Answer: Cuba

Context: The Spanish–American War was a short decisive war marked by quick, overwhelming American victories at sea and on land against Spain. The Navy was well-prepared and won laurels, even as politicians tried (and failed) to have it redeployed to defend East Coast cities against potential threats from the feeble Spanish fleet. The Army performed well in combat in Cuba. However, it was too oriented to small posts in the West and not as well-prepared for an overseas conflict. It relied on volunteers and state militia units, which faced logistical, training and food problems in the staging areas in Florida. The United States freed Cuba (after an occupation by the U.S. Army). By the peace treaty Spain ceded to the United States its colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The Navy set up coaling stations there and in Hawaii (which voluntarily joined the U.S. in 1898). The U.S. Navy now had a major forward presence across the Pacific and (with the lease of Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba) a major base in the Caribbean guarding the approaches to the Gulf Coast and the Panama Canal.

Question: Where did the American army fight the Spanish in the Spanish American War?


Answer: volunteers and state militia

Question: The army in this war was primarily made up of what sort of units?


Answer: Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines

Question: What colonies did Spain hand over to the US after the war?


Answer: Hawaii

Question: What island territory voluntarily joined the US as a colony in 1898?


Answer: Guantánamo Bay Naval Base

Question: What is the name of the naval base the US leased from a newly independent Cuba?


Answer: 1899–1902

Context: The Philippine–American War (1899–1902) was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the American forces following the ceding of the Philippines to the United States after the defeat of Spanish forces in the Battle of Manila. The Army sent in 100,000 soldiers (mostly from the National Guard) under General Elwell Otis. Defeated in the field and losing its capital in March 1899, the poorly armed and poorly led rebels broke into armed bands. The insurgency collapsed in March 1901 when the leader Emilio Aguinaldo was captured by General Frederick Funston and his Macabebe allies. Casualties included 1,037 Americans killed in action and 3,340 who died from disease; 20,000 rebels were killed.

Question: When was the Philippine-American War fought?


Answer: Manila

Question: Where did the US defeat occupying Spanish forces prior to the Philippine American War?


Answer: General Elwell Otis

Question: Who led American forces in this war?


Answer: 100,000

Question: How many troops did the US send to the Philippines?


Answer: Emilio Aguinaldo

Question: Who was the rebel leader captured by US forces at the end of this war?


Answer: eight

Context: The loss of eight battleships and 2,403 Americans at Pearl Harbor forced the U.S. to rely on its remaining aircraft carriers, which won a major victory over Japan at Midway just six months into the war, and on its growing submarine fleet. The Navy and Marine Corps followed this up with an island hopping campaign across the central and south Pacific in 1943–45, reaching the outskirts of Japan in the Battle of Okinawa. During 1942 and 1943, the U.S. deployed millions of men and thousands of planes and tanks to the UK, beginning with the strategic bombing of Nazi Germany and occupied Europe and leading up to the Allied invasions of occupied North Africa in November 1942, Sicily and Italy in 1943, France in 1944, and the invasion of Germany in 1945, parallel with the Soviet invasion from the east. That led to the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945. In the Pacific, the U.S. experienced much success in naval campaigns during 1944, but bloody battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945 led the U.S. to look for a way to end the war with minimal loss of American lives. The U.S. used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to destroy the Japanese war effort and to shock the Japanese leadership, which quickly caused the surrender of Japan.

Question: How many battleships did the US Navy lose at Pearl Harbor?


Answer: 2,403

Question: How many Americans were killed during the Pearl Harbor attack?


Answer: island hopping

Question: What term describes the overall US strategy in the Pacific in WWII?


Answer: 1942

Question: When did the Allies invade North Africa?


Answer: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Question: Which two Japanese cities were hit with atomic bombs?


Answer: the People's Republic of China

Context: The Korean War was a conflict between the United States and its United Nations allies and the communist powers under influence of the Soviet Union (also a UN member nation) and the People's Republic of China (which later also gained UN membership). The principal combatants were North and South Korea. Principal allies of South Korea included the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, although many other nations sent troops under the aegis of the United Nations. Allies of North Korea included the People's Republic of China, which supplied military forces, and the Soviet Union, which supplied combat advisors and aircraft pilots, as well as arms, for the Chinese and North Korean troops.

Question: What country supplied troops to North Korea during the Korean War?


Answer: the Soviet Union

Question: What country supplied advisors, pilots, and war materiel to North Korea?


Answer: the United States

Question: What country was the principal ally of South Korea during the war?


Answer: United Nations

Question: What organization did all combatants on both sides of the war belong to?


Answer: North and South Korea

Question: Which two countries were the primary fighters for territory in the Korean War?


Answer: 1950

Context: The war started badly for the US and UN. North Korean forces struck massively in the summer of 1950 and nearly drove the outnumbered US and ROK defenders into the sea. However the United Nations intervened, naming Douglas MacArthur commander of its forces, and UN-US-ROK forces held a perimeter around Pusan, gaining time for reinforcement. MacArthur, in a bold but risky move, ordered an amphibious invasion well behind the front lines at Inchon, cutting off and routing the North Koreans and quickly crossing the 38th Parallel into North Korea. As UN forces continued to advance toward the Yalu River on the border with Communist China, the Chinese crossed the Yalu River in October and launched a series of surprise attacks that sent the UN forces reeling back across the 38th Parallel. Truman originally wanted a Rollback strategy to unify Korea; after the Chinese successes he settled for a Containment policy to split the country. MacArthur argued for rollback but was fired by President Harry Truman after disputes over the conduct of the war. Peace negotiations dragged on for two years until President Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened China with nuclear weapons; an armistice was quickly reached with the two Koreas remaining divided at the 38th parallel. North and South Korea are still today in a state of war, having never signed a peace treaty, and American forces remain stationed in South Korea as part of American foreign policy.

Question: When did North Korean forces initiate attacks on US and UN forces in the Korean war?


Answer: Pusan

Question: What South Korean city did the US and ROK forces defend while building reinforcements?


Answer: amphibious invasion

Question: What type of attack was used on Inchon?


Answer: the Yalu River

Question: Chinese troops attacked the UN forces when they crossed what river?


Answer: Douglas MacArthur

Question: What general was fired for defying President Truman's containment strategy?


Answer: RVN

Context: Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces including the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam or the "RVN"), the United States, supplemented by South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The allies fought against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) as well as the National Liberation Front (NLF, also known as Viet communists Viet Cong), or "VC", a guerrilla force within South Vietnam. The NVA received substantial military and economic aid from the Soviet Union and China, turning Vietnam into a proxy war.

Question: What acronym was given to South Vietnamese troops?


Answer: NVA

Question: What acronym was given to North Vietnamese army regulars?


Answer: Viet Cong

Question: By what name were fighters of the National Liberation Front known?


Answer: South Vietnam

Question: The VC operated in what geographic area?


Answer: Soviet Union and China

Question: The NVA was aided by military and financial aid from what two countries?


Answer: Hanoi and Haiphong

Context: The military history of the American side of the war involved different strategies over the years. The bombing campaigns of the Air Force were tightly controlled by the White House for political reasons, and until 1972 avoided the main Northern cities of Hanoi and Haiphong and concentrated on bombing jungle supply trails, especially the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The most controversial Army commander was William Westmoreland whose strategy involved systematic defeat of all enemy forces in the field, despite heavy American casualties that alienated public opinion back home.

Question: What two northern Vietnamese cities did the US avoid bombing at the outset of the war?


Answer: the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Question: What was the major supply trail for the Northern Vietnamese forces?


Answer: William Westmoreland

Question: What US commander's strategy caused a loss of public opinion in the US?


Answer: the White House

Question: Who helped orchestrate bombing campaigns in the Vietnam War?


Answer: 1972

Question: When did the US start bombing Hanoi?


Answer: 1983

Context: In 1983 fighting between Palestinian refugees and Lebanese factions reignited that nation's long-running civil war. A UN agreement brought an international force of peacekeepers to occupy Beirut and guarantee security. US Marines landed in August 1982 along with Italian and French forces. On October 23, 1983, a suicide bomber driving a truck filled with 6 tons of TNT crashed through a fence and destroyed the Marine barracks, killing 241 Marines; seconds later, a second bomber leveled a French barracks, killing 58. Subsequently the US Navy engaged in bombing of militia positions inside Lebanon. While US President Ronald Reagan was initially defiant, political pressure at home eventually forced the withdrawal of the Marines in February 1984.

Question: When did fighting between Palestinians and the Lebanese begin?


Answer: 1982

Question: When did US marines land in Lebanon?


Answer: October 23, 1983

Question: When did a suicide bomber successfully attack the marine barracks in Lebanon?


Answer: 241

Question: How many marines were killed in the attack?


Answer: February 1984

Question: When did President Reagan withdraw marines from Lebanon?


Answer: US technological superiority

Context: However, the battle was one-sided almost from the beginning. The reasons for this are the subject of continuing study by military strategists and academics. There is general agreement that US technological superiority was a crucial factor but the speed and scale of the Iraqi collapse has also been attributed to poor strategic and tactical leadership and low morale among Iraqi troops, which resulted from a history of incompetent leadership. After devastating initial strikes against Iraqi air defenses and command and control facilities on 17 January 1991, coalition forces achieved total air superiority almost immediately. The Iraqi air force was destroyed within a few days, with some planes fleeing to Iran, where they were interned for the duration of the conflict. The overwhelming technological advantages of the US, such as stealth aircraft and infrared sights, quickly turned the air war into a "turkey shoot". The heat signature of any tank which started its engine made an easy target. Air defense radars were quickly destroyed by radar-seeking missiles fired from wild weasel aircraft. Grainy video clips, shot from the nose cameras of missiles as they aimed at impossibly small targets, were a staple of US news coverage and revealed to the world a new kind of war, compared by some to a video game. Over 6 weeks of relentless pounding by planes and helicopters, the Iraqi army was almost completely beaten but did not retreat, under orders from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and by the time the ground forces invaded on 24 February, many Iraqi troops quickly surrendered to forces much smaller than their own; in one instance, Iraqi forces attempted to surrender to a television camera crew that was advancing with coalition forces.

