Deck 24: Into the Fire Again: World War II, 1939-1945

Question 1

The conflicts that led to World War II began outside of Europe with

A) The Japanese invasion of Manchuria
B) The Chinese invasion of Japan
C) The Korean War
D) The Egyptian invasion of Israel

Answer 1

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria

Question 2

The Civil War in Spain

A) Ended with a victory for the Spanish Republic
B) Became an international war when Hitler and Mussolini sent men and equipment to aid Franco
C) Was fought at the same time as the American Civil War
D) All of these options are correct

Answer 2

Became an international war when Hitler and Mussolini sent men and equipment to aid Franco

Question 3

Italy invaded which African nation in 1935?

A) Algeria
B) South Africa
C) Egypt
D) Ethiopia

Answer 3

Ethiopia

Question 4

Which group won the 1936 election in Spain, spurring a civil war?

A) Unified Front
B) Popular Front
C) The Red Shirts
D) Republicans

Question 5

Which Spanish artist painted Guernica, depicting the horrors of the Spanish Civil War?

A) Rembrandt
B) Monet
C) Picasso
D) Dali

Question 6

When Hitler moved armed forces into the Rhineland in 1936, he violated which treaty that had ended World War I?

A) Treaty of Paris
B) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
C) Treaty of Ghent
D) Treaty of Versailles

Question 7

Between 1936 and 1939 Hitler invaded or annexed all of the following areas except

A) The Rhineland
B) Manchuria
C) Austria
D) Czechoslovakia

Question 8

The European country that was partially dismembered at the Munich conference was

A) Czechoslovakia
B) Austria
C) Poland
D) Hungary

Question 9

Fear of another great war led Britain and France in 1938

A) To renew the Triple Entente
B) To appease Hitler at Munich, giving him part of Czechoslovakia
C) To forge an effective alliance with the United States directed at Germany
D) To declare that they would be neutral in any future war

Question 10

World War II started on September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of

A) Austria
B) Czechoslovakia
C) Poland
D) Hungary

Question 11

The term blitzkrieg developed during World War II because

A) New weapons were developed that cast fatal bolts of lightning at enemy troops
B) Strategic bombing was directed at electric power plants
C) Germany developed tactics of air strikes and rapid penetration of opponents' lines with tanks
D) All of these options are correct

Question 12

France, in World War II,

A) Was overwhelmed by German forces early in the war, leaving Britain isolated
B) Invaded Germany and occupied the Rhineland
C) Proclaimed neutrality at the beginning of the war
D) Easily repulsed Hitler's attacks

Question 13

World War II took a decisive turn in June 1941 when Hitler invaded

A) Romania
B) Yugoslavia
C) The Soviet Union
D) France

Question 14

The text attributes Japan's military behavior in Asia especially

A) To a response to attacks by the United States
B) To the domination of the Japanese government by ultranationalists and the military
C) To Japanese response to Chinese aggression
D) To a response to European attempts to reduce Japan to colonial status

Question 15

The most important target of Hitler's racist program was the

A) Jews
B) French
C) Dutch
D) Slavs

Question 16

During World War II, Auschwitz became famous as

A) Hitler's headquarters for planning all of his major invasions
B) The center for German research on atomic weapons
C) The site a major battle that was the turning point of the war
D) The largest of the famous extermination camps

Question 17

Josip Broz (Tito)

A) Was a Hungarian leader who collaborated with Hitler
B) After World War II became a pro-Stalinist dictator in Romania
C) Led the breakup of Yugoslavia into separate republics in 1991
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 18

On the home front in World War II

A) The United States increased its military production by 400% in two years
B) The Soviet Union (USSR) dismantled factories threatened by the German invasion and rebuilt them elsewhere
C) Germany relied on spoils from its conquests and labor conscripted there, not turning to full war mobilization until 1942
D) All of these options are correct

Question 19

Probably the greatest battle of World War II, leading to the total destruction of the German army engaged there, took place at

A) Stalingrad
B) The Marne
C) Pearl Harbor
D) Verdun

Question 20

The famous D-Day invasion took place at

A) Antwerp
B) Normandy
C) El Alamein
D) Sicily

Question 21

The Japanese city destroyed by the first atomic bomb was

A) Tokyo
B) Hong Kong
C) Hiroshima
D) Leyte

Question 22

Japan invaded China only after Hitler launched World War II in Europe.

