Ukrainian War: More Words Trivia Quiz

Answer: Appeasement

The word "appeasement" comes from the Old French "apaisement", that means "calaming" or "pacify". Although it was used by the middle of the 15th century, its diplomatic meaning came into use in 1919 when some people believed that the Treaty of Versailles had been too tough on Germany. It was not used to express contempt until 1938, however, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler by signing the Munich Pact, giving him control of the Sudetenland part of the newly created Czechoslovakia because of its Germany population. The Munich Pact was signed on September 30, 1938, and Hitler took the entire country in March 1939.

Some historians believe that allowing Russia to annex Crimea in 2014 and tolerating the pro-Russian rule of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the eastern part of Ukraine looks quite a bit like appeasement, considering that Putin began a "special military operation" in Ukraine in February 2022.

Answer: Cluster munitions

Germany first developed cluster munitions, their infamous Butterfly Bomb, during WWII; since then they have been used by many different countries. Either dropped from the air or launched from the ground, cluster munitions have a hollow shell filled with up to thousands of submunitions that are used to deliver a variety of bomblets, that can contain fire bombs, chemicals, or even leaflets. Needless to say, these horrific weapons can cause considerable damage.

They are capable of killing large numbers of people as the result of an attack, but the unexploded bomblets can also remain deadly for years. In 2008, the Convention on Cluster Munitions attempted to outlaw their use; the agreement, however, has not been accepted worldwide. There have been reports that cluster munitions have been used in the Ukraine war with Russia that began in February 2022.

Answer: Little Green Men

These soldiers were first seen in Ukraine in 2014 when the Russian Federation annexed the Crimean Peninsula. Although their uniforms were unmarked, they carried Russian weapons. At first Putin denied their existence, but he later confirmed their use, explaining that they came from a variety of units, including the Special Operations Forces. He claimed that they were used to protect the people of Ukraine, but later admitted that they did interfere with the work of Ukrainian Armed Forces at the time.

Except for early attempts to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, there has been little news regarding evidence of this group during the early months of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Answer: Sanctions

Different types of sanctions have been imposed on warring countries for years. They can take the form of economic sanctions, such as blockades and embargoes, or military, diplomatic, and even sport sanctions. They are used in order to convince a group to conform to laws and rules or promote peace. During the Napoleonic Wars, for example, British goods were embargoed on the continent of Europe in an effort to damage trade.

Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many countries have placed a variety of sanctions on Russia that include banning imports of Russian oil, gas, and coal, imposing restrictions on Russian banks, and even impounding Russian yachts and cargo ships. Individual Russian citizens, over 400 of them according to the White House, have also been targeted with sanctions. This may come with a variety of penalties, including having assets and bank accounts frozen or seized, or being denied entry into certain countries.

Answer: Ruscism

Also spelled Rashism, the terms are attempts at a portmanteau word that combines "Russia" and "fascism". Some say that it is necessary to use "Ruscism" because it has a more clear denotation specifically to Russia.

This isn't a term that came into use recently; it was first used in 1995 by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who was the president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, to describe the far-right ideology that he saw forming in Russia. It is based on extreme nationalism, along with cruelty and barbarism towards others. In an April 2022 speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sated "this new concept will be in history books".

Answer: SWIFT

The acronym "SWIFT" stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. SWIFT helps to facilitate international payments and offers to sell software and services to banks, but does not manage the money in any way. There are other groups that do that. Founded in 1973, it is estimated that by 2018, SWIFT managed about 50% of the high-value international payments worldwide.

Although there was some reluctance to remove Russia from the SWIFT system after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the decision was eventually made to exclude some of the banks from the SWIFT messaging system, along with other sanctions imposed on Russia.

Answer: Hot War

After WWII there were constant references made to the Cold War, a political war that only involves threats and innuendos, perhaps between diplomats, but with no direct fighting or bloodshed between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Many times a cold war can lead to a proxy war, where those involved may give assistance to opposing sides, but are not directly involved in fighting, much like the Spanish Civil War; both Hitler and Stalin provided weapons, men, and aid to the Loyalists (Stalin) and the Nationalists (Hitler). And - a proxy war is typically a hot war, with actual, direct fighting between nations.

Answer: Switchblade drone

Also called a suicide drone or kamikaze drone, the switchblade drone gets its name because it is ejected from a tube, after which the wings flip out, enabling it to fly to its intended destination.

Switchblade drones were first developed in 2011 by the United States for use in Afghanistan. Its value is from the fact that it can be made small enough to fit into a soldier's pack, and also that it can lock onto a target and even track it before detonating; if for some reason the drone's mission needs to be aborted, it can also be reprogrammed for use with another target, or take itself to an area where it won't cause any damage and self-destruct.

Answer: Cessation of hostilities

Okay! What is the difference between a cease-fire and cessation of hostilities? They seem like they should be the same thing - but they aren't. A cessation of hostilities is not only temporary, but during war time it can be used in specific areas, rather than on the entire war front. It can be used during periods of negotiations, or in order to create a humanitarian corridor when needed.

A cease-fire is intended to be a permanent agreement that relates to all of the fighting in a particular war. The United Nations has published a "Glossary of Humanitarian Terms on Pauses During Conflict" that explains all sorts of pauses that can take place.

Answer: MiG

Although some may not have heard about MiGs before they saw the movie, "Top Gun" (1986), the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau was founded in the Soviet Union in 1939; the acronym stands for M(ikoyan) i (and) G(urevich), the company founders. Since 1939, a variety of models of the fighter plane have been made, and sold, but the recipient(s) of the aircraft that have been sold have largely been kept secret.

In February 2022, it was disclosed that Ukraine had 43 Mikoyan MiG-29 combat planes in its air force, although some sources claim it has as many as 70. There is some speculation that Poland may have shared some of theirs.