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European theatre of World War II - Quiz
Contributed by: Miah
  • 1. When did the European theatre of World War II last from and until?
A) July 1937 to May 1945
B) September 1939 to September 1945
C) August 1938 to April 1944
D) September 1939 to May 1945
  • 2. What was the estimated minimum number of deaths resulting from combat in Europe during WWII?
A) 6 million
B) 50 million
C) 39 million
D) 20 million
  • 3. Which of the following was NOT one of the main Allied powers for most of the war?
A) United Kingdom
B) Soviet Union
C) Italy
D) France
  • 4. What genocide of six million Jews did Germany enact within its occupied territories?
A) The Blitz
B) The Night of the Long Knives
C) The Nuremberg trials
D) The Holocaust
  • 5. In what year did Adolf Hitler have Germany annex Austria and part of Czechoslovakia?
A) 1939
B) 1938
C) 1936
D) 1940
  • 6. Which event marked the beginning of World War II?
A) The bombing of London
B) The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
C) Germany's invasion of Poland
D) Germany's annexation of Austria
  • 7. When did Germany invade Poland?
A) 1 September 1939
B) 1 September 1940
C) 1 September 1938
D) 1 September 1941
  • 8. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union during World War II?
A) Benito Mussolini
B) Adolf Hitler
C) Hideki Tojo
D) Joseph Stalin
  • 9. Who was the British prime minister during the aerial bombardments of the U.K.?
A) Winston Churchill
B) Harry S. Truman
C) Neville Chamberlain
D) Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • 10. Who was the U.S. president when the United States joined the Allies?
A) Franklin D. Roosevelt
B) Harry S. Truman
C) Dwight D. Eisenhower
D) Woodrow Wilson
  • 11. At which battle did the Soviets halt the German invasion of their country?
A) Battle of Stalingrad
B) Battle of Normandy
C) Battle of the Bulge
D) Battle of Britain
  • 12. What event in 1943 led to the end of Mussolini's regime?
A) The Allied invasion of Italy
B) The Battle of Stalingrad
C) The bombing of Berlin
D) The invasion of Poland
  • 13. Where did the Allies begin invading German-occupied Western Europe in 1944?
A) Sicily
B) Berlin
C) Normandy
D) Rome
  • 14. Who succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt after his death in April 1945?
A) Winston Churchill
B) Harry S. Truman
C) Joseph Stalin
D) Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • 15. How did Adolf Hitler die in April 1945?
A) In combat
B) He was hanged
C) By suicide
D) Of poor health
  • 16. When did Germany unconditionally surrender, an event now celebrated as 'Victory in Europe Day'?
A) 25 May
B) 1 September
C) 5 June
D) 8 May
  • 17. What document did Germany sign on 5 June proclaiming its unconditional surrender to the Allies?
A) The Pact of Steel
B) The Treaty of Versailles
C) The Anti-Comintern Pact
D) The Berlin Declaration
  • 18. Where were German military leaders prosecuted after World War II?
A) Nuremberg trials
B) Yalta conference
C) Berlin tribunal
D) Rome court
  • 19. What post-war division marked the beginning of the Cold War in Europe?
A) All of Europe became democratic
B) All of Europe remained under Allied military rule
C) Western Europe became communist and Eastern Europe became capitalist
D) Western Europe became capitalist and Eastern Europe became communist
  • 20. Which treaty placed punitive conditions on Germany after World War I?
A) Treaty of Berlin
B) Treaty of Versailles
C) Treaty of Paris
D) Pact of Steel
  • 21. Which German region was made a demilitarised zone under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles?
A) Bavaria
B) Alsace-Lorraine
C) The Saarland
D) The Rhineland
  • 22. What international governmental body devoted to peacekeeping did Germany initially join and later withdraw from?
A) The Axis Alliance
B) The League of Nations
C) The United Nations
D) The European Union
  • 23. What building caught on fire in an arson attack in February 1933, giving Hitler an opportunity to target political opponents?
A) The Berlin Cathedral
B) The Munich Town Hall
C) The German Reichstag building
D) The Reich Chancellery
  • 24. What was the name of the paramilitary organisation within the Nazi Party whose leaders were purged during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934?
A) Gestapo
B) Blackshirts
C) Sturmabteilung (SA)
D) Schutzstaffel (SS)
  • 25. What was the nickname of Benito Mussolini's supporters who terrorised the Italian countryside?
A) Brownshirts
B) Redshirts
C) Blackshirts
D) Greenshirts
  • 26. Who was the King of Italy alongside whom Mussolini shared power after 1922?
