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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 War in the Pacific
The Pacific war was fought across a third of the surface of the planet, mostly by aircraft flying from ships. Ten questions on the battles and commanders that decided it.
About this topic
The Pacific was a naval war in a way that Europe never was. Distances were enormous, land was scarce, and the decisive weapon was the aircraft carrier, which could put an airfield wherever it was needed. Within six months of Pearl Harbor two battles fought entirely by carrier aircraft had settled the direction of the whole theatre. After that the shape of the war was set: two parallel Allied advances, one through the south-west Pacific and one across the central islands, both converging on Japan, while a long campaign in Burma tied down forces on the mainland. These ten questions follow that arc from 1942 to the surrender in Tokyo Bay.
Questions & answers
The War in the Pacific: 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 June 1942 battle cost Japan four fleet carriers and reversed the balance in the Pacific?
- A The Coral Sea
- B The Philippine Sea
- C Leyte Gulf
- D Midway Correct
Answer: D. Midway
Why: American codebreakers had worked out both the target and the timing, which let three US carriers wait in ambush north-east of the atoll. Japan could replace the ships in time but never the trained aircrew.
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2Which May 1942 battle was the first in which the opposing fleets never sighted one another?
- A Leyte Gulf
- B Cape Esperance
- C The Coral Sea Correct
- D Midway
Answer: C. The Coral Sea
Why: The whole action was fought by aircraft flying between carriers that stayed well over the horizon from each other. It checked a Japanese move on Port Moresby and cost the United States the carrier Lexington.
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3A six-month land, sea and air campaign began in August 1942 on which island in the Solomons?
- A Tarawa
- B Guadalcanal Correct
- C Bougainville
- D New Britain
Answer: B. Guadalcanal
Why: US Marines landed to seize a Japanese airfield under construction, which they completed and named Henderson Field. Holding it through months of night naval actions put Japan on the defensive in the South Pacific for good.
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4Who commanded the Japanese combined fleet at the start of the Pacific war?
- A Isoroku Yamamoto Correct
- B Chuichi Nagumo
- C Hideki Tojo
- D Tomoyuki Yamashita
Answer: A. Isoroku Yamamoto
Why: Yamamoto had studied at Harvard and served as a naval attaché in Washington, and he doubted Japan could win a long war against American industry. Nagumo commanded the carrier force that carried out his Pearl Harbor plan.
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5Which American general commanded in the south-west Pacific and returned to the Philippines in October 1944?
- A Chester Nimitz
- B William Halsey
- C Joseph Stilwell
- D Douglas MacArthur Correct
Answer: D. Douglas MacArthur
Why: MacArthur had been ordered out of the Philippines to Australia in 1942 and came back ashore at Leyte two and a half years later. Nimitz ran the parallel advance across the central Pacific from Hawaii.
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6Which 1944 battle in the Philippines is usually described as the largest naval battle ever fought?
- A Midway
- B The Coral Sea
- C Leyte Gulf Correct
- D The Philippine Sea
Answer: C. Leyte Gulf
Why: It ran over several days in October 1944 across hundreds of miles of sea and finished the Japanese navy as an offensive force. It also included the last battleship-against-battleship action in history, in Surigao Strait.
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7The battles of Imphal and Kohima in 1944 were fought on the border of Burma and which country?
- A Nepal
- B India Correct
- C China
- D Thailand
Answer: B. India
Why: A Japanese advance towards Assam was stopped at those two towns and then forced into a long retreat during the monsoon. British and Indian units held out largely because they were supplied from the air.
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8On which island did US Marines raise a flag on Mount Suribachi in February 1945?
- A Iwo Jima Correct
- B Okinawa
- C Saipan
- D Peleliu
Answer: A. Iwo Jima
Why: The island was wanted as an emergency landing ground for bombers flying the long route to and from Japan. The photograph taken on the summit became the model for the Marine Corps memorial in Virginia.
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9The first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on which city?
- A Nagasaki
- B Kokura
- C Yokohama
- D Hiroshima Correct
Answer: D. Hiroshima
Why: Hiroshima was struck on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki three days later. Japan announced its surrender on 15 August in a radio broadcast by the emperor, the first time most of his subjects had heard his voice.
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10The Japanese instrument of surrender was signed aboard which ship in Tokyo Bay?
- A USS Iowa
- B USS Arizona
- C USS Missouri Correct
- D USS Enterprise
Answer: C. USS Missouri
Why: The ceremony took place on the battleship's deck on 2 September 1945, formally ending the Second World War. The Missouri is now preserved as a museum at Pearl Harbor.
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