nc33/MultiSpan_SQUAD huggingface dataset:
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: logistics

Question: Where were the two major surrenders of British forces in the war?
Answer: Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781)

Question: What percentage of the Colonial population were loyal to the Crown?
Answer: 20%

Question: What did Washington do after defeating the British Army?
Answer: he retired quietly to his farm in Virginia.

Question: What advantage did Washington have over the British generals?
Answer: he had a better idea of how to win the war than they did
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: modern day Libya

Question: Who sent pirates to capture merchant ships?
Answer: The Berbers

Question: How did the United States initially deal with this problem?
Answer: The U.S. paid protection money until 1801

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

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

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: getting Britain and France to intervene

Question: What was the Union's original war aim?
Answer: capturing the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia

Question: Who led the Confederate forces defending Richmond throughout the war?
Answer: Robert E. Lee

Question: How did the war effect both sides?
Answer: the material and personnel of the South were used up, while the North prospered
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: the 1880s

Question: What replaced the older sailing ships in the navy?
Answer: modern steel battleships

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

Question: Who ordered this fleet to sail around the world?
Answer: President Theodore Roosevelt

Question: What was the purpose of this order?
Answer: to demonstrate the Navy's capability to extend to the global theater
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: The Mexican Revolution

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

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

Question: What foreign organization encouraged Villa's guerilla war against the US?
Answer: The German Secret Service

Question: What US General led troops against Villa?
Answer: General John J. Pershing
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: isolationism

Question: Congress refused to allow the US to join what organization?
Answer: the League of Nations

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

Question: Which US President sought to circumvent Neutrality acts to aid Britain?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question: What was the name of the 1940 program to send arms to Britain?
Answer: the Lend-Lease Act
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: Over 16 million

Question: How many American service personnel died in World War II?
Answer: 400,000

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

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

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

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: Communism

Question: What was the psychological turning point of the war?
Answer: The Tet Offensive

Question: When did this offensive take place? 
Answer: 1968

Question: When were US forces withdrawn from Vietnam?
Answer: 1973

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

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: 1774

Question: What colony was placed under martial law?
Answer: Massachusetts

Question: What were the first conflicts of the American Revolution?
Answer: Lexington and Concord

Question: Who appointed Washington to serve as commander in chief?
Answer: The Continental Congress

Question: When did the colonies declare independence?
Answer: July 4, 1776
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: having only a modest army

Question: Why was the US military so small initially?
Answer: A traditional distrust of standing armies

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

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

Question: Early leaders also feared a large army would allow what internal conflict to take place?
Answer: a domestic tyrant to seize power
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: the Sioux and Comanche

Question: What caused a spike in difficulties between settlers and indigenous peoples on the western plains after the Civil War?
Answer: population expansion, railroad construction, and the disappearance of the buffalo herds

Question: Who were two of the military leaders tasked with overseeing American policy of putting Indians on reservations?
Answer: William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan

Question: When was the Battle of Little Big Horn fought?
Answer: 1876

Question: What US officer led the troops who were destroyed at Little Big Horn?
Answer: Col. George Armstrong Custer
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske

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

Question: What assistant naval secretary did Fiske serve under?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question: When did Fiske propose his reforms to the way the Navy operated?
Answer: 1913–15
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: doughboys

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

Question: Who had overall command of the American forces in Europe?
Answer: John J. Pershing

Question: When did fighting on the western front end?
Answer: November 11, 1918

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

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: air power

Question: When did the US officially enter World War II?
Answer: 8 December 1941

Question: What event led to America entering the war?
Answer: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Question: At the start of the conflict with the Allies, what did Japan do?
Answer: seized American, Dutch, and British possessions across the Pacific and Southeast Asia

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

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: between 1959 and 1975

Question: Besides Vietnam, what other countries saw fighting in this war?
Answer: Cambodia and Laos

Question: What was the name of the strategic bombing of North Vietnam?
Answer: Operation Rolling Thunder

Question: When did American military involvement ramp up in Vietnam?
Answer: 1964

Question: What congressional declaration gave President Johnson authority to send troops to Vietnam?
Answer: the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: 8 years of war with Iran

Question: Some observers thought that the Persian Gulf War would have tank battles similar to what war?
Answer: North Africa during World War II

Question: What equipment did the Iraqi army possess?
Answer: late model Soviet tanks and jet fighters

Question: Prior to the Persian Gulf War, where and when was the last major American military conflict?
Answer: Vietnam nearly 20 years earlier

Question: What problem did the Iraqi forces have?
Answer: the antiaircraft weapons were crippled
Military_history_of_the_United_States

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: ISIL

Question: What legal ethos does ISIL operate under?
Answer: Sharia law

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

Question: How did the US intervene against ISIL?
Answer: airstrikes in Iraq over ISIL held territories

Question: What was the goal of US and coalition airstrikes in Syria?
Answer: degrading and destroying ISIL and Al-Nusra-held territory
Hard_rock

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: San Francisco

Question: What classic song did Blue Cheer cover?
Answer: "Summertime Blues"

Question: What was the hit off Steppenwolf's self-titled debut lp?
Answer: "Born to Be Wild"

Question: What movie featured that Steppenwolf single?
Answer: Easy Rider

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