A) Emperor Hirohito
B) Hideki Tojo
C) Adolf Hitler
D) Victor Emmanuel III
  • 27. Who led Imperial Japan during World War II alongside Prime Minister Hideki Tojo?
A) Benito Mussolini
B) Emperor Hirohito
C) Joseph Stalin
D) Adolf Hitler
  • 28. What was the name of the Italian invasion of the Ethiopian Empire from 1935 to 1937?
A) Second Sino-Japanese War
B) Anti-Comintern Pact
C) Second Italo-Ethiopian War
D) Pact of Steel
  • 29. What was the name of Japan's expanded invasion of the Republic of China starting in 1937?
A) Second Italo-Ethiopian War
B) Manchurian Campaign
C) Second Sino-Japanese War
D) Pacific War
  • 30. What was the name of the 1936 pact of mutual assurance made between Italy and Germany?
A) Anti-Comintern Pact
B) Rome-Berlin Axis agreement
C) Pact of Steel
D) Berlin Declaration
  • 31. Which pact was signed by Germany and Japan in 1936 to counter the perceived threat of communism from the Soviet Union?
A) Treaty of Versailles
B) Rome-Berlin Axis agreement
C) Anti-Comintern Pact
D) Pact of Steel
  • 32. In what year did Italy sign the Anti-Comintern Pact?
A) 1939
B) 1937
C) 1938
D) 1936
  • 33. What treaty did Italy and Germany sign in 1939 to formalise the Rome-Berlin axis?
A) Anti-Comintern Pact
B) Pact of Steel
C) Non-aggression pact
D) Rome-Berlin Axis agreement
  • 34. Which region was temporarily lost by Germany as part of the punishments under the Treaty of Versailles?
A) Austria
B) The Saarland
C) The Rhineland
D) Bavaria
  • 35. Which specific territory was permanently lost by Germany under the Treaty of Versailles?
A) The Saarland
B) Czechoslovakia
C) Alsace-Lorraine
D) The Rhineland
  • 36. What global economic crisis began in 1929 and worsened Germany's political instability?
A) The 1973 Oil Crisis
B) The Great Depression
C) The 1907 Banker's Panic
D) The Long Depression
  • 37. In what year did Adolf Hitler become the chancellor and fuhrer of Germany?
A) 1938
B) 1935
C) 1931
D) 1933
  • 38. What decree suspended the autonomy of federated states like Bavaria and abolished freedom of speech in Germany?
A) Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State
B) The Enabling Act
C) The Berlin Declaration
D) The Nuremberg Decrees
  • 39. In what year did Hitler order the purge of leaders within the SA during the Night of the Long Knives?
A) 1935
B) 1933
C) 1936
D) 1934
  • 40. In what year did Mussolini and his followers seize power in Rome during a general strike?
A) 1919
B) 1933
C) 1925
D) 1922
  • 41. Which countries' forces made up the Allied powers for most of the war according to the text?
A) France, Germany, Soviet Union, and China
B) United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and France
C) United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and France
D) United Kingdom, United States, Italy, and Poland
  • 42. On which fronts did the Allies fight the Axis powers in Europe?
A) Northern, Southern, Pacific, and Atlantic
B) Western, Eastern, African, and Asian
C) Scandinavian, Balkan, Arctic, and Pacific
D) Western, Eastern, Scandinavian, and Mediterranean
  • 43. What was the motivation behind Hitler's annexation of Austria and part of Czechoslovakia in 1938?
A) To gain "living space" for the "Aryan race"
B) To recover Alsace-Lorraine from France
C) To avenge the Treaty of Versailles military limits
D) To establish a communist buffer zone
  • 44. Which countries declared war on Germany days after the invasion of Poland, but were unwilling to engage in active combat?
A) Norway and Denmark
B) France and the U.K.
C) Greece and Yugoslavia
D) The U.S. and the Soviet Union
  • 45. Which country invaded eastern Poland after signing a non-aggression pact with Germany?
A) Italy
B) The Soviet Union
C) France
D) Japan
  • 46. Which countries did Germany invade in the year 1940?
A) Italy, Spain, and Switzerland
B) Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Greece
C) Norway, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
D) Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and the U.K.
  • 47. What were the names of the two aerial bombardments of the U.K. launched by Germany?
A) The Blitz and Operation Sea Lion
B) The Battle of Britain and the Blitz
C) Operation Barbarossa and Operation Overlord
D) The Battle of Stalingrad and the Blitz
  • 48. Which countries did Germany invade in 1941 before beginning its invasion of the Soviet Union?
