The Second World War began in September 1939 with the German invasion of which country?
- A.Czechoslovakia
- B.France
- C.Poland
- D.The Soviet Union
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Poland. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and Britain and France, which had guaranteed Polish independence, declared war on Germany two days later, turning the attack into a world war. Option A, Czechoslovakia, was taken earlier and without war: the Sudetenland was handed over under the Munich Pact of 1938 and the rest was occupied in March 1939. Option B, France, was invaded in May 1940, after the period of the so-called phoney war, and surrendered in June 1940. Option D, the Soviet Union, was attacked in June 1941 under Operation Barbarossa, which broke the non-aggression pact the two countries had signed in August 1939; this invasion widened the war but did not begin it. For revision, fix the order in mind: Poland in 1939, France in 1940, the Soviet Union and Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Read the full article: World History: Revolutions and World Wars Notes
Practice Questions
View allThe storming of the Bastille, which marked the beginning of the French Revolution, took place on which date?
- A.4 July 1776
- B.14 July 1789
- C.26 August 1789
- D.21 January 1793
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On that day a Paris crowd attacked the Bastille, a royal fortress used as a prison, which stood for the arbitrary authority of the monarchy; the date is celebrated in France as the national day.
Read the full explanation →The book The Social Contract, which argued that sovereignty rests with the people, was written by whom?
- A.Montesquieu
- B.Voltaire
- C.Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- D.John Locke
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His book The Social Contract, published in 1762, argued that legitimate political authority comes from the general will of the people and not from the divine right of a king, and it became the intellectual charter of the French Revolution.
Read the full explanation →The American Declaration of Independence was adopted on 4 July 1776 and was drafted mainly by whom?
- A.George Washington
- B.Thomas Jefferson
- C.Benjamin Franklin
- D.Abraham Lincoln
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He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress on 4 July 1776, and he later became the third President of the United States.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following improved the steam engine and patented the separate condenser in 1769?
- A.James Hargreaves
- B.Richard Arkwright
- C.James Watt
- D.John Kay
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Watt added a separate condenser to the earlier Newcomen engine, patenting it in 1769, which made the steam engine efficient enough to drive factories, mines, railways and ships, and the unit of power is named after him.
Read the full explanation →The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia was led by which party and leader?
- A.The Mensheviks under Kerensky
- B.The Bolsheviks under Lenin
- C.The Social Revolutionaries under Trotsky
- D.The Cadets under Nicholas II
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In the October Revolution, which took place on 7 November 1917 by the Western calendar, the Bolshevik party led by Lenin overthrew the provisional government and took power in Petrograd, with Leon Trotsky organising the Red Guards.
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