History Benchmark

Why was the Battle of Stalingrad a turning point in World War II?

A. The battle involved fierce, block-by-block fighting. D. The battle ended Hitler's hopes of dominating all of Europe and put Germany on the defensive.

According to this map, one part of the British campaign in Western Europe spread

A. from Sword Beach to Antwerp.

What two countries did Hitler occupy without opposition from France and Great Britain?

Austria and Czechoslovakia

Why did Hitler blame the Jews for Germany's problems?

B It was easy to blame all the country's problems on one minority group

The drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was guided by

B. Eleanor Roosevelt.

The automobile and the expansion of roadway systems in the 1950s led to the growth of

B. Suburban areas

Why was the end of the Korean War considered a stalemate?

B. The north and south were still divided

What Nazi leader lead the meeting at Wannsee?

d. Reinhard Heydrich

Why was the United States called the "arsenal of democracy" in 1940?

d. The United States provided much of the weaponry needed to fight the Axis powers.

The GI Bill affected American society after World War II by

d. extending educational and housing opportunities

In an effort to both distinguish himself from Truman's policy of containment and eliminate the expense of maintaining a large conventional army, Eisenhower pursued a foreign policy collectively known as

d. massive retaliation

Before entering World War II, the United States acted as the "arsenal of democracy" by

d. supplying war materials to the Allies

During the Korean War, President Harry Truman removed General Douglas MacArthur from command because MacArthur

d. threatened the constitutional principle of civilian control of the military

During the postwar era, all minorities faced problems stemming from

discrimination in housing and employment.

Which decision did President Truman make that most significantly altered the course of the war?

dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Which of the following had the largest role in increasing consumer consumption during the 1950s?

ease in obtaining credit

"The time is past when a boy's chief possession was his bike and a girl's party wardrobe consisted of a fancy dress worn with a string of dime-store pearls. . . . Today's teenagers surround themselves with a fantastic array of garish and often expensive baubles and amusements. They own 10 million phonographs, over a million TV sets, 13 million cameras."

increased consumption

In the 1950s, middle class prosperity and the abundance of inexpensive goods had the unexpected effect of

inspiring rock n' roll music.

The change in the nation's attitude toward membership in the League of Nations and membership in the United Nations shows the contrast between

isolationism and involvement

Why would many isolationists have argued that the Neutrality Act of 1939 was not actually "neutral"?

B. They thought material support of the Allies was, indirectly, acting against the Axis Powers.

What was the main factor that allowed military leaders to assume power in Japan in the 1930s?

B. a weak economy

The Neutrality Act of 1939 helped the Allies in World War II by

B. agreeing to sell arms to the Allies if they paid cash and transported them themselves.

The reasoning behind the U.S. military's island-hopping strategy was to

B. only engage enemy forces on islands that offered a direct route to Japan.

What was the primary challenge faced by Hispanic immigrants since the 1940s?

B. unfair treatment by employers

Why was the German strategy of "blitzkrieg" so successful?

Blitzkrieg relied on small, rapid military forces that assassinated the leaders of the nation under attack.

The Eisenhower Doctrine promised aid to any Middle Eastern nations threatened by communism. Why was this doctrine inspired in part by the Suez Canal Crisis?

Britain and France had tried to regain the canal with Soviet help.

"The undersigned, the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command, on the one hand, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and the Commander of the Chinese People's Volunteers, on the other hand, in the interest of stopping the Korean conflict, with its great toil of suffering and bloodshed on both sides, and with the objective of establishing an armistice which will insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved, do individually, collectively, and mutually agree to accept and to be bound and governed by the conditions and terms of armistice set forth in the following articles and paragraphs, which said conditions and terms are intended to be purely military in character and to pertain solely to the belligerents in Korea..."

established a cease-fire in Korea.

During the 1950s, how did the Republican Party hope to support a balanced federal budget and counter communist countries?

C. By relying on nuclear weapons

How was the economy affected by corporate expansion in the 1950s?

C. It boomed as the middle class grew.

Which of these action is an example of checks and balances?

C. President Truman vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act

One consequence of World War II was that the United States

C. Remain deeply involved in world affairs

After World War II ended, continuing political differences led to civil war in

China

What was a significant turning point in the Korean War?

China's entry into the war

Who were the Big Three

Churchill Roosevelt Stalin

Soviet and Western wartime cooperation had already degenerated into serious tensions at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 because

D Stalin had reneged on his promise to allow free elections in Soviet occupied Eastern Europe

What are the "Four Freedoms"?

