Deck 24: The Second World War, 1933-1945

Question 1

The agreements at the Yalta Conference included Stalin's pledge to enter the war against Japan three months after Germany's defeat.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The United States and Britain adopted a Pacific First strategy during World War II in response to Japanese attacks in the Pacific.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

By the end of 1942, U.S.war production exceeded the combined output of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Heading into the Second World War, _______ and _____ embraced fascism.

A)Japan; England
B)Germany; Italy
C)Turkey; Russia
D)Russia; England
E)Germany; Poland

Question 5

Which form of government, the opposite of democracy, involves a dictator who controls all aspects of the nation's life?

A)Capitalism
B)Republic
C)Communism
D)Fascism
E)Monarchy

Question 6

Despite the length and duration of World War II, total civilian and military deaths miraculously remained fewer than 1 million.

Question 7

The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Question 8

In May 1945, Germany surrendered in exchange for assurances that Hitler would not be tried as a war criminal.

Question 9

With millions of men being drafted into the service, women took their places in the workforce.

Question 10

A radical form of totalitarian government in which a dictator uses propaganda to seize control of all aspects of national life is known as fascism.

Question 11

The Lend-Lease Bill allowed the president to lend or lease military equipment to any country deemed vital to the defense of the United States.

Question 12

The Atlantic Charter was an agreement among the Allied powers deciding how to divide up Germany after the war was over.

Question 13

President Roosevelt did not want to sign the neutrality laws keeping the United States out of World War II.

Question 14

Albert Einstein's warning that the Germans were attempting to produce atomic bombs helped inspire the creation of the Manhattan Project even before the United States entered the war.

Question 15

During the Second World War, citizens of __________ and __________ were led to believe they were members of a race superior to anyone else.

A)Japan; Germany
B)Germany; Italy
C)England; Russia
D)France; Germany
E)Poland; Yugoslavia

Question 16

Native Americans served as "code talkers" for the U.S.military during World War II.

Question 17

"D-day" refers to the cross-channel Allied amphibious invasion of Nazi-occupied France.

Question 18

The excellence of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II helped lead to the desegregation of the armed forces after the war.

Question 19

During World War II, presidential authority expanded significantly.

Question 20

At Casablanca, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed that the terms for ending the war must include the "unconditional surrender" of all enemies.

Question 21

In the 1940 presidential election, Roosevelt promoted ____________, whereas his opponent favored _________.

A)isolationism; intervention
B)intervention; isolationism
C)preparedness; isolationism
D)isolationism; preparedness
E)warmongering; preparedness

Question 22

In response to Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, the United States passed the

A)Anti-Immigration law.
B)Munich Pact.
C)Neutrality Acts.
D)Destroyers for Bases Agreement.
E)Nye Committee's findings.

Question 23

In 1939, Roosevelt had Congress modify the Neutrality Acts to allow

A)Allied nations to receive credit to buy American war material.
B)France and England to send their ships to get American goods.
C)Americans to volunteer to fight the Axis for other nations.
D)Japan to be barred from trading with the United States.
E)China to receive weaponry for free.

Question 24

To assist Great Britain and their need for supplies, Roosevelt secured an agreement to give Great Britain a number of old U.S.warships in exchange for

A)the ability to build military bases on British island colonies in the Caribbean.
B)increased British patrol of the areas infested with German U-boats.
C)an increase in British efforts to stop Hitler's massacre of the Jews in Germany.
D)millions of dollars to help boost the U.S.economy.
E)their promise to aid the U.S.in defeating the Japanese after the fall of Hitler.

Question 25

Which of the following did Hitler's Nazi party consider a threat and a target?

A)Aryans
B)Germans
C)Communists
D)Capitalists
E)Fascists

Question 26

During the Spanish Civil War, ________ provided troops to aid the insurgents.

A)Poland
B)England
C)France
D)Spain
E)Germany

Question 27

At the start of World War II, citizens of the United States

A)demanded the United States declare war on England.
B)demanded the United States declare war on Germany.
C)formed associations to send money and necessary items to England.
D)maintained their isolationist stance.
E)pushed for a peace treaty between Germany and England.

Question 28

The Axis Alliance was made up of

A)Great Britain, France, and Russia.
B)Japan, Italy, and Germany.
C)Japan, Germany, and Russia.
D)Great Britain, France, and China.
E)Germany, Italy, and Russia.

