At this point, the study guide is complete enough to take down the "Under Construction" logo.  In particular, you have all of the matching groups which together make up more than 90% of the test. 

So Study Hard!!

General Information:

The examination is objective.

While most of it will be matching, there will also be fill-in-the-blank (selecting from a list), true-or-false, and place in chronological order.

It will be answered on a scantron.

Warning:  The exam may be printed on both sides of the page.  Always check the back of a page in order to be certain you are not skipping questions!!

I.  Matching Questions: 

There will be a number of matching sections, each devoted to a separate topic (for the topics, see the list below.)  At the beginning of each of these section there will be a list of names or terms.  This will be followed by a number of descriptions.  From the list, you are to select the name or term which best fits each description.  (Usually, there will be a smaller number of descriptions than of terms; occasionally, however, you will be asked to match all of the terms with their descriptions.)

Matching Sections:

A.  Battles:  Teutoberg Forest, Adrianople, Chalons, Vouille, Tours, Roncevaux, Fontenay, Lindisfarne, Stamford Bridge, Hastings

B.  Historians:  Julius Caesar, Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Gregory of Tours, Einhard

C.  Roman emperors:  Augustus Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine, Valens, Theodosius, Romulus Augustulus

D.  Foreign peoples who threatened the Roman Peace:  Celts, Germans, Parthians, Persians, Huns

E.  Individuals who threatened Roman Peace:  Arminius Hermann, Bodicca, Fritigern, Alaric, Attila, Odovaker

F.  Arms and Armor:  Gladius, Pilum, Ballista, Francisca, Brunia

G.  Major German Tribes and the regions they occupied:  Visigoths (Southern Gaul and Spain); Vandals (North Africa); Ostrogoths and Lombards (Italy); Angles and Saxons (England); Franks (Northern Gaul)

H.  Positions of historians involved in the infantry vrs. cavalry debate:  Heinrich Brunner, Charles Oman, Lynn White, Jr., Stephen Morillo

I.  Major European bodies of water (seas; rivers):  Rhine River, Danube River, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea

J.  Geographical divisions of the Mediterranean/European zone:  Gaul, Britain, Dacia, Germania, Palestine, Fertile Crescent, Parthia, Arabia

K.  Routes followed by Viking nations:  Eastern or Varangian Route (Swedes); Middle Route (Danes); Outer Route (Norwegians)

L.  Frankish rulers:  Clovis, Charles Martel, Pepin, Charlemagne

M.  Warriors of the Viking Age:  Rollo, Rurik, Canute, Harold Hardrada, Harold Godwinson, William the Conqueror
 

II.  Chronological Order: 

There are only two specific dates that need to be known on the test:
476:  The deposition of the last Roman Emperor in the west; long used by western scholars to represent the fall of Rome in the west and the beginning of the Middle Ages
800:  The crowning of Charlemagne as emperor

While few specific dates will be required, some rough idea of the chronology (or, in other words, the order in which events occurred) will be necessary.  To test this, there will be several chronological-order questions on the exam.  These questions require thinking carefully about the relationship between the different items; consequently, I would advise that you do think rather than just guess!

Examples:

1.  Place in chronological order the following events in Roman history:
a.  Reign of the Balkan Emperors
b.  Beginning of the Pax Romana
c.  Anarchy of the Third Century
d.  Reign of Marcus Aurelius

Answer:   B-D-C-A

2.  Place in chronological order the following battles:
a.  Teutoberg Forest
b.  Adrianople
c.  Tours
d.  Roncevaux
e.  Hastings

Answer:   A-B-C-D-E

Place in chronological order the following periods in Roman history:
a.  Eastern Roman Empire
b.  Roman Empire
c.  Roman Republic
d.  Roman Monarchy

Answer:  D-C-B-A
 

III.  True-or-false Questions: 

There will be a number of these. 

In answering them, "A" is always TRUE; "B" is always FALSE.

Remember also, a statement is entirely true or it is false!  Even if much of the statement is true, if a single part is false, the whole statement is false.  Consequently, in reading a true-or-false question, a student should always look for some part of the statement which is false.  If no part of the statement appears false, then and only then is it true.

1.  (True or False) The first emperor of Rome reorganized the Roman army into a force primarily devoted to defending Rome's borders rather than expanding them.

Answer:  True. Most Roman expansion occurred under the Roman Republic. Augustus did reorganize the army to defend the existing borders and any further conquest under the empire was the exception rather than the rule.

2.  (True or False) In the face of the German invasions, the Roman Empire in the east collapsed, but the Roman Empire in the west survived for nearly a thousand years.

Answer:  False.

Why?  Everyone should find this question rather simple.  It was the eastern Empire, centered on Constantinople, which survived.  The western Empire fell to the Germans.

3.  (True or False) Late in the 4th century, a German tribe known as the Huns swept out of the east, terrifying several other German tribes and causing one to seek safety within the Roman Empire.

Answer: False.

Why?  This question is somewhat trickier than the last one.  Most of the statement is true, except for the fact that the Huns were not a German tribe.  They were an Asiatic people related to the Mongols.  Remember:  If one part of the statement is false, the whole statement is false.
 

IV.  Vocabulary:

You should understand the following and, in the case of language-based terms, be able to apply them to specific languages:  Cultural diffusion, Cultural borrowing, Cultural blending, Indo-European languages, Semitic languages, Romance languages.

Example:

From the following list of languages, select the three that are Indo-European:
1.  Arabic  2. French  3. Russian  4. Greek  5. Hungarian  6. Japanese
Answers:  a. 1, 2, 3   b. 4, 5, 6   c. 2, 3, 4   d. 3, 4, 5   e. 1, 3, 6

The correct answer is "c".  Most European languages are Indo-European, a result of the massive Indo-European folk migration that has done so much to shape the languages of the west.  Greek was the first Indo-European tongue to establish itself in Europe.  Russian is one of the Slavic languages, a major division of Indo-European.  French is a Romance language, derived from the earlier Indo-European tongue that established itself in Italy, namely Latin.  Since Latin is Indo-European, so are the languages that arise from it.  Although Hungarian is European, it is one of the three European languages that is not Indo-European.  (The other two are Basque and Finnish.)  Hungarian (or Magyar) is related to Turkish and entered Europe only later, with a wave of eastern invaders.  Arabic is semitic, while Japanese is an eastern language.