Deck 14: The Deepening of the European Crisis: World War 2

Question 1

What was the "Final Solution"? How was it carried out?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

France could not oppose the German occupation of the Rhineland without the support of

A)Britain.
B)the United States.
C)the Soviet Union.
D)the League of Nations.
E)the European Union.

Answer 2

Britain.

Question 3

How did the Battles of Stalingrad and Midway change the course of World War II?

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

What was the Japanese war plan in the Pacific? What were its strengths and weaknesses?

Question 5

Which of these factors played a key role in the outbreak of World War II?

A)Great Britain's aggressive plans on Europe
B)Britain's and France's failure to strongly oppose German provocations
C)Soviet expansionism and interference in Western Europe's affairs
D)The weakness of the United Nations
E)The rampant militarism of the democracies

Question 6

How did the British respond to Hitler's demands with respect to Czechoslovakia? Why did they make the choices they did?

Question 7

What steps did Hitler take between 1933 and 1937 to strengthen Germany's position in Europe? In your opinion, why were these steps so successful?

Question 8

What did "appeasement" mean to the British?

A)Cozying up to Hitler
B)Trying to satisfy the demands of their allies
C)Giving in to the demands of the dissatisfied to make them content
D)Becoming the proxy for American overseas interests
E)Finding a way to mollify Stalin long enough to join Hitler in a war of conquest

Question 9

What was life like on the U.S. home front? How did the U.S. government harness its population and resources to advance the war effort?

Question 10

What prompted the British to offer its support to Poland in the event of war?

A)Hitler's occupation of Hungary
B)Hitler's threat to attack the Soviet Union
C)Hitler's demand of Danzig
D)Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland
E)Hitler's invasion of France

Question 11

How did the Japanese rule their Asian empire? How did they see subject populations and their resources?

Question 12

What role did racial considerations play in the Nazi rule of their empire?

Question 13

Why did the United States decide to use atomic weapons against Japan? In your opinion, was the use of atomic weapons justified?

Question 14

What did Hitler do following the conclusion of the Munich Conference?

A)He had Germany relinquish its claims to Czechoslovakia.
B)He took the rest of Czechoslovakia.
C)He attacked France.
D)He launched an attack on the Soviet Union.
E)He invaded Belgium.

Question 15

Why did Germany have so success in the early phases of the war? Why did the German advance slow and then stall?

Question 16

Hitler's first act of aggression took place in 1936 when the Germans occupied what area?

A)Austria
B)Sudetenland
C)Bavaria
D)Rhineland
E)East Tyrol

Question 17

What German-speaking area did Hitler demand the right to annex into the Third Reich at Munich?

A)Poland
B)Austria
C)Russia
D)Sudetenland
E)Belgium

Question 18

Discuss Japan's relationship with Nazi Germany. How did German actions shape Japan's war plans?

Question 19

In Hitler's view, which group threatened Germany from the east?

A)The Japanese
B)The Chinese
C)The Muslims
D)The Slavs
E)The Mongols

Question 20

Which of these countries was Hitler's first major European ally?

A)Italy
B)France
C)Soviet Union
D)Spain
E)Greece

Question 21

What was the main priority of the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor?

A)Defeat Japan as quickly as possible
B)Recover the Hawaiian Islands
C)Defeat Germany first and then turn its great naval war machine against Japan
D)Remain neutral, while buying time to build up industrial and military supplies
E)Defend "Fortress America" from the expected combined Japanese and German invasion of the United States

Question 22

What best describes Hitler's invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939?

A)He did it despite interference by the Soviet Union.
B)He invaded and occupied Poland after a long protracted struggle that cost Germany dearly.
C)He occupied Poland after the country requested a restructured government.
D)He used Blitzkrieg or "lightning war" tactics and had the active support of Joseph Stalin.
E)He carried it out peacefully, with the reluctant acquiescence of Britain and France.

Question 23

What technological innovation was crucial to British victory in the Battle of Britain?

A)Ballistic missiles
B)Automatic weapons
C)Radar
D)Sonar
E)Jet engines

Question 24

In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to divide

A)Poland.
B)Norway.
C)France.
D)Belgium.
E)the Netherlands.

Question 25

What did Japanese expansionists hope to achieve in the 1930s?

A)They wanted to create trade relationship with Western powers.
B)They wanted to create a military alliance with China.
C)They wanted to create a new power structure in Asia with Japan guiding its neighbors.
D)They wanted to align with the powerful Soviet Union.
E)They wanted create a military and economic alliance with the United States.

Question 26

What U.S. action prompted the Japanese to plan an attack on the naval fleet in the Pacific?

A)The United States cut off sales of much-needed scrap iron and oil.
B)The United States signed a military alliance with China.
C)The United States taxed sales of resources needed for Japan's industrialization.
D)The United States traded more with the Soviet Union than with Japan.
E)The United States traded more with China than with the Soviet Union.