Question 29

The Anschluss refers to when Germany took over

A)Belgium.
B)Great Britain.
C)Poland.
D)Austria.
E)Czechoslovakia.

Question 30

The Atlantic Charter in 1941 was a joint statement of "common principles" between

A)Hitler and Hirohito.
B)Roosevelt and Churchill.
C)Roosevelt and Chamberlain.
D)Hitler and Mussolini.
E)Stalin and Mussolini.

Question 31

World War II started when

A)the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
B)the Germans invaded Poland.
C)England declared war on Germany after they invaded France.
D)France was defeated by Germany.
E)the United States declared war on Japan.

Question 32

What was the result of the Battle of Britain in 1940?

A)Although German air strikes killed tens of thousands of British civilians, the Royal Air Force used new radar technology to win the battle.
B)Winston Churchill's approval ratings as prime minister plummeted, as Great Britain grew convinced that they would lose the war.
C)The British gave up control of a number of their ports to the Germans, as the Germans had launched a primarily naval attack.
D)The British managed to avoid major civilian casualties and experienced little damage to their major cities.
E)Thanks to their Luftwaffe air force, the German military won their first victory after a series of major losses.

Question 33

The __________ allowed the president to provide military aid to any nation that he deemed needed it.

A)Cash Carry Bill
B)Munich Pact
C)Lend-Lease Bill
D)War Powers Act
E)Tripartite Pact

Question 34

In 1937, President Roosevelt announced that if a warring nation were to try and purchase military goods from the United States, they should expect to

A)no longer trade with the United States.
B)receive the support of U.S.troops as well.
C)pay cash for the items, and find a way to carry it back to their nation.
D)run into problems with German submarines.
E)pay a sizeable down payment and a war tax, since the United States was neutral.

Question 35

What was the treaty that granted Hitler the Sudeten territory in Czechoslovakia in an attempt to "appease" him and secure "peace for our time"?

A)The Versailles Treaty
B)Destroyers for Bases Agreement
C)The Munich Pact
D)The Atlantic Charter
E)The German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact

Question 36

What occurred when Japan stated that they were taking control of French Indochina in 1941?

A)Roosevelt froze all Japanese financial assets in the United States and restricted oil exports.
B)The Chinese military supported the Japanese troops, giving them access to railroads.
C)The French and U.S.militaries started conducting raids in Hawaii.
D)The U.S.military started firebombing Tokyo, Japan.
E)Roosevelt formally declared war on Japan and invaded French Indochina.

Question 37

What was the result of the invasion of Manchuria by Japanese troops in the 1930s?

A)They sought to seize control of the railroad in Manchuria into Russia but were immediately thwarted by Russian forces.
B)They took advantage of China's weakness during a civil war by proclaiming Manchuria's independence.
C)They used Manchuria as a staging ground to invade Russia, thereby marking the beginning of World War II.
D)They took control of this unclaimed land because they saw it as an opportunity to have a warm water port on the mainland.
E)They intended to prevent the Chinese from using the port there as a launch point to invade Japan but were thwarted by Chinese forces.

Question 38

During the 1930s, China was weakened by civil war between __________ and _________

A)Mao Zedong; Chiang Kai-shek
B)Ho Chi Minh; Vo Nhu Giap
C)Yamamoto; Hirohito
D)Empress Dowager; the Boxers
E)Hikaru Sulu; Kim Jong-Il

Question 39

What decision did Roosevelt make in September 1940 that even Eleanor Roosevelt disagreed with?

A)He declared war on Germany.
B)He escorted British ships across the Atlantic.
C)He allowed American banks to loan money to the Allies.
D)He called for peacetime conscription.
E)He ended segregation in the military.

Question 40

Which of the following did Roosevelt do in 1940?

A)He called for a military draft and an increase in the U.S.forces so that if war came, America would be prepared.
B)He met with Hitler and personally tried to negotiate a cease-fire with Germany before the war got too bloody.
C)He prevented atomic weapons research in the United States because of limited resources and the belief that Germans had not tried to make atomic bombs.
D)He declared war on Poland, invading an important demilitarized zone there and angering Hitler.
E)He convinced Stalin to switch sides and join the Allies by promising him part of northern and eastern Europe at the end of the war.

Question 41

Which of the following statements accurately describes the experiences of American women during World War II?

