Deck 21: The Second World War

Question 1

In March 1936, Hitler violated the Versailles Treaty and moved troops into the demilitarized
army?

A) Hitler promised to allow the French to keep military bases in the Rhineland if they acquiesced in his moves.
B) The divided French government was unwilling to act without Britain, and the British would not risk . war to keep German troops from occupying German soil.
C) Britain was willing to intervene but the French were not willing.
D) The French would not risk war to keep German troops from occupying German soil.

Answer 1

The divided French government was unwilling to act without Britain, and the British would not risk . war to keep German troops from occupying German soil.

Question 2

The Spanish Civil War was caused by

A) a right-wing victory at the polls that provoked a leftist revolt in the Spanish navy and airforce.
B) an insurrection in Catalonia.
C) the electoral victory of the Popular Front followed by an anti-government insurrection of the Spanish army.
D) a police massacre of left-wing demonstrators in Madrid.

Answer 2

the electoral victory of the Popular Front followed by an anti-government insurrection of the Spanish army.

Question 3

All of the following help explain why Britain and France caved in to Hitler's demands during the 1938 Munich Crisis except

A) they had little confidence in Soviet military strength and its ability to assist Czechoslovakia.
B) British Prime Minister Chamberlain was a coward.
C) the British and French lagged behind Germany in military preparedness.
D) according to the principle of national self-determination, Germans inside Czechoslovakia had the right to join Germany.

Answer 3

British Prime Minister Chamberlain was a coward.

Question 4

One of the reasons for the failure of the negotiations between the U.S.S.R. and Britain to form an anti- German alliance was

A) the Soviets feared they were being maneuvered into bearing the brunt of Nazi attack.
B) the French were hostile to the Soviets and pressured the British to refuse an alliance.
C) the U.S.S.R. wished to annex Hungarian and Bulgarian territory, which the British refused to
D) the Soviets believed that Hitler's next target was France and the Low Countries, and thus did not feel the urgency of an alliance.

Question 5

After France's defeat in 1940, it was

A) divided equally between Germany and Italy.
B) occupied entirely by Germany.
C) occupied in the north by Germany and in the south by a collaborationist French regime.
D) divided between Spain, Italy, and Germany.

Question 6

With Great Britain standing alone against Hitler, the United States offered Great Britain

A) the Lend-Lease policy.
B) protective convoys for its shipping.
C) destroyers.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 7

All of the following countries joined the Axis powers except

A) Romania.
B) Yugoslavia.
C) Hungary.
D) Bulgaria.

Question 8

Allied planning for the invasion of Nazi-occupied France did not include

A) assuring air superiority over the landing beaches.
B) planting false intelligence reports.
C) landing simultaneously at Calais and Normandy.
D) use of a multinational landing force.

Question 9

The demand for the "unconditional surrender" of the Axis powers

A) was unanimously agreed upon by Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt at the Teheran Conference.
B) was adopted at Casablanca at American initiative and without much thought to possible political
C) was insisted upon by Stalin and grudgingly accepted by the Americans and British.
D) was adopted in order to justify reparations payments.

Question 10

At Yalta, the Big Three agreed that

A) the Soviet Union would gain territory at the expense of Poland.
B) Poland would gain territory at the expense of Germany.
C) Germany would pay reparations to the Allies.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 11

The Yalta agreement of February 1945

A) turned over to Stalin all of eastern Europe as his sphere of influence.
B) provided that the countries liberated from the Nazis were to be permitted provisional governments . that were "broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population."
C) provided that international observers monitor the elections in eastern Europe.
D) divided eastern Europe into American, British, and Soviet spheres of influence.

Question 12

As a result of the American decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan,

A) approximately 160,000 people were immediately killed.
B) Japan surrendered.
C) an unprecedented threat to human existence was introduced.
D) all of the choices are correct.

Question 13

Regarding the Far East, which of the following agreements was concluded at Yalta?

A) The Soviets were to share in the occupation of Japan.
B) Russia received control of Manchuria under a UN trusteeship.
C) the Soviets were given Japan's Kurile Islands.
D) Russia was to attack Japan the day Germany surrendered.

Question 14

Evaluate Hitler's foreign policy between 1933 and 1939. Why did he enjoy so many successes?

Question 15

Appeasement was a long-standing and often useful diplomatic device. Why did it fail in the 1930s? At what point should statesmen like Neville Chamberlain have recognized that appeasement was not a viable policy?

Question 16

Outline the grand strategy of the western Allies during World War II. Why did Stalin object to this strategy?

Question 17

What was the military turning point in World War II, the point after which the Allies steadily advanced and the Axis could no longer hope to win?

Question 18

Evaluate the outcome of the agreements reached at the Yalta conference. Was this outcome a consequence of the agreements themselves, or of Stalin's betrayal of the agreements? Were there other, reasonable alternatives available to Churchill and Roosevelt that might have prevented eastern Europe falling under Soviet control?

Question 19

What were the major provisions of the peace settlements made with the Axis powers after World War II?

Question 20

What weaknesses plagued western Europe, the U.S., and Russia as fascist dictators came to power elsewhere during the 1930s?

Question 21

What set off the Spanish Civil War? How did the conflict divide the world?

Question 22

What led to France's fall in 1940? How did the French react to defeat?

Question 23

How and why did the U.S. eventually join the war?

Question 24

Describe the strategy of the final Allied offensive in 1944-1945.

Question 25

What was the "final solution"?

Question 26

How was the United Nations originally organized? What were its responsibilities?

Question 27

In 1942, German forces controlled nearly all of Europe. Where would Hitler's opponents attempt to weaken his hold on the continent?

Question 28

Why did Hitler decide to attack Stalingrad?

Question 29

How did the U.S. supply the Allies in both Europe and the Pacific?

Question 30

How did the resources of Europe's colonies influence the course of the Second World War?

Question 31

Where was the toll of the Holocaust on European Jews greatest outside of Germany and Poland? Compare both total numbers and percentages of the total Jewish population in your answer.