Question: What is the main reason the US-led coalition won a decisive victory in the Persian Gulf War?


Answer: on 17 January 1991

Question: US airstrikes on Iraqi air defenses and command and control facilities began when?


Answer: poor strategic and tactical leadership and low morale

Question: What faults in the Iraqi forces led to their rapid defeat?


Answer: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

Question: Who ordered Iraqi forces to hold their ground despite air bombardments?


Answer: 24 February

Question: When did US ground forces attack Iraqi positions?


Answer: 100 hours

Context: After just 100 hours of ground combat, and with all of Kuwait and much of southern Iraq under coalition control, US President George H. W. Bush ordered a cease-fire and negotiations began resulting in an agreement for cessation of hostilities. Some US politicians were disappointed by this move, believing Bush should have pressed on to Baghdad and removed Hussein from power; there is little doubt that coalition forces could have accomplished this if they had desired. Still, the political ramifications of removing Hussein would have broadened the scope of the conflict greatly, and many coalition nations refused to participate in such an action, believing it would create a power vacuum and destabilize the region.

Question: How long did ground combat operations last in the Persian Gulf War?


Answer: US President George H. W. Bush

Question: Who ordered the cease-fire that effectively ended hostilities?


Answer: pressed on to Baghdad and removed Hussein from power

Question: What did some US Politicians think Coalition forces should have been allowed to have done?


Answer: refused to participate

Question: Coalition nations did what with regards to invading Northern Iraq to precipitate the cease fire?


Answer: it would create a power vacuum and destabilize the region

Question: Why did Coalition nations fear the removal of Hussein from power?


Answer: The War on Terrorism

Context: The War on Terrorism is a global effort by the governments of several countries (primarily the United States and its principal allies) to neutralize international terrorist groups (primarily Islamic Extremist terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda) and ensure that countries considered by the US and some of its allies to be Rogue Nations no longer support terrorist activities. It has been adopted primarily as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Since 2001, terrorist motivated attacks upon service members have occurred in Arkansas and Texas.

Question: What term is given to the attempt by the US and her allies to fight global terrorist groups?


Answer: Islamic Extremist

Question: What religious groups are primarily targeted by this war?


Answer: al-Qaeda

Question: What is one prominent, specific terrorist group targeted by the War on Terrorism?


Answer: the September 11, 2001 attacks

Question: The War On Terrorism was caused by what event?


Answer: Arkansas and Texas

Question: Since the start of the war on Terrorism, attacks on US service members have occurred in which two US states?


Answer: that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein leave Iraq

Context: After the lengthy Iraq disarmament crisis culminated with an American demand that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein leave Iraq, which was refused, a coalition led by the United States and the United Kingdom fought the Iraqi army in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Approximately 250,000 United States troops, with support from 45,000 British, 2,000 Australian and 200 Polish combat forces, entered Iraq primarily through their staging area in Kuwait. (Turkey had refused to permit its territory to be used for an invasion from the north.) Coalition forces also supported Iraqi Kurdish militia, estimated to number upwards of 50,000. After approximately three weeks of fighting, Hussein and the Ba'ath Party were forcibly removed, followed by 9 years of military presence by the United States and the coalition fighting alongside the newly elected Iraqi government against various insurgent groups.

Question: What demand did the US make before invading Iraq in 2003?


Answer: 250,000

Question: How many US troops participated in the invasion?


Answer: Turkey

Question: What country refused to allow forces to stage within it?


Answer: approximately three weeks

Question: How long did the first phase of fighting last?


Answer: 9 years

Question: How long did the US and its coalition partners have to occupy Iraq?


Answer: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973

Context: As a result of the Libyan Civil War, the United Nations enacted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, and the protection of civilians from the forces of Muammar Gaddafi. The United States, along with Britain, France and several other nations, committed a coalition force against Gaddafi's forces. On 19 March, the first U.S. action was taken when 114 Tomahawk missiles launched by US and UK warships destroyed shoreline air defenses of the Gaddafi regime. The U.S. continued to play a major role in Operation Unified Protector, the NATO-directed mission that eventually incorporated all of the military coalition's actions in the theater. Throughout the conflict however, the U.S. maintained it was playing a supporting role only and was following the UN mandate to protect civilians, while the real conflict was between Gaddafi's loyalists and Libyan rebels fighting to depose him. During the conflict, American drones were also deployed.

Question: What declaration established a no-fly zone over Libya?


Answer: Muammar Gaddafi

Question: What is the name of the Libyan leader opposed by US and UN forces?


Answer: Operation Unified Protector

Question: What was the name of the military action against Libya?


Answer: to protect civilians

Question: What was the goal of this operation?


Answer: Gaddafi's loyalists and Libyan rebels fighting to depose him

Question: The Libyan conflict was primarily fought between which groups?


Answer: logistics

Context: General George Washington (1732–99) proved an excellent organizer and administrator, who worked successfully with Congress and the state governors, selecting and mentoring his senior officers, supporting and training his troops, and maintaining an idealistic Republican Army. His biggest challenge was logistics, since neither Congress nor the states had the funding to provide adequately for the equipment, munitions, clothing, paychecks, or even the food supply of the soldiers. As a battlefield tactician Washington was often outmaneuvered by his British counterparts. As a strategist, however, he had a better idea of how to win the war than they did. The British sent four invasion armies. Washington's strategy forced the first army out of Boston in 1776, and was responsible for the surrender of the second and third armies at Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). He limited the British control to New York and a few places while keeping Patriot control of the great majority of the population. The Loyalists, on whom the British had relied too heavily, comprised about 20% of the population but never were well organized. As the war ended, Washington watched proudly as the final British army quietly sailed out of New York City in November 1783, taking the Loyalist leadership with them. Washington astonished the world when, instead of seizing power, he retired quietly to his farm in Virginia.

Question: What was the biggest problem General Washington faced?


Answer: Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781)

Question: Where were the two major surrenders of British forces in the war?


Answer: 20%

Question: What percentage of the Colonial population were loyal to the Crown?


Answer: he retired quietly to his farm in Virginia.

Question: What did Washington do after defeating the British Army?


Answer: he had a better idea of how to win the war than they did

Question: What advantage did Washington have over the British generals?


Answer: modern day Libya

Context: The Berbers along the Barbary Coast (modern day Libya) sent pirates to capture merchant ships and hold the crews for ransom. The U.S. paid protection money until 1801, when President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay and sent in the Navy to challenge the Barbary States, the First Barbary War followed. After the U.S.S. Philadelphia was captured in 1803, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid which successfully burned the captured ship, preventing Tripoli from using or selling it. In 1805, after William Eaton captured the city of Derna, Tripoli agreed to a peace treaty. The other Barbary states continued to raid U.S. shipping, until the Second Barbary War in 1815 ended the practice.

Question: Where was the Barbary Coast?


Answer: The Berbers

Question: Who sent pirates to capture merchant ships?


Answer: The U.S. paid protection money until 1801

Question: How did the United States initially deal with this problem?


Answer: Stephen Decatur

Question: What American naval officer led a raid that destroyed a captured American ship?


Answer: Derna

Question: What city did William Eaton capture to end the first Barbary War?


Answer: getting Britain and France to intervene

Context: The American Civil War caught both sides unprepared. The Confederacy hoped to win by getting Britain and France to intervene, or else by wearing down the North's willingness to fight. The U.S. sought a quick victory focused on capturing the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. The Confederates under Robert E. Lee tenaciously defended their capital until the very end. The war spilled across the continent, and even to the high seas. Most of the material and personnel of the South were used up, while the North prospered.

Question: What was the Confederate overall strategy to win the Civil War?


Answer: capturing the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia

Question: What was the Union's original war aim?


Answer: Robert E. Lee

Question: Who led the Confederate forces defending Richmond throughout the war?


Answer: the material and personnel of the South were used up, while the North prospered

Question: How did the war effect both sides?


Answer: the 1880s

Context: The Navy was modernized in the 1880s, and by the 1890s had adopted the naval power strategy of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan—as indeed did every major navy. The old sailing ships were replaced by modern steel battleships, bringing them in line with the navies of Britain and Germany. In 1907, most of the Navy's battleships, with several support vessels, dubbed the Great White Fleet, were featured in a 14-month circumnavigation of the world. Ordered by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was a mission designed to demonstrate the Navy's capability to extend to the global theater.

Question: When in the 19th century was the US navy modernized?


Answer: modern steel battleships

Question: What replaced the older sailing ships in the navy?


Answer: the Great White Fleet

Question: By what name was the US fleet known at the start of the 20th Century?


Answer: President Theodore Roosevelt

Question: Who ordered this fleet to sail around the world?


Answer: to demonstrate the Navy's capability to extend to the global theater

Question: What was the purpose of this order?


Answer: The Mexican Revolution

Context: The Mexican Revolution involved a civil war with hundreds of thousands of deaths and large numbers fleeing combat zones. Tens of thousands fled to the U.S. President Wilson sent U.S. forces to occupy the Mexican city of Veracruz for six months in 1914. It was designed to show the U.S. was keenly interested in the civil war and would not tolerate attacks on Americans, especially the April 9, 1914, "Tampico Affair", which involved the arrest of American sailors by soldiers of the regime of Mexican President Victoriano Huerta. In early 1916 Pancho Villa a Mexican general ordered 500 soldiers on a murderous raid on the American city of Columbus New Mexico, with the goal of robbing banks to fund his army. The German Secret Service encouraged Pancho Villa in his attacks to involve the United States in an intervention in Mexico which would distract the United States from its growing involvement in the war and divert aid from Europe to support the intervention. Wilson called up the state militias (National Guard) and sent them and the U.S. Army under General John J. Pershing to punish Villa in the Pancho Villa Expedition. Villa fled, with the Americans in pursuit deep into Mexico, thereby arousing Mexican nationalism. By early 1917 President Venustiano Carranza had contained Villa and secured the border, so Wilson ordered Pershing to withdraw.

