Final Exam Questions

We received a copy of the five possible final exam questions for HIST 18 - History of the Middle East. Of these five, the instuctor will present us with three questions, and we must write a response to two of those, during a five-hour "window of opportunity, on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Here's what we may be asked:

1. The mandates established by the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles divided the territories of the former Ottoman and German Empires. What were these mandates, how were they decided, and what was their ultimate result?

2. Kemal Mustafa Ataturk was largely responsible for bringing Turkey into the modern age. What were the reforms that he introduced, and what criticisms exist regarding his tenure as Turkey’s president?

3. The creation of Israel remains one of the most controversial events of the 20th century. How did the state of Israel come into being, and what impact has it had on Middle Eastern politics?

4. What were the major events and causes of the Iranian Revolution?

5. Before September 11th, very few Americans were familiar with the Taliban. What are the origins of the group, what are its beliefs, and how were its members able to rise to such heights of power?

I have made a strategic selection from these questions: I've decided to concentrate on questions 3, 4, and 5 - Turkey, Israel, and Iran, rather than the mandates and the Taliban. My reasoning is this: the Taliban were not covered in our text, so I doubt she will ask us to write only on what she presented. The mandates are not listed in the Index of the text, so it's hard to hunt up the information! Finally, the liklihood of both of those questions being on the exam seems low, which means that if I concentrate on the Big Three, I should do all right.

So far, I've gone through the Index, and re-read and taken notes on every page about Turkey and Iran. Starting tomorrow, I'll search the book for any references to Israel. This is the first time I've done this study-by-index method; I'll let you know how it works!