Deck 25: Superpower Struggles and Global Transformations: The Cold War,1945-1980s

Question 1

The era 1945-1980 in European history can be described as the era of

A) Imperialism
B) Global disarmament
C) The Cold War
D) Enlightenment

Answer 1

The Cold War

Question 2

Immediately after World War II

A) The Soviet Union installed Communist governments in Eastern Europe
B) The United States installed capitalist governments in Eastern Europe
C) The Soviet Union annexed all former German colonies in Africa and Asia
D) The United States annexed all former German colonies in Asia and Africa

Answer 2

The Soviet Union installed Communist governments in Eastern Europe

Question 3

The American idea for massive economic aid to Europe after World War II was called

A) The Marshall Plan
B) The Triple Alliance
C) NATO
D) The Triple Entente

Answer 3

The Marshall Plan

Question 4

The Cold War spread because

A) Of the ideological clash between Capitalism and Communism
B) Of major disagreements between the United States and the Soviet union over the economic and political fate of Germany
C) Of the development of two important alliances, NATO and the Warsaw Pact
D) All of these options are correct

Question 5

In Asia the Cold war

A) Led to a Japanese economic collapse
B) Led to the collapse of Communist China
C) Led to the Korean War and the Vietnam War
D) All of these options are correct

Question 6

The Vietnam War began as a conflict opposing the colonial rule of

A) Britain
B) France
C) The Netherlands
D) The United States

Question 7

The American action during the Cold War that led to the greatest internal dissent in the United States and criticism of the United States in other countries was

A) The Korean War
B) The Marshall Plan
C) The Vietnam War
D) The Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 8

Under the rule of Mao Zedong, Communist China did all of the following except

A) Undertake economic decentralization and free-market activities
B) Became embroiled in a border dispute with the Soviet Union
C) Attempt a program of forced industrialization called the "Great Leap Forward."
D) Attempt to regenerate revolutionary spirit with the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution."

Question 9

The Cold War in Latin America

A) Revolved especially around the Marxist government of Castro's Cuba
B) Was virtually nonexistent
C) Involved only countries in South America
D) Led to a Communist takeover of the Panama Canal

Question 10

Stalin's plans for Eastern Europe after World War II included

A) Cooperation with the West and with the Marshall Plan
B) Imposition not only of Soviet-style governments but also of Soviet economic planning and agricultural collectivization
C) Opening of Eastern Europe to capitalist development
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 11

The real successor of Stalin, after two years of collective rule, was

A) Gorbachev
B) Rasputin
C) Khrushchev
D) Yeltsin

Question 12

As the real successor of Stalin, Khrushchev

A) Denounced Stalin's repression
B) Permitted authors to publish works somewhat critical of the Soviet regime
C) Brutally suppressed a revolt in Hungary, hanging its leader
D) All of these options are correct

Question 13

The Berlin Wall

A) Was built by the United States to keep Russian troops out of West Berlin
B) Was built by the Soviet Union and East Germany to prevent East Germans from leaving for the west
C) Was built by Hitler as part of his racist policies
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 14

The reforms in Communist Czechoslovakia in 1968

A) Were crushed by massive Soviet intervention
B) Were initiated by the Soviet Union
C) Led to the immediate breakup of the Soviet Union
D) Were actively promoted by the United States

Question 15

Many post-World War II Western European countries

A) Nationalized banks, insurance companies and electrical utilities, placing them under the direction of government bureaucrats
B) Developed welfare states with health care benefits, family allowances and government-run nursery schools
C) Undertook government-sponsored economic planning
D) All of these options are correct

Question 16

The post World War II organization that united the economies of most Western European countries was

A) NATO
B) The Triple Alliance
C) The Common Market
D) The League of Nations

Question 17

Within Soviet Eastern Europe

A) The Communist Party developed a privileged elite with special access to a higher standard of living
B) Women were more likely to be engaged in heavy manual labor than their western counterparts
C) The countries were unable to meet the demands of their citizens for a higher standard of living and more individual freedoms
D) All of these options are correct

Question 18

Western Europe between 1955 and 1980

A) Failed to keep pace with the economic development of Eastern Europe
B) Saw unprecedented levels of prosperity and abundant consumer goods
C) After a struggle, regained most of the European colonies
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 19

After World War II, Asia and Africa

A) Became totally subject to the United States, which replaced European colonial powers
B) Engaged in their own great wars, which led to immense destruction on both continents
C) Obtained their independence from European colonial powers
D) Saw Communist regimes established in the great majority of Asian and African countries

Question 20

Which of the following areas did not have a history of serious colonial conflicts after World War II?

