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IB History — Practice Questions flashcards

6 of 60 questions free to study here · 3 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys

Multiple-choice practice on the syllabus, one best answer each, on authoritarian states, 20th-century wars and the Cold War, including historiography and source evaluation. Written to the IB History guide for first assessment 2020 (world history topics 10–12), for exams through November 2027.

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Practice deck · part of IB History · written against: IB Diploma Programme IB History current subject guide (prescribed subjects and world history topics); SL and HL in one deck, HL-only cards under subtopic tags starting HL. Updated 2026-10-10.

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  1. Between 1928 and July 1932 the Nazi share of the Reichstag vote rose from 2.6% to about 37%. Which development best explains this rise?

    A) Hindenburg's decision to appoint Hitler as chancellor of Germany
    B) The Night of the Long Knives winning over the army leadership
    C) The Enabling Act removing the Reichstag's power to pass laws
    D) Mass unemployment after 1929 discrediting the Weimar parties
    D) Mass unemployment after 1929 discrediting the Weimar parties

    The Depression turned the Nazis into a mass party as unemployment soared and middle-class voters lost faith in the Weimar parties. The other options all came after July 1932, so they cannot explain the rise.
    Authoritarian States › Emergence
  2. Historians explaining Stalin's victory in the power struggle of 1924–29 often stress his post as General Secretary of the party. Why was this post so useful to him?

    A) It made him Lenin's chosen successor in Lenin's final writings
    B) It gave him command of the Red Army built up during the Civil War
    C) It allowed him to set grain prices under the New Economic Policy
    D) It let him control appointments and build a loyal voting base
    D) It let him control appointments and build a loyal voting base

    Control of appointments let Stalin place loyal officials who chose congress delegates, a base better-known rivals lacked. Command of the Red Army was Trotsky's power base, and Lenin's last writings criticised Stalin rather than naming him heir.
    Authoritarian States › Emergence
  3. Which feature best explains why the Falklands-Malvinas War of 1982 is classed as a limited war?

    A) Fighting stayed in the South Atlantic, with no attacks on either mainland
    B) Neither side used aircraft, missiles or submarines at any stage of the fighting
    C) It was fought by guerrilla bands rather than regular armed forces
    D) Both sides conscripted their entire adult populations for the war
    A) Fighting stayed in the South Atlantic, with no attacks on either mainland

    Aims were limited to control of the islands, neither side struck the other's mainland, and the war lasted about ten weeks. Aircraft, Exocet missiles and a submarine all played major parts, so the war was limited in scope rather than in weapons.
    Causes and Effects of 20th-Century Wars › Types of War
  4. According to Mao's three-stage model of people's war, what happens in the final stage?

    A) Guerrillas switch to conventional warfare to finish the enemy
    B) The party negotiates a ceasefire and a coalition government
    C) Small-scale raids wear the enemy down in a long stalemate
    D) Guerrillas withdraw to remote base areas to survive and recruit
    A) Guerrillas switch to conventional warfare to finish the enemy

    The final counter-offensive stage turns the guerrilla force into a conventional army to finish the enemy. Retreating to base areas is the first, strategic defensive stage, and wearing the enemy down by raids is the middle stalemate stage.
    Causes and Effects of 20th-Century Wars › Types of War
  5. Which explanation of the origins of the Cold War is most closely associated with William Appleman Williams?

    A) Soviet ideology and expansion forced the United States into a defensive role
    B) The US drive for open markets and economic expansion provoked Soviet fears
    C) Mutual misperception and security fears made both sides responsible
    D) Stalin's personality, revealed in post-1991 archives, was decisive
    B) The US drive for open markets and economic expansion provoked Soviet fears

    Williams founded the revisionist school with The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1959), blaming US economic expansion. Soviet expansion is the orthodox view, mutual misperception the post-revisionist one, and the archive-based stress on Stalin the 'new orthodoxy'.
    The Cold War › Origins and Historiography
  6. Why do post-revisionist historians find it useful to read the Novikov Telegram (1946) alongside Kennan's Long Telegram?

    A) Each shows one side reading the other as aggressive, so both misjudged
    B) Both were public speeches made to win support for rearmament
    C) Kennan's report shows the US privately accepted Soviet control of Germany
    D) Novikov's report proves Soviet leaders planned to invade western Europe
    A) Each shows one side reading the other as aggressive, so both misjudged

    Kennan described a Soviet threat, while Novikov argued the US sought world supremacy and was preparing for war, which supports the post-revisionist stress on mutual misperception. Both were confidential diplomatic reports, not public speeches.
    The Cold War › Origins and Historiography

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Authoritarian States and the Cold WarCauses and Effects of 20th-Century Wars

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About these cards

Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.

Checked against:

  • IB Diploma Programme subject guide (topic outline only; no text copied).
  • OpenStax World History, Volume 2, consulted as a reference; no text copied.
  • Short quotations are from public-domain texts: Truman's address to Congress (1947), Eisenhower's press conference of 7 April 1954 and the official English text of Article 9 of Japan's constitution (1947).

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