World War II Quiz
From the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, to Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945, World War II left an indelible mark on the 20th century: 60 million dead, the Holocaust, the atomic bomb, a world redrawn at Yalta. Test your knowledge with 86 questions fact-checked for accuracy, covering the war's origins, major battles, the Vichy regime, the French Resistance, the Holocaust, D-Day, and its aftermath. Three difficulty levels, a timer, real-time rankings.
World War II Quiz: 1939-1945 in 86 Questions
From the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, to Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945, World War II is the deadliest conflict in history: 60 million dead, including roughly 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. This World War II quiz offers 86 fact-checked questions to help you review, test yourself, or dig deeper. It's part of our history quiz category, covering every era from antiquity to today.
The Origins: From the 1929 Crash to the Invasion of Poland
The 1929 crash, Hitler's rise to power in January 1933, the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, the Anschluss in March 1938, the Munich Agreement in September 1938, the Nazi-Soviet pact on August 23, 1939: the dangers kept piling up. The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, finally triggered Britain and France's declaration of war. Our easy level covers these key milestones.
The Blitzkrieg Defeat and the Vichy Regime
The Phony War (September 1939-May 1940) ended with the German breakthrough at Sedan on May 13, 1940. On June 22, 1940, the armistice was signed. Pétain established the French State at Vichy. Meanwhile, de Gaulle issued his famous appeal from London on June 18, 1940. Collaboration took shape (the October 1940 Jewish statutes, the Vel d'Hiv roundup in July 1942, forced labor conscription in 1943), but so did the Resistance: Jean Moulin unified the National Council of the Resistance (CNR) on May 27, 1943.
Theaters of War: Europe, the Atlantic, the Pacific
The Battle of Britain (summer 1940), the invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), the US entry into the war after Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), Stalingrad (1942-1943), El Alamein (October-November 1942), Midway (June 1942): turning point followed turning point. The Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, and the invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, paved the way for the liberation of Europe. Our medium level explores these military operations.
The Holocaust and Nazi Crimes
From the Wannsee Conference (January 20, 1942), which planned the Final Solution, to the liberation of the camps (Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945), our hard level covers the history of the Jewish genocide with the respect it deserves. The questions also address the Righteous Among the Nations, such as Raoul Wallenberg, French transit camps like Drancy, and the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre (June 10, 1944).
The End of the War and the Birth of a New World
The Yalta Conference (February 1945), Hitler's suicide (April 30, 1945), the German surrender at Reims and then Berlin (May 7-8, 1945), Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945), Japan's surrender aboard the USS Missouri (September 2, 1945), the Potsdam Conference, the Nuremberg trials: a new world order emerged, with the founding of the United Nations on June 26, 1945. The Cold War would follow almost immediately.
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