D-Day, Stalingrad, Hiroshima, the Third Reich, the Resistance... 10 questions on the deadliest conflict in history.
10 questions on the Second World War: causes, decisive battles, key figures and the end of the conflict from 1939 to 1945.
Pick your level
The Second World War (1939-1945) involved almost every nation on Earth and caused between 70 and 85 million deaths, the majority of them civilians. It began on 1 September 1939 with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, and ended on 2 September 1945 with Japan's surrender following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The war produced the Holocaust (6 million Jewish people murdered), divided the world into Allied and Axis camps, and reshaped the global order, establishing the United States and the USSR as the dominant superpowers of the Cold War era.
All ten easy level questions, with the answer and the reasoning behind it.
Correct answer: Nagasaki
Nagasaki, three days after the first bomb.
Correct answer: Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, which brought the US into the war.
Correct answer: London
London, along with many other British cities.
Correct answer: Women working in war industry
Women working in war industry, while many men were away fighting.
Correct answer: Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin, in power from the late 1920s until his death in 1953.
Correct answer: Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini, removed from power in 1943.
Correct answer: Lightning war
Lightning war, based on speed, tanks and air support.
Correct answer: Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight Eisenhower, who later became US president.
Correct answer: Victory in Europe
Victory in Europe, celebrated in May 1945.
Correct answer: Anne Frank
Anne Frank, whose father published it after the war.
Want to warm up before playing or double-check something? Open any question to reveal the correct answer and a short explanation.
Correct answer: September 1939
Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, deploying Blitzkrieg tactics for the first time on such a scale. Two days later, France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. The USSR invaded Poland from the east on 17 September 1939, in accordance with the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Correct answer: Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord (D-Day) was the largest amphibious military operation in history, deploying nearly 160,000 troops in a single day across five Normandy beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword). It marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe and opened the long-awaited second front against Nazi Germany.
Correct answer: Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 – February 1943) is the decisive turning point on the Eastern Front. The encirclement and surrender of Field Marshal Paulus's German 6th Army (around 300,000 soldiers killed or captured) marked the first major defeat of the Wehrmacht and the beginning of Germany's long retreat westward.
Correct answer: Hiroshima
Hiroshima was destroyed on 6 August 1945 by the atomic bomb 'Little Boy', dropped from the B-29 Enola Gay. The explosion killed between 70,000 and 80,000 people immediately, with the death toll rising to an estimated 140,000 by the end of 1945 due to radiation exposure. Nagasaki was bombed three days later with 'Fat Man'.
Correct answer: Philippe Pétain
Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of the First World War, led the Vichy French State from 1940 to 1944 after signing the armistice with Germany. His regime actively collaborated with the Nazi occupiers, including during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in July 1942, when 13,000 Jews were arrested and deported. He was sentenced to death for treason in 1945, later commuted to life imprisonment.
Correct answer: Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill became Prime Minister on 10 May 1940, the same day Germany invaded France, the Netherlands and Belgium. His speeches ('We shall fight on the beaches...') and refusal to negotiate with Hitler were decisive in sustaining British resistance. He lost the 1945 general election to Labour's Clement Attlee and left office before the formal end of the Pacific War.
Correct answer: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed on 23 August 1939, was officially a non-aggression treaty. Secret protocols divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence: Germany would take western Poland; the USSR would receive eastern Poland, the Baltic states, Finland and Bessarabia. Hitler violated the pact in June 1941 with Operation Barbarossa.
Correct answer: Reims (7 May) and Berlin (8 May) 1945
Germany signed two surrender documents: the first in Reims on 7 May 1945 (at Eisenhower's insistence), and a second in Berlin-Karlshorst on 8 May (at Stalin's insistence, to ratify the act on German territory). This is why 8 May is celebrated as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) in most Western countries and 9 May in Russia.
Correct answer: 70-85 million
Historical estimates put the total death toll of the Second World War at between 70 and 85 million, with civilians accounting for the majority. The USSR suffered the heaviest losses (26-27 million). The Holocaust, systematically organised by the Nazis, killed 6 million Jewish people and millions more (Roma, homosexuals, political prisoners, Soviet POWs and others).
Correct answer: The National Council of the Resistance
Jean Moulin, de Gaulle's representative, united the main resistance movements in the National Council of the Resistance (CNR) in May 1943. The Resistance ran intelligence networks, sabotage operations, underground newspapers and escape lines for Allied airmen.
Stuck on one, or just curious how nasty it gets? Every hard mode question is here with its answer and the reasoning behind it.
Correct answer: Egypt
Egypt, with Montgomery defeating Rommel's forces.
Correct answer: The Desert Fox
The Desert Fox, earned in North Africa.
Correct answer: J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer, later the subject of an Oscar-winning 2023 film.
Correct answer: The Ardennes
The Ardennes, in Germany's last big offensive in the west.
Correct answer: Navajo
Navajo, a code the Japanese never broke.
Correct answer: Juno
Juno, with British troops on Gold and Sword, and Americans on Utah and Omaha.
Correct answer: The Netherlands
The Netherlands, and Arnhem turned out to be a bridge too far.
Correct answer: Enola Gay
Enola Gay, named after the pilot's mother. Bockscar flew the Nagasaki mission.
Correct answer: Prague
Prague, and he barely mentioned it for about fifty years.
Correct answer: Hideki Tojo
Hideki Tojo, tried and executed after the war.