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Pancyprian History practice questions

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Question 1Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

In der Quellenanalyse zur Französischen Revolution untersuchst du ein Dekret der Nationalversammlung von 1789. Welches Merkmal kennzeichnet einen solchen normativen Text (texte normatif) im Unterschied zu einer erzählenden Quelle?

  1. Er formuliert verbindliche Regeln und verwendet häufig performative Formeln wie „décrète“ oder „ordonne“. Correct answer.
  2. Er schildert persönliche Empfindungen des Verfassers und ist daher subjektiv gefärbt.
  3. Er beschreibt Ereignisse chronologisch aus der Perspektive eines Augenzeugen.
  4. Er liefert statistische Reihen, die quantitative Vergleiche ermöglichen.

Explanation

Normative Quellen wie Dekrete oder Gesetze legen verbindliche Regeln fest. Performative Formeln signalisieren, dass der Text selbst eine Rechtswirkung erzeugt, statt bloß zu berichten. Deshalb prüft man bei ihnen vor allem Adressat, Reichweite und Rechtskraft.

Question 2Cyprus: British rule, independence and the conflicts of the twentieth century

Under the Cyprus Convention of 1878:

  1. the Ottoman Sultan transferred the administration of Cyprus to Britain, in exchange for a British promise to defend Ottoman Asia against Russia Correct answer.
  2. Britain purchased Cyprus from France
  3. Cyprus was united with Greece
  4. the Ottoman Empire expelled all Greeks from Cyprus

Explanation

Following the Russo-Turkish War and the Congress of Berlin, the Sultan handed Cyprus's administration to Britain so it could serve as a base protecting Ottoman territories against Russia. Ottoman sovereignty was nominally retained until Britain annexed the island outright in 1914.

Question 3World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The event that triggered the July Crisis of 1914 was the assassination in Sarajevo of:

  1. the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand by the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip Correct answer.
  2. the German Kaiser Wilhelm II by a French anarchist
  3. the Russian Tsar Nicholas II by Bolshevik revolutionaries
  4. the Ottoman Sultan by a Balkan nationalist

Explanation

On 28 June 1914 Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb linked to the Black Hand, shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia set off the alliance system and the First World War.

Question 4World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) met after the defeat of Napoleon. What was its principal aim?

  1. To restore stability in Europe through the balance of power and the restoration of legitimate monarchies Correct answer.
  2. To divide Europe into nation-states drawn strictly along linguistic lines
  3. To create a European parliament of elected representatives
  4. To dissolve France as a state and share its territory among the victors

Explanation

Under Metternich's leadership, the Congress of Vienna sought lasting peace by restoring 'legitimate' dynasties and arranging a balance of power so no single state could again dominate Europe. France was treated leniently precisely to keep the balance intact.

Question 5World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

In which year did the Greek War of Independence against Ottoman rule begin?

  1. 1776
  2. 1821 Correct answer.
  3. 1864
  4. 1912

Explanation

The Greek Revolution broke out in 1821, with uprisings in the Danubian Principalities and the Peloponnese. It led, after great-power intervention, to the creation of an independent Greek kingdom recognised in 1830.

Question 6World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What happened at the Battle of Navarino in 1827?

  1. The Ottoman fleet destroyed the combined fleets of the European powers
  2. The Greek revolutionary army captured Constantinople from the Ottomans
  3. The combined British, French and Russian fleets destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet Correct answer.
  4. Russia alone defeated the British fleet in the Black Sea

Explanation

At Navarino (October 1827) the allied British, French and Russian squadrons annihilated the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet. The battle was decisive for Greek independence because it removed Ottoman naval power from the conflict.

Question 7World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Who served as the first Governor (head of state) of independent Greece from 1828 until his assassination in 1831?

  1. Alexandros Ypsilantis
  2. Theodoros Kolokotronis
  3. King Otto of Bavaria
  4. Ioannis Kapodistrias Correct answer.

Explanation

Ioannis Kapodistrias, a Corfiot diplomat and former Russian foreign minister, became the first Governor of Greece in 1828. His centralising policies made enemies, and he was assassinated in Nafplio in 1831.

Question 8World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

In which country did the Industrial Revolution begin in the late eighteenth century?

  1. Britain Correct answer.
  2. France
  3. Germany
  4. Russia

Explanation

Industrialisation began in Britain, starting with the mechanisation of the cotton textile industry. Britain's coal and iron resources, capital, colonial markets and relative political stability gave it a head start over the continent.

