7. 7. Before he could send in troops to invade Britain, Hitler needed to control the air. Which battle did the British win in the summer of 1940 to prevent this?

   1. The Battle of Britain
   2. The Battle of the Somme
   3. The Blitz
   4. The Battle of Normandy
   Show answer

   Answer: A. The Battle of Britain

   British fighter planes, chiefly the Spitfire and the Hurricane, resisted the German air campaign and won the Battle of Britain. Even after this defeat, the German air force went on bombing London and other cities at night, in the campaign known as the Blitz.

   Handbook section 3.4

8. 8. Select two things that were true of Britain during the Iron Age.

   Select two answers

   1. The people spoke languages belonging to the Celtic family
   2. The first Christian communities were established
   3. The first coins to be minted in Britain were produced
   4. People learned how to make bronze for the first time
   Show answer

   Answer: A. The people spoke languages belonging to the Celtic family and C. The first coins to be minted in Britain were produced

   Iron Age people spoke a Celtic language, related to tongues still spoken today in parts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and they minted Britain's first coins, some bearing the names of Iron Age kings. Bronze-working belongs to the earlier Bronze Age, and Christianity arrived under the Romans.

   Handbook section 3.7

9. 9. In which year did the Roman army leave Britain for good?

   1. AD 43
   2. AD 600
   3. AD 410
   4. AD 789
   Show answer

   Answer: C. AD 410

   The Roman army withdrew in AD 410 to defend other parts of the Empire and never came back, leaving Britain open to invasion from northern Europe.

   Handbook section 3.7

10. 10. What name was given to the area of eastern and northern England where many Viking invaders settled?

    1. The Danelaw
    2. The Pale
    3. Wessex
    4. Northumbria
    Show answer

    Answer: A. The Danelaw

    Many Vikings stayed on in an area known as the Danelaw, mixing with local communities and sometimes converting to Christianity. Place names there, such as Grimsby and Scunthorpe, still come from the Viking languages.

    Handbook section 3.7

11. 11. Select two castles built to maintain English power in Wales.

    Select two answers

    1. Windsor
    2. Conwy
    3. Edinburgh
    4. Caernarvon
    Show answer

    Answer: B. Conwy and D. Caernarvon

    Conwy and Caernarvon were among the huge castles built to secure English rule in Wales after 1284. Windsor and Edinburgh are medieval castles too, but they are not given as examples of the Welsh castles.

    Handbook section 3.5

12. 12. The English finally left France in the 1450s.

    1. True
    2. False
    Show answer

    Answer: A. True

    True. The long war with France ended with the English withdrawal in the 1450s, a few decades after their famous victory at Agincourt in 1415.

    Handbook section 3.5

13. 13. The Wars of the Roses ended at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Who became king as a result?

    1. Richard III, of the House of York
    2. Edward I
    3. Henry Tudor, who became King Henry VII
    4. Henry V
    Show answer

    Answer: C. Henry Tudor, who became King Henry VII

    Richard III of the House of York was killed at Bosworth Field, and the Lancastrian leader Henry Tudor took the throne as Henry VII, the first Tudor king. He then married Richard's niece, Elizabeth of York, uniting the two families.

    Handbook section 3.5

14. 14. Britain was permanently cut off from the European mainland by the Channel around 6,000 years ago.

    1. True
    2. False
    Show answer

    Answer: B. False

    False. The permanent separation came about 10,000 years ago. Before that a land bridge joined Britain to the continent, and Stone Age hunter-gatherers crossed it as they followed the herds they hunted. It was farming, not the Channel, that arrived about 6,000 years ago.

    Handbook section 3.7

15. 15. St Columba became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

    1. True
    2. False
    Show answer

    Answer: B. False

    False. St Columba was one of the missionaries from Ireland who spread Christianity in the north, and he founded a monastery on the island of Iona. It was St Augustine, who led missionaries sent from Rome to preach in the south, who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

    Handbook section 3.7

16. 16. About half of the population of England died in the Black Death.

    1. True
    2. False
    Show answer

    Answer: B. False

    False. Roughly one third of England's population died, and a similar proportion in Scotland and Wales. The shortage of labour that followed allowed peasants to demand higher wages and helped new social classes to emerge.

    Handbook section 3.5

17. 17. Which of these statements is correct?

    1. The two main groups in Parliament at this time were the Whigs and the Tories, and the modern Conservative Party is still sometimes called the Tories
    2. The two main groups in Parliament at this time were the Chartists and the Fenians, and the modern Labour Party is still sometimes called the Chartists
    Show answer

    Answer: A. The two main groups in Parliament at this time were the Whigs and the Tories, and the modern Conservative Party is still sometimes called the Tories

    Because the monarch now needed ministers who could command a majority in both Houses, organised groupings emerged: the Whigs and the Tories. This was the beginning of party politics in Britain.

    Handbook section 3.3

18. 18. Why did Parliament choose George I of Hanover as king when Queen Anne died in 1714?

    1. He was Anne's nearest Protestant relative
    2. He was Anne's eldest son
    3. He had defeated the Jacobites in battle
    4. He was elected by the House of Commons
    Show answer

    Answer: A. He was Anne's nearest Protestant relative

    Parliament controlled the succession and required a Protestant monarch, so the German George I was chosen. An attempt by Scottish Jacobites to put James II's son on the throne instead was quickly defeated.

    Handbook section 3.3

19. 19. Select two statements that describe Britain before the 18th century.

    Select two answers

    1. Agriculture was the biggest source of employment
    2. There were many cottage industries, where people worked at home making goods such as cloth and lace
    3. Most people were employed in factories and coal mines
    4. Shipbuilding and the railways were the largest employers
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Agriculture was the biggest source of employment and B. There were many cottage industries, where people worked at home making goods such as cloth and lace

    Before industrialisation most people worked the land, and manufacturing was done at home on a small scale. The Industrial Revolution reversed this, and manufacturing eventually became the main source of employment in Britain.

    Handbook section 3.3

20. 20. What did Sake Dean Mahomet open in George Street, London, in 1810?

    1. The first curry house in Britain
    2. The first Turkish baths in Britain
    3. The first tea-trading house in Britain
    4. The first Indian newspaper in Britain
    Show answer

    Answer: A. The first curry house in Britain

    Mahomet grew up in Bengal, served in the Bengal army and came to Britain in 1782. As well as the Hindoostane Coffee House, he and his wife introduced 'shampooing', the Indian art of head massage, to Britain.

    Handbook section 3.3