Question: What early 20th century conflict sent tens of thousands of refugees to the US?


Answer: Veracruz

Question: US forces were sent to occupy what Mexican City during the Revolution?


Answer: Pancho Villa

Question: What was the name of the Mexican general who attacked an American city in New Mexico?


Answer: The German Secret Service

Question: What foreign organization encouraged Villa's guerilla war against the US?


Answer: General John J. Pershing

Question: What US General led troops against Villa?


Answer: isolationism

Context: After the costly U.S. involvement in World War I, isolationism grew within the nation. Congress refused membership in the League of Nations, and in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia, the gradually more restrictive Neutrality Acts were passed, which were intended to prevent the U.S. from supporting either side in a war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to support Britain, however, and in 1940 signed the Lend-Lease Act, which permitted an expansion of the "cash and carry" arms trade to develop with Britain, which controlled the Atlantic sea lanes.

Question: What general sentiment was the result of losses in World War I?


Answer: the League of Nations

Question: Congress refused to allow the US to join what organization?


Answer: Neutrality Acts

Question: What legislation was passed to discourage the country from getting involved in a foreign war?


Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question: Which US President sought to circumvent Neutrality acts to aid Britain?


Answer: the Lend-Lease Act

Question: What was the name of the 1940 program to send arms to Britain?


Answer: Over 16 million

Context: World War II holds a special place in the American psyche as the country's greatest triumph, and the U.S. military personnel of World War II are frequently referred to as "the Greatest Generation." Over 16 million served (about 11% of the population), and over 400,000 died during the war. The U.S. emerged as one of the two undisputed superpowers along with the Soviet Union, and unlike the Soviet Union, the U.S. homeland was virtually untouched by the ravages of war. During and following World War II, the United States and Britain developed an increasingly strong defense and intelligence relationship. Manifestations of this include extensive basing of U.S. forces in the UK, shared intelligence, shared military technology (e.g. nuclear technology), and shared procurement.

Question: How many Americans served in the military in World War II?


Answer: 400,000

Question: How many American service personnel died in World War II?


Answer: the Soviet Union

Question: What other country besides the United States became a super power after World War II?


Answer: the Greatest Generation

Question: What name is given to those Americans who served in World War II?


Answer: Britain

Question: Both during and after the conclusion of World War II, the United States formed a firm alliance with what country?


Answer: Communism

Context: The U.S. framed the war as part of its policy of containment of Communism in south Asia, but American forces were frustrated by an inability to engage the enemy in decisive battles, corruption and incompetence in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and ever increasing protests at home. The Tet Offensive in 1968, although a major military defeat for the NLF with half their forces eliminated, marked the psychological turning point in the war. With President Richard M. Nixon opposed to containment and more interested in achieving détente with both the Soviet Union and China, American policy shifted to "Vietnamization," – providing very large supplies of arms and letting the Vietnamese fight it out themselves. After more than 57,000 dead and many more wounded, American forces withdrew in 1973 with no clear victory, and in 1975 South Vietnam was finally conquered by communist North Vietnam and unified.

Question: The policy of containment in Asia was aimed at what ideology?


Answer: The Tet Offensive

Question: What was the psychological turning point of the war?


Answer: 1968

Question: When did this offensive take place?


Answer: 1973

Question: When were US forces withdrawn from Vietnam?


Answer: "Vietnamization,"

Question: The policy of supplying arms and war materiel for the Vietnamese to fight their own war was called what?


Answer: 1774

Context: Ongoing political tensions between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies reached a crisis in 1774 when the British placed the province of Massachusetts under martial law after the Patriots protested taxes they regarded as a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. When shooting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, militia units from across New England rushed to Boston and bottled up the British in the city. The Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly created Continental Army, which was augmented throughout the war by colonial militia. He drove the British out of Boston but in late summer 1776 they returned to New York and nearly captured Washington's army. Meanwhile, the revolutionaries expelled British officials from the 13 states, and declared themselves an independent nation on July 4, 1776.

Question: When did Britain declare martial law in a North American colony?


Answer: Massachusetts

Question: What colony was placed under martial law?


Answer: Lexington and Concord

Question: What were the first conflicts of the American Revolution?


Answer: The Continental Congress

Question: Who appointed Washington to serve as commander in chief?


Answer: July 4, 1776

Question: When did the colonies declare independence?


Answer: having only a modest army

Context: Following the American Revolutionary War, the United States faced potential military conflict on the high seas as well as on the western frontier. The United States was a minor military power during this time, having only a modest army, Marine corps, and navy. A traditional distrust of standing armies, combined with faith in the abilities of local militia, precluded the development of well-trained units and a professional officer corps. Jeffersonian leaders preferred a small army and navy, fearing that a large military establishment would involve the United States in excessive foreign wars, and potentially allow a domestic tyrant to seize power.

Question: What quality made the US only a minor military power after the Revolutionary War?


Answer: A traditional distrust of standing armies

Question: Why was the US military so small initially?


Answer: local militia

Question: The founding fathers had faith in what military groups?


Answer: foreign wars

Question: What did early American leaders worry a large standing army would involve America in?


Answer: a domestic tyrant to seize power

Question: Early leaders also feared a large army would allow what internal conflict to take place?


Answer: the Sioux and Comanche

Context: After the Civil War, population expansion, railroad construction, and the disappearance of the buffalo herds heightened military tensions on the Great Plains. Several tribes, especially the Sioux and Comanche, fiercely resisted confinement to reservations. The main role of the Army was to keep indigenous peoples on reservations and to end their wars against settlers and each other, William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan were in charge. A famous victory for the Plains Nations was the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, when Col. George Armstrong Custer and two hundred plus members of the 7th Cavalry were killed by a force consisting of Native Americans from the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho nations. The last significant conflict came in 1891.

Question: What two tribes particularly resisted being confined to reservations?


Answer: population expansion, railroad construction, and the disappearance of the buffalo herds

Question: What caused a spike in difficulties between settlers and indigenous peoples on the western plains after the Civil War?


Answer: William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan

Question: Who were two of the military leaders tasked with overseeing American policy of putting Indians on reservations?


Answer: 1876

Question: When was the Battle of Little Big Horn fought?


Answer: Col. George Armstrong Custer

Question: What US officer led the troops who were destroyed at Little Big Horn?


Answer: Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske

Context: Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske was at the vanguard of new technology in naval guns and gunnery, thanks to his innovations in fire control 1890–1910. He immediately grasped the potential for air power, and called for the development of a torpedo plane. Fiske, as aide for operations in 1913–15 to Assistant Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt, proposed a radical reorganization of the Navy to make it a war-fighting instrument. Fiske wanted to centralize authority in a chief of naval operations and an expert staff that would develop new strategies, oversee the construction of a larger fleet, coordinate war planning including force structure, mobilization plans, and industrial base, and ensure that the US Navy possessed the best possible war machines. Eventually, the Navy adopted his reforms and by 1915 started to reorganize for possible involvement in the World War then underway.

Question: What naval officer developed new doctrines for gunnery at the turn of the 20th Century?


Answer: torpedo plane

Question: What aircraft did Fiske call for the development of?


Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question: What assistant naval secretary did Fiske serve under?


Answer: 1913–15

Question: When did Fiske propose his reforms to the way the Navy operated?


Answer: doughboys

Context: By summer 1918, a million American soldiers, or "doughboys" as they were often called, of the American Expeditionary Forces were in Europe under the command of John J. Pershing, with 25,000 more arriving every week. The failure of Germany's spring offensive exhausted its reserves and they were unable to launch new offensives. The German Navy and home front then revolted and a new German government signed a conditional surrender, the Armistice, ending the war against the western front on November 11, 1918.

Question: What was the name given to American soldiers in Europe in 1918?


Answer: American Expeditionary Forces

Question: What was the official name of the American army that went to fight in Europe in 1918?


Answer: John J. Pershing

Question: Who had overall command of the American forces in Europe?


Answer: November 11, 1918

Question: When did fighting on the western front end?


Answer: the Armistice

Question: What was the name of the conditional surrender that ended fighting on the western front?


Answer: air power

Context: Starting in 1940 (18 months before Pearl Harbor), the nation mobilized, giving high priority to air power. American involvement in World War II in 1940–41 was limited to providing war material and financial support to Britain, the Soviet Union, and the Republic of China. The U.S. entered officially on 8 December 1941 following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japanese forces soon seized American, Dutch, and British possessions across the Pacific and Southeast Asia, except for Australia, which became a main American forward base along with Hawaii.

Question: What was the American priority in mobilization prior to entering World War II?


Answer: 8 December 1941

Question: When did the US officially enter World War II?


Answer: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Question: What event led to America entering the war?


Answer: seized American, Dutch, and British possessions across the Pacific and Southeast Asia

Question: At the start of the conflict with the Allies, what did Japan do?


Answer: Australia

Question: What country served as an American forward base to wage war with Japan?


Answer: between 1959 and 1975

Context: The Vietnam War was a war fought between 1959 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos (see Secret War) and in the strategic bombing (see Operation Rolling Thunder) of North Vietnam. American advisors came in the late 1950s to help the RVN (Republic of Vietnam) combat Communist insurgents known as "Viet Cong." Major American military involvement began in 1964, after Congress provided President Lyndon B. Johnson with blanket approval for presidential use of force in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Question: When was the Vietnam War fought?


