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Quiz for America Compared: The Scales of War: Losses and Gains During World War II

Question

1. Which of the following conclusions can be supported by the evidence presented in Figure 24.3?

The relatively low number of deaths among the Allied powers contributed to their victory in 1945.

The Allies won the war in large part due to the United States’ incredible industrial output.

Only those countries located far away from the war’s action were spared its incredibly high casualties.

The war effectively ended the Great Depression in Europe and Asia as well as in the United States.

Correct. The answer is b. The data included in Figure 24.3 support the conclusion that the incredibly high industrial output of the United States contributed significantly to the Allied victory against the Axis Powers in 1945.

Incorrect. The answer is b. The data included in Figure 24.3 support the conclusion that the incredibly high industrial output of the United States contributed significantly to the Allied victory against the Axis Powers in 1945.

Question

2. The data presented in these two graphs help us understand which of the following questions?

Why did Adolf Hitler decide to pursue policies that led to the extermination of 6 million Jews and 6 million other “undesirables?”

Why did the United States elect to avoid direct participation in the war until after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941?

Why did the U.S. government decide to intern Japanese Americans during the war but not Italian Americans or German Americans?

Why did Joseph Stalin repeatedly demand that the United States and Great Britain open a second European front by invading France?

Correct. The answer is d. The data show that, because it bore the brunt of the fight against the Nazis from 1941 to 1944, the Soviet Union sustained an incredibly high number of military and civilian casualties and its limited economic output was seriously taxed. During that same period, while the United States was delaying an invasion on the basis that it did not yet have sufficient war production, its gross domestic product increased nearly twofold. The high rate of Soviet casualties juxtaposed with the tremendous growth in the economic output of the United States makes clear why Stalin insisted that the United States and United Kingdom invade France and Germany in order to relieve pressure on the Soviet army.

Incorrect. The answer is d. The data show that, because it bore the brunt of the fight against the Nazis from 1941 to 1944, the Soviet Union sustained an incredibly high number of military and civilian casualties and its limited economic output was seriously taxed. During that same period, while the United States was delaying an invasion on the basis that it did not yet have sufficient war production, its gross domestic product increased nearly twofold. The high rate of Soviet casualties juxtaposed with the tremendous growth in the economic output of the United States makes clear why Stalin insisted that the United States and United Kingdom invade France and Germany in order to relieve pressure on the Soviet army.

Question

3. Which of the following was the primary reason why the United States was able to increase its gross domestic product so dramatically while the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, France, and Germany could not?

The United States lost many fewer people during the war.

The United States was the only nation to be fully industrialized at the war’s outset.

The United States was neither occupied nor fighting a war on its own soil.

U.S. labor unions made a no-strike pledge for the duration of the war.

Correct. The answer is c. The major reason why the United States was able to boost its gross domestic product so dramatically during World War II was that it was neither occupied nor fighting a war on its own soil. Unlike those in other nations at war, American civilians were protected from harm and its factories were undamaged, which allowed the nation to focus its energies on industrial production.

Incorrect. The answer is c. The major reason why the United States was able to boost its gross domestic product so dramatically during World War II was that it was neither occupied nor fighting a war on its own soil. Unlike those in other nations at war, American civilians were protected from harm and its factories were undamaged, which allowed the nation to focus its energies on industrial production.