A) Southeast Asia
B) South America
C) Africa
D) The Middle East

Question 21

The man who developed the idea of passive resistance in order to achieve Indian independence from Britain was

A) Gandhi
B) Mao Zedong
C) Ho Chi Minh
D) Saddam Hussein

Question 22

After independence from Britain, India

A) Became a dictatorship under Gandhi
B) Had serious strife with Pakistan, especially over Kashmir
C) Became a Communist state
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 23

Which of the following was not a major colonial power in Southeast Asia?

A) Great Britain
B) France
C) Spain
D) The Netherlands

Question 24

The state of Israel

A) Was a product of a Jewish nationalist movement, Zionism
B) Was established in Central Africa
C) Was welcomed by its Arab neighbors
D) Was not supported by any European country

Question 25

French control of Algeria

A) Was supported by European settlers in Algeria and by the French military, stung by its defeat in Vietnam
B) Was opposed by virtually the entire Islamic population of Algeria
C) Was ended by Charles de Gaulle after he returned to power in France
D) All of these options are correct

Question 26

The first black president of South Africa was

A) Mohandas Gandhi
B) Martin Luther King
C) Mao Zedong
D) Nelson Mandela

Question 27

For much of the period 1948 to 1990, South Africa was characterized by

A) A very rigid racial segregation called apartheid
B) A very strong, anti-Israel, Arab nationalism
C) By an open, multiracial society while the United States sill practiced racial segregation
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 28

It can be said of decolonization that

A) In many countries, especially in Africa, it led to instability and rule by military dictators
B) The illogical boundaries left by colonial powers helped generate many ethnic conflicts in Asia and Africa
C) Most of the new countries remained poor, trying to sell raw materials to the industrialized countries
D) All of these options are correct

Question 29

A popular philosophy after World War II, exemplified by Jean-Paul Sartre, was

A) Altruism
B) Existentialism
C) Scholasticism
D) Libertarianism

Question 30

The student movements of the 1960s and 1970s

A) Supported the United States in the Vietnam War
B) Overthrew de Gaulle in France
C) Did not criticize the fundamentals of western society
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 31

A very important feminist, author of The Second Sex, was

A) Mary Wollstonecraft
B) Simone de Beauvoir
C) Emmeline Pankhurst
D) Margaret Thatcher

Question 32

Simone de Beauvoir

A) Was the author of The Second Sex
B) In spite of her later feminism, spent most of her intellectual life as a advocate of socialism
C) Was famous for her long-term relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre
D) All of these options are correct

Question 33

The major cause of the "stagflation" of the 1970s-slow economic growth accompanied by inflation- was

A) The major increase in the price of oil engineered by OPEC
B) Excessive government spending on social welfare programs
C) Excessive government taxation
D) All of these options are correct

Question 34

The oil crisis and "stagflation" of the 1970s led to

A) Major political gains by Communist parties in western Europe
B) A growing discrimination in Europe against immigrants, especially those from outside of Europe
C) The dissolution of the Common Market
D) All of these options are correct

Question 35

During the 1970s and 1980s the political climate in many European countries shifted leftward. An exception was

A) West Germany
B) France
C) Britain
D) Spain

Question 36

The first female Prime Minister of Britain was

A) Emmeline Pankhurst
B) Margaret Thatcher
C) Mary Wollstonecraft
D) Jane Austen

Question 37

The part of Europe that probably suffered the most from domestic terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s was

A) Norway
B) Northern Ireland
C) Belgium
D) Switzerland

Question 38

The term "postindustrial society" meant, in a post-World War II context,

A) Traditional manufacturing became less important in the economies of the major countries
B) There was a major shift of population from urban to farm life
C) The number of inventions began to decline, rapidly slowing industrial progress
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 39

Society in recent or "postindustrial" Europe, saw

A) A major increase of the agricultural population
B) A major increase in the birth rate immediately after World War II, followed by an equally major decline
C) Major housing problems and a lack of household appliances
D) Fewer women entering the work force

Question 40

Pick out the incorrect statement about family changes between 1960 and 1980.

