rajpurkar/squad huggingface dataset:
Title: Pacific_War

From as early as 1935 Japanese military strategists had concluded the Dutch East Indies were, because of their oil reserves, of considerable importance to Japan. By 1940 they had expanded this to include Indo-China, Malaya, and the Philippines within their concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japanese troop build ups in Hainan, Taiwan, and Haiphong were noted, Japanese Army officers were openly talking about an inevitable war, and Admiral Sankichi Takahashi was reported as saying a showdown with the United States was necessary.

Question: Which Japanese Admiral felt it was necessary to go to war with the U.S.?
Answer: Sankichi Takahashi

Question: Why was the Dutch East Indies important to Japan?
Answer: oil reserves

Question: In what year did the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere expand?
Answer: 1940

Question: Who said a showdown between Japan and the United States would be necessary?
Answer: Admiral Sankichi Takahashi

Question: What was the importance of the Dutch East Indies to Japan?
Answer: oil reserves

Question: By what year did Japanese strategists expand their concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere?
Answer: 1940
Title: Pacific_War

In an effort to discourage Japanese militarism, Western powers including Australia, the United States, Britain, and the Dutch government in exile, which controlled the petroleum-rich Dutch East Indies, stopped selling oil, iron ore, and steel to Japan, denying it the raw materials needed to continue its activities in China and French Indochina. In Japan, the government and nationalists viewed these embargos as acts of aggression; imported oil made up about 80% of domestic consumption, without which Japan's economy, let alone its military, would grind to a halt. The Japanese media, influenced by military propagandists,[nb 10] began to refer to the embargoes as the "ABCD ("American-British-Chinese-Dutch") encirclement" or "ABCD line".

Question: What were these embargoes called by the Japanese media?
Answer: "ABCD ("American-British-Chinese-Dutch")

Question: What did The West do to disuade Japan in China and French Indochina?
Answer: stopped selling oil, iron ore, and steel to Japan

Question: Why was denying supplies important to the western countries?
Answer: denying it the raw materials needed to continue its activities

Question: Why did Western powers stop selling resources to Japan?
Answer: to discourage Japanese militarism

Question: How did Japan view Western embargos?
Answer: as acts of aggression

Question: What percent of oil made up Japan's domestic consumption?
Answer: about 80%

Question: What did the Japanese media refer to the embargoes as?
Answer: "ABCD line"
Title: Pacific_War

The Japanese leadership was aware that a total military victory in a traditional sense against the USA was impossible; the alternative would be negotiating for peace after their initial victories, which would recognize Japanese hegemony in Asia. In fact, the Imperial GHQ noted, should acceptable negotiations be reached with the Americans, the attacks were to be canceled—even if the order to attack had already been given. The Japanese leadership looked to base the conduct of the war against America on the historical experiences of the successful wars against China (1894–95) and Russia (1904–05), in both of which a strong continental power was defeated by reaching limited military objectives, not by total conquest.

Question: What would Japan accomplish by peace after their early victories?
Answer: recognize Japanese hegemony in Asia.

Question: Did The Japanese believe they could defeate the U.S.?
Answer: impossible

Question: What was Japan's strategic goal in attacking America?
Answer: defeated by reaching limited military objectives, not by total conquest

Question: What did the Japanese military leadership think the chances were of complete military victory ove the United States?
Answer: impossible

Question: What did Japan want recognised in planned peace negotiations after their initial victories?
Answer: Japanese hegemony in Asia

Question: If acceptable negotiations btween Japan and the United States were reached, what would be done regarding the attacks?
Answer: canceled

Question: What was the conduct of the war against the United States based on?
Answer: historical experiences
Title: Pacific_War

In the early hours of 7 December (Hawaiian time), Japan launched a major surprise carrier-based air strike on Pearl Harbor without explicit warning, which crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet, leaving eight American battleships out of action, 188 American aircraft destroyed, and 2,403 American citizens dead. At the time of the attack, the U.S. was not officially at war anywhere in the world, which means that the people killed or property destroyed at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese attack had a non-combatant status.[nb 11] The Japanese had gambled that the United States, when faced with such a sudden and massive blow, would agree to a negotiated settlement and allow Japan free rein in Asia. This gamble did not pay off. American losses were less serious than initially thought: The American aircraft carriers, which would prove to be more important than battleships, were at sea, and vital naval infrastructure (fuel oil tanks, shipyard facilities, and a power station), submarine base, and signals intelligence units were unscathed. Japan's fallback strategy, relying on a war of attrition to make the U.S. come to terms, was beyond the IJN's capabilities.