Answer: Cambodia and Laos

Question: Besides Vietnam, what other countries saw fighting in this war?


Answer: Operation Rolling Thunder

Question: What was the name of the strategic bombing of North Vietnam?


Answer: 1964

Question: When did American military involvement ramp up in Vietnam?


Answer: the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Question: What congressional declaration gave President Johnson authority to send troops to Vietnam?


Answer: 8 years of war with Iran

Context: Before the war, many observers believed the US and its allies could win but might suffer substantial casualties (certainly more than any conflict since Vietnam), and that the tank battles across the harsh desert might rival those of North Africa during World War II. After nearly 50 years of proxy wars, and constant fears of another war in Europe between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, some thought the Persian Gulf War might finally answer the question of which military philosophy would have reigned supreme. Iraqi forces were battle-hardened after 8 years of war with Iran, and they were well equipped with late model Soviet tanks and jet fighters, but the antiaircraft weapons were crippled; in comparison, the US had no large-scale combat experience since its withdrawal from Vietnam nearly 20 years earlier, and major changes in US doctrine, equipment and technology since then had never been tested under fire.

Question: What conflict was supposed to have provided Iraqi forces with battle experience?


Answer: North Africa during World War II

Question: Some observers thought that the Persian Gulf War would have tank battles similar to what war?


Answer: late model Soviet tanks and jet fighters

Question: What equipment did the Iraqi army possess?


Answer: Vietnam nearly 20 years earlier

Question: Prior to the Persian Gulf War, where and when was the last major American military conflict?


Answer: the antiaircraft weapons were crippled

Question: What problem did the Iraqi forces have?


Answer: ISIL

Context: With the emergence of ISIL and its capture of large areas of Iraq and Syria, a number of crises resulted that sparked international attention. ISIL had perpetrated sectarian killings and war crimes in both Iraq and Syria. Gains made in the Iraq war were rolled back as Iraqi army units abandoned their posts. Cities were taken over by the terrorist group which enforced its brand of Sharia law. The kidnapping and decapitation of numerous Western journalists and aid-workers also garnered interest and outrage among Western powers. The US intervened with airstrikes in Iraq over ISIL held territories and assets in August, and in September a coalition of US and Middle Eastern powers initiated a bombing campaign in Syria aimed at degrading and destroying ISIL and Al-Nusra-held territory.

Question: What organization captured significant segments of Iraq and Syria?


Answer: Sharia law

Question: What legal ethos does ISIL operate under?


Answer: kidnapping and decapitation

Question: What actions did ISIL take against Western journalists and aid workers?


Answer: airstrikes in Iraq over ISIL held territories

Question: How did the US intervene against ISIL?


Answer: degrading and destroying ISIL and Al-Nusra-held territory

Question: What was the goal of US and coalition airstrikes in Syria?


Answer: San Francisco

Context: Groups that emerged from the American psychedelic scene about the same time included Iron Butterfly, MC5, Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge. San Francisco band Blue Cheer released a crude and distorted cover of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues", from their 1968 debut album Vincebus Eruptum, that outlined much of the later hard rock and heavy metal sound. The same month, Steppenwolf released its self-titled debut album, including "Born to Be Wild", which contained the first lyrical reference to heavy metal and helped popularise the style when it was used in the film Easy Rider (1969). Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968), with its 17-minute-long title track, using organs and with a lengthy drum solo, also prefigured later elements of the sound.

Question: Where was the band Blue Cheer from?


Answer: "Summertime Blues"

Question: What classic song did Blue Cheer cover?


Answer: "Born to Be Wild"

Question: What was the hit off Steppenwolf's self-titled debut lp?


Answer: Easy Rider

Question: What movie featured that Steppenwolf single?


Answer: heavy metal

Question: The lyrics to "Born To Be Wild" contain the first reference to what hard rock style?


Answer: Canadian

Context: From outside the United Kingdom and the United States, the Canadian trio Rush released three distinctively hard rock albums in 1974–75 (Rush, Fly by Night and Caress of Steel) before moving toward a more progressive sound with the 1976 album 2112. The Irish band Thin Lizzy, which had formed in the late 1960s, made their most substantial commercial breakthrough in 1976 with the hard rock album Jailbreak and their worldwide hit "The Boys Are Back in Town", which reached number 8 in the UK and number 12 in the US. Their style, consisting of two duelling guitarists often playing leads in harmony, proved itself to be a large influence on later bands. They reached their commercial, and arguably their artistic peak with Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979). The arrival of Scorpions from Germany marked the geographical expansion of the subgenre. Australian-formed AC/DC, with a stripped back, riff heavy and abrasive style that also appealed to the punk generation, began to gain international attention from 1976, culminating in the release of their multi-platinum albums Let There Be Rock (1977) and Highway to Hell (1979). Also influenced by a punk ethos were heavy metal bands like Motörhead, while Judas Priest abandoned the remaining elements of the blues in their music, further differentiating the hard rock and heavy metal styles and helping to create the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which was pursued by bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Venom.

Question: The band Rush is what nationality?


Answer: Rush, Fly by Night and Caress of Steel

Question: What are the first three Rush albums?


Answer: Irish

Question: What nationality was Thin Lizzy?


Answer: "The Boys Are Back in Town"

Question: What was Thin Lizzy's hit single?


Answer: Germany

Question: The Scorpions hailed from what country?


Answer: Slippery When Wet

Context: Bon Jovi's third album, Slippery When Wet (1986), mixed hard rock with a pop sensitivity and spent a total of 8 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 12 million copies in the US while becoming the first hard rock album to spawn three top 10 singles — two of which reached number one. The album has been credited with widening the audiences for the genre, particularly by appealing to women as well as the traditional male dominated audience, and opening the door to MTV and commercial success for other bands at the end of the decade. The anthemic The Final Countdown (1986) by Swedish group Europe was an international hit, reaching number eight on the US charts while hitting the top 10 in nine other countries. This era also saw more glam-infused American hard rock bands come to the forefront, with both Poison and Cinderella releasing their multi-platinum début albums in 1986. Van Halen released 5150 (1986), their first album with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, which was number one in the US for three weeks and sold over 6 million copies. By the second half of the decade, hard rock had become the most reliable form of commercial popular music in the United States.

Question: What is the title of Bon Jovi's third lp?


Answer: 12 million

Question: How many copies did this record sell?


Answer: The Final Countdown

Question: What was the band Europe's international hit?


Answer: 5150

Question: What was Van Halen's 1986 album called?


Answer: Sammy Hagar

Question: Who was the new lead singer for Van Halen on 5150?


Answer: "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"

Context: Some established acts continued to enjoy commercial success, such as Aerosmith, with their number one multi-platinum albums: Get a Grip (1993), which produced four Top 40 singles and became the band's best-selling album worldwide (going on to sell over 10 million copies), and Nine Lives (1997). In 1998, Aerosmith released the number one hit "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", which remains the only single by a hard rock band to debut at number one. AC/DC produced the double platinum Ballbreaker (1995). Bon Jovi appealed to their hard rock audience with songs such as "Keep the Faith" (1992), but also achieved success in adult contemporary radio, with the Top 10 ballads "Bed of Roses" (1993) and "Always" (1994). Bon Jovi's 1995 album These Days was a bigger hit in Europe than it was in the United States, spawning four Top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart. Metallica's Load (1996) and ReLoad (1997) each sold in excess of 4 million copies in the US and saw the band develop a more melodic and blues rock sound. As the initial impetus of grunge bands faltered in the middle years of the decade, post-grunge bands emerged. They emulated the attitudes and music of grunge, particularly thick, distorted guitars, but with a more radio-friendly commercially oriented sound that drew more directly on traditional hard rock. Among the most successful acts were the Foo Fighters, Candlebox, Live, Collective Soul, Australia's Silverchair and England's Bush, who all cemented post-grunge as one of the most commercially viable subgenres by the late 1990s. Similarly, some post-Britpop bands that followed in the wake of Oasis, including Feeder and Stereophonics, adopted a hard rock or "pop-metal" sound.

Question: What Aerosmith ballad debuted at number one on the charts?


Answer: Ballbreaker

Question: What was the title of AC/DC's 1995 double lp?


Answer: These Days

Question: Bon Jovi's 1995 album was called what?


Answer: post-grunge

Question: What commercially successful sub-genre emerged from the grunge movement?


Answer: 1993

Question: When did Aerosmith's album Get A Grip come out?


Answer: Bon Jovi and Def Leppard

Context: Hard rock developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC and Van Halen. During the 1980s, some hard rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock, while others began to return to a hard rock sound. Established bands made a comeback in the mid-1980s and it reached a commercial peak in the 1980s, with glam metal bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and the rawer sounds of Guns N' Roses, which followed up with great success in the later part of that decade. Hard rock began losing popularity with the commercial success of grunge and later Britpop in the 1990s.

Question: What are two examples of glam metal bands?


Answer: grunge and later Britpop

Question: What two genres cut into hard rock's popularity at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s?


Answer: Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC and Van Halen

Question: What were some hard rock bands of the 1970s?


Answer: pop rock

Question: What style did some hard rock bands embrace in the 1980s?


Answer: electric blues

Context: The roots of hard rock can be traced back to the 1950s, particularly electric blues, which laid the foundations for key elements such as a rough declamatory vocal style, heavy guitar riffs, string-bending blues-scale guitar solos, strong beat, thick riff-laden texture, and posturing performances. Electric blues guitarists began experimenting with hard rock elements such as driving rhythms, distorted guitar solos and power chords in the 1950s, evident in the work of Memphis blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson, and particularly Pat Hare, who captured a "grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound" on records such as James Cotton's "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954). Other antecedents include Link Wray's instrumental "Rumble" in 1958, and the surf rock instrumentals of Dick Dale, such as "Let's Go Trippin'" (1961) and "Misirlou" (1962).

