The Great Depression to the Cold War

Question 1

What was the stock market trend in the 1920s?

Answer 1

A long period of rising stock prices.

By 1928, prices were inflated above their true value.

Question 2

What is speculation in the context of the stock market?

Answer 2

Buying and then selling something quickly, hoping to make a profit.

Question 3

What event is referred to as ‘Black Tuesday’?

Answer 3

October 29, 1929, when stock prices dropped dramatically.

Question 4

What caused bank closures during the Great Depression?

Answer 4

Financial fear prompted runs on banks, leading to mass withdrawals and bank failures.

Question 5

What were the roots of the Great Depression?

Answer 5

• Low interest rates allowed for cheap credit – led to speculation, too much borrowing, excess expansion in companies
• Overproduction
• Falling demand
• High tariffs
• Uneven distribution of wealth

Question 6

What was the unemployment rate during the Great Depression?

Answer 6

25%.

Question 7

What were Hoovervilles?

Answer 7

Shantytowns built by evicted people during the Great Depression.

Question 8

What was the Dust Bowl?

Answer 8

A severe drought in the 1930s that turned soil into dust, burying crops and livestock.

Question 9

Who was elected president in 1928 and often blamed for the Great Depression?

Answer 9

Herbert Hoover.

Question 10

What were the measures taken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt called?

Answer 10

The New Deal.

Question 11

What was the overarching problem addressed by the New Deal?

Answer 11

Low spending meant low sales.

Question 12

What was the purpose of the SEC?

Answer 12

To require companies to be more open about their financial status.

Question 13

What did the FDIC provide?

Answer 13

Federal insurance for bank deposits.

Question 14

What did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) do?

Answer 14

Paid farmers not to grow food to raise prices.

Question 15

What were the main successes of the New Deal?

Answer 15

• Banks reopened
• Many people retained their homes/farms
• Created a sense of hope

Question 16

What ideologies did the Axis countries adopt right before WWII?

Answer 16

Italy (Mussolini) – Fascism
Soviet Union (Stalin) – Communism
Germany (Hitler) – Fascism
Japan (Hideki Tojo) – Totalitarianism

Question 17

Who was the primary cause of WWII?

Answer 17

Adolf Hitler.

Question 18

What was appeasment?`

Answer 18

France and Britain gave Hitler what he wanted.

Question 19

What was the Lend-Lease Act?

Answer 19

Allowed the US to provide arms and vehicles to allies.

Question 20

What event led to the US’s formal entry into WWII?

Answer 20

The Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Question 21

What was Blitzkrieg?

Answer 21

High-speed warfare used by Germany during WWII.

Question 22

What was the Holocaust?

Answer 22

The systematic genocide of 6 million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis.

Question 23

What was the significance of the Battle of Midway?

Answer 23

A crucial turning point in the Pacific Theater: Japan was now on the defensive.

Question 24

What was ‘Island Hopping’?

Answer 24

Isolating fortified Japanese islands without direct attacks.

Question 25

Who developed the atomic bomb?

Answer 25

The Manhattan Project

Question 26

What was the result of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima?

Answer 26

Destroyed 63% of the city; 80,000-120,000 died instantly.

Question 27

What was the Cold War?

Answer 27

An era of confrontation and competition between the US and the USSR from 1945-1990.

Question 28

What was the Iron Curtain?

Answer 28

The term used to describe the barrier between Western and Eastern Europe.

Question 29

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 29

US pledge to help countries resisting control by other nations.

Question 30

What was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 30

US grants to European countries to rebuild their economies after WWII.

Question 31

What was the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 31

US response to Stalin's blockade of West Berlin, supplying the city for almost a year.

Question 32

Who was the democratic presidential winner in 1932?

Answer 32

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question 33

What did the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) do?

Answer 33

They employed mostly teens to work on public lands

Question 34

What did the PWA (Public Works Administration) do?

Answer 34

They funded major infrastructure projects and employed large numbers

Question 35

What did the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) do?

Answer 35

They were a huge government-run power company who gave work to many Southerners

Question 36

What was the type of New Deal program that economists today judge as most productive?

Answer 36

Government work programs

Question 37

Who did Hitler blame for the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 37

The Jewish people

Question 38

What book did Hitler write?

Answer 38

Mein Kampf

Question 39

When did Germany invade Poland?

Answer 39

September 1, 1939 (then England and France immediately declared war on Germany)

Question 40

What were the "Cash and Carry" arms sales?

Answer 40

The US could sell arms to other countries but they had to pay cash and use their own ships

Question 41

When was the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and what was its purpose?

Answer 41

June 6, 1944 Purpose: go through France to invade Germany

Question 42

When did Hitler commit?

Answer 42

April 30, 1945

Question 43

When did Germany surrender?

Answer 43

May 7, 1945

Question 44

What was the significance of the Battle of Coral Sea?

Answer 44

It was the first time the Japanese were thwarted -- American victory

Question 45

When was the Battle of Coral Sea?

Answer 45

May 1942

Question 46

When was the Battle of Midway?

Answer 46

June 1942

Question 47

When was Guadalcanal?

Answer 47

August - November 1942

Question 48

What was the significance of Guadalcanal?

Answer 48

The Japanese were no longer in control Caused the US to think carefully about strategy

Question 49

Why were the Japanese willing to die for their country?

Answer 49

Banzai -- "10,000 years" -- their Samurai history

Question 50

When was the Battle of Iwo Jima?

Answer 50

February to March 1945

Question 51

What was the significance of Iwo Jima?

Answer 51

It was the perfect Japanese implementation of new anti-invasion tactics

Question 52

What were kamikazes?

Answer 52

Suicide pilots flying bomb-filled planes directly into a target

Question 53

Who were the Navajo Code Breakers?

Answer 53

Dine (Navajo) recruited from Arizona, created a code based on their language

Question 54

When was the Battle of Okinawa?

Answer 54

April and May 1945

Question 55

What was the significance of the Battle of Okinawa?

Answer 55

It was the bloodiest infantry battle in the Pacific -- terrible casualties on both sides & It was the final piece of evidence that Japan would never surrender under normal war circumstances

Question 56

When was the first successful test detonation of the atomic bomb?

Answer 56

June 16, 1945

Question 57

When was the bombing of Hiroshima, and what was the bomb called?

Answer 57

August 6, 1945 "Little Boy"

Question 58

When was the bombing of Nagasaki, and what was the bomb called?

Answer 58

August 9, 1945 "Fat Man"

Question 59

When was the formal surrender on board USS Missouri?

Answer 59

September 2, 1945

Question 60

When was the United Nations formed?

Answer 60

1944

Question 61

Who are the 5 Permanent Members of the UN?

Answer 61

US Britain France USSR China

Question 62

When was the Yalta Conference, and what was it all about?

Answer 62

February 1945 agreed to split Germany between them -- West Germany supported by US and East Germany controlled by Soviets

Question 63

What was the USSR's main concern during the Cold War?

Answer 63

security

Question 64

What was the US's main concern during the Cold War?

Answer 64

economic prosperity

Question 65

What were "satellite states"?

Answer 65

USSR's communist pro-soviet goverments in Eastern Europe

Question 66

What was the Long Telegram?

Answer 66

George Kennan furnished a description of the political situation in Moscow Russians were insecure and feared war

Question 67

What was the policy of Containment?

Answer 67

Do not attack the USSR, but take action to prevent its control of areas important to US security

Question 68

What was the importance of the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 68

It showed the US commitment to containment