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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What term arose in the early 1990's to describe the new fighting techniques seen in the Gulf War?
(a) Mail-order war.
(b) Calling-card war.
(c) Nintendo war.
(d) Telegraph war.

2. What do most historians agree was the key to the Roman military model's success?
(a) Political legitimacy.
(b) Strong leadership.
(c) Light, flexible armor.
(d) Longer spears.

3. Which Roman leader and writer does Grossman quote in Chapter 4?
(a) Claudius.
(b) Marcus Aurelius.
(c) Tacitus.
(d) Herodotus.

4. What does the small percentage of individuals that can sustain more than a few months duty without sustaining long-term mental damage have in common?
(a) They are often psychopaths or sociopaths.
(b) They are often highly-educated.
(c) They are often insomniacs.
(d) They often commit suicide after regular combat ends.

5. In Chapter 7, what does Grossman cite as a powerful examine of of link between violence and sex in popular culture?
(a) Dead teenager slasher films.
(b) Girls-with-guns videos.
(c) Russ Meyer pictures.
(d) Miami Vice.

Short Answer Questions

1. What percentage of the population can sustain more than a few months duty without sustaining long-term mental damage?

2. What fear did Saddam Hussein seize upon to hold on to power, as discussed in Chapter 2?

3. During World War I, what was the favored weapon of American servicemen for killing enemy combatants?

4. In Chapter 2, what civilian activity does Grossman use to illustrate the distance-guilt relationship?

5. According to Grossman in Chapter 3, why do most soldiers refuse to discuss their aversion to killing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What surprising fact regarding soldier's fears in combat is revealed in Chapter 2?

2. What factors contribute to group absolution?

3. How did military predictions regarding civilian bombings and psychiatric casualties prove completely wrong in World War II?

4. Why does the Vietnam Vet quoted in Chapter 7 choose to leave the army after six tours?

5. Describe the metaphor Grossman uses for fortitude in Chapter 6?

6. What is surprising about the study cited in Chapter 1 regarding what compels soldiers to shoot?

7. What does hard-to-soft mean?

8. In Chapter 4, what philosophical and literary justifications for killing does Grossman cite?

9. What role does enemy morale play in the choice to kill?

10. How was the Roman centurion model more effective than the Greek phalanx, according to Grossman?

(see the answer keys)

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