The World Since 1945 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The West

It included USA and countries of Western Europe, North America and the Pacific.

Answer: Western part stopped the dispatch of industrial machinery

By 1947, Germany had been divided into two distinct economic and political parts. In 1949 this division was formalised with the setting up of two independent states namely Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and German Democratic Republic (East Germany) i.e. Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR).

Answer: Paranoid obsession with godless communism

The root cause of the Cold War was the growing influence of communism all over the world. The testing of the atomic bomb by Soviet Union in September 1949 was a blow to US military supremacy. The USA was shocked at the news which was used to exacerbate further the fear of communism. During the next few years there grew in the USS what has been described as "paranoid obsession with godless communism".

The US government leaders, some members of the US Congress and sections of the mass media added to the panic by spreading stories of Soviet agents subverting US security by infiltrating the US administration.

Answer: Domino Theory

Also called DOMINO EFFECT, the theory was first proposed by President Harry S. Truman to justify sending military aid to Greece and Turkey in the 1940s, but it became popular in the 1950s when President Dwight D. Eisenhower applied it to Southeast Asia, especially South Vietnam.

The domino theory was one of the main arguments used in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations during the 1960s to justify increasing American military involvement in the Vietnam War.

Answer: Iraq

On July 14 1958 the revolutionary forces captured the capital, Baghdad, declared the downfall of the monarchy, and proclaimed a republic. The leading members of the royal house, including the king and crown prince, were executed. General Nuri was killed during the disturbances. 'Abd al-Karim Qasim head of the revolutionary force, formed a Cabinet, over which he presided, and appointed himself commander of the National Forces. He also assumed the portfolio of defense and appointed 'Abd as-Salam 'Arif minister of the interior and deputy commander of the National Forces. A Council of Sovereignty, composed of three persons, was to act as head of state. A provisional constitution declared that Iraq formed an integral part "of the Arab nation" and that "Arabs and Kurds are considered partners in this homeland." Iraq was declared a republic and Islam the religion of the state; all executive and legislative powers were entrusted to the Sovereignty Council and the Cabinet. It soon became clear however, that power rested in Qasim's hands, supported by the army.

Conflicts among the officers developed, first between Qasim and 'Arif and then between Qasim and his supporters. 'Arif championed the Pan-Arab cause and advocated Iraq's union with the U.A.R. Qasim rallied the forces against Arab unity - Kurds, communists, and others - and stressed Iraq's own identity and internal unity. 'Arif was dropped from power in October, but in 1959 Qasim's power was threatened by other factions. He tried to divert public attention to foreign affairs by advancing Iraq's claim to Kuwait's sovereignty in June 1961.

Answer: Ngo Dinh Diem

In 1933 he served as the emperor Bao Dai's minister of the interior, but he resigned that same year in frustration at French unwillingness to countenance his legislative reforms. Relinquishing his titles and decorations, he spent the next 12 years living quietly in Hue.

In 1945 Diem was captured by the forces of the Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, who invited him to join his independent government in the North, hoping that Diem's presence would win Catholic support. But Diem rejected the proposal and went into self-imposed exile, living abroad for most of the next decade.

In 1954 Diem returned at Bao Dai's request to serve as prime minister of a U.S.-backed government in South Vietnam. After defeating Bao Dai in a government-controlled referendum in October 1955, he ousted the emperor and made himself president of the newly declared Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Diem refused to carry out the Geneva Accords, which had called for free elections to be held throughout Vietnam in 1956.

Answer: Nationalisation of Suez Canal

The Suez Crisis was provoked by an American and British decision not to finance Egypt's construction of the Aswan High Dam, as they had promised, in response to Egypt's growing ties with communist Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. Nasser reacted to the American and British decision by declaring martial law in the canal zone and seizing control of the Suez Canal Company, predicting that the tolls collected from ships passing through the canal would pay for the dam's construction within five years. Britain and France feared that Nasser might close the canal and cut off shipments of petroleum flowing from the Persian Gulf to western Europe. When diplomatic efforts to settle the crisis failed, Britain and France secretly prepared military action to regain control of the canal and, if possible, to depose Nasser. They found a ready ally in Israel, whose hostility toward Egypt had been exacerbated by Nasser's blockage of the Straits of Tiran (at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba) and the numerous raids by Egyptian-supported commandos into Israel during 1955-­56. On Oct. 29, 1956, 10 Israeli brigades invaded Egypt and advanced toward the canal, routing Egyptian forces. Britain and France, following their plan, demanded that Israeli and Egyptian troops withdraw from the canal, and they announced that they would intervene to enforce a cease-fire ordered by the United Nations. On November 5 and 6, British and French forces landed at Port Said and Port Fuad and began occupation of the canal zone, but growing opposition at home and in the UN and Soviet threats of intervention put an immediate stop to the Anglo-French action. On December 22 the UN evacuated British and French troops, and Israeli forces withdrew in March 1957.