A) Greater employment of women led to greater gender equality
B) Children spent much more time in school
C) The number of children in the families declined
D) The divorce rate declined

Question 41

The "Sexual Revolution" of postindustrial society in Europe

A) Led to a major increase in birth rates
B) Was largely ignored by religious authorities
C) Was mostly confined to the middle-aged rather than to the youth
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 42

Which of the following was not developed by "big science" during or after World War II?

A) The structure of DNA
B) The Moon landings
C) Radio
D) The personal computer

Question 43

Twentieth century medicine has accomplished all of the following except

A) The eradication of a major disease, smallpox
B) The development of successful organ replacement procedures
C) The discovery of a cure for cancer
D) The development of expensive new machines such as CAT scanners for improved diagnosis of diseases

Question 44

The Berlin blockade of 1948-1949 was initiated by the United States.

Question 45

American military aid to countries threatened by Communist takeovers was called the Marshall Plan.

Question 46

By 1955, two opposing military alliances, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, had been formed in Europe.

Question 47

The Korean War began with an invasion of Korea by the Soviet Union.

Question 48

Through his "Great Leap Forward" and "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," Mao Zedong tried to communize China more thoroughly than the Soviet Union had ever attempted to do.

Question 49

The détente demonstrated in the Helsinki accords lasted well into the 1980s.

Question 50

Khrushchev erected the Berlin Wall not to keep out invaders but to keep East Germans from leaving.

Question 51

In 1964 Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as the supreme Soviet leader.

Question 52

Post-World War II Western European countries rejected government economic planning.

Question 53

Both the United States and the Soviet Union, though for different reasons, favored the end of European colonial empires after 1945.

Question 54

Gandhi was assassinated in part because he refused to quell the Hindu-Muslim violence in India.

Question 55

Great Britain was able to regain control of the Suez Canal in 1956 because of Israel's defeat of Egypt.

Question 56

The newly independent African countries were generally democratic in both form and spirit.

Question 57

During the era of 1940-1990, South Africa was notorious for its very rigid racial segregation.

Question 58

The existential world was an amoral, purposeless world where individuals had to take personal responsibility for their actions.

Question 59

France was unusual in the 1960s for its lack of student protests.

Question 60

Simone de Beauvoir's book The Second Sex, has been considered the twentieth century's pivotal book about the conditions of women.

Question 61

The oil crisis of the 1970s had its origins in a Southeast Asian War.

Question 62

Margaret Thatcher, as Prime Minister of Britain, followed a leftward, socialist economic policy.

Question 63

"Postindustrial society" meant that the service sectors of the economies of the United States and many western European states were becoming more important than the manufacturing sector.

Question 64

By the 1980s, in the major industrial countries, the agricultural population was about ten percent of the total-almost the reverse of what usually prevailed throughout the history of most civilizations.

Question 65

Post-1945 science was usually carried out by individuals working in isolation.

Question 66

The voyages to the moon demonstrated how powerful the combination of government, science and nationalism could be.

Question 67

The conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union after 1945 is called the ________.

Question 68

The policy of massive American aid to European countries after 1945 is called the _______.

Question 69

The post-1945 European military alliance promoted by the United States was the _______.

Question 70

The communist leader who won a civil war in China between 1945 and 1949 was ________.

Question 71

In 1950, a shooting war between a communist regime and the United States broke out in ________.

Question 72

An Asian country divided in two but later united under Communist rule was ________.

Question 73

The easing of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States in the middle 1970s is called________.

Question 74

The real successor to Stalin in the Soviet Union was ________.

Question 75

In 1961, in order to prevent East Germans from leaving the country, Khrushchev ordered the erection of the ________.

Question 76

Replacing Khrushchev in 1964 as the Soviet leader was ________.

Question 77

The social programs adopted by many western European countries after 1945 are often called the________.

Question 78

The organization established in the late 1950s that eliminated tariff barriers between members and started to promote European economic integration was the ________.

Question 79

Leading the movement for colonial independence in India was ________.

Question 80

The state founded in 1948 in Palestine is ________.