Question: What genre laid the roots for hard rock?


Answer: Link Wray

Question: Who recorded "Rumble"?


Answer: 1958

Question: When was "Rumble" released?


Answer: "Let's Go Trippin'" (1961) and "Misirlou" (1962)

Question: What were two of Dick Dale's better known songs?


Answer: Memphis

Question: What city's blues style produced hard rock precursors in electric blues?


Answer: Exile on Main St.

Context: In the early 1970s the Rolling Stones developed their hard rock sound with Exile on Main St. (1972). Initially receiving mixed reviews, according to critic Steve Erlewine it is now "generally regarded as the Rolling Stones' finest album". They continued to pursue the riff-heavy sound on albums including It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974) and Black and Blue (1976). Led Zeppelin began to mix elements of world and folk music into their hard rock from Led Zeppelin III (1970) and Led Zeppelin IV (1971). The latter included the track "Stairway to Heaven", which would become the most played song in the history of album-oriented radio. Deep Purple continued to define hard rock, particularly with their album Machine Head (1972), which included the tracks "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water". In 1975 guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left, going on to form Rainbow and after the break-up of the band the next year, vocalist David Coverdale formed Whitesnake. 1970 saw The Who release Live at Leeds, often seen as the archetypal hard rock live album, and the following year they released their highly acclaimed album Who's Next, which mixed heavy rock with extensive use of synthesizers. Subsequent albums, including Quadrophenia (1973), built on this sound before Who Are You (1978), their last album before the death of pioneering rock drummer Keith Moon later that year.

Question: What was the landmark hard rock album recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1972?


Answer: Led Zeppelin IV

Question: Which Led Zeppelin album featured the hit "Stairway to Heaven"?


Answer: "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water"

Question: What two hard rock songs are featured on Deep Purple's Machine Head album?


Answer: Ritchie Blackmore

Question: Who was Deep Purple's guitarist?


Answer: Keith Moon

Question: Who was the drummer for The Who?


Answer: Bon Scott

Context: The opening years of the 1980s saw a number of changes in personnel and direction of established hard rock acts, including the deaths of Bon Scott, the lead singer of AC/DC, and John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin. Whereas Zeppelin broke up almost immediately afterwards, AC/DC pressed on, recording the album Back in Black (1980) with their new lead singer, Brian Johnson. It became the fifth-highest-selling album of all time in the US and the second-highest-selling album in the world. Black Sabbath had split with original singer Ozzy Osbourne in 1979 and replaced him with Ronnie James Dio, formerly of Rainbow, giving the band a new sound and a period of creativity and popularity beginning with Heaven and Hell (1980). Osbourne embarked on a solo career with Blizzard of Ozz (1980), featuring American guitarist Randy Rhoads. Some bands, such as Queen, moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock, while others, including Rush with Moving Pictures (1981), began to return to a hard rock sound. The creation of thrash metal, which mixed heavy metal with elements of hardcore punk from about 1982, particularly by Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer, helped to create extreme metal and further remove the style from hard rock, although a number of these bands or their members would continue to record some songs closer to a hard rock sound. Kiss moved away from their hard rock roots toward pop metal: firstly removing their makeup in 1983 for their Lick It Up album, and then adopting the visual and sound of glam metal for their 1984 release, Animalize, both of which marked a return to commercial success. Pat Benatar was one of the first women to achieve commercial success in hard rock, with three successive Top 5 albums between 1980 and 1982.

Question: Who was the original lead singer of AC/DC who died?


Answer: John Bonham

Question: Who was the Led Zeppelin drummer who passed away?


Answer: Ronnie James Dio

Question: What singer replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath?


Answer: Blizzard of Ozz

Question: What was Ozzy Osbourne's first solo album?


Answer: Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer

Question: What are some thrash metal bands?


Answer: 1991

Context: Hard rock entered the 1990s as one of the dominant forms of commercial music. The multi-platinum releases of AC/DC's The Razors Edge (1990), Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (both in 1991), Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears (1991), and Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991) showcased this popularity. Additionally, The Black Crowes released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker (1990), which contained a bluesy classic rock sound and sold five million copies. In 1992, Def Leppard followed up 1987's Hysteria with Adrenalize, which went multi-platinum, spawned four Top 40 singles and held the number one spot on the US album chart for five weeks.

Question: Guns N Roses released both Use Your Illusion albums in what year?


Answer: The Black Crowes

Question: What band's debut was titled Shake Your Money Maker?


Answer: Adrenalize

Question: What was the title of Def Leppard's 1992 album?


Answer: Hysteria

Question: Adrenalize followed what 1987 Def Leppard record?


Answer: five weeks

Question: Adrenalize topped US album charts for how long?


Answer: 2006

Context: The term "retro-metal" has been applied to such bands as Texas based The Sword, California's High on Fire, Sweden's Witchcraft and Australia's Wolfmother. Wolfmother's self-titled 2005 debut album combined elements of the sounds of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Fellow Australians Airbourne's début album Runnin' Wild (2007) followed in the hard riffing tradition of AC/DC. England's The Darkness' Permission to Land (2003), described as an "eerily realistic simulation of '80s metal and '70s glam", topped the UK charts, going quintuple platinum. The follow-up, One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back (2005), reached number 11, before the band broke up in 2006. Los Angeles band Steel Panther managed to gain a following by sending up 80s glam metal. A more serious attempt to revive glam metal was made by bands of the sleaze metal movement in Sweden, including Vains of Jenna, Hardcore Superstar and Crashdïet.

Question: When did the band The Darkness break up?


Answer: retro-metal

Question: The Sword, High on Fire, Witchcraft and Wolfmother are all examples of what hard rock sub-genre?


Answer: Runnin' Wild

Question: What is the title of Airbourne's debut lp?


Answer: Los Angeles

Question: Glam metal band Steel Panther is from what city?


Answer: Vains of Jenna, Hardcore Superstar and Crashdïet

Question: What are some Swedish sleaze metal revivalist bands?


Answer: Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf

Context: In the 1960s, American and British blues and rock bands began to modify rock and roll by adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming, and louder vocals, from electric blues. Early forms of hard rock can be heard in the work of Chicago blues musicians Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf, The Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" (1963) which made it a garage rock standard, and the songs of rhythm and blues influenced British Invasion acts, including "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1964), "My Generation" by The Who (1965), "Shapes of Things" (1966) by The Yardbirds and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965) by The Rolling Stones. From the late 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music that emerged from psychedelia into soft and hard rock. Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. In contrast, hard rock was most often derived from blues rock and was played louder and with more intensity.

Question: Who were three Chicago blues players who influenced hard rock?


Answer: The Kinks

Question: Who recorded "You Really Got Me"?


Answer: The Yardbirds

Question: "Shapes of Things" was a 1966 single by what band?


Answer: "Louie Louie"

Question: What garage rock classic was recorded by The Kingsmen?


Answer: 1965

Question: When did the Rolling Stones release "(I Can't Get No" Satisfaction"?


Answer: 1973

Context: Emerging British acts included Free, who released their signature song "All Right Now" (1970), which has received extensive radio airplay in both the UK and US. After the breakup of the band in 1973, vocalist Paul Rodgers joined supergroup Bad Company, whose eponymous first album (1974) was an international hit. The mixture of hard rock and progressive rock, evident in the works of Deep Purple, was pursued more directly by bands like Uriah Heep and Argent. Scottish band Nazareth released their self-titled début album in 1971, producing a blend of hard rock and pop that would culminate in their best selling, Hair of the Dog (1975), which contained the proto-power ballad "Love Hurts". Having enjoyed some national success in the early 1970s, Queen, after the release of Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and A Night at the Opera (1975), gained international recognition with a sound that used layered vocals and guitars and mixed hard rock with heavy metal, progressive rock, and even opera. The latter featured the single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which stayed at number one in the UK charts for nine weeks.

Question: When did Free break up?


Answer: Bad Company

Question: What band did Free lead singer Paul Rodgers help form?


Answer: 1974

Question: Bad Company's self titled debut album was released in what year?


Answer: Scottish

Question: What nationality was the band Nazareth?


Answer: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Question: What was Queen's massive 1975 hit single called?


Answer: the New Wave of British Heavy Metal

Context: Often categorised with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, in 1981 Def Leppard released their second album High 'n' Dry, mixing glam-rock with heavy metal, and helping to define the sound of hard rock for the decade. The follow-up Pyromania (1983), reached number two on the American charts and the singles "Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'", helped by the emergence of MTV, all reached the Top 40. It was widely emulated, particularly by the emerging Californian glam metal scene. This was followed by US acts like Mötley Crüe, with their albums Too Fast for Love (1981) and Shout at the Devil (1983) and, as the style grew, the arrival of bands such as Ratt, White Lion, Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot. Quiet Riot's album Metal Health (1983) was the first glam metal album, and arguably the first heavy metal album of any kind, to reach number one in the Billboard music charts and helped open the doors for mainstream success by subsequent bands.

Question: What sub-genre of hard rock does Def Leppard belong to?


Answer: High 'n' Dry

Question: What was Def Leppard's second album called?


Answer: "Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'"

Question: What were the three Top 40 singles from Def Leppard's Pyromania album?


Answer: Quiet Riot

Question: What band had the first glam metal album to hit number one on the Billboard charts?


Answer: 1983

Question: When did Motley Crue's album Shout At The Devil come out?


Answer: Nevermind

Context: While these few hard rock bands managed to maintain success and popularity in the early part of the decade, alternative forms of hard rock achieved mainstream success in the form of grunge in the US and Britpop in the UK. This was particularly evident after the success of Nirvana's Nevermind (1991), which combined elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal into a "dirty" sound that made use of heavy guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback, along with darker lyrical themes than their "hair band" predecessors. Although most grunge bands had a sound that sharply contrasted mainstream hard rock, several, including Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden, were more strongly influenced by 1970s and 1980s rock and metal, while Stone Temple Pilots managed to turn alternative rock into a form of stadium rock. However, all grunge bands shunned the macho, anthemic and fashion-focused aesthetics particularly associated with glam metal. In the UK, Oasis were unusual among the Britpop bands of the mid-1990s in incorporating a hard rock sound.

