The Ba'athist Party became the ruling regime for Iraq in 1968, and Saddam Hussein took the presidency in 1979. The underlying Ba'athist belief is Arab unity, also called Pan-Arabism. The Ba'athist regime continued to dominate Iraq until Saddam was deposed by the American-led coalition.

Jordan has a hereditary monarchy, with the kingship passing through the family since the formation of Jordan in the early 1920s (then Transjordan). The Hashemites are the ruling family of Jordan, and King Hussein (ruling from 1953–1999) ruled over several decades of modernization and regional warring. Abdullah II, the current King of Jordan, is King Hussein's son.

When the questions and answers are complicated, it's important to use your knowledge to eliminate wrong answers and pinpoint the correct one.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in the 1990s, and NATO (the North American Treaty Alliance) intervened on behalf of Kuwait. This intervention, coupled with Iraq's invasion, proves that Kuwait does not have a powerful military, at least historically.

Kuwait's leader is called the emir, and the discovery of oil fields created a massive amount of Kuwaiti business. Realizing that oil is not forever, Kuwait has established considerable investment opportunities abroad to bolster the economy while looking towards the future.

Bedouins are nomadic peoples who have a history across the Middle East. In Kuwait, Bedouins began to move into major cities, especially Kuwait City. The booming oil industry offered jobs and stability.

All of the following contributed to the outbreak of World War One except communism. Communism, although influential in European society in the early years of the twentieth century, did not take root in any country until Russia became the first communist country with the Russian Revolution of 1917. Competing nationalist and imperialist goals, however, were massive contributing factors to the outbreak of World War One. As were the forces of rapid militarization and industrialization that were so prevalent in Europe at the time.

The Allied Occupation of Japan, spearheaded by Douglas MacArthur, lasted from the end of the war in 1945 until the withdrawal of American forces in 1952. The occupation was successful in rebuilding and reforming Japanese society and contributed to the emergence of Japan as a modern, liberal, economically powerful nation in the second-half of the twentieth century.

After WWII, Germany was divided between a West Germany aligned with the United States, and an East Germany aligned with the Soviet Union.

The United States and the Soviet Union divided Germany longitudinally; east-west rather than north-south.

Although the city of Berlin is in the east of Germany, and was therefore in East Germany geographically, the city itself was divided between east and west.

Bavaria and Prussia were historically independent regions that German leader Bismarck was able to unify in the 19th century.

Although Austrians are German speaking, Austria has never been part of Germany.

The Qing Dynasty had been declining in power for almost a century by the time they finally succumbed in the 1910s. The Qing Dynasty had been heavily weakened by humiliating losses to European powers and were overthrown first in 1912, and then permanently in 1917, and replaced by the Republic of China.

The Russian Revolution actually took place in two phases generally called the February/March Revolution and the October/November Revolution. The first phase of the revolution ushered the Provisional Government into power. They were soon overthrown in the October/November Revolution by the Soviets led by the Bolshevik Party and Lenin.

Sharia Law is when Islam’s most important book is the foundation of law for a society. It requires a strict adherence to the laws of Islam, and any law created by government must coincide with what the Quran says (when strict sharia law is imposed). 

Several countries adhere to sharia law or incorporate elements of it into their culture without completely applying it, including Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

The Soviet Union, following the Russian Revolution of 1917, became the world’s first communist country.