Freedom from Want Freedom of Worship Freedom from Fear Freedom of Speech

SEC. 100. The Veterans' Administration is hereby declared to be an essential war agency and entitled, second only to the War and Navy Departments, to priorities in personnel, equipment, supplies, and material under any laws, Executive orders, and regulations pertaining to priorities, and in appointments of personnel from civil-service registers the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby granted the same authority and discretion as the War and Navy Departments and the United States Public Health Service: Provided, That the provisions of this section as to priorities for materials shall apply to any State institution to be built for the care or hospitalization of veterans

GI Bill.

The Axis refers to the alliance of

Germany, Italy, Japan

Operation Barbarossa refers to Hitler's

Invasion of the Soviet Union

"The truth of the matter is that Europe's requirements for the next 3 or 4 years of foreign food and other essential products—principally from America—are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help, or face economic, social, and political deterioration of a very grave character. The remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole. The manufacturer and the farmer throughout wide areas must be able and willing to exchange their products for currencies the continuing value of which is not open to question."

Marshall Plan.

The turning point in the Pacific Theatre was

Midway

How did World War II change the employment situation for women?

More women were able to find jobs in manufacturing and other fields not traditionally considered to be women's work.

"When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of the disease. . . . War is a contagion, whether it be declared or undeclared. It can engulf states and peoples remote from the original scene of hostilities. We are determined to keep out of war, yet we cannot insure ourselves against the disastrous effects of war and the dangers of involvement." —President Franklin Roosevelt, Quarantine speech, October 5, 1937

No nation can be completely isolated from other nations.

France was defeated by Germany

Quickly (several weeks)

President Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board in 1944 to aid and rescue Jewish refugees. What other action, if taken, did some feel might have helped save more people?

Safe havens for Jewish refugees in other European countries.

Which of the following is INCORRECT: The Lend-Lease Act allowed the USA to

Secretly help fight the war against Germany without declaring war

The occupying powers in Germany after the Second World War included all of the following EXCEPT

Spain

What led to the success of Operation Overlord? *

The Allies convinced Hitler that the invasion would happen in Calais, causing him to order important forces away from the invasion site at Normandy.

Why didn't the West launch a military operation to end the Berlin blockade?

The distance from West Germany to Berlin would make a military operation difficult.

The Bataan Death March was

The march of POWs, who were bayoneted in the back for moving to slow

To address labor shortages during the war, Japan

forced Korean and Chinese into becoming laborers.

The purpose of bombing cities in World War II was to

frighten civilians and weaken morale.

The United States carried on an "island-hopping campaign" in order to

get close enough to mainland Japan to take over.

"The launching by the Soviet Union of the first earth satellite is an event of considerable technical and scientific importance. However, that importance should not be exaggerated. What has happened involves no basic discovery and the value of a satellite to mankind will for a long time be highly problematical. That the Soviet Union was first in this project is due to the high priority which the Soviet Union gives to scientific training and to the fact that since 1945 the Soviet Union has particularly emphasized developments in the fields of missiles and of outer space... The Soviets [have concentrated] upon developments in this field with a use of resources and effort not possible in time of peace to societies where the people are free to engage in pursuits of their own choosing and where public monies are limited by representatives of the people. Despotic societies which can command the activities and resources of all their people can often produce spectacular accomplishments. These, however, do not prove that freedom is not the best way."

Their government dictated that the necessary resources be utilized.

Hitler's main goal in the Battle of Britain was

To destroy the British air force

The Auschwitz complex included what three large camps?

Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau

Why did the U.S. presence in Guam and the Philippines prior to the war create tension between Japan and America? *

U.S. presence threatened Japan's ability to establish itself as the most powerful nation in the region.

What two nations held "ethnic" prisoners in camps during WWII? *

United States Germany

The 38th parallel was the basis of

a cease-fire in the conflict between North and South Korea.

What was a major outcome of the Korean War (1950-1953)?

a. Korea continued to be a divided nation.

What was the main function of the Jewish ghettos of Europe?

a. To separate Jews from the rest of the population

To be successful, the "Final Solution" required

a. careful planning and organization by efficiency experts. b. millions of indifferent or uncaring people. c. cooperation of people in countries conquered by Germany. d. participation of those seeking to advance their careers. e. All of the above.

The goal of President Harry Truman's Fair Deal was to

a. continue reforms begun during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency

In 1957, the Eisenhower Doctrine expanded the principles of the Truman Doctrine by extending Middle East military assistance in order to

a. offset communist influence in the region

How did many citizens of Soviet-dominated countries in Eastern Europe interpret Khrushchev's talk of "peaceful co-existence" in the mid 1950s?

an opportunity to gain a degree of political autonomy

The National Defense Education Act was passed amidst fears that

arts were being funded more than science and math.

