Deck 27: The Deepening of the European Crisis: World War II

Question 1

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?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

Compare and contrast the postwar objectives and agenda of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain.

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

How did Germany's strategy in World War II differ from that of World War I? In what ways did Germany's strategic failures in World War I shape its plans for the prosecution of World War II?

Question 5

Compare and contrast the war in Europe with the war in the Pacific. What ideas about race and ethnicity informed both conflicts?

Question 6

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

Question 7

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

Question 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

How important was the United States in determining the outcome of the war in Europe?

Question 11

What were Hitler's major goals and policies from 1933 to 1939? How did other European powers respond to those goals and policies, and why did they lead to war?

Question 12

How do you account for the early successes of the Germans from 1939 to 1941? To what degree did Blitzkrieg play a role in these successes?

Question 13

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Rhineland

Question 14

Compare the home fronts of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Germany. What differences and similarities do you find? How did the organization of each home front affect the outcome of the war?

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

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

Question 17

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Lebensraum

Question 18

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

Question 19

Did the outcome of World War II guarantee that a "cold war" would occur? Why or why not?

Question 20

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

Question 21

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Question 22

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Pearl Harbor

Question 23

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Final Solution

Question 24

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Stalingrad

Question 25

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Battle of Britain

Question 26

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Harry Truman

Question 27

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Battle of Kursk

Question 28

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Battle of Midway

Question 29

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Einsatzgruppen

Question 30

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
"phony war"

Question 31

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Rome-Berlin Axis

Question 32

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
1939 nonaggression pact

Question 33

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Munich Conference

Question 34

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Normandy

Question 35

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Winston Churchill

Question 36

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Big Three

Question 37

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Blitzkrieg

Question 38

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Yalta

Question 39

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
"iron curtain"

Question 40

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Auschwitz

Question 41

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 42

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
"displaced persons"

Question 43

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
the Blitz

Question 44

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Potsdam

Question 45

In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to divide

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

Question 46

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

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

Question 47

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 48

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 49

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
bushido and kamikaze

Question 50

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 51

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Question 52

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.

Question 53

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 54

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Cold War

Question 55

Hitler's "Diplomatic Revolution" between 1933 and 1936 included all of the following EXCEPT

A)the Anglo-German Naval Pact of 1935.
B)withdrawing from the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1933.
C)publicly announcing the creation of a new air force in 1935.
D)seizing leadership of the League of Nations in 1933.
E)introducing a military draft that would expand Germany's army from 100,000 to 550,000 troops.

Question 56

Among the factors that led to World War II was

A)the aggressive foreign policy of the United States following World War I.
B)the inability of Britain and France to agree on the terms of the Versailles treaty.
C)the inability of the Soviet Union to oppose Germany.
D)the failure of efforts of collective security such as the League of Nations and treaties.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 57

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 58

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 59

British statesmen who followed a policy of appeasement believed Germany served as a powerful bulwark against

A)the French Republic.
B)Fascist Italy.
C)Soviet communism.
D)Franco's Spain.
E)nationalism in the Balkans.

Question 60

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Dresden

Question 61

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 62

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 63

The naval battle in the Pacific that is considered the turning point of the war and established U.S. Naval supremacy in the area was

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

Question 64

In what country did the Nazis establish a civil administration?

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

Question 65

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 66

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 67

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 68

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 69

It can be argued that this key decision early in the war by Adolf Hitler made the defeat of Germany inevitable:

A)abandoning the Battle of Britain.
B)dividing France into a zone of German occupation and a French national puppet government at Vichy.
C)immediately declaring war on the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
D)snubbing British proposals for an armistice in 1941.
E)invading Scandinavia.

Question 70

Between April and June of 1940, Nazi Germany successfully invaded all of the following countries EXCEPT

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

Question 71

By 1941, the Japanese Empire included all of the following, EXCEPT

A)Korea.
B)Manchuria.
C)Australia.
D)Formosa (Taiwan).
E)Marshall islands.

Question 72

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 73

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 74

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 75

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 76

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 77

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 78

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 79

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 80

Who became the new prime minister of Great Britain in May 1940?

A)Neville Chamberlain
B)David Lloyd George
C)Winston Churchill
D)Stanley Baldwin
E)Benjamin Disraeli