Question: How many U.S. battleships were incapacitated in the Pearl Harbor attacks?
Answer: eight

Question: Was America at war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor?
Answer: not officially at war

Question: How many Americans died in the Pearl Harbor attacks?
Answer: 2,403

Question: Why did Japan attack America?
Answer: allow Japan free rein in Asia

Question: What were the most vital American ships at the time of the attack?
Answer: aircraft carriers

Question: When did Japan launch the aattack on Pearl Harbor?
Answer: 7 December

Question: How many American battleships were put out of action in the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan?
Answer: eight

Question: How many US citizens were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan?
Answer: 2,403

Question: How many aircraft did the United States lose in the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan?
Answer: 188

Question: Where were the American aircraft carriers during the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan?
Answer: at sea
Title: Pacific_War

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 800,000-member America First Committee vehemently opposed any American intervention in the European conflict, even as America sold military aid to Britain and the Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease program. Opposition to war in the U.S. vanished after the attack. On 8 December, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands declared war on Japan, followed by China and Australia the next day. Four days after Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on the United States, drawing the country into a two-theater war. This is widely agreed to be a grand strategic blunder, as it abrogated the benefit Germany gained by Japan's distraction of the U.S. (predicted months before in a memo by Commander Arthur McCollum)[nb 12] and the reduction in aid to Britain, which both Congress and Hitler had managed to avoid during over a year of mutual provocation, which would otherwise have resulted.

Question: What program allowed America to sell military supplies to Britain and the Soviet Union?
Answer: Lend-Lease

Question: On what day did the U.S. and its allies declar war on Japan?
Answer: 8 December

Question: How long after the Pearl Harbor attacks did Germany and Italy declare war?
Answer: Four days

Question: Was Germany's declaration of war with the U.S. considered to be sound strategy?
Answer: strategic blunder

Question: how many members did the America First Committee have?
Answer: 800,000

Question: What group was opposed to American involvement in the war in Europe?
Answer: America First Committee

Question: When did the United States declare war on Japan?
Answer: 8 December

Question: How many days after the attack on Pearl Harbor did Germany wait to declare war on the United States?
Answer: Four

Question: Who predicted Germany's declaration of war against the United States months before?
Answer: Commander Arthur McCollum
Title: Pacific_War

Following the Declaration by United Nations (the first official use of the term United Nations) on 1 January 1942, the Allied governments appointed the British General Sir Archibald Wavell to the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), a supreme command for Allied forces in Southeast Asia. This gave Wavell nominal control of a huge force, albeit thinly spread over an area from Burma to the Philippines to northern Australia. Other areas, including India, Hawaii, and the rest of Australia remained under separate local commands. On 15 January Wavell moved to Bandung in Java to assume control of ABDACOM.

Question: What date was the first official use of the term United Nations?
Answer: 1 January 1942

Question: Who was appointed to command the Allied forces in Southeast Asia in 1942?
Answer: General Sir Archibald Wavell

Question: When did General Wavell assume control of the Southheast Asia Allied forces?
Answer: 15 January

Question: How spread out were the Allied forces in Southeastern Asia?
Answer: thinly

Question: Where did General Wavell command the Allied forces from?
Answer: Bandung
Title: Pacific_War

In January, Japan invaded Burma, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and captured Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Rabaul. After being driven out of Malaya, Allied forces in Singapore attempted to resist the Japanese during the Battle of Singapore but surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942; about 130,000 Indian, British, Australian and Dutch personnel became prisoners of war. The pace of conquest was rapid: Bali and Timor also fell in February. The rapid collapse of Allied resistance had left the "ABDA area" split in two. Wavell resigned from ABDACOM on 25 February, handing control of the ABDA Area to local commanders and returning to the post of Commander-in-Chief, India.

Question: What islands did Japan invade?
Answer: Solomon Islands

Question: When did Allied forces surrender Singapore to the Japanese?
Answer: 15 February 1942

Question: How many Allied prisoners did Japan take after the Battle of Singapore?
Answer: about 130,000

Question: When did General Wavell resign as commander of the Allied forces of Southeastern Asia?
Answer: 25 February

Question: After Wavell resigned from ABDACOM, What post did he return to?
Answer: Commander-in-Chief, India
Title: Pacific_War

