Cultural and Intellectual History - European History

Renaissance painters and sculptors created realistic, multi-dimensional depictions of the human form. In contrast medieval art typically featured less realistic renderings of people.

Romanticism was an artistic movement that emphasized emotion, individualism, history and nature. It originated in Europe in the late eighteenth century and peaked in the period from 1800-1850. These artists exemplify the tenets of the Romantic movement in painting, writing and music.

The first Viking raiding party to land in England occurred in 793 AD in the town of Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne was an island inhabited mainly by monks in a monastery. The monks were either killed or taken away as slaves.

This event marked the beginning of the Viking migration which culminated with William the Conqueror successfully invading Britain in 1066, almost 300 years later.

The Geneva Convention refers to a series of treaties about humane treatment during wartime, so that would not be the best answer here. The Treaty of Paris was between America and Great Britain and it ended the Revolutionary War, so that too would not be the best answer choice. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the agreements that ended World War I, so that would not be the correct answer to the question. Lastly, the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the newly discovered non-European lands between Spain and Portugal, so that would be the best answer.

The Kingdom of Portugal began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in the early 1400s. As the Portuguese explored new lands, they established forts and trading posts, the first markers of colonialism. They were followed by the Spanish and the English later in the fifteenth century.

As a part of his sweeping reform of French domestic policy, Napoleon made universal state-sponsored education available to the masses for the first time in the early nineteenth century. Napoleon believed the introduction of universal state-sponsored education would both help the people of France and allow him to recruit more and better military officers.

Sigmund Freud pioneered a new school of psychological interpretation called psychoanalysis. It allowed for the rigorous study, classification, and treatment of psychological disorders. Freud believed that there were many conscious and unconscious associations between dreams and the inner workings of a persons mind, and relied heavily on dream interpretation during his clinical work.

The Gutenberg printing press introduced movable type and made it possible to mass-produce books that were previously scribed by hand and therefore took a very long time to reproduce. The greatly increased availability of books contributed to a large increase of the number of people who learned to read.

The Enlightenment was a political and philosophical movement in the 1700's, centered on the belief in universal human rights that helped inspire democratic reforms in government and the American and French Revolutions.

The Glorious Revolution was the bloodless overthrow of England's King James II in 1688.

Dr. Theodor Geisel wrote children's books and is better known by his pen-name, Dr. Seuss.

During the Middle Ages (500-1350 CE), scientific knowledge did not evolve very much. Scholars studied the works of the old scientific thinkers, and accepted their findings as true without question. They began to ask questions and do experiments and found that the results did not always match up to the old accepted theories. This led to an explosion in scientific innovation and methodology which resulted in inventions and discoveries like the telescope, the barometer, the thermometer, the microscope and the scientific revolution. Scientific inquiry, observation and experimentation as we know it today was pioneered by the leaders of the scientific revolution- Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Nicolas Copernicus, Rene Descartes, Galileo and others.

The story of David and Goliath was a well known story which was often the subject of paintings and sculptures at the time. However, usually the artist depicted David victorious after battle or valiantly fighting during it. Everyone was shocked when Michelangelo chose to David all alone, looking confident and contemplative in the moments before the battle. His weapon, the sling shot, is not prominent in the sculpture, it is slung over his shoulder almost out of view as if to emphasize that this hero’s strength lay in his intellect and ingenuity not brute strength.

During the Renaissance, much of Europe became captivated with the classical Greek and Roman civilizations. Artists, inventors, and philosophers used Greek and Roman culture, knowledge, and values as inspiration for new works of art, structures, and technologies. The other answers are incorrect because they were not cultural aspects held in high regard by Europeans.

Romanticism was an art form that rose to prominence in Europe from the early to mid 19th century.

Romantic artwork emphasized capturing intense emotions such as shock, terror, and awe.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one of the two most important Russian literary figures of the 20th century, the other being Leo Tolstoy. Dostoyevsky wrote philosophical and psychological novels that explored themes of faith, duty, country, love, depression, grief, and family, among others. His two most famous works are The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment.

Claude Monet was an impressionist painter who painted many famous and important works in 19th century France. He is widely considered the father of Impressionism, and is not to be confused with Édouard Manet

One of, perhaps the, most famous Russian author of all time, Leo Tolstoy wrote in the 20th century. His most famous works include War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

One of the most important writers of the 20th century, Vladimir Nabokov pushed the boundaries of not only what was socially acceptable, but what readers could handle. His novel Lolita features a chilling look at a sexual deviant's abduction and subsequent relationship with a pre-teenage girl.

Voltaire was a French author, so he would not be a good choice here. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a poet and did not write novels, so he would not be a good choice here. Byron and Percy Shelley were friends and moved in the same circles, although they did not write the novel in question, so they would not be good answers. Lastly, Mary Shelley is the author of Frankenstein (1818), and although she initially published anonymously she is widely credited as the author, so she would be the best choice.

Geoffrey Chaucer famously wrote the Canterbury Tales, so he would be the best answer here. Percy Shelley and Byron were both English authors, but they lived centuries after the publishing of the book in question, so they would not be good answer choices. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was English but he wrote primarily poems, so he would not be the best choice. Lastly, Moliere was a French playwright, so he would not be the best answer here.

The temperance movement spread around Britain in the nineteenth century as many religious leaders and middle-class women began to speak out against the evils of alcohol. Many women believed that alcohol was responsible for many of social ills such as the mistreatment of women, the idleness of some men, and the fact that so many young children were growing up on the streets or without a father. Despite early success of the temperance movement, prohibition movements never spread in Britain like they did in the United States.