World History Practice Test: The World Wars and the Cold War
- World Wars and the Cold War
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
Ten questions on world history from 1914 to 1991. Tip: many questions turn on dates, so know the start and end year of each war.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
Which event in June 1914 set off the chain of events that led to World War I?
Correct answer: B
A Bosnian Serb shot the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and the alliance system pulled other powers in. The Lusitania sank in 1915.
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Question 2
What was fighting like on the Western Front in World War I for most of the war?
Correct answer: D
Machine guns and artillery made attacks very costly, so the front barely moved for years. Fast tank warfare was typical of World War II.
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Question 3
Which treaty, signed in 1919, made Germany accept blame for World War I and pay reparations?
Correct answer: A
The war guilt clause and heavy reparations caused deep resentment in Germany. Brest-Litovsk (1918) took Russia out of the war.
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Question 4
How did the Great Depression help the Nazi Party gain power in Germany?
Correct answer: C
With millions out of work, Hitler's promises of jobs and national revival won support, and he became chancellor in 1933.
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Question 5
World War II began in Europe in September 1939 when Germany invaded which country?
Correct answer: B
Britain and France declared war two days after the invasion of Poland. Germany had taken Czechoslovakia earlier without a war and attacked the Soviet Union in 1941.
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Question 6
Which event brought the United States into World War II?
Correct answer: C
The United States declared war on Japan the day after the attack, and Germany then declared war on the United States. The Normandy landing came after the U.S. was already fighting.
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Question 7
What was the Holocaust?
Correct answer: D
The Nazis also murdered Roma, disabled people and other groups. Most victims were killed in ghettos, mass shootings and death camps.
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Question 8
Which international organization was founded in 1945 to keep peace and promote cooperation among nations?
Correct answer: A
The UN replaced the League of Nations, which had failed to prevent World War II. The European Union was created much later, in 1993.
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Question 9
Why was the Berlin Wall built in 1961?
Correct answer: B
Millions had left East Germany through Berlin, so the East German government sealed the border. The wall fell on November 9, 1989.
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Question 10
In October 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war over Soviet missiles placed where?
Correct answer: A
U.S. planes photographed Soviet missile sites in Cuba. The crisis ended when the Soviets agreed to remove them; the U.S. later quietly removed its missiles from Turkey.
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