Empires and Civilizations WSC 2025 (If at First You Fall...)

Which reform under the Meiji Restoration most directly aimed to centralize fiscal authority under the imperial government?

• Creation of the national conscript army system

• Introduction of universal elementary education

• Abolition of the han system and domains

• Establishment of the Tokyo Imperial University

Which Neo-Assyrian king is best known for relocating massive populations as part of imperial policy?

• Ashurbanipal during his extensive library projects

• Tiglath-Pileser III with forced deportation policies

• Sargon II with architectural ziggurat designs

• Esarhaddon through religious hymn compositions

The Ottonian Renaissance is most strongly characterized by which feature?

• Promotion of vernacular courtly literature

• Revival of classical Latin learning

• Development of Gothic cathedral structures

• Establishment of Islamic scholarship centers

Which of the following best describes the Song Dynasty’s economic innovation?

• Use of tribute missions to Rome and Persia

• Establishment of hereditary warrior castes

• Issuance of government-backed paper money

• Construction of massive steppe fortification walls

Which military crisis led to the formal division of the Carolingian Empire?

• Magyar invasion and settlement of the Pannonian Basin

• Viking conquest of the British Isles in entirety

• Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula

• Civil wars culminating in the Treaty of Verdun

Which policy most directly demonstrates Neo-Sovietism in 21st-century Russia?

• Embrace of complete economic neoliberalism

• Renunciation of the Soviet nuclear arsenal

• Rejection of any centralized propaganda use

• Rehabilitation of Soviet symbols and narratives

Under which Byzantine emperor was the Corpus Juris Civilis compiled?

• Basil II during Macedonian expansions

• Justinian I with legal codification

• Alexios I Komnenos amid Crusader alliances

• Constantine VII with historical encyclopedias

Which factor most directly facilitated Song China’s maritime trade networks?

• Imperial bans on shipbuilding practices

• Development of advanced compass technology

• Prohibition of private trading ventures entirely

• Abolition of all customs tariff systems

Which of these was a principal cause of the Carolingian Empire’s fragmentation?

• Cultural dominance of the Eastern Roman Church

• Administrative adoption of Arabic script forms

• Inheritance customs of partible succession

• Unification with Scandinavian polities

The Ottonian dynasty most notably strengthened imperial power through:

• Strategic marriage alliances with the Abbasid Caliphate

• Appointment of loyal bishops as imperial administrators

• Abolition of the feudal oath system entirely

• Founding of maritime trade monopolies with Byzantium