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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is unusual about the friendly-fire incident discussed in Chapter 2 and illustrated on page 18?

2. According to one rumor, what substance was added to food served to servicemen?

3. The author suggests that in warfare, blunders are how common?

4. Which of the following does the author not list as a cause of the increasing lack of individuality with which solders were treated?

5. What was one of the most routine ways that enlisted men dealt with the hazing they received from officers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did contemporaneous war histories depict military blunders?

2. How was military jargon and vocabulary used to demean enlisted men?

3. What problems did the doctrine of precision bombing face?

4. How and why did military and public authorities react to stereotyping of enemy forces?

5. What types of hazing were most common?

6. What were talismans?

7. What types of rumors are sometimes believed by both sides?

8. According to the author, what is the result on the battlefield of the relatively young age of soldiers and the violence of warfare?

9. Describe one stereotype that American troops believed about soldiers from an allied nation.

10. What are the causes of the facelessness with with soldiers were treated in the second World War?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Military training was intended to create capable and obedient soldiers. The extreme demands of World War II required military training to be short and intense.

1) Explain the purpose of military training.

2) Describe, according to military thinking of the time, the ideal soldier after he has just completed training.

3) Explain how some of the difficulties of WWII affected military training.

4) Discuss the similarities between military training and public school systems of the 1940s and explain why this similarity existed.

Essay Topic 2

The nature of warfare, especially in World War II, made mistakes commonplace and almost unavoidable. The military and media handled these sometimes deadly mistakes in a way that might be considered disingenuous or immoral.

1) Discuss the factors that contribute to blunders being made in warfare. Explain why warfare is more prone to these mistakes than other ventures, and why the combat in World War II was especially so.

2) Explain some of the major types of military blunders that occurred in World War II, including recognition error and friendly fire.

3) Describe the ways that the military and media reacted to military blunders.

Essay Topic 3

High-mindedness dominated thought and writing about the war during its later years. Although not unique to World War II, the author asserts that it reaching its peak during this conflict. American citizens and soldiers had markedly different reactions to this approach.

1) Explain what the author means by "high mindedness."

2) Discuss why high-minded thinking about the war came to dominate in the media. What purpose did this serve?

3) Explain how the American public reacted to the increasing high-mindedness presented to them.

4) Describe the reaction of American soldiers to this increasingly abstract explanation for the war. Why couldn't they relate to these concepts, and what affect did this high-mindedness have on them?

5) Assess overall whether or not an emphasis on high-minded ideal was good or bad for the nation during the war.

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