Modern History

Questions

1. What event marked the beginning of World War I?
2. Who was the leader of the Soviet Union during World War II?
3. What was the significance of the Treaty of Versailles?
4. When did the Great Depression begin?
5. What was the main cause of the Cold War?
6. Who was the first President of the United States to resign from office?
7. What was the purpose of the Marshall Plan?
8. When did the Berlin Wall fall?
9. What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
10. Who was the leader of the Indian independence movement?
11. What was the significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
12. When did apartheid end in South Africa?
13. What was the main cause of the Vietnam War?
14. Who was the first woman to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?
15. What was the significance of the fall of the Soviet Union?
16. When did the European Union officially form?
17. What was the main cause of the Gulf War?
18. Who was the first African American President of the United States?
19. What was the significance of the 9/11 attacks?
20. When did the Arab Spring begin?

Answers

1. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 marked the beginning of World War I.
2. Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union during World War II.
3. The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I and imposed heavy reparations and territorial losses on Germany.
4. The Great Depression began in 1929 with the stock market crash.
5. The main cause of the Cold War was ideological conflict between the United States (capitalism) and the Soviet Union (communism).
6. Richard Nixon was the first President of the United States to resign from office in 1974.
7. The purpose of the Marshall Plan was to provide economic aid to Western European countries to help rebuild after World War II.
8. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
9. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba.
10. Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement.
11. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the United States.
12. Apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela as President.
13. The main cause of the Vietnam War was the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.
14. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979.
15. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe.
16. The European Union officially formed on November 1, 1993, with the Maastricht Treaty.
17. The main cause of the Gulf War was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
18. Barack Obama was the first African American President of the United States, elected in 2008.
19. The 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2001, led to the War on Terror and significant changes in U.S. foreign and domestic policy.
20. The Arab Spring began in December 2010 with protests in Tunisia.