Deck 36: New Conflagrations: World War II and the Cold War

Question 1

The German Blitzkrieg referred to

A) an elaborate series of concrete bunkers built on the experiences of World War II.
B) the Nazi plan for a "final solution" to the "Jewish question."
C) the living space in the east that was necessary for an expanding Germany.
D) a lightning war.
E) the German representative assembly that voted Hitler into power.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The high point of appeasement was

A) the Munich Conference.
B) the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
C) the German invasion of Poland.
D) Germany sending troops into the demilitarized Rhineland.
E) the Washington Conference.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In the wake of the Munich Conference,what leader proposed that the meeting had ensured "peace for our time"?

A) Winston Churchill
B) Adolf Hitler
C) Benito Mussolini
D) Joseph Stalin
E) Neville Chamberlain

Answer 3

E

Question 4

The Japanese goal in the bombing of Pearl Harbor was to

A) take the first step in a planned invasion of the United States.
B) draw the Americans away from fighting the Germans in Europe.
C) permanently add Hawai`i to the Japanese empire.
D) destroy the United States' naval capacity.
E) implement the "final solution."

Question 5

World War II began with

A) the assassination of Francis Ferdinand.
B) Japanese attacks on China.
C) a Russian invasion of Poland.
D) the Nazi invasion of Poland.
E) the German takeover of Czechoslovakia.

Question 6

In 1938,Germany sent troops into what country and forced its leaders to accept the Anschluss?

A) the Rhineland
B) Poland
C) France
D) Austria
E) Czechoslovakia

Question 7

Operation Barbarossa was the

A) British plan for a counter invasion of Germany.
B) German plan for an invasion of France through Belgium.
C) Polish operation designed to steal the secret German code machine.
D) German plan for an invasion of the Soviet Union.
E) American plan for a landing at Normandy in northern France.

Question 8

By September 1937 nationalists and communists had

A) largely lost the capability to fight.
B) begun to fight against each other as fiercely as they fought against the Japanese.
C) agreed on a "united front" policy against the Japanese.
D) reached out to Japanese occupiers with peace offerings.
E) begun to work with the Germans to fight Japan.

Question 9

Hitler's comment "You only have to kick in the door,and the whole rotten structure will come down" was a reference to the planned act of invading which of the following powers?

A) Great Britain
B) France
C) Italy
D) Poland
E) the Soviet Union

Question 10

The height of Japanese atrocity in China was reached at the Rape of

A) Beijing.
B) Shanghai.
C) Hong Kong.
D) Nanjing.
E) Manchukuo.

Question 11

While the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was on the surface a nonaggression treaty,it had secret stipulations that spelled out

A) the division of eastern Europe.
B) a plan for the eventual invasion of the United States.
C) the plans for the "final solution."
D) the division of China into spheres of influence.
E) the expansion of the treaty to include the British.

Question 12

By December 1941,the Soviets gained two new allies in their struggle to defeat the German invasion of their country: a severe winter and

A) China.
B) India.
C) the United States.
D) Finland.
E) Romania.

Question 13

The European part of World War II began with the

A) Soviet invasion of Romania.
B) Polish invasion of Germany.
C) German invasion of Poland.
D) German takeover of Austria.
E) Munich Conference.

Question 14

In the Battle of Britain,the Germans hoped to defeat the English

A) through a massive naval invasion of Scotland.
B) through their secret alliance with the Irish.
C) almost solely through air attacks led by the Luftwaffe.
D) through simultaneous attacks launched from Norway and France.
E) using their vast advantage in submarine warfare.

Question 15

After the fall of France in 1940,the only country standing in opposition to Germany was

A) Britain.
B) the United States.
C) the Soviet Union.
D) Italy.
E) Norway.

Question 16

Adolf Hitler often spoke of the "November crime," which was the

A) election of Franklin Roosevelt.
B) Bolshevik takeover in Russia.
C) signing of an alliance between England and the Soviet Union.
D) Japanese takeover of China.
E) signing of the 1918 armistice.