Nasser emerged from the Suez Crisis a victor and a hero for the cause of Arab and Egyptian nationalism. Israel did not win freedom to use the canal, but it did regain shipping rights in the Straits of Tiran. Britain and France, less fortunate, lost most of their influence in the Middle East as a result of the episode.

Answer: There is no single agreed event

A case can be made for treating the final disintegration of the USSR (on 26 December 1991) as 'the end of the Cold War'. However, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (1 July 1991) can also be regarded as marking the end of the Cold War. The tearing down/opening of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989) marks the 'beginning of the end' of the Soviet Bloc, not the culmination of the process.

Answer: Joseph McCarthy

McCarthy was a quiet and undistinguished senator until February 1950, when his public charge that 205 Communists had infiltrated the State Department created a furor and catapulted him into headlines across the country. Upon subsequently testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, he proved unable to produce the name of a single "card-carrying Communist" in any government department. Nevertheless, he gained increasing popular support for his campaign of accusations by capitalizing on the fears and frustrations of a nation weary of the Korean War and appalled by Communist advances in eastern Europe and China. McCarthy proceeded to instigate a nationwide, militant anti-Communist "crusade"; to his supporters, he appeared as a dedicated patriot and guardian of genuine Americanism, to his detractors, as an irresponsible, self-seeking witch-hunter who was undermining the nation's traditions of civil liberties.

Answer: Francois Duvalier

A supporter of President Dumarsais Estime, Duvalier was appointed director general of the National Public Health Service in 1946, and he directed the anti-yaws campaign in 1947-48. He was appointed underminister of labour in 1948 and the following year became minister of public health and labour, a post that he retained until May 10, 1950, when President Estime was overthrown by a military junta under Paul E. Magloire, who was subsequently elected president. Duvalier returned to his former work with the American Sanitary Mission in 1951-54 and began organizing the resistance to Magloire. By 1954 he had become the central opposition figure and went underground. After the resignation of Magloire in December 1956, Duvalier's followers participated in most of the six governments that were formed in the succeeding 10 months. Running on a program of popular reform and black nationalism, Duvalier was elected president in September 1957. Setting about to consolidate his power, he reduced the size of the army and, with his chief aide, Clément Barbot, organized the Tontons Macoutes ("Bogeymen"), a private force responsible for terrorizing and assassinating alleged foes of the regime. When he was stricken by a heart attack in 1959, Barbot acted in his stead.

Upon recovery, he promptly imprisoned his aide. His manipulation of legislative elections in 1961 to have his term extended to 1967 and other corrupt and despotic measures precipitated a termination of U.S. aid to Haiti. That summer he had Barbot murdered, after the latter, on his release from prison, had attempted an insurrection. Late in 1963 he moved further toward an absolutist regime, promoting a cult of his person as the semidivine embodiment of the Haitian nation. In June 1964 he was declared president for life. On his death, he was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc").

Answer: Alexander Dubcek

He was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In 1962 he became a full member of the Central Committee's Presidium. In October 1967, at a Central Committee meeting in Prague, Dubcek rallied the support of party and economic reformers, as well as Slovak nationalists, against the leadership of Antonin Novotny. Novotny was forced to resign as first secretary on Jan. 5, 1968, and Dubcek replaced him. During the early months of 1968 the Czechoslovak press was granted greater freedom of expression, and victims of political purges during the Stalin era were rehabilitated. On April 9 a reform program called "Czechoslovakia's Road to Socialism" was promulgated that envisaged economic reforms and a wide-ranging democratization of Czechoslovak political life. The trend of developments aroused concern in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country on August 21, and Dubcek and five other Presidium members were seized and taken to Moscow. On his return to Prague Dubcek gave an emotional address to his countrymen, requesting their cooperation in the curtailment of his reforms. In April 1969 he was demoted from first secretary of the party to president of the Federal Assembly. In January 1970 he was appointed ambassador to Turkey, but in June, after being expelled from the party, he was made an inspector of the forestry administration in Bratislava. He returned to prominence in national affairs in late 1989 after the Communist Party had given up its monopoly on power and agreed to participate in a coalition government. On December 28 he was elected chairman of the Federal Assembly. In March 1992 he became the leader of the Slovak Social Democrats. He died of injuries suffered in a car accident on Sept. 1, 1992.