Question 9World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Which inventor is chiefly associated with the improvements that made the steam engine a practical power source for industry?

  1. George Stephenson
  2. James Watt Correct answer.
  3. Samuel Morse
  4. Thomas Edison

Explanation

James Watt's improvements to the Newcomen engine in the 1760s-1770s, above all the separate condenser, made steam power efficient enough to drive factories, pumps and later locomotives. Steam became the emblematic energy source of the first industrial age.

Question 10World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Which statement best explains why the revolutions of 1848, the 'Springtime of Nations', matter even though most of them were defeated?

  1. They immediately created the unified states of Germany and Italy
  2. They restored absolute monarchy everywhere in Europe for half a century
  3. They spread liberal and national ideas widely and forced lasting concessions such as the abolition of serfdom in the Habsburg lands Correct answer.
  4. They had no consequences and were forgotten within a few years

Explanation

Although the 1848 revolutions were mostly crushed, they normalised demands for constitutions, civil rights and national self-determination. In the Austrian Empire serfdom was permanently abolished, and later unification movements built on the national programmes of 1848.

Question 11World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was Giuseppe Garibaldi's 'Expedition of the Thousand' (1860)?

  1. A diplomatic mission to persuade Austria to leave Italy peacefully
  2. A Papal army campaign to defend Rome against unification
  3. A British naval expedition to protect the Kingdom of Naples
  4. A volunteer campaign that conquered Sicily and Naples and handed them to Victor Emmanuel II Correct answer.

Explanation

In 1860 Garibaldi led about a thousand red-shirted volunteers to Sicily, then crossed to the mainland and overthrew Bourbon rule in Naples. He then ceded the conquered south to King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia, enabling the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Question 12World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Otto von Bismarck declared that the great questions of the day would be settled not by speeches and majority votes but by 'blood and iron'. What did he mean?

  1. German unification would be achieved through war and industrial-military power rather than liberal parliaments Correct answer.
  2. Germany should abandon its army and rely on economic growth
  3. Workers should seize the factories in a socialist revolution
  4. The great powers should settle disputes only through international congresses

Explanation

Speaking as Prussian minister-president in 1862, Bismarck meant that unification would come through Prussian military strength and state power ('Realpolitik'), not through the liberal Frankfurt-style assemblies that had failed in 1848. Three victorious wars (1864, 1866, 1870-71) proved his point.

Question 13World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Which is the correct chronological order of the three wars through which Bismarck achieved German unification?

  1. War against Austria (1866), war against Denmark (1864), war against France (1870-71)
  2. War against Denmark (1864), war against Austria (1866), war against France (1870-71) Correct answer.
  3. War against France (1870-71), war against Denmark (1864), war against Austria (1866)
  4. War against Russia (1863), war against Austria (1866), war against France (1870-71)

Explanation

Bismarck's sequence ran: the Danish war over Schleswig-Holstein (1864), the Austro-Prussian war decided at Königgrätz (1866), and the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71). Each victory removed an obstacle: first a condominium with Austria, then Austrian influence in Germany, then French opposition.

Question 14World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Where and when was the German Empire (the Second Reich) proclaimed in 1871?

  1. In the Reichstag building in Berlin, after a vote of the German parliament
  2. In the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, during the siege of Paris in January 1871 Correct answer.
  3. At the Congress of Vienna, by agreement of the great powers
  4. In Frankfurt, by the revived parliament of 1848

Explanation

The German princes proclaimed Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on 18 January 1871, while Prussian armies besieged Paris. The location in defeated France was a deliberate humiliation that poisoned Franco-German relations for decades.

Question 15World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Who wrote 'The Communist Manifesto' (1848), which ends with the call 'Workers of all countries, unite!'?

  1. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Correct answer.
  2. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky
  3. Charles Fourier and Robert Owen
  4. Otto von Bismarck and Napoleon III

Explanation

Marx and Engels published the Manifesto in 1848 for the Communist League. It argued that history is driven by class struggle and predicted that the industrial working class (proletariat) would overthrow the capitalist bourgeoisie.

Question 16World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What did the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 decide?

