HISTORY 317:  MIDTERM STUDY QUESTIONS

  Essay Exam Advice

  Part I:  Essay.  Worth 70% of midterm grade.

You will write an essay on one of the following questions (to be determined by the instructor).

1.“Under these circumstances, it is small wonder that the fruits of emancipation turned bitter in the mouths of many Jews.” 

(Joseph L. Blau, Modern Varieties of Judaism, p.154.)

What were the causes and consequences of Jewish emancipation?  Write a clear, organized essay accounting for why and when Jews were emancipated, and what the consequences of that emancipation—both foreseen and unforeseen—were.

2. “For all those interested in … history… the seminal question of the twentieth century is: How could Hitler have come to power?  The question has been raised many times and has received as many answers.”

(Eberhard Jäckel, Hitler in History, p.1.)

Write a clear, organized essay accounting for Hitler's rise to power.

3.Why and how did racism develop in Europe?  How did ideas about race develop over time?  What importance did this have for the development of anti-Semitism?

     Part II:  Short identifications.  Worth 30% of midterm grade.

     You will be presented with ten (10) of the following terms, names, or acronyms, from which you will choose three (3) in order to identify them and explain their significance.  A simple definition (e.g., "Richard Wagner:  German composer") would be a correct, but poor, answer.

Churban                                 Wilhelm Marr                                         Hasidism

Article 48                                Hyperinflation                                      Vacher de Lapouge

Ostjuden                                Voltaire                                                Otto Glagau

DDP                                      St. John Chrysostom                           Aryans                 

Sabbatai Zvi                        Tzaddik                                               Moses Mendelssohn

Adolf Stoecker                      Richard Wagner                                Eduoard Drumont

Karl Lueger                         Pan-Germanism                                Comte Arthur de Gobineau                    

Holy Roman Empire                    Kreuzzeitung                              Ems Dispatch

Battle of the Somme       Article 231                                          Franz von Papen

NSDAP             Paul von Hindenburg                                       "Weltmacht oder Niedergang"