Deck 1: The First American Way of War

Question 1

Aside from the fear that a standing army may violate basic liberties, why did Great Britain opt against a standing army?

A) Militias were cheaper.
B) A standing army empowered the masses.
C) Militias improved morale.
D) A standing army required much more land.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Of the following, who believed in the ability of the militia to defend their affairs?

A) the British
B) the Spanish
C) the French
D) the Prussians

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following defines the New Model Army?

A) an example of a well trained and officered professional army
B) the Parliamentary Army that lost the English Civil War
C) an example of how a professional army could resist being used as a tool of dictators
D) a force that fought well in static position, but was not suited to mobile warfare

Answer 3

A

Question 4

When did the risks inherent in warfare and expense of professional armed forces place limits on conflict?

A) by the seventeenth century
B) well before the sixteenth century
C) by the eighteenth century
D) by the nineteenth century

Question 5

Which of the following is accurate regarding mercantilist war between European states?

A) Colonies were left on their own militarily, with few if any regular troops from the home country available for defense.
B) Colonies often had large numbers of regular troops from the home country stationed to protect them.
C) Major powers developed larger surface fleets as part of the trading competition.
D) European powers failed to modernize their armies, even when they went to war.

Question 6

Frontier forts suffered from all of the following difficulties EXCEPT

A) the men were often overworked because they were constantly engaged in some sort of activity.
B) they were expensive to construct.
C) discipline was difficult to maintain among the garrison troops assigned to them.
D) they were often ineffective in deterring Indian incursions.

Question 7

Why did the New England militias prove to be more cohesive than that of Virginia?

A) The stronger influence of religion in New England.
B) The Virginians lacked military discipline.
C) The lack of a strong government in New England.
D) The New England militia was monolithic while Virginia was racially diverse.

Question 8

In the North American colonies, the militia was an important institution for all of the following, EXCEPT as

A) a retirement area for veteran soldiers.
B) a manpower source for colonial expeditionary forces.
C) a training area for new troops.
D) a local police force.

Question 9

Which of these common Native American practices in war was notably absent in European warfare?

A) torture of prisoners
B) treatment of women and children
C) declarations of war
D) honor codes

Question 10

Identify the leader of a coordinated assault on the Virginia colonists beginning on March 22, 1622.

A) Opechancanough
B) Nemattanow
C) Powhatan
D) Algonquin

Question 11

Which of these went to war against New England colonists to defend their lands in 1636-1637?

A) Pequot
B) Powhatans
C) Mandans
D) Mohegans

Question 12

How did colonists from Massachusetts and Connecticut break Indian resistance?

A) They massacred women and children in their camp on the Mystic River.
B) They cornered the Indians and attacked them in a full-scale battle.
C) They sought a negotiated peace.
D) They threatened the use of fire and sword with no intention of following through.

Question 13

The Army of the United Colonies consisted of troops from all of the following colonies EXCEPT

A) New Hampshire.
B) Massachusetts.
C) Plymouth.
D) Rhode Island.

Question 14

Colonists began to believe which of the following concerning their military institutions?

A) Expeditionary forces could be used to put down uprisings on the frontier.
B) The militia worked poorly against Native Americans.
C) Cooperation with other colonies was unnecessary for success.
D) Reliance upon standing, professional military forces was necessary for defense.

Question 15

The New England colonists benefited from all of the following in King Philip's War EXCEPT

A) the Wampanoag's unfamiliarity with warfare
B) ample trained recruits from militia units
C) solid governmental control
D) a civil war among the Indians

Question 16

What conditions, both local and international, forced the colonies to develop their own military institutions? How did these institutions contribute to the American military tradition?

Question 17

How did the conditions of militia service in the colonies change over the seventeenth century?

Question 18

What were the strengths and liabilities involved in organizing colonial expeditionary forces? What role did politics play in the process?

Question 19

What were the strengths and liabilities of European weapons in the North American environment?

Question 20

What were the most common motives for which Native Americans went to war?

Question 21

How are the Pequot War and King Philip's War illustrative of New Englanders' experience with Native Americans?

Question 22

How did fighting in Massachusetts between colonists and Indians lead to civil war among the latter?

Question 23

Describe the Great Swamp Fight. How did this differ from accepted European practices of the period?

Question 24

What factors benefited the colonists in defeating Indians in seventeenth-century encounters?

Question 25

What patterns emerged in the early conflicts between Native Americans and Europeans?