Question: What was the title of Nirvana's 1991 album?


Answer: grunge

Question: What was the hard rock style that emerged in the early 1990s?


Answer: Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden

Question: What are some grunge bands with a strong 1970s influence?


Answer: Stone Temple Pilots

Question: What 1990s hard rock band had a big stadium rock sound?


Answer: a hard rock sound

Question: What element made Oasis unique among 1990s Britpop bands?


Answer: 2005

Context: Although Foo Fighters continued to be one of the most successful rock acts, with albums like In Your Honor (2005) reaching number two in the US and UK, many of the first wave of post-grunge bands began to fade in popularity. Acts like Creed, Staind, Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback took the genre into the 2000s with considerable commercial success, abandoning most of the angst and anger of the original movement for more conventional anthems, narratives and romantic songs. They were followed in this vein by new acts including Shinedown and Seether. Acts with more conventional hard rock sounds included Andrew W.K., Beautiful Creatures and Buckcherry, whose breakthrough album 15 (2006) went platinum and spawned the single "Sorry" (2007), which made the Top 10 of the Billboard 100. These were joined by bands with hard rock leanings that emerged in the mid-2000s from the garage rock or post punk revival, including Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Kings of Leon, and Queens of the Stone Age from the US, Three Days Grace from Canada, Jet from Australia and The Datsuns from New Zealand. In 2009 Them Crooked Vultures, a supergroup that brought together Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones attracted attention as a live act and released a self-titled debut album that reached the top 20 in the US and UK and the top ten in several other countries.

Question: When did the Foo Fighters album In Your Honor come out?


Answer: Canada

Question: Three Days Grace is from what country?


Answer: Australia

Question: The band Jet is from what country?


Answer: Them Crooked Vultures

Question: What supergroup featured members of Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Led Zeppelin?


Answer: "Sorry"

Question: What was the title of Buckcherry's 2007 hit single?


Answer: The electric guitar

Context: Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music. The electric guitar is often emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, and as a solo lead instrument. Drumming characteristically focuses on driving rhythms, strong bass drum and a backbeat on snare, sometimes using cymbals for emphasis. The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, but usually providing a backing for the rhythm and lead guitars. Vocals are often growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or even falsetto voice.

Question: What instrument is usually at the center of a hard rock sound?


Answer: repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity

Question: Rhythm guitar in hard rock usually plays what?


Answer: a solo lead instrument

Question: In hard rock, an electric guitar can also be used for what?


Answer: snare

Question: What carries the backbeat in hard rock drumming?


Answer: The bass guitar

Question: What instrument works in tandem with the drums to provide hard rock rhythms?


Answer: Eric Clapton

Context: Blues rock acts that pioneered the sound included Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Jeff Beck Group. Cream, in songs like "I Feel Free" (1966) combined blues rock with pop and psychedelia, particularly in the riffs and guitar solos of Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix produced a form of blues-influenced psychedelic rock, which combined elements of jazz, blues and rock and roll. From 1967 Jeff Beck brought lead guitar to new heights of technical virtuosity and moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band, The Jeff Beck Group. Dave Davies of The Kinks, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Pete Townshend of The Who, Hendrix, Clapton and Beck all pioneered the use of new guitar effects like phasing, feedback and distortion. The Beatles began producing songs in the new hard rock style beginning with the White Album in 1968 and, with the track "Helter Skelter", attempted to create a greater level of noise than the Who. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic has described the "proto-metal roar" of "Helter Skelter," while Ian MacDonald argued that "their attempts at emulating the heavy style were without exception embarrassing."

Question: Who was the guitarist for the band Cream?


Answer: Dave Davies

Question: Who was the guitarist in the Kinks?


Answer: Pete Townshend

Question: Who played guitar in The Who?


Answer: 1968

Question: When did The White Album come out?


Answer: The Rolling Stones

Question: Keith Richards is the guitarist of what band?


Answer: Alice Cooper

Context: In the United States, macabre-rock pioneer Alice Cooper achieved mainstream success with the top ten album School's Out (1972). In the following year blues rockers ZZ Top released their classic album Tres Hombres and Aerosmith produced their eponymous début, as did Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and proto-punk outfit New York Dolls, demonstrating the diverse directions being pursued in the genre. Montrose, including the instrumental talent of Ronnie Montrose and vocals of Sammy Hagar and arguably the first all American hard rock band to challenge the British dominance of the genre, released their first album in 1973. Kiss built on the theatrics of Alice Cooper and the look of the New York Dolls to produce a unique band persona, achieving their commercial breakthrough with the double live album Alive! in 1975 and helping to take hard rock into the stadium rock era. In the mid-1970s Aerosmith achieved their commercial and artistic breakthrough with Toys in the Attic (1975), which reached number 11 in the American album chart, and Rocks (1976), which peaked at number three. Blue Öyster Cult, formed in the late 60s, picked up on some of the elements introduced by Black Sabbath with their breakthrough live gold album On Your Feet or on Your Knees (1975), followed by their first platinum album, Agents of Fortune (1976), containing the hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Journey released their eponymous debut in 1975 and the next year Boston released their highly successful début album. In the same year, hard rock bands featuring women saw commercial success as Heart released Dreamboat Annie and The Runaways débuted with their self-titled album. While Heart had a more folk-oriented hard rock sound, the Runaways leaned more towards a mix of punk-influenced music and hard rock. The Amboy Dukes, having emerged from the Detroit garage rock scene and most famous for their Top 20 psychedelic hit "Journey to the Center of the Mind" (1968), were dissolved by their guitarist Ted Nugent, who embarked on a solo career that resulted in four successive multi-platinum albums between Ted Nugent (1975) and his best selling Double Live Gonzo (1978).

Question: Who recorded the album School's Out?


Answer: ZZ Top

Question: Tres Hombres is the name of an album by what band?


Answer: Sammy Hagar

Question: Who was the lead singer of Montrose?


Answer: 1975

Question: Kiss' double live album Alive! came out in what year?


Answer: Blue Öyster Cult

Question: Who had a hit single with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"?


Answer: Perfect Strangers

Context: Established bands made something of a comeback in the mid-1980s. After an 8-year separation, Deep Purple returned with the classic Machine Head line-up to produce Perfect Strangers (1984), which reached number five in the UK, hit the top five in five other countries, and was a platinum-seller in the US. After somewhat slower sales of its fourth album, Fair Warning, Van Halen rebounded with the Top 3 album Diver Down in 1982, then reached their commercial pinnacle with 1984. It reached number two on the Billboard album chart and provided the track "Jump", which reached number one on the singles chart and remained there for several weeks. Heart, after floundering during the first half of the decade, made a comeback with their eponymous ninth studio album which hit number one and contained four Top 10 singles including their first number one hit. The new medium of video channels was used with considerable success by bands formed in previous decades. Among the first were ZZ Top, who mixed hard blues rock with new wave music to produce a series of highly successful singles, beginning with "Gimme All Your Lovin'" (1983), which helped their albums Eliminator (1983) and Afterburner (1985) achieve diamond and multi-platinum status respectively. Others found renewed success in the singles charts with power ballads, including REO Speedwagon with "Keep on Loving You" (1980) and "Can't Fight This Feeling" (1984), Journey with "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981) and "Open Arms" (1982), Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is", Scorpions' "Still Loving You" (both from 1984), Heart’s "What About Love" (1985) and "These Dreams" (1986), and Boston's "Amanda" (1986).

Question: What was the title of Deep Purple's 1980s reunion album?


Answer: 1984

Question: What album was Van Halen's commercial high point?


Answer: 1983

Question: In what year did ZZ Top release Eliminator?


Answer: REO Speedwagon

Question: What band recorded "Keep On Loving You"?


Answer: Boston

Question: The hit single "Amanda" was recorded by what band?


Answer: Balance

Context: In the new commercial climate glam metal bands like Europe, Ratt, White Lion and Cinderella broke up, Whitesnake went on hiatus in 1991, and while many of these bands would re-unite again in the late 1990s or early 2000s, they never reached the commercial success they saw in the 1980s or early 1990s. Other bands such as Mötley Crüe and Poison saw personnel changes which impacted those bands' commercial viability during the decade. In 1995 Van Halen released Balance, a multi-platinum seller that would be the band's last with Sammy Hagar on vocals. In 1996 David Lee Roth returned briefly and his replacement, former Extreme singer Gary Cherone, was fired soon after the release of the commercially unsuccessful 1998 album Van Halen III and Van Halen would not tour or record again until 2004. Guns N' Roses' original lineup was whittled away throughout the decade. Drummer Steven Adler was fired in 1990, guitarist Izzy Stradlin left in late 1991 after recording Use Your Illusion I and II with the band. Tensions between the other band members and lead singer Axl Rose continued after the release of the 1993 covers album The Spaghetti Incident? Guitarist Slash left in 1996, followed by bassist Duff McKagan in 1997. Axl Rose, the only original member, worked with a constantly changing lineup in recording an album that would take over fifteen years to complete.

Question: What was Van Halen's last album with Sammy Hagar?


Answer: Steven Adler

Question: Who was the Guns N Roses drummer who was fired by the band?


Answer: Gary Cherone

Question: What former member of Extreme briefly served as the lead singer for Van Halen?


Answer: Axl Rose

Question: Who was the only original member left in Guns N Roses?


Answer: 1996

Question: Slash left Guns N Roses in what year?