A)Women were allowed to join the military, but very few did because the government largely discouraged it.
B)Women still were not allowed to join the military but found other ways to contribute, including as nurses and factory workers.
C)The government launched a promotional campaign to recruit women to the military and established women's branches of the army and navy.
D)Women met little opposition by men when they took on traditionally male jobs, such as in manufacturing.
E)The wartime requirement that women stay home and take care of children marked a major step backward, delaying the emergence of the feminist movement.

Question 42

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress passed the _____________, which gave the president the ability to reorganize the government to make it more effective during war.

A)Lend-Lease Bill
B)War Powers Act
C)Neutrality Act
D)Munich Pact
E)Tripartite Pact

Question 43

At the Battle of __________, the threat of Japan seizing Australia was ended.

A)the Java Sea
B)Midway
C)the Coral Sea
D)Tarawa
E)Pearl Harbor

Question 44

The Japanese Army's first defeat during World War II occurred at the Battle of

A)Midway.
B)Coral Sea.
C)Guadalcanal.
D)New Guinea.
E)Australia.

Question 45

What did American soldiers discover upon reaching the interior of Germany in 1945?

A)The Soviet decision at the end of the war to switch sides and support the Axis Powers
B)Concentration camps where the Nazis systematically murdered millions of Jews and so-called undesirables
C)Hitler's escape to the Soviet Union, where he would live out the remaining years of his life
D)The Nazi victory over the Soviet troops that had infiltrated and attacked Berlin
E)The continuation of the Nazi Reich following Hitler's suicide

Question 46

Which of the following statements correctly characterizes the lives of U.S.workers during World War II?

A)Most workers experienced a better life than during the Great Depression.
B)Unemployment rates soared because of the focus on the military.
C)Workers were hardest hit when the United States ran out of food at the end of the war.
D)The number of federal workers decreased.
E)Few women were allowed to join the work force.

Question 47

Why was the attack on Pearl Harbor significant?

A)It demonstrated the Japanese naval commander's belief that the only way Japan could defeat the United States was through a long war.
B)It showed that the United States was too quick to lift embargoes on Japan and other warring nations.
C)It was a surprise attack that immediately caused the United States to enter the war and brought the isolationist movement to an abrupt end.
D)It was a highly successful victory for the Japanese militarily due to their destruction of U.S.aircraft carriers.
E)It caused the war henceforth to become more localized in the Pacific and less of a global conflict.

Question 48

Which of the following was agreed to at the Yalta conference?

A)Hitler would formally surrender, and Germany would be divided in half.
B)Berlin, the German capital, would remain completely under Western European control.
C)The Allied powers would drop atomic bombs on Japan.
D)The Soviets would have a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.
E)The Soviets were to stay out of the Pacific theater of the war.

Question 49

The process employed in the Pacific during World War II in which an island under occupation by the Japanese was ignored in favor of an island closer to the Japanese homeland was called

A)leapfrogging.
B)skipping.
C)hopscotch.
D)daisy chain.
E)aggressive diplomacy.

Question 50

What did Executive Order 9066 do?

A)Because of an overabundance of farmworkers in rural areas, it prohibited Mexicans from traveling to the United States for work.
B)It established a board to direct the conversion of industrial output in America to war production.
C)It permitted the U.S.military to use atomic weapons on Japan and Germany if they did not surrender unconditionally.
D)After hysteria in America after the attack on Pearl Harbor, it allowed for the forced relocation of Japanese Americans on the West Coast to internment camps.
E)It gave the President unprecedented power to arrest and detain any Americans suspected of communism during the war, ultimately resulting in their deaths.

Question 51

Which of the following did Congress do to help finance the war?

A)It ordered the removal of price ceilings, instead allowing prices to fluctuate.
B)It required that the government stop borrowing money during the war years.
C)It lowered taxes so people would spend more and thus generate more revenue.
D)It raised tax rates through the Revenue Act of 1942.
E)It decreased the number of Americans who were required to pay an income tax.

Question 52

What event helped the United States defeat the Japanese at Midway?

A)The Japanese military code had been deciphered by the Americans.
B)Radar alerted the forces there to the impending invasion.
C)A flight of B-17s discovered the invasion force.
D)Russian intelligence provided key information about the Japanese battle fleet.
E)American submarines had discovered the flotilla and radioed Midway that they were about to be attacked.

Question 53

The Allied invasion of Europe by the Allied Expeditionary Force was known as Operation

A)Husky.
B)Nightbreed.
C)Rolling Thunder.
D)Overlord.
E)Gibraltar.

Question 54

During World War II, more than a half million _________ left the South because of better job opportunities in other parts of the United States, especially the West.