Question 27

What occurred immediately following the fall of Poland in 1939?

A)France and Britain declared war and started an offensive against Germany.
B)France and Britain decided to continue to appease Hitler.
C)France and Britain declared war, but remained relatively inactive militarily.
D)Germany turned on its Russian allies.
E)France was invaded by Franco's Spain.

Question 28

The Battle of ____ was the turning point of the war in North Africa.

A)El Alamein
B)Cairo
C)Morocco
D)Tangiers
E)Libya

Question 29

Erwin Rommel's ____ fought the British in Egypt.

A)southern Luftwaffe
B)SS
C)Afrika Korps
D)Desert Wehrmacht
E)Blitzkriegers

Question 30

What is the historical significance of the Battle of Stalingrad?

A)Stalin's forces suffered their most devastating defeat.
B)Hitler demonstrated the unstoppable force of Blitzkrieg.
C)The German offensive in the Soviet Union was stopped and then reversed.
D)The United States made a significant contribution to the defense of a key Soviet city.
E)Germany and the Soviet Union were unable to defeat one another and quietly withdrew their forces to meet another day.

Question 31

Who was the Nationalist leader of China in the 1930s?

A)Mao Tse-tung
B)Chiang Kai-shek
C)Deng Xiaoping
D)Hu Jintao
E)Sun Yat-sen

Question 32

What event precipitated war between Russia and Germany in 1941?

A)Germany launched a surprise attack on Russia
B)Russia launched a surprise attack on Germany
C)Russian agents assassinated Hitler's nephew
D)Russia refused to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
E)Japan staged a fake attack in eastern Russia, making it look like a German offensive

Question 33

The United States destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers at the Battle of

A)Guadalcanal.
B)Coral Sea.
C)Siam.
D)Midway.
E)Dutch Harbor.

Question 34

Hitler's plan for defeating Britain relied on what?

A)The support of Soviet troops in a massive amphibious invasion
B)Germany's Luftwaffe gaining control of the skies
C)V-2 rockets to destroy British industrial power
D)A giant tunnel, the "chunnel," under the English channel
E)The support of Irish fifth-columnists

Question 35

What did France do following the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk?

A)France soon surrendered and the Vichy government was set up as a German puppet state.
B)France went on the offensive and bogged Germany down in Normandy.
C)France benefited when Italian forces assisted Allied defenses, providing time to regroup.
D)France benefited when the United States declared war on Germany.
E)France became a temporary part of the British Empire.

Question 36

By the ____, the war in Europe had turned against Germany.

A)spring of 1943
B)winter of 1944
C)fall of 1942
D)summer of 1941
E)spring of 1945

Question 37

Why did President Truman and his advisers choose to use the atomic bombs against Japan?

A)They wanted to scare Joseph Stalin.
B)They wanted to see if the bombs would work.
C)They were bloodthirsty for revenge.
D)They were afraid of losing more Americans in an invasion of Japan.
E)They were unaware of how deadly the bombs would truly be.

Question 38

In what country did the Nazis establish a civil administration?

A)Romania
B)Hungary
C)Norway
D)Poland
E)France

Question 39

The United States halted the Japanese advance in the Pacific at the Battle of ____ in May 1942.

A)the Coral Sea
B)Midway
C)Iwo Jima
D)Okinawa
E)the Solomon Islands

Question 40

What steps the Allied powers take to open up a "second front" in Western Europe?

A)They quickly advanced through Italy into France in 1943.
B)They invaded Normandy in June 1944, carrying out the greatest naval invasion in history.
C)They landed on the Iberian peninsula and advanced through southern France.
D)They lured German forces south to Italy and invaded the north German coast.
E)They secretly landed a large invading force in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Question 41

By the summer of 1944, foreign workers accounted for ____ percent of Germany's labor force.

A)70
B)45
C)5
D)20
E)30

Question 42

What was the only country to use women as combatants in World War II?

A)Germany
B)Soviet Union
C)Japan
D)Britain
E)Italy

Question 43

About ____ million civilians were killed during World War II.

A)80
B)20
C)10
D)100
E)40

Question 44

Which ethnic group was relocated to internment camps for the duration of the war in the United States?

A)Japanese and Japanese Americans
B)German and German Americans
C)Italians and Italian Americans
D)Chinese and Chinese Americans
E)Russians and Russian Americans

Question 45

What was the main purpose of civilian bombing campaigns?

A)To reduce the number of people available to participate in war
B)To exact revenge on the people
C)To break the will of a people to resist
D)To prepare enemy territory for resettlement
E)To test new weapons

Question 46

Roughly how many German civilians were killed in Allied bombing raids?

