All SAT II World History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Global Developments
Whose assassination is considered the tipping point that caused the outbreak of the First World War?
Otto von Bismarck
Victor Emanuel III
Tsar Nicholas II
Queen Victoria
Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand
The Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in June of 1914 by Gavrilo Princip. After his assassination the Austrian Empire implicated much of the Serbian high command and used the incident as a pretext to invade Serbia. This action disturbed the entangled alliances of Europe and lead directly to the outbreak of World War I a few months later.
Example Question #2 : Global Developments
During World War One, Germany suspended its unrestricted submarine warfare ________.
NONE of these answers are correct; Germany never suspended its unrestricted submarine warfare.
due to condemnation in the British and French press
as a result of a formal plea issued by the King of England to his German cousins
because it was turning public opinion on the European continent against the German war effort
due to American pressure after German sinking of the Lusitania
NONE of these answers are correct; Germany never suspended its unrestricted submarine warfare.
During World War One German U-boats were actively engaged in preventing the British and French from receiving reinforcements and economic assistance from America and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The most well-known incident occurred in 1915 when a German U-boat sank an American passenger ship called the Lusitania and killed some 200 American civilians in the process. The action was widely condemned, but it never directly lead to a German suspension of its unrestricted submarine warfare. Instead its primary consequence was to help encourage American and Brazilian public opinion to turn in favor of aiding the allies in the Great War.
Example Question #1 : Global Developments
All of the following were technical innovations used during World War I, except __________.
poisonous gases
guided missiles
tanks
machine guns
airplanes
guided missiles
The technology for guided missiles developed after World War I, but everything else was a part of warfare from World War I on, and some, like the machine gun, had already been used in earlier conflicts. This was the first war that involved the use of aircraft for fighting that also saw the use of poisonous gases (like mustard gas) and tanks.
Example Question #2 : Global Developments
Which of the following did not contribute to growing international tensions in the lead up to the outbreak of World War I?
The sinking of the Lusitania
The First Balkan War
All of these developments contributed to growing tensions in the lead up to the outbreak of World War I
The Agadir Crisis
The European Naval Arms Race
The sinking of the Lusitania
The sinking of the Lusitania occurred in 1915, once the war had already started. The Agadir Crisis, a diplomatic incident between Britain and France on one side and Germany on the other over French influence in Morocco, escalated tensions between the Germany and the growing Anglo-French alliance by increasing British and French fears of German aggression. The European naval arms race of the 1890s-1910s was part of the growing rivalry and militarism among the European powers, especially Britain and Germany, that contributed to the growing tensions of the time. The Second Balkan War of 1913 (between several Balkan states and Bulgaria) increased tensions in the Balkans, a troubled region of Europe where continued ethnic tensions in this period factored into the larger European tensions of the period, and would help directly catalyze the outbreak of war in 1914.
Example Question #2 : 1900 C.E. To Present
Which of these nations gained its independence after the Second World War?
China
Canada
India
Brazil
Colombia
India
The Second World War led to the complete decline of the ability of European nations to maintain overseas colonies. Britain and France were exhausted from financing the war and there was little desire among the populations of either nation to continue their imperial past. India, a country that had supported the British war effort, gained its independence in 1947.
Example Question #3 : Global Developments
Hitler's policy of "Lebensraum" was concerned with __________.
limiting the civil rights of the Jewish population of Germany
providing more territory for German people through aggressive expansion
attacking the Soviet Union before it could become involved in the conflict on the side of the allies
bombing the British Isles into submission and capitulation
completely eradicating the Jewish population of Central Europe
providing more territory for German people through aggressive expansion
"Lebensraum" means living space. It was Hitler's belief that the German people needed more territory to grow and to prosper, and he felt that as much of Central Europe was settled by German-speaking people, he had a "legitimacy" to expand aggressively into neighboring states. The policy of "Lebensraum" led to the annexation of the Sudetenland and much of Central Europe.
Example Question #2 : World War Ii
What two treaties emerged as a result of the division of Europe at the end of World War Two?
The Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The Warsaw Pact and the United Nations
The Warsaw Pact and the League of Nations
The European Union and the Warsaw Pact
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the South East Asian Treaty Organization
The Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
At the end of World War Two, Europe was divided between a capitalist and democratic West and a communist East. The capitalist nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to combat the perceived threat of communism and the communist nations countered with the Warsaw Pact.
Example Question #1 : The Nuclear Threat
Aside from the United States in World War Two, which of these nations is known to have used nuclear weapons in a conflict?
India during the Indian Partition
The Soviet Union in World War Two
None of the other answers is correct; no other country has used nuclear weapons in a conflict.
Israel during the Yom-Kippur War
The Soviet Union in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
None of the other answers is correct; no other country has used nuclear weapons in a conflict.
To date, the United States is the only country known to have used nuclear weapons in a conflict, dropping two bombs on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War.
Example Question #3 : Global Developments
To date, which of these countries is the only nation to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?
North Korea
India
Vietnam
The United States
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to nations that had not already acquired them and to encourage disarmament among those nations that already possessed nuclear weapons. India, Pakistan, and Israel have never signed the treaty, but North Korea originally signed the treaty before announcing its withdrawal in 2003. North Korea is thought to have developed nuclear weapons by 2006, making it the only state to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and then acquire nuclear weapons.
Example Question #4 : Global Developments
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was designed to stop nations that did not possess nuclear weapons from acquiring them and __________.
provide reparation payments for Japanese citizens affected by the nuclear attacks of the Second World War
discourage investment in nuclear energy
embargo those countries that already possessed nuclear weapons
condemn the United States' scientists who invented nuclear weapons
encourage disarmament of those nations that already possessed nuclear weapons
encourage disarmament of those nations that already possessed nuclear weapons
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed in 1968. Its primary purpose was to prevent new nations from acquiring nuclear weapons; however, another part of the treaty was to encourage those nations that already had nuclear weapons to disarm. This has been largely unsuccessful, although every nation that signed the treaty has reduced its supply of nuclear weapons.
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