  1. The borders of Germany after unification
  2. The reparations Germany would pay after the First World War
  3. The rules by which European powers could claim African territory, based on 'effective occupation', with no African representation Correct answer.
  4. The return of conquered African lands to their traditional rulers

Explanation

At the Berlin Conference the European powers, with no Africans present, regulated the 'Scramble for Africa': a power claiming territory had to notify the others and establish effective occupation of the coast and interior. This accelerated the partition of almost the entire continent.

Question 17World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Which three powers formed the Triple Alliance of 1882?

  1. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy Correct answer.
  2. Britain, France and Russia
  3. Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary
  4. France, Italy and Britain

Explanation

Bismarck built the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (1882) to isolate France. It faced the later Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia, creating the two armed blocs of 1914.

Question 18World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was Germany's Schlieffen Plan, put into effect in August 1914?

  1. A plan for a long defensive war on both fronts until Britain negotiated
  2. A plan to defeat Russia first, then turn all forces against France
  3. A plan for a naval blockade of France without any land offensive
  4. A plan to knock France out quickly by attacking through Belgium, then turn east against Russia Correct answer.

Explanation

Fearing a two-front war, Schlieffen planned a rapid right-hook through neutral Belgium to encircle Paris and defeat France within weeks, after which the army would move east against the slower-mobilising Russians. The plan failed at the Battle of the Marne in September 1914, dooming both sides to trench warfare.

Question 19World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was the Allied objective in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915?

  1. To seize the Dardanelles strait, open a supply route to Russia and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war Correct answer.
  2. To liberate Greece from German occupation
  3. To capture the Suez Canal from the British
  4. To land Allied troops directly in Germany

Explanation

The Gallipoli operation aimed to force the Dardanelles, threaten Constantinople, supply Russia through the Black Sea and eliminate the Ottomans from the war. It ended in a costly Allied evacuation and is remembered as a major Ottoman victory under Mustafa Kemal's defence.

Question 20World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Why did the United States enter the First World War in 1917?

  1. Because of Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann telegram Correct answer.
  2. Because Germany invaded American territory in the Caribbean
  3. Because Britain blockaded American ports
  4. Because Russia threatened to attack Alaska

Explanation

Germany's resumption of unrestricted U-boat warfare against neutral shipping, combined with the intercepted Zimmermann telegram proposing a German-Mexican alliance, pushed the USA to declare war in April 1917. American troops and resources helped tip the balance in 1918.

Question 21World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was the significance of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918)?

  1. It was the armistice that ended the war on the Western Front
  2. It was Bolshevik Russia's separate peace with the Central Powers, surrendering vast western territories and freeing Germany to attack in the west Correct answer.
  3. It was the treaty that created the League of Nations
  4. It was a secret Anglo-French plan to partition Germany

Explanation

Lenin's government signed Brest-Litovsk to take Russia out of the war, ceding the Baltic lands, Poland, Ukraine and other territories to the Central Powers. Germany could then transfer divisions west for its final 1918 offensive, though the treaty was annulled after Germany's own defeat.

Question 22World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The First World War ended with an armistice on 11 November 1918. What had happened in Germany just before it?

  1. The Allies had occupied Berlin and arrested the Kaiser
  2. A communist government under Lenin had taken power in Berlin
  3. A sailors' mutiny at Kiel spread into revolution; the Kaiser abdicated and a republic was proclaimed Correct answer.
  4. Germany had won a decisive victory at the Marne

Explanation

In late October-November 1918 the High Seas Fleet mutinied at Kiel, workers' and soldiers' councils sprang up across Germany, and Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November. The new republic's civilian leaders signed the armistice, later feeding the poisonous 'stab-in-the-back' myth.

Question 23World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was the immediate outcome of the February/March 1917 revolution in Russia?

  1. The Bolsheviks seized power under Lenin
  2. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a Provisional Government took over Correct answer.
  3. Russia signed peace with Germany
  4. The Tsar crushed all opposition and ruled until 1920

Explanation

Bread riots and strikes in Petrograd, joined by mutinous soldiers, forced Nicholas II to abdicate in March 1917 (February by the old calendar). A liberal Provisional Government shared uneasy authority with the Petrograd Soviet, a situation known as 'dual power'.

Question 24World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

With what slogans did Lenin's Bolsheviks win support before seizing power in October 1917?

  1. 'Peace, Land, Bread' and 'All power to the Soviets' Correct answer.
  2. 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'
  3. 'Blood and iron'
  4. 'One people, one empire, one leader'

Explanation

Lenin's slogans promised an end to the war, land for the peasants and food for the cities, with authority passing to the workers' and soldiers' soviets. They captured popular exhaustion with the Provisional Government's decision to continue the war.