Answer: heavy metal

Context: In the late 1960s, the term heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock, but gradually began to be used to describe music played with even more volume and intensity. While hard rock maintained a bluesy rock and roll identity, including some swing in the back beat and riffs that tended to outline chord progressions in their hooks, heavy metal's riffs often functioned as stand-alone melodies and had no swing in them. Heavy metal took on "darker" characteristics after Black Sabbath's breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s. In the 1980s it developed a number of subgenres, often termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, and which further differentiated the two styles. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have existed side by side, with bands frequently standing on the boundary of, or crossing between, the genres.

Question: By the late 60s, what term was synonymous with hard rock?


Answer: Black Sabbath

Question: What heavy metal group introduced darker themes to the music?


Answer: hardcore punk

Question: What genre was an influence on extreme metal in the 1980s?


Answer: bluesy

Question: Hard rock is differentiated from heavy metal by containing more of an influence of what genre?


Answer: stand-alone melodies

Question: In heavy metal, riffs typically form what element of a song?


Answer: 1969

Context: By the end of the decade a distinct genre of hard rock was emerging with bands like Led Zeppelin, who mixed the music of early rock bands with a more hard-edged form of blues rock and acid rock on their first two albums Led Zeppelin (1969) and Led Zeppelin II (1969), and Deep Purple, who began as a progressive rock group but achieved their commercial breakthrough with their fourth and distinctively heavier album, In Rock (1970). Also significant was Black Sabbath's Paranoid (1970), which combined guitar riffs with dissonance and more explicit references to the occult and elements of Gothic horror. All three of these bands have been seen as pivotal in the development of heavy metal, but where metal further accentuated the intensity of the music, with bands like Judas Priest following Sabbath's lead into territory that was often "darker and more menacing", hard rock tended to continue to remain the more exuberant, good-time music.

Question: Led Zeppelin's first two albums both came out in what year?


Answer: In Rock

Question: What was the title of Deep Purple's hard rock 1970 album?


Answer: occult and elements of Gothic horror

Question: Black Sabbath's lyrics contained references to what cultural touchstones?


Answer: Paranoid

Question: What is the title of Black Sabbath's 1970 album?


Answer: Judas Priest

Question: What is one band directly influenced by Black Sabbath?


Answer: disco in the US and punk rock in the UK

Context: With the rise of disco in the US and punk rock in the UK, hard rock's mainstream dominance was rivalled toward the later part of the decade. Disco appealed to a more diverse group of people and punk seemed to take over the rebellious role that hard rock once held. Early punk bands like The Ramones explicitly rebelled against the drum solos and extended guitar solos that characterised stadium rock, with almost all of their songs clocking in around two minutes with no guitar solos. However, new rock acts continued to emerge and record sales remained high into the 1980s. 1977 saw the début and rise to stardom of Foreigner, who went on to release several platinum albums through to the mid-1980s. Midwestern groups like Kansas, REO Speedwagon and Styx helped further cement heavy rock in the Midwest as a form of stadium rock. In 1978, Van Halen emerged from the Los Angeles music scene with a sound based around the skills of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He popularised a guitar-playing technique of two-handed hammer-ons and pull-offs called tapping, showcased on the song "Eruption" from the album Van Halen, which was highly influential in re-establishing hard rock as a popular genre after the punk and disco explosion, while also redefining and elevating the role of electric guitar.

Question: What two genres made inroads on hard rock in the 1970s?


Answer: The Ramones

Question: What punk band's songs rarely exceeded two minutes in length?


Answer: Kansas, REO Speedwagon and Styx

Question: What were three midwestern hard rock bands?


Answer: Los Angeles

Question: What city was Van Halen originally from?


Answer: "Eruption"

Question: Which Van Halen instrumental showcased the guitar mastery of Eddie Van Halen?


Answer: 17 million

Context: Established acts benefited from the new commercial climate, with Whitesnake's self-titled album (1987) selling over 17 million copies, outperforming anything in Coverdale's or Deep Purple's catalogue before or since. It featured the rock anthem "Here I Go Again '87" as one of 4 UK top 20 singles. The follow-up Slip of the Tongue (1989) went platinum, but according to critics Steve Erlwine and Greg Prato, "it was a considerable disappointment after the across-the-board success of Whitesnake". Aerosmith's comeback album Permanent Vacation (1987) would begin a decade long revival of their popularity. Crazy Nights (1987) by Kiss was the band's highest charting release in the US since 1979 and the highest of their career in the UK. Mötley Crüe with Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) continued their commercial success and Def Leppard with Hysteria (1987) hit their commercial peak, the latter producing seven hit singles (a record for a hard rock act). Guns N' Roses released the best-selling début of all time, Appetite for Destruction (1987). With a "grittier" and "rawer" sound than most glam metal, it produced three top 10 hits, including the number one "Sweet Child O' Mine". Some of the glam rock bands that formed in the mid-1980s, such as White Lion and Cinderella experienced their biggest success during this period with their respective albums Pride (1987) and Long Cold Winter (1988) both going multi-platinum and launching a series of hit singles. In the last years of the decade, the most notable successes were New Jersey (1988) by Bon Jovi, OU812 (1988) by Van Halen, Open Up and Say... Ahh! (1988) by Poison, Pump (1989) by Aerosmith, and Mötley Crüe's most commercially successful album Dr. Feelgood (1989). New Jersey spawned five Top 10 singles, a record for a hard rock act. In 1988 from 25 June to 5 November, the number one spot on the Billboard 200 album chart was held by a hard rock album for 18 out of 20 consecutive weeks; the albums were OU812, Hysteria, Appetite for Destruction, and New Jersey. A final wave of glam rock bands arrived in the late 1980s, and experienced success with multi-platinum albums and hit singles from 1989 until the early 1990s, among them Extreme, Warrant Slaughter and FireHouse. Skid Row also released their eponymous début (1989), reaching number six on the Billboard 200, but they were to be one of the last major bands that emerged in the glam rock era.

Question: How many copies did Whitesnake's 1987 self title album sell?


Answer: Permanent Vacation

Question: What was the title of Aerosmith's 1987 comeback album?


Answer: seven

Question: Def Leppard's album Hysteria churned out how many hit singles?


Answer: Appetite for Destruction

Question: What Guns N Roses album was the second best selling debut of all time?


Answer: "Sweet Child O' Mine"

Question: What Guns N Roses song became a number one single?


Answer: Audioslave

Context: A few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers. Bon Jovi were still able to achieve a commercial hit with "It's My Life" from their double platinum-certified album Crush (2000). and AC/DC released the platinum-certified Stiff Upper Lip (2000) Aerosmith released a number two platinum album, Just Push Play (2001), which saw the band foray further into pop with the Top 10 hit "Jaded", and a blues cover album, Honkin' on Bobo, which reached number five in 2004. Heart achieved their first Top 10 album since the early 90s with Red Velvet Car in 2010, becoming the first female-led hard rock band to earn Top 10 albums spanning five decades. There were reunions and subsequent tours from Van Halen (with Hagar in 2004 and then Roth in 2007), The Who (delayed in 2002 by the death of bassist John Entwistle until 2006) and Black Sabbath (with Osbourne 1997–2006 and Dio 2006–2010) and even a one off performance by Led Zeppelin (2007), renewing the interest in previous eras. Additionally, hard rock supergroups, such as Audioslave (with former members of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden) and Velvet Revolver (with former members of Guns N' Roses, punk band Wasted Youth and Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland), emerged and experienced some success. However, these bands were short-lived, ending in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The long awaited Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy was finally released in 2008, but only went platinum and failed to come close to the success of the band's late 1980s and early 1990s material. More successfully, AC/DC released the double platinum-certified Black Ice (2008). Bon Jovi continued to enjoy success, branching into country music with "Who Says You Can't Go Home", which reached number one on the Hot Country Singles chart in 2006, and the rock/country album Lost Highway, which reached number one in 2007. In 2009, Bon Jovi released another number one album, The Circle, which marked a return to their hard rock sound.

Question: What hard rock supergroup contained members of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine?


Answer: "It's My Life"

Question: What was the title of Bon Jovi's 2000 hit single?


Answer: AC/DC

Question: What band released an album called Stiff Upper Lip in 2000?


Answer: Scott Weiland

Question: Who was the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots?


Answer: Chinese Democracy

Question: What was Guns N Roses long delayed 2008 album called?


Answer: "Great Plains

Context: The term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th or 98th meridian and east of the Rocky Mountains, was not generally used before the early 20th century. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study, Physiographic Subdivision of the United States, brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the Midwestern states. Today the term "High Plains" is used for a subregion of the Great Plains.

Question: what is the name of the region east of the Rocky Mountains?


Answer: Nevin Fenneman's

Question: who brought the term great plains into widespread usage?


Answer: 1916

Question: what year was Nevin Fenneman's study?


Answer: the High Plains

Question: what was theregion called before "the great plans"?


Answer: open range

Context: Much of the Great Plains became open range, or rangeland where cattle roamed free, hosting ranching operations where anyone was theoretically free to run cattle. In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals and sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. In 1866-95, cowboys herded 10 million cattle north to rail heads such as Dodge City, Kansas and Ogallala, Nebraska; from there, cattle were shipped eastward.

Question: what type of land is much of the great plans?


Answer: spring and fall

Question: when did ranchers usually have a cattle round up?


Answer: branded

Question: in a cattle round up, what did ranchers do to the new calves?


Answer: 10 million

Question: from 1866-95 about how many cattle did cowboys herd?


Answer: Francisco Vázquez de Coronado

Context: With the arrival of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, a Spanish conquistador, the first recorded history of encounter between Europeans and Native Americans in the Great Plains occurred in Texas, Kansas and Nebraska from 1540-1542. In that same time period, Hernando de Soto crossed a west-northwest direction in what is now Oklahoma and Texas. Today this is known as the De Soto Trail. The Spanish thought the Great Plains were the location of the mythological Quivira and Cíbola, a place said to be rich in gold.