Answer: Vaclav Havel

Following massive antigovernment demonstrations in November 1989, Havel became the leading figure in the Civic Forum, which was a new coalition of noncommunist opposition groups pressing for democratic reforms. In early December the Communist Party capitulated and formed a coalition government with the Civic Forum.

As a result of an agreement between the partners in this bloodless "Velvet Revolution," Havel was elected to the post of interim president of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989, and he was reelected to the presidency in July 1990, becoming the country's first noncommunist leader since 1948.

As the Czechoslovak union faced dissolution in 1992, Havel, who opposed the division, resigned from office. The following year he was elected president of the new Czech Republic.

His political role, however, was limited, as Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus (1993-97) commanded much of the power. In 1998 Havel was reelected by a narrow margin.

Answer: Bao Dai

The son of Emperor Khai Dinh, he succeeded to the throne in 1926 and assumed the title Bao Dai ("Keeper of Greatness"). During World War II the French colonial regime exercised a firm control over Bao Dai until the Japanese coup de force of March 1945, which swept away French administration in Indochina.

In 1949 the French accepted the principle of an independent Vietnam but retained control of its defense and finance. Bao Dai agreed to return to Vietnam in these circumstances in May 1949, and in July he became temporary premier of a tenuously unified and nominally independent Vietnam. Reinstalled as sovereign, Bao Dai continued his pleasure-seeking ways and became generally known as the "Playboy Emperor." He left the affairs of state to his various pro-French Vietnamese appointees, until October 1955 when a national referendum called for the country to become a republic. Bao Dai retired and returned to France to live.

Answer: Africa Year / Year of Africa

In 1960, 17 countries of Africa became independent. This has given that year the title of 'Africa Year'. Out these, 13 had been French colonies. These 17 countries were Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (formerly French), Zaire (formerly Belgian Congo), Central African Republic, Somalia and Madagascar.

The wave of anti-imperialism that engulfed Africa in 1960 influenced even the British Premier Harold Macmillan. During a tour of British colonies in Africa in March 1960, he spoke about a 'wind of change' which was blowing through the continent of Africa and said "... whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact and our national policies must take account of it".

Answer: Kenya African National Union (KANU)

Odinga was a member of the Kenya's second largest ethnic group, the Luo. Like many other prominent East Africans, he was educated at Makerere University College and was originally a teacher. From the late 1940s Odinga was an associate of Kenyatta's in the campaign for Kenya's independence from Britain; he was active in recruiting Luo support for the movement. From 1952 to 1957 he was president of the Luo Union, a political and social organization, and in 1957 he was elected to the Legislative Council as member for Central Nyanza.

In 1960 he became vice president of the newly formed Kenya African National Union (KANU). His socialist views conflicted with Kenyatta's more centrist ideology, however, and in 1966 he broke away from KANU to form a left-wing opposition party, the Kenya People's Union (KPU).

The KPU was outlawed by Kenyatta in 1969, and some of its members, including Odinga, were placed under government detention.

Answer: All of these

These developments were at their peak in the decade of sixties throughout the African continent. As already mentioned, 17 countries achieved independence in 1960, which further accelerated the nationalist movements in the countries which were still struggling for freedom.

Answer: Daniel Malan

Malan formed the the first exclusively Afrikaner government of South Africa. The primary concern of Malan's new government was to implement the policy of apartheid. The National Party of Daniel F. Malan warned that whites were being "swamped" and called for a forceful restoration of the old order. Malan dubbed his policy "apartheid." The government's attempt to remove the Coloureds (people of mixed race) from the common voting rolls of Cape Province in 1951 was declared invalid by the Suprme Court in 1952, however, and the crisis was still unresolved when, after increasing his party's parliamentary majority in the 1953 general election, Malan retired in 1954.

His successors implemented the apartheid policies begun in his administration.

Answer: Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)

When in April 1964 Smith became prime minister of Southern Rhodesia (the Federation had been dissolved in 1963), his first official act was to authorize the arrest and banishment of four black African nationalists. The disorders that followed were suppressed with police action.

