Lesson Y8-U07-L05

Destroying a Way of Life Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 13

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U07-L05, Destroying a Way of Life: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 13: Year 8: The Wild West, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In what year was the transcontinental railroad completed across the Plains?

    • 1876
    • 1890
    • 1869
    • 1851

  2. How did the railroad damage the Plains Indians' way of life?

    • Flooded the land
    • Spread diseases
    • Split buffalo herds
    • Blocked water sources

  3. Roughly how many buffalo were there around 1840?

    • About 300,000
    • About 3 million
    • About 300 million
    • About 30 million

  4. How many wild buffalo were left by 1885?

    • Ten thousand
    • Zero
    • A few hundred
    • One million

  5. Which technology sped up the buffalo slaughter after the 1870s?

    • Repeating rifles
    • Poisoned arrows
    • Machine guns
    • Crossbows

  6. What essential animal provided Plains Indians with food, clothing, and shelter?

    • Longhorn
    • Mustang
    • Buffalo
    • Beaver

  7. What did the Dawes Act of 1887 do to tribal land?

    • Split into plots
    • Created national parks
    • Banned all farming
    • Expanded reservations

  8. What does the term 'assimilation' mean?

    • Trading fair goods
    • Forcing cultural change
    • Sharing equal land
    • Signing peace treaties

  9. Which institution was used to erase Native American culture through children?

    • Church missions
    • Boarding schools
    • Public universities
    • Military academies

  10. What was the infamous goal of the Carlisle Indian school?

    • Civilise the frontier
    • Spread Christianity
    • Educate and protect
    • Kill the Indian

  11. Who suggested the army encourage the slaughter of the buffalo to starve tribes?

    • President Ulysses Grant
    • General Philip Sheridan
    • General George Custer
    • Colonel John Chivington

  12. Why was the slaughter of the buffalo the most devastating blow?

    • Destroyed subsistence base
    • Blocked the railroads
    • Stopped all trade
    • Ended their religion

  13. How did the transcontinental railroad act as an enabling cause?

    • Brought tribal treaties
    • Supplied only gold
    • Removed all soldiers
    • Transported hunters easily

  14. What advantage allowed the US Army to eventually defeat the Plains tribes?

    • Better horsemanship
    • Industrial resources
    • Local knowledge
    • Fewer troops

  15. What replaced the defeated troops after the Battle of the Little Bighorn?

    • Larger army forces
    • State militias
    • Peace treaties
    • Settler guards

  16. Which devastating European disease wiped out whole communities of Plains Indians?

    • Malaria
    • Bubonic plague
    • Scarlet fever
    • Smallpox

  17. Why were European diseases so catastrophic to the Plains Indians?

    • Poor medical training
    • Zero natural immunity
    • Contaminated water
    • Harsh winter cold

  18. Why is disease often viewed as a less direct cause than the buffalo slaughter?

    • Affected settlers too
    • Unintended consequence
    • Easily curable
    • Happened much later

  19. Which policies best prove the destruction of Native culture was deliberate?

    • Tipis and reservations
    • Schools and Dawes Act
    • Treaties and gold rushes
    • Railroads and cavalry

  20. In which year was the Carlisle Indian boarding school founded?

    • 1869
    • 1887
    • 1879
    • 1892

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