Question 23

Italy invaded Egypt in 1935.

Question 24

The election of the Popular Front triggered the Spanish Civil War.

Question 25

Fighters from many foreign nations fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Question 26

The Spanish Civil War led to a long dictatorship under Francisco Franco.

Question 27

Hitler's commitment of forces into the Rhineland in 1936 violated the Treaty of Versailles.

Question 28

The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, opposed the appeasement of Hitler at Munich.

Question 29

Just prior to his invasion of Poland, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union.

Question 30

Stalin ordered an attack on Germany in June 1941.

Question 31

The German attack on the Soviet Union was dubbed Operation Overlord.

Question 32

Japan attacked the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into WWII.

Question 33

Japan claimed to be liberating Asia from the imperial West during WWII.

Question 34

By January 1, 1942, it seemed that Japan and Germany were winning World War II.

Question 35

The largest of the German death camps was Auschwitz.

Question 36

There is good evidence that a considerable number of Germans knew what was going on in the death camps.

Question 37

In Yugoslavia, Tito not only fought the Germans, but also other Yugoslav resistance movements.

Question 38

Germany came very close to winning World War II because of their crushing defeat of the Soviet Union at Stalingrad.

Question 39

The major British and American assault on Germany in World War II really began with the invasion of Norway in 1942.

Question 40

On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed in Belgium to begin the liberation of Europe.

Question 41

The Soviet Union gained significant territory after WWII.

Question 42

The first city to be destroyed by an atomic bomb was Hiroshima.

Question 43

Japan began the war in the Pacific with an invasion of ________ in 1931.

Question 44

Italy invaded __________ in 1935.

Question 45

Launching a successful rebellion against a democratically elected Spanish government was________.

Question 46

The ____________, made up of radicals, socialists and communists won election in Spain in 1936.

Question 47

The painting Guernica, by __________, depicted the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

Question 48

The international conference famous for its appeasement of Hitler was held at ________.

Question 49

Just before beginning World War II, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with _______ of the Soviet Union.

Question 50

German tactics in the early years of World War II are known by the term ________.

Question 51

The Battle of _________ lasted only five weeks in 1940.

Question 52

Operation Barbarossa in 1941 was the name given to Germany's invasion of ________.

Question 53

Japan pushed the United States into World War II with a surprise attack on ________.

Question 54

The major target of the Nazi racial extermination campaign was ________.

Question 55

Josip Broz or Tito, was first a leader of resistance against Germany in ________ and later the head of the communist state there.

Question 56

The largest battle in World War II, a major German defeat, took place at ________.

Question 57

The two cities of Japan on which atomic bombs were dropped were Hiroshima and ________.

Question 58

Japanese pilots volunteered to fly ________ missions where they dive-bombed their planes into allied ships.

Question 59

The final conference among the allies in WWII occurred at ________.

Question 60

Describe the major turning points in World War II, explaining why these battles were so critical.

Question 61

Can it be argued that the principal causes of World War II stemmed from World War I and the Great Depression? Explain.

Question 62

Compare and contrast the dictatorships of Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler. What were the major similarities and what were the major differences?

Question 63

The nineteenth century seemed to be moving slowly, hesitatingly towards greater democracy. Why were governments that developed in the twentieth century far more repressive than the authoritarian governments of the nineteenth?

Question 64

Why should World War II have started with major rapid victories by Germany and Japan and have ended with the crushing defeat of both countries?