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The World Wars
Causes, Turning Points & Treaties
How both wars began, turned and were settled.
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In which year did the First World War begin?
The Second World War in Europe
The war in Europe lasted five years and eight months and turned on a handful of decisions. These ten questions follow the line from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to the surrender in May 1945.
About this topic
The European war had two halves. Until the end of 1941 Germany held the initiative almost everywhere, and the question was how far it could reach. After Stalingrad and Kursk the initiative passed to the Soviet Union in the east and to the Western Allies in the Mediterranean, and the question became how long the retreat would take. This quiz sticks to the campaigns, the conferences and the commanders. It does not attempt to cover the Holocaust, which ran alongside the fighting and is not a subject for a quiz; the reading list at the end of any serious history of the war is the right place for that.
Questions & answers
The Second World War in Europe: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1Which agreement of August 1939 committed Germany and the Soviet Union to non-aggression days before the invasion of Poland?
- A The Locarno Treaties
- B The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Correct
- C The Munich Agreement
- D The Anti-Comintern Pact
Answer: B. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Why: It is named after the two foreign ministers who signed it, and it included a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe between them. It held until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941.
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2What was the codename for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941?
- A Operation Barbarossa Correct
- B Operation Sea Lion
- C Operation Weserübung
- D Operation Typhoon
Answer: A. Operation Barbarossa
Why: It was named after Frederick Barbarossa, the medieval emperor, and opened by far the largest land front of the war. Operation Typhoon was the follow-up drive on Moscow that autumn, which stalled in the snow.
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3The evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied troops from France in 1940 is remembered by the name of which port?
- A Calais
- B Le Havre
- C Cherbourg
- D Dunkirk Correct
Answer: D. Dunkirk
Why: Troops were lifted from the beaches and the harbour mole over nine days at the end of May and start of June by warships and hundreds of small civilian craft. Almost all of their heavy equipment was left behind.
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4Which two RAF fighters carried the bulk of the fighting in the Battle of Britain?
- A The Typhoon and the Tempest
- B The Defiant and the Blenheim
- C The Hurricane and the Spitfire Correct
- D The Mosquito and the Lancaster
Answer: C. The Hurricane and the Spitfire
Why: Hurricanes were more numerous in 1940 and accounted for more German aircraft than Spitfires did, though the Spitfire took most of the credit afterwards. Both were directed from the ground using reports from the radar chain.
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5A German army was encircled and forced to surrender in February 1943 at which city on the Volga?
- A Voronezh
- B Stalingrad Correct
- C Kharkov
- D Rostov
Answer: B. Stalingrad
Why: The surrender of the trapped Sixth Army marked the limit of the German advance into the southern Soviet Union. The city has been called Volgograd since 1961.
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6The largest series of armoured battles of the war was fought in July 1943 around which Soviet salient?
- A Kursk Correct
- B Smolensk
- C Vitebsk
- D Bryansk
Answer: A. Kursk
Why: The German attack, Operation Citadel, was expected and ran into deep prepared defences, and it was called off within a fortnight. After Kursk the German army in the east was almost permanently on the defensive.
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7The Allied landings in Sicily in July 1943 led within weeks to the fall of which leader?
- A Philippe Pétain
- B Miklós Horthy
- C Boris III of Bulgaria
- D Benito Mussolini Correct
Answer: D. Benito Mussolini
Why: Mussolini was voted down by the Fascist Grand Council and dismissed by the king later that month. Italy signed an armistice with the Allies in September, and German forces then occupied much of the country.
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8The Battle of the Bulge was fought through the forests of which region?
- A The Vosges
- B The Black Forest
- C The Ardennes Correct
- D Alsace
Answer: C. The Ardennes
Why: The German offensive of December 1944 pushed a deep bulge into the American line across Belgium and Luxembourg. The road junction at Bastogne was surrounded and held out until the end of the month.
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9Which February 1945 conference brought Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin together in Crimea?
- A Casablanca
- B Yalta Correct
- C Potsdam
- D Tehran
Answer: B. Yalta
Why: Yalta set out occupation zones for a defeated Germany and secured a Soviet commitment to join the war against Japan. By the Potsdam conference five months later Roosevelt had died and Churchill lost an election midway through.
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10Which capital did Soviet forces capture in the final major battle of the European war?
- A Berlin Correct
- B Vienna
- C Prague
- D Budapest
Answer: A. Berlin
Why: Soviet armies reached the outskirts in April 1945 and the garrison surrendered on 2 May. Germany's unconditional surrender took effect on 8 May, marked in the west as VE Day.
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