Unit 10: Paper 3 — History of Africa and the Middle East (HL)

Topic 10.1: Transformation in North Africa and the Middle East (750–1291) Questions

Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History (2028) Topic 10.1. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.

1Choose1 mark
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Choose the term for non-Arab converts to Islam whose resentment over unequal treatment under the Umayyads helped fuel the Abbasid revolt.
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2Evaluate15 marks
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Evaluate the claim that political fragmentation was the most important internal cause of the decline of Abbasid authority in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
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3Choose1 mark
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Choose the caliph who founded Baghdad as the new Abbasid capital in 762 CE.
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4Discuss the view15 marks
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Discuss the view that religious rivalry, rather than political or economic weakness, was the decisive factor undermining Abbasid authority before 1071.
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5Choose1 mark
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Which Mamluk sultan stopped the Mongol advance at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 and then captured the Crusader city of Antioch in 1268?
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6Choose1 mark
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In November 1095, at which event did Pope Urban II launch the appeal that began the First Crusade?
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7Choose1 mark
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Who led the Seljuk Turks into Baghdad in 1055 and took the title of sultan while leaving the Abbasid caliph his religious title?
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8To what extent15 marks
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To what extent do you agree that religious motives were more important than political and economic motives in driving Pope Urban II to launch the First Crusade in 1095?
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9Choose1 mark
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At which battle in 1187 did Salah ad-Din crush the Crusader army, opening the way to recapturing Jerusalem?
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10Choose1 mark
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From what year did the Buyid dynasty control the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, reducing him to a figurehead kept for religious legitimacy only?
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11Choose1 mark
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Richard I of England led the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and won a tactical victory at Arsuf in 1191, but ultimately could not achieve which strategic goal?
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12Choose1 mark
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The Zanj Revolt, which devastated the farmland and tax base of southern Iraq, took place across which years?
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13Evaluate15 marks
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Evaluate the claim that the Abbasid collapse should be understood as a single continuous process rather than as several distinct stages spread across centuries.
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14To what extent15 marks
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To what extent was the Seljuk takeover of Baghdad in 1055 beneficial rather than damaging to the wider stability of the Middle East?
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15Choose1 mark
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Choose what happened to Abu Muslim, the general who organised the Abbasid revolutionary army in Khurasan.
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16Choose1 mark
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At the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuk Turks inflicted a catastrophic defeat on which power, capturing its emperor and causing the loss of most of Anatolia?
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17Choose1 mark
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Choose the correct location and date of the battle in which the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, was defeated by Abbasid forces.
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18Choose1 mark
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Which Muslim leader's capture of the Crusader County of Edessa in 1144 was the first major Muslim victory and triggered the failed Second Crusade in Europe?
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19Choose1 mark
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Choose the pair of caliphs whose civil war (809-813 CE) took place shortly after the reign of Harun al-Rashid.
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20To what extent15 marks
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To what extent was Richard I's leadership of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) a failure?
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