A) Yugoslavia and Greece
B) France and Belgium
C) Netherlands and Luxembourg
D) Norway and Denmark
  • 49. What action by Germany later in 1941 brought the United States into the war on the side of the Allies?
A) The U.S. signed the Pact of Steel
B) Germany bombed Pearl Harbor
C) The U.S. was invaded by German troops
D) Germany declared war on the U.S.
  • 50. What military action did the Allies take against German industrial facilities in 1942 and 1943?
A) They sabotaged them from within
B) They blockaded them
C) They captured them via land invasions
D) They bombed them
  • 51. What happened to Rome in 1944?
A) It was destroyed by aerial bombardment
B) It was annexed by Germany
C) It was surrendered by Mussolini
D) It was liberated by the Allies
  • 52. What military campaign in Eastern Europe was launched by the Soviets in 1944?
A) An amphibious landing in Normandy
B) An invasion of Greece
C) A massive counteroffensive
D) A defensive retreat to Stalingrad
  • 53. Which capital city was surrounded by the Soviets towards the end of the war in Europe?
A) Paris
B) Berlin
C) Vienna
D) Rome
  • 54. When did fighting continue in other parts of Europe despite Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May?
A) Until 25 May
B) Until the end of the year
C) Until 5 June
D) Until 1 September
  • 55. After the war in Europe ended, what did the Allies turn their attention to finishing?
A) The Second Italo-Ethiopian War
B) The invasion of China
C) The Second Sino-Japanese War
D) The Pacific War against Japan
  • 56. What financial and political actions did the Allies take in Europe after the war ended?
A) Imposed communist governments across the entire continent
B) Left Europe entirely without central governance
C) Restored or established governments and funded much of Europe's economic recovery
D) Annexed all European nations into the United States
  • 57. What group of nations did the Allies fight against in Europe?
A) The Axis powers
B) The Central Powers
C) The Comintern
D) The League of Nations
  • 58. What fascist states made up the core of the European Axis powers mentioned in the text?
A) Italy and Spain
B) Nazi Germany and Italy
C) Germany, Italy, and France
D) Germany and Japan
  • 59. What was the other main theatre of combat during World War II besides the European theatre?
A) The Atlantic War
B) The Pacific War
C) The Asian Theatre
D) The North African Campaign
  • 60. According to the Nazis, what theory was applied to the survival of a race?
A) Social Darwinism
B) General relativity
C) Quantum mechanics
D) Plate tectonics
  • 61. What did the Nazis believe war was a natural part of?
A) The human condition
B) Democratic society
C) Economic depression
D) Industrial revolution
  • 62. What network was used to transport prisoners to concentration camps from across lower continental Europe?
A) Aviation network
B) Shipping routes
C) Railway network
D) Highway system
  • 63. In what year did the mass killing of camp prisoners expand significantly, marking the usual start date of the Holocaust?
A) 1938
B) 1941
C) 1934
D) 1933
  • 64. During which 1938 pogroms were 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps?
A) Blitzkrieg
B) Reichstag
C) Kristallnacht
D) Anschluss
  • 65. What was the name of the German project group formed to develop the atomic bomb?
A) Luftwaffe
B) Gestapo
C) Uranverein
D) Wehrmacht
  • 66. Which scientist warned United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the German atomic bomb program in 1939?
A) Albert Einstein
B) Otto Hahn
C) Fritz Strassman
D) Max Planck
  • 67. How did the UK and France initially respond to Germany's aggressive expansion?
A) Immediate military intervention
B) Appeasement
C) Naval blockades
D) Economic embargoes
  • 68. In what year did Germany revoke the Treaty of Versailles' limitations on its military?
A) 1936
B) 1935
C) 1933
D) 1938
  • 69. In what year did Germany remilitarize the Rhineland?
A) 1938
B) 1937
C) 1935
D) 1936
  • 70. Which region did Hitler threaten to go to war over before the Munich Agreement?
A) Poland
B) Czechoslovakia
C) The Rhineland
D) Austria
  • 71. Who was the UK prime minister who signed the Munich Agreement?
A) Neville Chamberlain
B) Jozef Tiso
C) Winston Churchill
D) Edouard Daladier
  • 72. Who was the French premier who signed the Munich Agreement?
A) Edouard Daladier
B) Benito Mussolini
C) Adolf Hitler
D) Neville Chamberlain
  • 73. What territory was given to Germany by the Munich Agreement?
A) The Sudetenland
B) The Tešin District
C) Subcarpathian Rus
D) Bohemia and Moravia
  • 74. Which country annexed a part of southern Slovakia following the events in Czechoslovakia?
