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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?
What the Wars Left Behind
Both wars ended with settlements that shaped the decades after them, one badly and one rather better.
About this topic
The two world wars produced two very different peace settlements, and the contrast is the most instructive thing about them. The first left Germany with reparations it could not pay, a republic nobody had asked for and a currency that collapsed inside five years. The League of Nations was built to prevent a repeat and was undermined from the start by the absence of the United States, whose president had done most to design it. The second settlement was more deliberate. Germany was occupied rather than merely disarmed, and rebuilt with money rather than billed for damages. The United Nations was set up before the fighting had finished, with the great powers given permanent seats and vetoes precisely so they would stay inside it. What nobody had planned for was the speed with which the wartime alliance came apart: within four years of victory, Berlin was being supplied by air across territory held by a former ally.
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What the Wars Left Behind: all 10 questions and answers
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1Which body was created after the First World War to prevent future conflicts between states?
- A The Hague Assembly
- B The League of Nations Correct
- C The United Nations
- D The Concert of Europe
Answer: B. The League of Nations
Why: It first met in 1920 and was based in Geneva. The United States never joined, despite the idea coming largely from President Wilson.
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2The Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 settled the borders of which new republic?
- A Turkey Correct
- B Greece
- C Bulgaria
- D Iraq
Answer: A. Turkey
Why: It replaced the far harsher Treaty of Sevres, which was never put into effect. The settlement also involved a compulsory exchange of populations with Greece.
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3Germany's post-war republic, founded in 1919, is usually named after which town?
- A Potsdam
- B Frankfurt
- C Nuremberg
- D Weimar Correct
Answer: D. Weimar
Why: The constitutional assembly met there because Berlin was unsettled by street fighting. The state's official name stayed the German Reich; the label is a later convenience.
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4Which clause of the Treaty of Versailles became the legal basis for Allied reparations claims?
- A The one requiring union with Austria
- B The one transferring all German shipping
- C The one assigning Germany responsibility for causing the war Correct
- D The one abolishing the German monarchy
Answer: C. The one assigning Germany responsibility for causing the war
Why: Article 231 was drafted by lawyers as a basis for calculating damages, but it was read in Germany as a moral verdict. The reparations total was set separately in 1921 and revised downward several times before payments stopped.
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5The United Nations Charter was signed in 1945 in which city?
- A Ottawa
- B San Francisco Correct
- C Geneva
- D Vienna
Answer: B. San Francisco
Why: Fifty countries signed it that June, before the fighting in the Pacific had ended. The permanent headquarters went to New York the following year.
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6After 1945, Germany was divided into occupation zones run by how many powers?
- A Four Correct
- B Two
- C Three
- D Five
Answer: A. Four
Why: Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and France each took a zone, and Berlin was divided the same way despite lying inside the Soviet zone. The arrangement hardened into two German states by 1949.
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7How did the western Allies respond to the Soviet blockade of land routes into West Berlin in 1948?
- A They imposed a naval blockade of Soviet ports
- B They withdrew their troops from the city
- C They referred the matter to the League of Nations
- D They supplied the city by air for almost a year Correct
Answer: D. They supplied the city by air for almost a year
Why: Aircraft were landing at intervals of a few minutes at the peak of the operation. The blockade was lifted in May 1949.
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8Which conference of July and August 1945 set out the Allied administration of defeated Germany?
- A Tehran
- B Bretton Woods
- C Potsdam Correct
- D Casablanca
Answer: C. Potsdam
Why: It was the last of the wartime leaders' conferences. Britain changed prime minister partway through it, after a general election result arrived mid-conference.
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9Which phrase did Winston Churchill popularise in 1946 for the new division of Europe?
- A The Warsaw Pact
- B The Iron Curtain Correct
- C The Cold War
- D The Eastern Bloc
Answer: B. The Iron Curtain
Why: He used it in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, though the phrase had appeared in print before him. "Cold War" was popularised separately by the American commentator Walter Lippmann.
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10Roughly how many deaths are usually estimated to have resulted from the Second World War?
- A Between 60 and 85 million Correct
- B Around 15 million
- C Around 30 million
- D Around 200 million
Answer: A. Between 60 and 85 million
Why: Estimates vary widely because civilian deaths from famine and disease are very hard to count. The Soviet Union and China lost the most people in absolute terms.
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