Question 25World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The Treaty of Versailles between the Allies and Germany was signed in:

  1. June 1919 Correct answer.
  2. November 1918
  3. September 1938
  4. August 1945

Explanation

The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919, five years to the day after the Sarajevo assassination. Its terms - territorial losses, disarmament, 'war guilt' and reparations - deeply embittered German politics in the interwar years.

Question 26World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, the 'war guilt clause'?

  1. The article creating the League of Nations
  2. The article limiting the German army to 100,000 men
  3. The article demilitarising the Rhineland
  4. The article in which Germany accepted responsibility for causing the war, used to justify reparations Correct answer.

Explanation

Article 231 assigned responsibility for the war's losses to Germany and its allies. It provided the legal basis for reparations and was resented in Germany as a national humiliation, becoming a central theme of Nazi propaganda.

Question 27World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Although President Woodrow Wilson championed the League of Nations, what happened to US membership?

  1. The USA hosted the League's headquarters in Washington
  2. The US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, so the United States never joined the League Correct answer.
  3. The USA joined in 1920 but withdrew in 1933
  4. The USA was expelled for not paying its contributions

Explanation

The Republican-led Senate rejected the treaty, fearing the League could oblige America to fight foreign wars without congressional approval. The absence of the USA, the world's strongest economy, seriously weakened the League from birth.

Question 28World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Which event in October 1929 triggered the Great Depression?

  1. The Wall Street Crash on the New York Stock Exchange Correct answer.
  2. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
  3. The signing of the Locarno Treaties
  4. The German occupation of the Rhineland

Explanation

The collapse of share prices on Wall Street in October 1929 wiped out credit and confidence. American banks recalled loans from Europe, world trade shrank, and mass unemployment spread across the industrialised world through the early 1930s.

Question 29World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Germany's hyperinflation of 1923, when a wheelbarrow of banknotes could not buy a loaf of bread, was directly linked to:

  1. the French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr and the government's decision to print money to fund passive resistance Correct answer.
  2. the Marshall Plan
  3. the costs of the Korean War
  4. the introduction of the euro

Explanation

When Germany defaulted on reparations, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr in 1923. The government paid striking workers by printing money, destroying the currency's value and wiping out middle-class savings - a trauma that haunted Weimar democracy.

Question 30World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Why was the Enabling Act of March 1933 a decisive step in establishing Nazi dictatorship?

  1. It abolished the position of German President
  2. It allowed Hitler's government to enact laws without the Reichstag's consent, making parliamentary democracy meaningless Correct answer.
  3. It banned the Communist Party only
  4. It annexed Austria to Germany

Explanation

The Enabling Act let the cabinet pass laws, including ones deviating from the constitution, without parliament or the President. Passed after the Reichstag Fire decree and the arrest of Communist deputies, it gave Hitler a legal basis for total dictatorship.

Question 31World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933 when he was:

  1. elected directly by the German people as Chancellor
  2. appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg, after the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag Correct answer.
  3. installed by the Allied powers
  4. crowned by the German princes at Versailles

Explanation

Hitler came to power constitutionally: conservative politicians persuaded the ageing President Hindenburg to appoint him Chancellor, believing they could control him. The Nazis had won the largest share of Reichstag seats in 1932 but never a majority in a free election.

Question 32World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The Munich Agreement of September 1938 is the classic example of 'appeasement' because it:

  1. allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia without Czech participation, in exchange for Hitler's promise of no further territorial claims Correct answer.
  2. gave the whole of Czechoslovakia to the Soviet Union
  3. forced Germany to pay reparations to Czechoslovakia
  4. created a military alliance between Britain and Germany

Explanation

Britain, France, Germany and Italy settled the fate of the Sudetenland while Czechoslovakia itself was excluded. Chamberlain returned claiming 'peace for our time'; Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, discrediting appeasement.

Question 33World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What did the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 do?

  1. They put Nazi war criminals on trial after the Second World War
  2. They guaranteed freedom of religion in the Third Reich
  3. They stripped Jews of German citizenship and forbade marriages between Jews and those of 'German blood' Correct answer.
  4. They established the Weimar constitution

Explanation

The Nuremberg Laws defined Jews by ancestry, deprived them of Reich citizenship and banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and 'Aryans'. They turned anti-Semitic discrimination into state law, a milestone on the road to the Holocaust.