A) Hungary
B) Poland
C) France
D) The Soviet Union
  • 75. Who became the dictator and Catholic priest leading the Slovak Republic?
A) Jozef Tiso
B) Edouard Daladier
C) Adolf Hitler
D) Neville Chamberlain
  • 76. Which political party controlled the independent fascist and Catholic Slovak Republic?
A) The Nazi Party
B) The Czech National Party
C) The Communist Party
D) The Slovak People's Party
  • 77. Since what year had the country of Czechoslovakia existed prior to its formal end in 1939?
A) 1938
B) 1918
C) 1914
D) 1933
  • 78. On what date did Germany revoke its non-aggression pact with Poland?
A) 28 April
B) 26 August
C) 31 August
D) 15 March
  • 79. When did Hitler first give the orders to invade Poland?
A) 30 September
B) 31 August
C) 15 March
D) 26 August
  • 80. When did Hitler give the final order to invade Poland the next day?
A) 28 April
B) 31 August
C) 23 August
D) 15 March
  • 81. Who was one of the generals leading the German invasion of Poland?
A) Erwin Rommel
B) Karl Dönitz
C) Fedor von Bock
D) Heinz Guderian
  • 82. What military tactic was used by the Wehrmacht featuring surprise attacks with fast-moving armoured units?
A) Trench warfare
B) Sitzkrieg
C) Attrition warfare
D) Blitzkrieg
  • 83. What type of forces did Poland mistakenly believe could take on German mechanised forces?
A) Militia snipers
B) Mountain divisions
C) Horsed cavalry
D) Bicycle infantry
  • 84. Which fighter aircraft did the UK have ready in 1939?
A) Messerschmitt
B) Hurricane
C) Spitfire
D) Mustang
  • 85. How were France's tanks deployed in 1939?
A) Concentrated in massive panzer divisions
B) Stationed entirely along the Maginot Line
C) Kept in reserve near Paris
D) Spread thin across its infantry divisions
  • 86. In what form of combat did Germany have inferior capability?
A) At sea
B) In the air
C) On land
D) In artillery warfare
  • 87. Where did Polish government officials escape to on 18 September 1939?
A) Romania
B) Soviet Union
C) United Kingdom
D) France
  • 88. What was the capital of Poland where the garrison held on for ten days while Germans bombed it?
A) Poznan
B) Krakow
C) Warsaw
D) Danzig
  • 89. Under the revised secret provision of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which country fell under the Soviet sphere of influence if Germany received more of Poland?
A) Hungary
B) Lithuania
C) Czechoslovakia
D) Romania
  • 90. How many Germans were dead or missing at the end of the invasion of Poland?
A) 700,000
B) 14,000
C) 80,000
D) 66,000
  • 91. How many Poles were taken prisoner during the invasion?
A) 80,000
B) 700,000
C) 66,000
D) 1.5 million
  • 92. How many Poles escaped into neutral countries?
A) 700,000
B) 80,000
C) 1 million
D) 14,000
  • 93. Which German-occupied territory bordered Poland's southern flanks?
A) Hungary
B) Austria
C) Slovakia
D) Bohemia
  • 94. Which German general is listed alongside Gerd von Rundstedt and Günther von Kluge as a leader of the invasion?
A) Wilhelm Keitel
B) Alfred Jodl
C) Hermann Göring
D) Johannes Blaskowitz
  • 95. Which German general is listed alongside Walther von Brauchitsch and Walther von Reichenau as a leader of the invasion?
A) Lothar Rendulic
B) Kurt Student
C) Paul Hausser
D) Wilhelm List
  • 96. What vital Polish infrastructure did the Luftwaffe quickly destroy, essentially taking out the Polish Air Force?
A) Railways
B) Road bridges
C) Electric power plants
D) Telegraph cables
  • 97. Compared to the three Allied powers combined in 1939, Germany had about an equal number of tanks and what else?
A) Battleships
B) Submarines
C) Military aircraft
D) Aircraft carriers
  • 98. Germany had more machine guns, mortars, antitank guns, and what other weapon per division than the Allies?
A) Howitzers
B) Rocket launchers
C) Flamethrowers
D) Anti-aircraft guns
  • 99. What type of aircraft were the UK producing that began combat in 1940?
A) Spitfire
B) Lancaster
C) Mustang
D) Hurricane
  • 100. Which country did not have any armoured divisions in 1939 according to the text?
A) The UK
B) Poland
C) Germany
D) France
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