Atomic Bombings

Question 1

When did Japan invade Manchuria?

Answer 1

September 18th 1931

Question 2

Why did Japan invade China

Answer 2

False pretenses under a bombing of a railway

Question 3

How did the US respond to Japan invading China?

Answer 3

Sanctions on the Japanese empire

Question 4

Why did Japan bomb Pearl Harbor?

Answer 4

To try and knock out the US quickly, to avoid a long war.

Question 5

When did the Harbor bombing happen?

Answer 5

7th of December 1941

Question 6

How many waves of bombers were there?

Answer 6

2

Question 7

What was the US reaction to Pearl Harbor?

Answer 7

Entry into the war and public outrage.

Question 8

When did Germany surrender?

Answer 8

May 7th 1945

Question 9

Who wrote a letter to Roosevelt about the bombs?

Answer 9

Einstein and Leo Szilard

Question 10

When did the Potsdam conference start?

Answer 10

July 17th 1945

Question 11

Why meet on the 17th of July?

Answer 11

The trinity test was the day before.

Question 12

Who was president in 1945?

Answer 12

Truman.

Question 13

How far across was the blast

Answer 13

3.5 Kilometers.

Question 14

How many people died from radiation poisoning?

Answer 14

Between 90,000 and 166,000

Question 15

What was the official date of the Japanese surrender?

Answer 15

2nd of September 1945.

Question 16

What was the highest estimated death toll of Operation Downfall?

Answer 16

1 million US soldiers.

Question 17

What areas of Germany did the Soviets get?

Answer 17

The agricultural parts of Germany.

Question 18

When was the first Soviet nuclear test?

Answer 18

29th of August 1949.

Question 19

What was the next progression of nuclear weapons?

Answer 19

The H-Bomb.

Question 20

What was the name of the plane over Hiroshima?

Answer 20

Enola Gay.

Question 21

Who is Gar Alperovitz?

Answer 21

A leading historian on the decision to drop the bombs.

Question 22

What is Alperovitz’s view on the bombings?

Answer 22

They were used primarily to scare the Soviet Union and give the US bargaining power in Europe.

Question 23

Did the Soviets react to the bomb

Answer 23

Yes, they were more cautious in 1945 and 1946.

Question 24

How was the US response to post war Japan?

Answer 24

They helped Japan rebuild and made them an ally against China and Russia.

Question 25

What year was the Cuban missile crisis?

Answer 25

1963.

Question 26

How did JFK get the Soviets to move their missiles out?

Answer 26

Showed photos of Soviet sites in Cuba and promised to remove missiles from Turkey.

Question 27

Who was the scientist who was passing Soviet's secrets from the Manhattan Project?

Answer 27

Klaus Fuchs.

Question 28

Who was the senator leading anti-Soviet sentiment in the 50s?

Answer 28

Joseph. R. McCarthy

Question 29

Why did the Berlin Airlift happen?

Answer 29

The Soviets blockaded Berlin to take it away from the West.

Question 30

What was the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 30

A concentrated effort of planes landing in Berlin to deliver supplies to the people there, stopping their hunger.

Question 31

When was the Berlin wall built?

Answer 31

13th of August 1961.

Question 32

When was the Berlin wall taken down?

Answer 32

November 9th 1989.

Question 33

When did the Soviet Union collapse?

Answer 33

26th of December 1991.

Question 34

Who was the leader of the Manhattan Project?

Answer 34

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Question 35

Who is Barton Bernstein?

Answer 35

Another leading historian on the bombings?

Question 36

What was Bernstein's opinion?

Answer 36

The bombs were dropped to save lives first.

Question 37

What did Bernstein change his mind to?

Answer 37

The bombs were dropped to both scare the Soviets AND save lives.