Question: who was the spanish conquistador who had encounters with europeans and native americans?


Answer: Hernando de Soto

Question: who crossed a section of oklahoma and texas?


Answer: the De Soto Trail

Question: what is the section of oklahoma and texas that Hernando de Soto traveled?


Answer: The Spanish

Question: who thought the great plains were the locations of Quivira and Cíbola?


Answer: gold

Question: what did the spanish think the cities of Quivira and Cíbola were rich in?


Answer: The 100th meridian

Context: The 100th meridian roughly corresponds with the line that divides the Great Plains into an area that receive 20 inches (510 millimetres) or more of rainfall per year and an area that receives less than 20 in (510 mm). In this context, the High Plains, as well as Southern Alberta, south-western Saskatchewan and Eastern Montana are mainly semi hot steppe land and are generally characterised by rangeland or marginal farmland. The region (especially the High Plains) is periodically subjected to extended periods of drought; high winds in the region may then generate devastating dust storms. The eastern Great Plains near the eastern boundary falls in the humid subtropical climate zone in the southern areas, and the northern and central areas fall in the humid continental climate.

Question: what is the name of the line that divides the great plains?


Answer: 20 inches

Question: about how much rainfall does the great plains get per year?


Answer: dust storms

Question: what do high winds in the area sometimes cause?


Answer: humid subtropical climate

Question: what type of climate does the eastern great plains fall into?


Answer: 1870

Context: After 1870, the new railroads across the Plains brought hunters who killed off almost all the bison for their hides. The railroads offered attractive packages of land and transportation to European farmers, who rushed to settle the land. They (and Americans as well) also took advantage of the homestead laws to obtain free farms. Land speculators and local boosters identified many potential towns, and those reached by the railroad had a chance, while the others became ghost towns. In Kansas, for example, nearly 5000 towns were mapped out, but by 1970 only 617 were actually operating. In the mid-20th century, closeness to an interstate exchange determined whether a town would flourish or struggle for business.

Question: after about what year did railroads bring hunters to the great plains?


Answer: bison

Question: what animal did hunters kill off for their hides?


Answer: European farmers

Question: what farmers rushed in to settle the land with the help of the railroads?


Answer: packages of land and transportation

Question: what did the railroads offer the farmers that rushed in to settle the area?


Answer: a third

Context: The rural Plains have lost a third of their population since 1920. Several hundred thousand square miles (several hundred thousand square kilometers) of the Great Plains have fewer than 6 inhabitants per square mile (2.3 inhabitants per square kilometer)—the density standard Frederick Jackson Turner used to declare the American frontier "closed" in 1893. Many have fewer than 2 inhabitants per square mile (0.77 inhabitants per square kilometer). There are more than 6,000 ghost towns in the state of Kansas alone, according to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald. This problem is often exacerbated by the consolidation of farms and the difficulty of attracting modern industry to the region. In addition, the smaller school-age population has forced the consolidation of school districts and the closure of high schools in some communities. The continuing population loss has led some to suggest that the current use of the drier parts of the Great Plains is not sustainable, and there has been a proposal - the "Buffalo Commons" - to return approximately 139,000 square miles (360,000 km2) of these drier parts to native prairie land.

Question: how much of the population have the rural plains lost since 1920?


Answer: Frederick Jackson Turner

Question: who declated the American frontier "closed" in 1893?


Answer: more than 6,000

Question: how many ghost towns are in the state of Kansas?


Answer: 139,000 square miles

Question: how much prarie land does the "Buffalo Commons" want to return?


Answer: Women

Context: Although the eastern image of farm life in the prairies emphasized the isolation of the lonely farmer and wife, plains residents created busy social lives for themselves. They often sponsored activities that combined work, food and entertainment such as barn raisings, corn huskings, quilting bees, Grange meetings, church activities and school functions. Women organized shared meals and potluck events, as well as extended visits between families. The Grange was a nationwide farmers' organization, they reserved high offices for women, and gave them a voice in public affairs.

Question: who usually organized shared meals and potluck events?


Answer: 1950s

Context: From the 1950s on, many areas of the Great Plains have become productive crop-growing areas because of extensive irrigation on large landholdings. The United States is a major exporter of agricultural products. The southern portion of the Great Plains lies over the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground layer of water-bearing strata dating from the last ice age. Center pivot irrigation is used extensively in drier sections of the Great Plains, resulting in aquifer depletion at a rate that is greater than the ground's ability to recharge.

Question: around when did the great plains become productive for crop growing


Answer: Ogallala Aquifer

Question: what is the large underground layer of water in the great plains called?


Answer: Center pivot irrigation

Question: what type of irrigation is used in the great plains?


Answer: broad expanse of flat land

Context: The Great Plains is the broad expanse of flat land (a plain), much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, that lies west of the Mississippi River tallgrass prairie states and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts, but not all, of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming.

Question: what is the great plains?


Answer: west of the Mississippi River

Question: where does the great plains lie?


Answer: extensive cattle ranching

Question: what is the region known for?


Answer: Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Context: The North American Environmental Atlas, produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA agency composed of the geographical agencies of the Mexican, American, and Canadian governments uses the "Great Plains" as an ecoregion synonymous with predominant prairies and grasslands rather than as physiographic region defined by topography. The Great Plains ecoregion includes five sub-regions: Temperate Prairies, West-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, Texas Louisiana Coastal Plains, and Tamaulipus-Texas Semi-Arid Plain, which overlap or expand upon other Great Plains designations.

Question: who is the North American Environmental Atlas made by?


Answer: Mexican, American, and Canadian governments

Question: what countries is the Commission for Environmental Cooperation made up of?


Answer: railroads

Context: The railroads opened up the Great Plains for settlement, for now it was possible to ship wheat and other crops at low cost to the urban markets in the East, and Europe. Homestead land was free for American settlers. Railroads sold their land at cheap rates to immigrants in expectation they would generate traffic as soon as farms were established. Immigrants poured in, especially from Germany and Scandinavia. On the plains, very few single men attempted to operate a farm or ranch by themselves; they clearly understood the need for a hard-working wife, and numerous children, to handle the many chores, including child-rearing, feeding and clothing the family, managing the housework, feeding the hired hands, and, especially after the 1930s, handling paperwork and financial details. During the early years of settlement, farm women played an integral role in assuring family survival by working outdoors. After approximately one generation, women increasingly left the fields, thus redefining their roles within the family. New technology including sewing and washing machines encouraged women to turn to domestic roles. The scientific housekeeping movement, promoted across the land by the media and government extension agents, as well as county fairs which featured achievements in home cookery and canning, advice columns for women regarding farm bookkeeping, and home economics courses in the schools.

Question: what mainly opened the great plains for settlement?


Answer: ship wheat and other crops

Question: what did the railroads make it easy to do?


Answer: immigrants

Question: who did the railroads sell cheap lands to?


Answer: sewing and washing machines

Question: who two new technologies were introducted in the 1930s?


Answer: about 25 million years ago

Context: During the Cenozoic era, specifically about 25 million years ago during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, the continental climate became favorable to the evolution of grasslands. Existing forest biomes declined and grasslands became much more widespread. The grasslands provided a new niche for mammals, including many ungulates and glires, that switched from browsing diets to grazing diets. Traditionally, the spread of grasslands and the development of grazers have been strongly linked. However, an examination of mammalian teeth suggests that it is the open, gritty habitat and not the grass itself which is linked to diet changes in mammals, giving rise to the "grit, not grass" hypothesis.

Question: about how long ago did the climate become favorable?


Answer: mammals

Question: what animals did the grasslands provide a new home for?


Answer: grazing diets

Question: what diet did the mammals switch to from browsing diets?


Answer: development of grazers

Question: the spread of grasslands and what have been strongly linked?


Answer: 1862

Context: To allow for agricultural development of the Great Plains and house a growing population, the US passed the Homestead Acts of 1862: it allowed a settler to claim up to 160 acres (65 ha) of land, provided that he lived on it for a period of five years and cultivated it. The provisions were expanded under the Kinkaid Act of 1904 to include a homestead of an entire section. Hundreds of thousands of people claimed such homesteads, sometimes building sod houses out of the very turf of their land. Many of them were not skilled dryland farmers and failures were frequent. Much of the Plains were settled during relatively wet years. Government experts did not understand how farmers should cultivate the prairies and gave advice counter to what would have worked[citation needed]. Germans from Russia who had previously farmed, under similar circumstances, in what is now Ukraine were marginally more successful than other homesteaders. The Dominion Lands Act of 1871 served a similar function for establishing homesteads on the prairies in Canada.

Question: when did the US pass the Homestead ACt?


Answer: up to 160 acres

Question: how much land did the Homestead Act allow a person to claim?


Answer: five years

Question: how long did the person have to live on the land?


Answer: 1904

Question: when was the Kinkaid Act brought about?


Answer: 1871

Question: the dominion act was passed in what year


Answer: active near-infrared illumination

Context: Infrared radiation is used in industrial, scientific, and medical applications. Night-vision devices using active near-infrared illumination allow people or animals to be observed without the observer being detected. Infrared astronomy uses sensor-equipped telescopes to penetrate dusty regions of space, such as molecular clouds; detect objects such as planets, and to view highly red-shifted objects from the early days of the universe. Infrared thermal-imaging cameras are used to detect heat loss in insulated systems, to observe changing blood flow in the skin, and to detect overheating of electrical apparatus.

Question: What technology is used by night-vision devices?


Answer: Infrared astronomy

Question: What discipline uses infrared telescopes to see through molecular clouds?


Answer: red

Question: What color shift indicates that space objects date from the early days of the universe?


Answer: Infrared thermal-imaging cameras

Question: What devices are used to observe insulated system heat loss?


Answer: scientific

Question: Along with industrial and medical, in what applications is infrared radiation used?