History Test study guide (standard 4/5)

Question 1

Why was the Lend-lease act created?

Answer 1

It would allow the United States to aid allied nations without declaring war

Question 2

Before Pearl Harbor what types of things did the U.S. create to stay isolated from European affairs?

Answer 2

Neutrality acts (forbids the U.S. to sell arms to warring nations)

Question 3

How did the Japanese feel we would act after the attack on Pearl Harbor? Instead, what did this event do to us?

Answer 3

They thought we would crumble but our national pride demanded war

Question 4

Why did Winston Churchill dislike appeasement?

Answer 4

He wanted greater American involvement in Europe and felt it was dishonorable not to do so

Question 5

What was the major aim of Roosevelt’s “Quarantine Speech?”

Answer 5

To take an isolationist approach and quarantine aggressors (nations at war)

Question 6

What types of things did the U.S. do to mobilize for war

Answer 6

Created the War Board Committee (ration, convert industries, fix prices)

Question 7

What was the U.S. policy of “cash and carry?”

Answer 7

Permitted the sale of arms to European warring parties as long as they crossed the Atlantic on their own ships and paid for them at once in cash (this provided weapons to allies while staying neutral)

Question 8

How were women and African-Americans incorporated into the U.S. mobilization for war?

Answer 8

Through the WAC (served in military/factories) and Tuskegee Airmen

Question 9

How was the Soviet Union’s victory in the Battle of Stalingrad and the U.S. victory at Midway similar?

Answer 9

Both were turning points in the war, allowed the U.S. to participate in an offensive action against the enemy

Question 10

What was President Truman’s major goal in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945?

Answer 10

To end the war quickly and save American lives

Question 11

Know the Big 3 and what countries they represented

Answer 11

Roosevelt (United States), Churchill (Great Britain), and Stalin (Soviet Union)

Question 12

What was the significance of D-Day?

Answer 12

It was the turning point in the war and opened up an additional front

Question 13

What was the ultimate goal of the U.S.’s “Island Hopping” strategy in the Pacific theater of WWII?

Answer 13

To liberate Pacific Islands and get close enough to Japan to attack them

Question 14

What were the trials at Nuremberg meant to accomplish?

Answer 14

Try Nazi war criminals and make them responsible for acts committed in war

Question 15

Why is the Holocaust an example of genocide?

Answer 15

It was meant to exterminate an entire race of people

Question 16

How did WWII affect the US economy?

Answer 16

The economy boomed

Question 17

What was a lasting impact of the attempted genocide of the European Jewish population?

Answer 17

The creation of Israel

Question 18

What was the “Final Solution?”

Answer 18

A Nazi plan for the genocide of the Jewish population

Question 19

Why did Eastern Europe become involved in the Cold War?

Answer 19

Stalin wanted to establish pro-Soviet governments in the countries of Eastern Europe to serve as a buffer zone against possible western attacks

Question 20

What was the U.S. policy of containment?

Answer 20

Policy of keeping communism contained within its existing borders

Question 21

What was the purpose of the Berlin Wall?

Answer 21

To isolate West Berlin from communist-controlled East Berlin and to keep East Berlin citizens from fleeting

Question 22

What was Senator Joseph McCarthy’s influence on the “Red Scare” of the 1950s?

Answer 22

He accused many people and political leaders of being communist

Question 23

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 23

Struggle between the U.S. and Soviet Union over nuclear power over missiles in Cuba

Question 24

What was the G.I. Bill? Who benefited from it?

Answer 24

A bill that eased the return of WWII veterans by providing education and employment aid; it benefited veterans and their families

Question 25

What are “Baby Boomers?”

Answer 25

People who were born from 1946 and 1964 after WWII

Question 26

What changes did we see to American society in the postwar years?

Answer 26

Growing middle class, gap between rich and poor is becoming smaller, and America is becoming a consumer society

Question 27

How did public education change during the postwar era and after the Soviet launch of Sputnik?

Answer 27

Math and science skills were emphasized

Question 28

What was Betty Friedan’s concept of women’s roles in her book The Feminine Mystique?

Answer 28

Women were not content with traditional roles