Question 17

The weakness of the League of Nations was revealed in its inability to take any substantial action in response to the Italian invasion of

A) Czechoslovakia.
B) Ethiopia.
C) Austria.
D) Egypt.
E) Switzerland.

Question 18

The Tripartite Pact brought together

A) England,France,and the Soviet Union.
B) China,England,and the United States.
C) Germany,Italy,and Japan.
D) England,the Soviet Union,and the United States.
E) Germany,Italy,and Austria.

Question 19

"Asia for Asians" was the slogan of the

A) Japanese.
B) Chinese.
C) Indians.
D) Vietnamese.
E) Koreans.

Question 20

Hitler's air force was able to intervene in and use which war to gain valuable military experience?

A) Russian civil war
B) Ethiopian civil war
C) Czechoslovakian civil war
D) Algerian civil war
E) Spanish civil war

Question 21

The "policy of détente" means

A) a reduction in hostility between nations.
B) a gradual increase in hostility between nations,as one power tries to force the other to bend to its will.
C) an economic program between two powers designed to create a trading bloc.
D) a commitment to allowing the international body of the United Nations to lead the world community.
E) a French plan to greatly increase their arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Question 22

In the wake of the Berlin blockade and airlift,the U.S.,British,and French zones of occupation in western Germany were

A) combined into one large American zone of occupation.
B) evacuated by the countries occupying them in order to prevent a wider conflict.
C) combined to form the Federal Republic of Germany.
D) occupied by the Soviet Union after a treaty was signed between the Soviets and the west.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 23

The Japanese finally surrendered in August 1945

A) in response to the surrender of Germany.
B) after the emperor resigned and a republic was established.
C) after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
D) after the American landing at Kyushu.
E) after the Soviet landing at Okinawa.

Question 24

The largest of the Nazi death camps was

A) Treblinka.
B) Kulmhof.
C) Belzec.
D) Majdanek.
E) Auschwitz.

Question 25

The German Democratic Republic

A) was formed out of the British,French,and American zones of occupation.
B) was sealed off from its eastern half by the construction of the Berlin Wall.
C) prospered under American leadership.
D) was really under direct Chinese control.
E) was formed out of the Soviet zone of occupation.

Question 26

In the Battle of Okinawa,the Japanese introduced

A) their own unsuccessful atomic weapon.
B) the V-1 rocket.
C) a new and particularly lethal poison gas.
D) kamikaze pilots.
E) a new,more devastating model of submarine that effectively ended the U.S. policy of island-hopping.

Question 27

The Warsaw Pact

A) was under the leadership of Lech Walesa.
B) was formed in response to NATO.
C) was designed to contain the spread of communism.
D) was a free trade organization designed to foster greater economic expansion in western Europe.
E) monitored the treaty that ended World War II.

Question 28

An active policy of de-Stalinization was begun in 1956 by

A) Dwight Eisenhower.
B) Harry Truman.
C) Marshall Tito.
D) Mikhail Gorbachev.
E) Nikita Khrushchev.

Question 29

The U.S.victory in the Pacific that turned the tide against the Japanese was

A) Pearl Harbor.
B) Guam.
C) Midway.
D) Iwo Jima.
E) Okinawa.

Question 30

The key to the Allied victories in Europe and Asia was

A) industrial capacity and personnel reserves.
B) the creation of the atomic bomb.
C) a better group of generals.
D) the complete agreement on all issues among the British,Soviets,and Americans.
E) convincing Japan to change sides.

Question 31

At the Wannsee Conference,

A) the British agreed to hand over the Sudetenland to Hitler.
B) Germany officially surrendered and signed the peace treaty.
C) the United Nations was founded.
D) the Nazis decided to implement the "final solution."
E) differences among the former Allies helped lead to the cold war.

Question 32

The U.S.secret weapon in the Pacific campaign was

A) an almost three-to-one advantage in aircraft carriers.
B) its alliance with the Soviets.
C) its possession of the atomic bomb from 1941 on.
D) massive military aid from Korea and Vietnam.
E) a code-breaking operation known as Magic.