In Burma the British, under intense pressure, made a fighting retreat from Rangoon to the Indo-Burmese border. This cut the Burma Road which was the western Allies' supply line to the Chinese Nationalists. In March 1942, Chinese Expeditionary Force started to attack Japanese forces in northern Burma. On 16 April, 7,000 British soldiers were encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division during the Battle of Yenangyaung and rescued by the Chinese 38th Division led by Sun Li-jen. Cooperation between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists had waned from its zenith at the Battle of Wuhan, and the relationship between the two had gone sour as both attempted to expand their area of operations in occupied territories. Most of the Nationalist guerrilla areas were eventually overtaken by the Communists. On the other hand, some Nationalist units were deployed to blockade the Communists and not the Japanese. Furthermore, many of the forces of the Chinese Nationalists were warlords allied to Chiang Kai-Shek, but not directly under his command. "Of the 1,200,000 troops under Chiang's control, only 650,000 were directly controlled by his generals, and another 550,000 controlled by warlords who claimed loyalty to his government; the strongest force was the Szechuan army of 320,000 men. The defeat of this army would do much to end Chiang's power." The Japanese exploited this lack of unity to press ahead in their offensives.

Question: When did the Chinese attack Burma?
Answer: March 1942

Question: How many British soldiers were rescued by the Chinese 38th Division on April 16??
Answer: 7,000

Question: Who led the rescue of British forces during the Battle of Yenangyaung?
Answer: Sun Li-jen

Question: How many of Chiang Kai-Shek's troops were controlled by warlords?
Answer: 550,000

Question: What was Chiang Kai-Shek's strongest army?
Answer: Szechuan army
Title: Pacific_War

Two battle-hardened Australian divisions were steaming from the Mid-East for Singapore. Churchill wanted them diverted to Burma, but Curtin insisted on a return to Australia. In early 1942 elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy proposed an invasion of Australia. The Japanese Army opposed the plan and it was rejected in favour of a policy of isolating Australia from the United States via blockade by advancing through the South Pacific. The Japanese decided upon a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby, capital of the Australian Territory of Papua which would put Northern Australia within range of Japanese bomber aircraft.

Question: How many Australian divisions steamed from the Mid-East for Singapore?
Answer: Two

Question: Where did Churchill want the Australian divisions bound for Singapore to be diverted to?
Answer: Burma

Question: What Japanese group opposed an invasion of Australia?
Answer: Japanese Army

Question: What was the capital of Papua?
Answer: Port Moresby

Question: What country did Japan isolate Australia from with a blockade?
Answer: United States
Title: Pacific_War

President Franklin Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of MacArthur who became Supreme Commander, South West Pacific. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia. Enemy naval activity reached Sydney in late May 1942, when Japanese midget submarines launched a daring raid on Sydney Harbour. On 8 June 1942, two Japanese submarines briefly shelled Sydney's eastern suburbs and the city of Newcastle.

Question: Who ordered General MacArthur to make a defense plan with Australia?
Answer: President Franklin Roosevelt

Question: When was General MacArthur ordered to make a defense plan with Australia?
Answer: March 1942

Question: Who was the Supreme Commander of the South West Allied forces?
Answer: MacArthur

Question: Where was MacArthur's headquarters moved to in March of 1942?
Answer: Melbourne

Question: How many Japanese submarines shelled Sydney on June 8, 1942?
Answer: two
Title: Pacific_War

In early 1942, the governments of smaller powers began to push for an inter-governmental Asia-Pacific war council, based in Washington, D.C.. A council was established in London, with a subsidiary body in Washington. However, the smaller powers continued to push for an American-based body. The Pacific War Council was formed in Washington, on 1 April 1942, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his key advisor Harry Hopkins, and representatives from Britain, China, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Canada. Representatives from India and the Philippines were later added. The council never had any direct operational control, and any decisions it made were referred to the U.S.-UK Combined Chiefs of Staff, which was also in Washington. Allied resistance, at first symbolic, gradually began to stiffen. Australian and Dutch forces led civilians in a prolonged guerilla campaign in Portuguese Timor.

Question: What American president was a member of the Pacific War Council?
Answer: President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question: When was the Pacific War Council formed in Washingto D.C.?
Answer: 1 April 1942

Question: Who was President Roosevelt's key advisor?
Answer: Harry Hopkins

Question: Where was the U.S.-UK Combined Chiefs of Staff located?
Answer: Washington

Question: Where was the Australian and Dutch guerilla campaign led?
Answer: Portuguese Timor
Title: Pacific_War