The "second front" on the beaches at Normandy in France allowed the Allies to

attack Germany from the west at the same time as from the east.

Which group did the Nazis NOT target for extermination?

b. French POWs

". . . The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as 'Communists' or 'Fascists' by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed. But there have been enough proved cases to cause nationwide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be something to the unproved, sensational accusations. . . ."

b. McCarthyism

The "Final Solution"

b. involved SS mobile killing units murdering Jews. c. included sending Jews to death camps

To help pay for World War II, the United States government relied heavily on the

b. sale of war bonds

The primary goal of the United States foreign policy of containment was to

b. stop communist influence from spreading

Which event led the United States to enter World War II?

bombing of Pearl Harbor

Secretary of State Dulles's approach to war can best be described as

brinkmanship.

McCarthyism in the early 1950s resulted from

c. charges that Communists had infiltrated the United States government

The rapid growth in personal income in the decade after World War II contributed to

c. expansion of the middle class

The immediate impact of the 1957 launch of Sputnik I was that it

c. heightened the space race as a form of Cold War competition

The main foreign policy objective of the Marshall Plan (1948-1952) was to

c. rebuild the economies of European nations

Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler

c. risked their lived to rescue Jews.

The Truman Doctrine was established because of fears that

communism would spread to other countries.

". . . Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. . . ."

containment

"You usually will know where the front is by the sound of gunfire, and that's the direction you should proceed. Now, suppose you lose a hand or an ear is shot off, or perhaps a piece of your nose, and you think you should walk back to get first aid. If I see you, it will be the last . . . walk you'll ever take." —General George S. Patton, Jr., addressing his junior officers

persistent

The fact that 1950 saw the greatest increase in the production of televisions is an indication of

postwar prosperity.

Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both provided strong leadership in the 1940s and 1950s by

promoting social welfare programs while reducing defense budgets.

Which foreign policy decision by President Harry Truman is an example of the policy of containment?

providing military aid to Greece and Turkey

The main goal of the Truman Doctrine was to

restrict the spread of communism.

The Nuremberg Laws

segregated Jews at every level of German society.

The Smith Act was passed because of concerns that

some might advocate government overthrow.

The Eisenhower administration transformed the American landscape forever by

strengthening national defense.

"The West has won! I say this quite deliberately in such a crass way because you wanted to know how I felt emotionally. The West—well, we have succeeded. And the West has won and the others have not!"

succeeded in showing that the Soviet Union could be challenged.

This cartoon showing Hitler between two tanks was most likely drawn around the time of

the Allied invasion of Germany.

"The United States troops have done almost all the fighting and have suffered almost all the losses. They have suffered losses almost equal to those of both sides at the Battle of Gettysburg. . . . [it] will, I believe, be regarded as an ever-famous American victory. —Winston Churchill, Address to the House of Commons, January 18, 1945

the Battle of the Bulge.

Which of the following had the biggest impact on post-war economic prosperity in the United States?

the GI Bill of Rights

"I saw more planes coming in, passing over Battleship Row dropping bombs. I remember very clearly what looked like a dive-bomber coming in over the Arizona and dropping a bomb. I saw that bomb go down through what looked like a stack, and almost instantly it cracked the bottom of the Arizona, blowing the whole bow loose. It rose out of the water and settled. I could see flames, fire, and smoke coming out of that ship, and I saw two men flying through the air and the fire, screaming as they went." —Corpsman James F. Anderson

the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Supporters of the Neutrality Act of 1939 believed that *

the United States should send aid the democracies of Europe.

Which event ended the war in the Pacific?

the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Battle of Stalingrad was a crushing defeat for Germany because

the entire Sixth Army, considered the best of the German troops, was lost.

"We have reached complete agreement as to the scope and timing of the operations to be undertaken from the east, west and south. The common understanding which we have here reached guarantees that victory will be ours. . . . No power on earth can prevent our destroying the German armies by land, their U Boats by sea, and their war planes from the air." —Declaration of the Three Powers, December 1, 1943

to show that the Allies were unified in their efforts to defeat Germany

What was a key reason that the Allies were able to stop the German and the Japanese forces?

unity of purpose among the Allies

Erwin Rommel, who led the German forces in northern Africa, later

was charged with trying to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

The first serious disagreements between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II occurred over Soviet activities in

Eastern Europe.

The "zoot suit riot" that occurred in Los Angeles in 1943 highlighted violence against

D. Mexican-Americans.