Question 33

The Normandy invasion

A) failed,and Hitler was not able to conquer Britain.
B) allowed Hitler to surprise the French and enter Paris with relative ease.
C) failed because of stiffening Russian resistance and the onset of winter.
D) freed Italy.
E) overwhelmed the Germans and led to the collapse of the German western front.

Question 34

"Comfort women" were

A) members of the WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service).
B) American women who took over men's work during the course of World War II.
C) women forced into prostitution by the Japanese.
D) German spies sent to infiltrate Allied nations.
E) wealthy women who received the title as an insult because of their refusal to assist in the war effort.

Question 35

During the battle of Okinawa,

A) the people of Okinawa took the opportunity to rebel against their Japanese oppressors.
B) the United States suffered a devastating defeat that almost cost them the entire war.
C) the United States introduced its own variety of the V-1 rocket.
D) the United States was able to seize 90 percent of Vietnam.
E) roughly 110,000 Okinawan civilians died refusing to surrender.

Question 36

Alexander Dubček's "Prague Spring"

A) was a literary account of his years in a Soviet labor camp.
B) promised "socialism with a human face."
C) was a pejorative term for his ruthless crackdown on anticommunists.
D) inspired Czechoslovakia to switch to communism.
E) was a controversial musical piece that expressed the freedom in eastern Europe in the late 1960s.

Question 37

The "Brezhnev doctrine"

A) called for economic and political liberalization in eastern Europe.
B) was a policy of containment to stop the spread of communism.
C) offered billions of dollars in aid to combat the spread of capitalism.
D) reserved the right of the Soviet Union to invade any socialist country that was deemed to be threatened by forces hostile to socialism.
E) forbade changes in the basic communist economic structure but allowed for some local political freedom.

Question 38

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was envisioned by

A) the United States.
B) Germany.
C) China.
D) England.
E) Japan.

Question 39

Japan,Germany,and Italy-known as the Axis powers-squared off against the Allied powers of France,Great Britain,the Soviet Union,China,and the United States.

Question 40

The majority of the "comfort women" in World War II were from China and

A) Japan.
B) Russia.
C) the United States.
D) the Philippines.
E) Korea.

Question 41

In 1961 the communists reinforced their fortification along the border between East and West Germany,following the construction of a wall dividing the city of Berlin.

Question 42

On 7 December 1941,Japanese pilots attacked Pearl Harbor,Hawai`i,with the hope of destroying American naval capacity in the Pacific,which would clear the way for the conquest of southeast Asia for Japan.

Question 43

The Bay of Pigs was an invasion of Cuban nationals trained by the United States; it was a failure,but it weakened Castro's position in Cuba.

Question 44

With the Soviets attacking from the east and with U.S.and British forces attacking Germany from the west,the Allies forced a conditional surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945.

Question 45

Sometime during 1941,the Nazi leadership committed to the "final solution" of the Jewish question,a solution that entailed the attempted murder of every Jew living in Europe.

Question 46

The Korean War began when the communist government of North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950.

Question 47

Discuss the Pacific theater of World War II.What led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor? What were the Japanese goals? What was the height of Japan's power? What were the turning points?

Question 48

When defending the "final solution," Heinrich Himmler said,"We had the moral right,we had the duty towards our people,to destroy this people that wanted to destroy us." What did Himmler mean? Relate this passage to German nationalism.Why did the Germans decide on the "final solution" to the "Jewish question"?

Question 49

Yamaoka Michiko reported that right after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima,a friend told her "Miss Yamaoka,you look like a monster!" How devastating was the atomic bomb? Why did the United States drop the bomb? Did the U.S.have a choice?

Question 50

failed to force the British,French,and Americans to vacate Berlin.

Question 51

On 1 September 1939,the German military invaded Poland; the world was stunned with the German Blitzkrieg and sudden victory.

Question 52

Benito Mussolini promised to bring glory to Italy through acquisition of territories; Ethiopia and Albania were acquired through conquest and annexation.