Question 34World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

How did Benito Mussolini come to power in Italy in October 1922?

  1. By winning an overwhelming majority in a free general election
  2. Through the 'March on Rome', after which King Victor Emmanuel III appointed him Prime Minister Correct answer.
  3. By leading a communist revolution
  4. By being appointed by the Pope

Explanation

Fascist squadristi staged the March on Rome as a show of force. Rather than resist, the king invited Mussolini to form a government; the Fascists held only a small minority of parliamentary seats. Mussolini then dismantled democracy step by step.

Question 35World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the Basque town of Guernica was destroyed in 1937 by:

  1. Spanish Republican forces bombing their own city
  2. the German Condor Legion and Italian aircraft supporting General Franco Correct answer.
  3. a British naval bombardment
  4. an accidental ammunition explosion

Explanation

Guernica was bombed by Nazi Germany's Condor Legion, with Italian support, on behalf of Franco's Nationalists. The massacre of civilians, immortalised by Picasso's painting, became a warning of what aerial warfare would do to cities in the Second World War.

Question 36World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What did the secret protocol of the Nazi-Soviet Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop, August 1939) provide for?

  1. The immediate Soviet entry into the war against Poland's allies
  2. A joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Britain
  3. The division of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, including the partition of Poland Correct answer.
  4. Soviet membership of the Anti-Comintern Pact

Explanation

Behind the public non-aggression clauses, a secret protocol assigned Finland, the Baltic states, eastern Poland and Bessarabia to the Soviet sphere and the rest of Poland to Germany. It freed Hitler to attack Poland on 1 September 1939 without fearing a Soviet response.

Question 37World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Stalin's Five-Year Plans, beginning in 1928, aimed primarily at:

  1. rapid industrialisation and the collectivisation of agriculture, at enormous human cost Correct answer.
  2. expanding private ownership of farms and businesses
  3. reducing military spending to improve living standards
  4. joining the League of Nations

Explanation

The plans poured resources into heavy industry - steel, coal, machinery - while forced collectivisation seized peasant land into collective farms. Resistance, deportations of 'kulaks' and the resulting famine (including the Holodomor in Ukraine) killed millions.

Question 38World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The Second World War in Europe began on 1 September 1939 with:

  1. the German invasion of the Soviet Union
  2. the German invasion of Poland, followed by British and French declarations of war on 3 September Correct answer.
  3. the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
  4. the German invasion of France through the Ardennes

Explanation

Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939; Britain and France, honouring their guarantees to Poland, declared war two days later. The USSR then invaded eastern Poland on 17 September under the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Question 39World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Why is the Battle of Britain (1940) considered a turning point?

  1. It was the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces, and the RAF's victory forced Hitler to postpone the invasion of Britain indefinitely Correct answer.
  2. It was the first use of atomic weapons in Europe
  3. It destroyed the entire German army in France
  4. It forced Britain to sign an armistice with Germany

Explanation

In summer-autumn 1940 the Luftwaffe tried to win air superiority as a precondition for Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain. RAF Fighter Command held out, Hitler's first major defeat, and the invasion was postponed indefinitely - Britain survived as the base for eventual liberation of Europe.

Question 40World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Operation Barbarossa, launched on 22 June 1941, was:

  1. the German invasion of the Soviet Union, breaking the Nazi-Soviet Pact Correct answer.
  2. the Allied invasion of Normandy
  3. the German plan to invade Britain
  4. the Soviet offensive that captured Berlin

Explanation

Barbarossa was the largest invasion in history: over three million Axis soldiers attacked the USSR along a huge front. It transformed the war, opening the Eastern Front where the great majority of German land forces would be destroyed.

Question 41World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Which event brought the United States into the Second World War?

  1. The fall of France in 1940
  2. The German invasion of Poland
  3. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 Correct answer.
  4. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima

Explanation

Japan's surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941 led the USA to declare war on Japan the next day; Germany and Italy then declared war on the USA. The conflict became truly global.

Question 42World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Why is Stalingrad (August 1942 - February 1943) regarded as the decisive turning point on the Eastern Front?

