The World War II Quiz

From 1939 to 1945, World War II involved 30 different nations. During the course of fighting, over 45 million people lost their lives. Over 6 million of them were victims of the Holocaust.

After the Great War, WW I, the Allied Powers and Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. Under the agreement, Germany was not permitted to expand their boundaries with force. Displeased by the pact, Hitler secretly began arming what would become the Nazi Party.

About a month before war was officially declared, Hitler and Russia's Stalin signed an agreement that allowed Germany to freely invade Poland without Russian interference. Only two days after Germany made good on the threat to move into Poland, France and Great Britain declared war and began their retaliation. Russian retaliation followed soon after.

By 1940, Germany had expanded its invasion into Denmark and the Netherlands with a military force not seen before. The fast sweeping of cities was called the "blitzkrieg." In English, it's known as lightning war.

Once Hitler's troops had taken over regions of western France, their next target was England. Heavily bombed for over a year, Winston Churchill commanded the Royal Air Force, who were eventually successful at defeating the German Luftwaffe. In 1941, Churchill gained help from the United States.

While the world was distracted by German aggression, the Japanese were growing in power. In order to carry out their plans to invade territories owned by the U.S., Great Britain, and the Netherlands, they needed to show force against the Allied Powers. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor killing over 2,500 seamen.

June 6, 1944 is the day known as "D-Day." The Allied forces sent 156,000 to the beaches of Normandy to put an end to Hitler's offensive. Hitler made one last push to take over parts of Western Europe, but his troops were met with a stronger attack.

Franklin D. Roosevelt navigated two terms during the war. Truman was enlisted as vice president for his second term and assumed the role after his death. He remained president until 1953.

From December of 1944 to January of 1945, German forces tried their best to hold the line against Allied forces at the Battle of the Bulge. Named for the u-shaped line taken by Allied forces, the battle cost over 100,000 U.S. Army members their lives. Eventually, Germany was forced to surrender.

As German defeat at the Battle of the Bulge seemed certain, Hitler retreated to his bunker in Berlin. Only eight days before Germany formally surrendered on May 8th, Hitler ingested cyanide and shot himself with a pistol.

After Pearl Harbor, Allied forces began using a technique known as "island-hopping" to squelch the Japanese attack on Allied owned territories. With an unexpected attack, they scored their first major victory against Japan at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

Benito Mussolini started political life as a member of the socialist party. Rather than join Allied Forces, Mussolini joined the National Fascist Party and sided with Hitler. Fighting continued in Italy until 1945.

Iwo Jima sits 750 miles off the coast of mainland Japan, and there's great controversy over its tactical worth. Throughout the course of the battle, nearly 21,000 Japanese and 7,000 U.S. Marines perished. At the time, the Japanese military was already crippled, but Iwo Jima was devastating.

If you'll recall Germany's initial invasion of Poland that started the war, you'll remember that they had a treaty with Russia. However, Russia quickly realized that Germany was overstepping its bounds, and sided with the Allied Forces instead. Russia went on to liberate Poland from Germany's clutches.

Even after defining the terms of Japanese surrender with the Potsdam Agreement, Japanese forces continued to fight. Allied Forces decided to show force with the dropping of the first atomic bombs used in conflict. Hiroshima was bombed first, and Nagasaki followed three days later. Despite losing over 200,000 civilian lives, the Japanese didn't surrender until the Red Army invaded the Hiroshima days later.

During Hitler's regime, nearly 11 million were executed in concentration camps. Over six million Jewish persons and five million others, who were considered political opponents or behaviorally inappropriate for Hitler's regime, perished.

After Germany's surrender, the Allied Forces split the country into four different regions. Great Britain, the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands each controlled one region.

Victory in Europe day, or V-E Day, has been celebrated across the continent since 1945. London's celebration marked the only day in that Queen Elizabeth was permitted to go into public and celebrate with the rest of the nation.

Although victory had been claimed in Europe, fighting continued in Japan. The Japanese didn't surrender until four months later.

With the exception of Operation Crisp, all of the other operations were actual names given to military efforts during the war. Operation Sea Lion was Hitler's name for his intentions to take over Great Britain.