History 102: Western Civilization World War II Short Answer Questions

1. Which French composer wrote La Valse?
a. Daladier
b. Ravel
c. Debussy
d. Stravinsky

2. Which of the following could not be considered a post-World War I pessimist intellectual?
a. Paul Valery
b. Sigmund Freud
c. Vaclav Havel
d. William Butler Yeats

3. All Quiet on the Western Front was written by ____________________________.

4. The Trial was written by _____________________________.

5. Oswald Spengler offered his pessimistic vision of civilization in his book, __________________________________.

6. Which of the following is an INCORRECT match of author and character?
a. Hemingway-- Meursault
b. Koestler-- Rubashov
c. Mann-- Ludovico Settembrini
d. Kafka-- Josef K

7. A Swiss sanitarium, the symbolic setting for Europe, is the background for
a.  Joseph and his Brothers.
b.  The Magic Mountain.
c.  Ulysses.
d.  The Wasteland.

8. Trends in art following World War I include each of the following except
a.  disregarding social concerns.
b.  remembrance of the cruelty of the war.
c.  the Dadaist movement.
d.  contempt for art and for reason.

9. The Great Dictator was whose attempt to mock Mussolini and Hitler?
a.  Charlie Chaplin
b.  Fritz Lang
c.  D. W. Griffith
d.  Orson Welles

10. "The God that Failed" refers to
a.  nationalism.
b.  communism.
c.  social Darwinism.
d.  existentialism.

11. _______________________________ wrote Revolt of the Masses.

12. George Orwell may be associated with each of the following except
a.  Thought Police.
b.  Doublethink.
c.  Big Brother.
d.  Being and Nothingness.

13. Existentialist thinkers included
a. Sartre
b. Camus
c. Jaspers
d. all of the above

14. Of the following, which is not well matched?
a.  Washington Naval Conference--settlement of colonial disputes
b.  Kellogg-Briand Pact--renunciation of war
c.  Ethiopia--Mussolini
d.  Munich Agreement--Sudetenland

15. Mein Kampf may be associated with
a.  Ernst Roehm's goals for his Storm Troopers.
b.  Konrad Henlein's fight for self-determination.
c.  Hitler's exposition of his goals.
d.  Rommel's discussion of his battle tactics.

16. When Italy invaded Ethiopia,
a.  the League of Nations called for military action.
b.  it was the first time Italy had embarked on an African venture.
c.  economic sanctions were imposed.
d.  the United States led a multinational force to help Ethiopia.

17. Place the following in correct chronological order:
    1. Austrian Anschluss
    2. Italian invasion of Ethiopia
    3. German march into the Rhineland
    4. German invasion of Poland
a. 1,2,3,4
b. 4,2,3,1
c. 3,4,1,2
d. 2,3,1,4

18. During the Spanish Civil War
a.  most states regarded nonintervention as absurd.
b.  Italy and Germany, but not Russia, sent aid to the opponents.
c.  German aid was critical to the outcome of the war.
d.  fascism received its first defeat.

19. The "apex of appeasement" was the
a. Anschluss
b. Munich agreement
c. Reichstag fire
d. D-Day invasion

20. The German term blitzkreig means _________________________________.

21. British and French soldiers escaped from the Continent in 1940 through evacuation by sea at
a.  Boulogne.
b.  Dunkirk.
c.  Le Havre.
d.  There was no such escape.

22. As the SS attacks on European Jews were motivated by a
a.  belief they were defending the Volk.
b.  desire to destroy individualism.
c.  mythical view that Jews were not really human beings.
d.  all of the above.

23. The term "final solution" refers to
a.  establishing a Jewish homeland in Israel.
b.  transporting Jews to Madagascar.
c.  confining Jews to ghettos.
d.  exterminating the Jews of Europe.

24. Manchukuo may be connected with
a.  the safe area for Chinese communists.
b.  a Japanese puppet state.
c.  the fall of Korea.
d.  the base from which planes left for Pearl Harbor.

25. Claus von Stauffenberg may be remembered as
a.  chief of the German general staff.
b.  a conservative German diplomat.
c.  one of the military conspirators against Hitler.
d.  an individual who tried to provide visas to Jews wishing to emigrate.

26. Of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, one may say that it
a.  was really a minor victory.
b.  was part of Japan's general interest in expanding into Southeast Asia.
c.  was followed by Hitler's invasion of Poland.
d.  destroyed carriers, but no battleships.

27. Which of the following is most correct regarding developments during World War II?
a.  the speed and quantity of American armament production astounded the world.
b.  by early spring of 1942 the tide of battle had turned in favor of the Allies in both theaters of the war.
c.  the severity of the attack on Pearl Harbor was exaggerated by wartime propaganda intended to unite Americans against the Japanese.
d.  the battle of Midway was a major Japanese success following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

28. Which battle can be called the beginning of the end for the Germans?
a. the Battle of the Bulge
b. Midway
c. Stalingrad
d. Arnhem

29. Place the following in correct chronological order:
    1. D-Day
    2. El Alamein
    3. the "miracle" at Dunkirk
    4. Battle of the Bulge
a. 1,3,4,2
b. 3,2,1,4
c. 4,1,3,2
d. 3,1,4,2

30. The legacy of World War II included
a. extreme nationalism intensified
b. the US and Soviet Union emerged as the two major superpowers
c. Nazi atrocities were found to be greatly exaggerated
d. all of the above