A)Irish Americans
B)Mexican Americans
C)African Americans
D)Japanese Americans
E)Chinese Americans

Question 55

Which organization oversaw the conversion of American industries to war production?

A)War Production Board
B)War Powers Commission
C)Interstate Commerce Commission
D)Public Works Administration
E)Works Progress Administration

Question 56

The commander of the German forces at Normandy who was at home during the invasion was

A)Adolph Hitler.
B)Paul Leudendorf.
C)Albert Schweitzer.
D)Herman Goering.
E)Erwin Rommel.

Question 57

Which of the following occurred under the bracero program in 1942?

A)Violence and prejudice toward Hispanics in the United States subsided, especially in southern California.
B)A large number of Mexican Americans were deported because of an overabundance of farmworkers.
C)Mexico agreed to send seasonal farmworkers to the United States on yearlong contracts.
D)Mexican Americans, along with other minority groups, were forbidden from joining the U.S.military.
E)The populations of western cities fell dramatically as Mexican Americans moved to urban areas on the East Coast.

Question 58

Which of the following is true of discrimination in the U.S.armed services during World War II?

A)Native Americans were forbidden from serving in regular units with whites.
B)The military segregated African Americans and at first excluded them from combat.
C)Mexican Americans, though serving bravely, were not eligible for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
D)Having learned from World War I, the Army refused to allow the segregation of black soldiers.
E)Only whites were permitted to serve as "code talkers," deciphering and encoding messages.

Question 59

The Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force was

A)Dwight Eisenhower.
B)Bernard Montgomery.
C)George S.Patton.
D)William McKinley.
E)James McPherson.

Question 60

The Office of Price Administration attempted to combat inflation during World War II by

A)abolishing price controls.
B)ordering a rapid increase in wages for workers and businesses.
C)stabilizing and freezing prices.
D)limiting the number of job opportunities on the West Coast.
E)shifting away from war production to provide for consumer demand.

Question 61

Detail how the United States financed World War II and what impact the war had on the U.S.economy.

Question 62

Why did the Japanese often experience such high casualty rates during World War II?

A)Americans refused to accept their surrender.
B)They refused to surrender.
C)They were barely trained and often ran into gunfire.
D)They were forced to fight and did not have the heart to do so effectively.
E)They often ran out of fuel.

Question 63

Detail the Yalta Conference, and explain its importance to the postwar world.

Question 64

To prevent another world war from erupting after the second one came to an end, the _____________ was created.

A)League of Nations
B)United Nations
C)Guardians of the Globe
D)World League Organization
E)World Court

Question 65

In what ways did World War II contribute to the growth of the federal government?

Question 66

What were the effects of the war on American women and minority groups in the United States? Would you describe the overall effects as positive, negative, or some mixture? Why?

Question 67

The Japanese word for "divine wind" used to refer to suicide pilots is

A)saki.
B)kamikaze.
C)bonzai.
D)kemptai.
E)bushido.

Question 68

Describe the major steps in America's move away from neutrality between 1935 and 1941.

Question 69

Why did America drop the atomic bomb on Japan? Was the action justified?

Question 70

The largest naval engagement in history occurred at the Battle of

A)Midway.
B)Leyte Gulf.
C)Coral Sea.
D)Pearl Harbor.
E)Tarawa.

Question 71

Why was there tension among the Allies during the war, and what long-term impact did it have?

Question 72

The first atomic bomb was dropped on

A)Hiroshima.
B)Nagasaki.
C)Tokyo.
D)Kyoto.
E)Hanoi.

Question 73

Discuss the factors that led to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Question 74

What lessons does the D-day offensive offer about the significance of preparation and planning for the success of an operation? What other factors beyond preparation and planning does the D-day invasion suggest one consider when assessing why certain operations fail or succeed?

Question 75

At this conference, representatives from Russia, England, and the United States proposed the division of Europe after World War II ended.

A)Tripoli
B)Morocco
C)Yalta
D)Paris
E)Tokyo

Question 76

Which of the following statements is true?

A)After the Second World War, the United States returned to isolationism.
B)After World War II, America went into another deep economic depression.
C)After World War II, Stalin lived up to all the agreements he made at Yalta.
D)For every American killed in World War II, the Russians lost fifty-nine.
E)World War II resulted in fewer casualties than World War I.

Question 77

What led to the outbreak of the Second World War? Pay particular attention to the actions of the Germans and the Japanese.