When the Commonwealth prime ministers' conference met in July 1964, Smith refused to discuss a new constitution that would lead to eventual black-majority rule. Further negotiations with Britain proved futile, and on Nov. 11, 1965, Smith unilaterally declared Rhodesia's independence. Great Britain refused to accept Rhodesian independence, and, at Britain's request, economic sanctions against Rhodesia were applied by the UN Security Council. Smith then severed all ties with the Commonwealth. On March 2, 1970, Rhodesia declared itself a republic.

Answer: Namibia

In the democratic elections held in Namibia in 1989, the SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organisation), led by Sam Nujoma swept the polls. On 21 March 1990 Namibia became the last African nation to gain independence from South Africa. Sam Nujoma was elected the first President of independent Namibia.

Answer: Gorbachev's policy of glasnost and perestroika

In March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev launched perestroika, a program of economic and political restructuring. Gorbachev had also instituted a policy of glasnost ("openness"), which some Russian officials and others opposed on the grounds that it was punishing to the Russians, who could now be openly blamed for all the ills of Soviet society. Glasnost also allowed the media more freedom of expression, and editorials complaining of depressed conditions and the government's inability to correct them began to appear.

These two policies of perestroika and glasnost shook the entire communist structure and opened the floodgates of pent-up criticism and resentment against the Gorbachev government which ultimately hastened the process of the collapse of the USSR.

Answer: Kashmir

There have been four wars between India and Pakistan. The first war took place in 1947 soon after the two countries became independent. After Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India, the invasion of Kashmir launched from and with the support of Pakistan was halted by Indian troops.

In 1965, there was another war when Pakistan sent her infiltrators into Kashmir. The third war took place in 1971 over the question of Bangladesh. The fourth war took place in 1999 in Kargil. In May 1999, Pakistan intensified artillery shelling of the Kargil sector. Meanwhile, the Indian army discovered that militants had infiltrated the Indian zone from the Pakistan side and had established positions within and west of the Kargil area.

Intense fighting ensued between the infiltrators and the Indian army that lasted for more than two months.

The Indian army managed to reclaim most of the area on the India side of the line of control that had been occupied by the infiltrators.

Answer: 13

Following is the list of the summit conferences of the NAM that have been held so far :
1. Belgrade (1961)
2. Cairo (1964)
3. Lusaka (1970)
4. Algiers (1973)
5. Colombo (1976)
6. Havana (1979)
7. Delhi (1983)
8. Harare (1986)
9. Belgrade (1989)
10. Jakarta (1992)
11. Cartagena (1995)
12. Durban (1998)
13. Dhaka (2001)

Answer: King Fahd requested American military protection for his country

In 1990, fellow Arab Gulf states refused to endorse Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's plan to cut production and raise the price of oil, leaving him frustrated and paranoid. Iraq had incurred a mountain of debt during its war with Iran that had lasted for most of the previous decade, and the Iraqi President felt that his Arab brothers were conspiring against him by refusing to raise oil prices.

Therefore, after weeks of massing troops along the Iraq-Kuwait border and accusing Kuwait of various crimes, Hussein sent seven divisions of the Iraqi Army into Kuwait in the early morning hours of 2 August 1990.

The invasion force of 120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks quickly overwhelmed Iraq's neighbor to the south, allowing Hussein to declare, in less than a week, that Kuwait was his nation's nineteenth province.

The United Nations responded quickly, passing a series of resolutions that condemned the invasion, called for an immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, imposed a financial and trade embargo on Iraq, and declared the annexation void.

Answer: Ethnic Cleansing

The declaration of independence by Bosnia-Herzegovina has been followed by most tragic violence in which thousands of people have been killed. This republic is inhabited by Serbians, Croats and Muslims. The Bosnian Serbs, supported by Serbia, control a large part of Bosnia territory.

They are hostile to the idea of a multicultural independent State of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A bloody war has been going on since 1992 between Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims in spite of the presence of the UN Peace Force.

The war against Bosnian Muslims has been described by some Serbian leaders as a war for 'ethnic cleansing'. It is an obnoxious term which has been used to justify the extermination of one ethnic group by another.

Answer: Operation Noble Eagle

Operation Noble Eagle is the official name given to the homeland defense and civil support services to be provided by the 35,000 members of the military reserves now being called to active duty.