A)500,000
B)25,000
C)1.5 million
D)3 million
E)10.5 million

Question 47

Which nation became the arsenal of the Allies, providing them with much of their war material?

A)Australia
B)Canada
C)Soviet Union
D)Britain
E)United States

Question 48

What happened to Germany following the conclusion of World War II?

A)It was divided into two zones of occupation: east and west.
B)It was separated into twenty small security districts policed by the United Nations.
C)It was divided into four zones of occupation under U.S., British, French, and Russian administration.
D)It was dismembered and replaced by three new smaller states determined by the ethnicity of their inhabitants.
E)It was ruled and controlled by a single Allied government entity.

Question 49

In addition to the Jews, what other group was singled out by the Nazis for extermination?

A)Poles
B)Ukrainians
C)Gypsies
D)Czechs
E)Belgians

Question 50

The United States dropped atomic bombs on which two Japanese cities?

A)Osaka and Kyoto
B)Kyoto and Tokyo
C)Hiroshima and Nagasaki
D)Osaka and Kobe
E)Nagoya and Yokohama

Question 51

What did Hitler's "Final Solution" to the Jewish problem call for?

A)The extermination of all European Jews
B)The forced deportation of the Jews to Madagascar
C)The resettlement of Jews in ghettos, isolated from other Europeans
D)Breeding "Jewish genes" out of the Jewish population itself
E)The expulsion of the Jews from Germany and the rest of Central Europe

Question 52

The ____ took the lead in the bombing of German cities.

A)Americans
B)Soviets
C)British
D)Poles
E)French

Question 53

What was the official reason for dropping atomic bombs on Japan?

A)To punish Japan for Pearl Harbor
B)To test out the new weapon to see how powerful it was
C)To offset a shortage of conventional explosive materials in the United States
D)To save the hundreds of thousands of American lives it was calculated that a U.S.-led invasion of Japan would cost
E)To force the Japanese emperor to give up his claims to divinity and to abdicate

Question 54

Who were the Einsatzgruppen?

A)Special air force pilots responsible for the bombing of Great Britain
B)Special guards assigned to concentration camps
C)A special court assigned the task of trying Jews
D)Special strike forces assigned to mobile killing units of Jews
E)A secret police force assigned the task of guarding Hitler

Question 55

In which area was the Nazi rule of Europe most ruthless?

A)Eastern Europe, because the Slavs were considered racially inferior
B)France, due to the long rivalry between France and Germany
C)Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, due to their close proximity to Germany.
D)Italy, because the Italians were generally considered to be disloyal.
E)Greece and Yugoslavia, because of the strategic nature of the Balkans region.

Question 56

Which nation experienced the greatest loss of life in World War II?

A)Soviet Union
B)Nazi German
C)United States
D)Great Britain
E)France

Question 57

The Allies met at ____ in November 1943 to plan the course of the war.

A)Yalta
B)Tehran
C)Potsdam
D)Casablanca
E)Munich

Question 58

To maintain morale on the home front, ____ refused to convert production from consumer goods to armaments for the first two years of the war.

A)Roosevelt
B)Hitler
C)Stalin
D)Mussolini
E)Churchill

Question 59

By 1942, 2 million ethnic Germans had been settled in

A)the Soviet Union.
B)Poland.
C)Scandinavia.
D)Italy.
E)Spain.

Question 60

How many Jews were killed by Nazi Germany during World War II?

A)Between 9 and 10 million
B)Between 1 and 2 million
C)Between 5 and 6 million
D)Between 12 and 13 million
E)Between 2 and 3 million

Question 61

Marshall Petain of France vowed to fight the Nazis to the bitter end, no matter what the cost.

Question 62

Cooperation between Germany and Japan was based on the assumption that the two nations would eventually attack the Soviet Union.

Question 63

The Allies agreed that the first priority was the defeat of Japan in the Pacific.

Question 64

The Japanese presented themselves as the liberators of Asia from European imperialists.

Question 65

What was the chief argument between Truman and Stalin at Potsdam in July of 1945?

A)Free elections in eastern Europe
B)The numbers of tanks Americans and Russians could keep in Europe
C)What to do with German prisoners of war
D)Whether or not the Soviet Union would be in the United Nations
E)Whether the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan

Question 66

After Germany invaded Poland, the British sent a delegation to negotiate a settlement with Hitler.

Question 67

Hitler looked east for more land for the German people.

Question 68

The German annexation of Austria cost the lives of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Question 69

Roosevelt was unable to convince Stalin to agree to the creation of the United Nations.

Question 70

Hitler made a crucial error when he switched from bombing military targets in Britain to bombing British cities.

Question 71

The Nazis began to implement their plans for the creation of an Aryan racial empire right after the conquest of Poland.