Question 53

What were the consequences of World War II? How destructive was the war? How was the postwar world shaped by the war?

Question 54

In 1933,Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after it condemned China for its conquest of Manchuria.

Question 55

Compare and contrast the origins of World War I and World War II.Were there any similarities? Discuss the nature and size of the conflict.Why has World War II been called the "good war"?

Question 56

During the early days of the cold war,the USSR and China grew closer because leaders of both nations felt threatened by the United States.

Question 57

German and Japanese war production matched that of the Allied powers during World War II.

Question 58

In March 1938,Hitler forced Anschluss with Austria,justifying the annexation as an attempt to reintegrate all Germans into a single homeland.

Question 59

Examine the early German successes in World War II.Why was Hitler so successful? What was Germany's high point? How close was Hitler to total victory? What were the turning points in World War II? What mistakes did Hitler make? How quickly did the tide turn against Germany? Discuss the end of the war.

Question 60

The combination of the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan in August 1945 and the devastation caused by nuclear bombs persuaded Emperor Hirohito to surrender unconditionally on 15 September 1945.

Question 61

Examine Map 36.2,World War II in Asia and the Pacific.When did Japan have its greatest advantage? Why was it necessary to attack the United States? What battles were most important in the Pacific theater of the war?

Question 62

What was the "final solution"? How did it represent Hitler's philosophy?

Question 63

Discuss the Rape of Nanjing.What were the wartime goals of the Japanese? Why are these atrocities less well known than those perpetrated by the Germans in Europe?

Question 64

Discuss the origins of the cold war.What were the fundamental differences between the Soviet Union and the United States? What role did ideology play in the cold war? Examine the contrasting ideologies of the superpowers.

Question 65

Look at the map of occupied Germany on page 877.Why was Germany divided and occupied? What problems did this division cause? What would be the significance of the Berlin Wall and Berlin airlift?

Question 66

Examine the origins of the cold war.What were the essential problems? What events and leaders were crucial in this movement?

Question 67

Note the specific steps taken by Italy and Germany in the 1930s that were in direct violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Question 68

One of the old complaints about the origins of World War II is that if only the British and French hadn't "appeased" Hitler,then the whole conflict could have been avoided.Is this theory justified? Could the war have been avoided?

Question 69

Describe the strategy of the Blitzkrieg.How were the Germans able to overwhelm continental Europe so quickly?

Question 70

What steps did the United States take to support the Allies,both in Asia and in Europe,before Pearl Harbor?

Question 71

Examine the situations in Korea and Cuba in relation to the cold war competition between the Soviet Union and the United States.Who,if anyone,was victorious in these confrontations?

Question 72

Examine Map 36.1,High tide of Axis expansion in Europe and north Africa,1942-1943.How had the Germans reached this point? How close was Hitler to complete victory at this point? What mistakes would he make?

Question 73

Why didn't Britain and France object when Hitler and Mussolini violated the peace treaty? What were the consequences of their policy of appeasement?

Question 74

Compare the occupation policies of Germany and Japan during the war.

Question 75

Why were the numerically superior Chinese so easily defeated by the Japanese? Why did the Chinese resistance efforts fail?

Question 76

What role did the Soviet Union play in the course of World War II and the origins of the cold war? Why did the Soviet-American partnership collapse so quickly? What were the main Soviet goals at the end of World War II?

Question 77

Examine the role of women in World War II.In what ways did women on the Allied side contribute to the war effort? Discuss the fate of "comfort women."

Question 78

What was the Japanese purpose in attacking the United States? What was their long-range plan?

Question 79

Read the section from Yamaoka Michiko's account of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (see Textbook: Sources from the Past: A Hiroshima Maiden's Tale).What were the reasons behind the decision to drop the bomb? Were there other options? What role would the existence of the atomic bomb play in the cold war?

Question 80

What were the east Asian roots of World War II? What were Japan's goals? How successful would Japan be in achieving these goals? What were the roots of the antagonism between Japan and the United States?