  1. It was the first battle in which the USSR and Germany fought
  2. The encirclement and surrender of the German Sixth Army ended the German advance and began the long Soviet offensive towards Berlin Correct answer.
  3. It forced the USA to enter the war in Europe
  4. It led to the immediate collapse of the Soviet Union

Explanation

The Red Army encircled the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad; after Hitler refused a breakout, some 90,000 survivors surrendered in February 1943. Germany never regained the strategic initiative in the east, and the Soviet advance westward began.

Question 43World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What happened on D-Day, 6 June 1944?

  1. Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies
  2. The Red Army entered Berlin
  3. The Allies landed in Normandy (Operation Overlord), opening the long-awaited Second Front in Western Europe Correct answer.
  4. Italy declared war on Germany

Explanation

In the largest amphibious operation in history, American, British, Canadian and other Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches. The successful invasion forced Germany to fight on two full land fronts and led to the liberation of France.

Question 44World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

VE Day, celebrated on 8 May 1945, marks:

  1. the Allied victory in Europe and Germany's unconditional surrender Correct answer.
  2. the end of the war against Japan
  3. the founding of the United Nations
  4. the start of the Berlin Blockade

Explanation

Victory in Europe Day followed Germany's unconditional surrender, signed on 7-8 May 1945, days after Hitler's suicide and the fall of Berlin. The war against Japan continued until August 1945.

Question 45World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

In August 1945 the United States dropped atomic bombs on which two Japanese cities?

  1. Tokyo and Osaka
  2. Nagasaki and Yokohama
  3. Kyoto and Kobe
  4. Hiroshima and Nagasaki Correct answer.

Explanation

Hiroshima was bombed on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. Together with the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, these attacks led to Japan's surrender on 15 August, ending the Second World War.

Question 46World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

What was decided at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942?

  1. The invasion of the Soviet Union
  2. The coordination of the 'Final Solution': the systematic deportation and murder of Europe's Jews Correct answer.
  3. The surrender terms offered to Britain
  4. The founding of the United Nations

Explanation

At Wannsee, senior Nazi officials under Reinhard Heydrich coordinated the bureaucracy of genocide - the deportation of Jews to killing centres such as Auschwitz. Persecution and mass killing were already under way; Wannsee organised the 'Final Solution' across Europe.

Question 47World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

At the Yalta Conference of February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed on all of the following EXCEPT:

  1. the division of Germany into occupation zones
  2. the holding of free elections in liberated Eastern Europe
  3. the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan
  4. the immediate unification of Germany as a neutral state Correct answer.

Explanation

Yalta planned Germany's division and disarmament, promised (falsely, as it turned out) free elections in Eastern Europe, and set Soviet entry against Japan and UN arrangements. German reunification as a neutral state was never agreed; division hardened into the two German states of 1949.

Question 48World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

Greece's 'Ohi Day' (28 October 1940) commemorates:

  1. the Greek rejection of Mussolini's ultimatum, after which Italy invaded from Albania Correct answer.
  2. the liberation of Athens from German occupation
  3. the start of the Greek Civil War
  4. Greece's entry into the European Economic Community

Explanation

In the early hours of 28 October 1940 Italy demanded free passage for its troops; Prime Minister Metaxas refused ('Ohi' - No), and Italian forces invaded from Albania the same morning. The Greek army's successful counter-offensive into Albania was the first major Axis setback on land.

Question 49World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The Battle of Crete (May 1941) is historically notable because:

  1. it was the first mainly airborne invasion in history, as German paratroopers captured the island despite heavy losses Correct answer.
  2. it was the last Allied victory of the war in Europe
  3. it led to the immediate liberation of Greece
  4. it was a naval battle in which the Italian fleet destroyed the Royal Navy

Explanation

Germany took Crete in May 1941 using Fallschirmjäger paratroopers and airlanding troops - the first time an island was conquered largely from the air. German losses were so severe that Hitler never again attempted a major airborne operation, while Allied and Cretan resistance continued until 1945.

Question 50World and European transformations from the revolutionary age through the Cold War and beyond

The 'Dekemvriana' of December 1944 refers to:

  1. the signing of the Varkiza agreement disarming ELAS
  2. the Greek army's victory over Italy in Albania
  3. the restoration of the Greek monarchy by referendum
  4. street fighting in Athens between ELAS partisans and government forces supported by British troops Correct answer.

Explanation

Two months after liberation, clashes over the disarmament of the resistance erupted into full battle in Athens between ELAS and the government, backed by British forces. The left was defeated, signed the Varkiza agreement (February 1945), and the conflict laid the ground for the full Civil War of 1946-49.