By mid-1942, the Japanese found themselves holding a vast area from the Indian Ocean to the Central Pacific, even though they lacked the resources to defend or sustain it. Moreover, Combined Fleet doctrine was inadequate to execute the proposed "barrier" defence. Instead, Japan decided on additional attacks in both the south and central Pacific. While she had the element of surprise at Pearl Harbor, Allied codebreakers had now turned the tables. They discovered an attack was planned against Port Moresby; if it fell, Japan would control the seas to the north and west of Australia and could isolate the country. The carrier USS Lexington under Admiral Fletcher joined USS Yorktown and an American-Australian task force to stop the Japanese advance. The resulting Battle of the Coral Sea, fought in May 1942, was the first naval battle in which ships involved never sighted each other and only aircraft were used to attack opposing forces. Although Lexington was sunk and Yorktown seriously damaged, the Japanese lost the carrier Shōhō, and suffered extensive damage to Shōkaku and heavy losses to the air wing of Zuikaku, both of which missed the operation against Midway the following month. Although Allied losses were heavier than Japanese, the attack on Port Moresby was thwarted and the Japanese invasion force turned back, a strategic victory for the Allies. The Japanese were forced to abandon their attempts to isolate Australia. Moreover, Japan lacked the capacity to replace losses in ships, planes and trained pilots.

Question: What American carrier joined the USS Yorktown to stop the Japanese attack on Port Moresby in 1942?
Answer: USS Lexington

Question: What admiral was the USS Lexington under?
Answer: Admiral Fletcher

Question: When was the Battle of the Coral Sea fought?
Answer: May 1942

Question: What Japanese carrier was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea?
Answer: Shōhō

Question: What American carrier was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea?
Answer: Lexington
Title: Pacific_War

A Japanese force was sent north to attack the Aleutian Islands. The next stage of the plan called for the capture of Midway, which would give him an opportunity to destroy Nimitz's remaining carriers. In May, Allied codebreakers discovered his intentions. Nagumo was again in tactical command but was focused on the invasion of Midway; Yamamoto's complex plan had no provision for intervention by Nimitz before the Japanese expected him. Planned surveillance of the U.S. fleet by long range seaplane did not happen (as a result of an abortive identical operation in March), so Fletcher's carriers were able to proceed to a flanking position without being detected. Nagumo had 272 planes operating from his four carriers, the U.S. 348 (115 land-based).

Question: In Yamamoto's plan, what northern islands were to be attacked?
Answer: Aleutian Islands

Question: What was the second stage objective of Yamaoto's plan?
Answer: capture of Midway

Question: How many planes did Nagumo have for the Midway invasion?
Answer: 272

Question: How many planes did the United States have in the Battle of Midway?
Answer: 348

Question: How many U.S. planes were land-based?
Answer: 115
Title: Pacific_War

As anticipated by Nimitz, the Japanese fleet arrived off Midway on 4 June and was spotted by PBY patrol aircraft. Nagumo executed a first strike against Midway, while Fletcher launched his aircraft, bound for Nagumo's carriers. At 09:20 the first U.S. carrier aircraft arrived, TBD Devastator torpedo bombers from Hornet, but their attacks were poorly coordinated and ineffectual; thanks in part to faulty aerial torpedoes, they failed to score a single hit and all 15 were wiped out by defending Zero fighters. At 09:35, 15 additional TBDs from Enterprise attacked in which 14 were lost, again with no hits. Thus far, Fletcher's attacks had been disorganized and seemingly ineffectual, but they succeeded in drawing Nagumo's defensive fighters down to sea level where they expended much of their fuel and ammunition repulsing the two waves of torpedo bombers. As a result, when U.S. dive bombers arrived at high altitude, the Zeros were poorly positioned to defend. To make matters worse, Nagumo's four carriers had drifted out of formation in their efforts to avoid torpedoes, reducing the concentration of their anti-aircraft fire. Nagumo's indecision had also created confusion aboard his carriers. Alerted to the need of a second strike on Midway, but also wary of the need to deal with the American carriers that he now knew were in the vicinity, Nagumo twice changed the arming orders for his aircraft. As a result, the American dive bombers found the Japanese carriers with their decks cluttered with munitions as the crews worked hastily to properly re-arm their air groups.

Question: When did the Japanese fleet arrive off Midway?
Answer: 4 June

Question: How many TBD Devastator torpedo bombers were lauched from the Hornet?
Answer: 15

Question: How many times did Nagumo change orders for arming his aircraft?
Answer: twice

Question: How many carriers did Nagumo have at the Battle of Midway?
Answer: four

Question: What were on the decks of the Japanese aircraft carriers when the American dive bobers attacked?
Answer: munitions
Title: Pacific_War

With the Japanese CAP out of position and the carriers at their most vulnerable, SBD Dauntlesses from Enterprise and Yorktown appeared at an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and commenced their attack, quickly dealing fatal blows to three fleet carriers: Sōryū, Kaga, and Akagi. Within minutes, all three were ablaze and had to be abandoned with great loss of life. Hiryū managed to survive the wave of dive bombers and launched a counter-attack against the American carriers which caused severe damage to Yorktown (which was later finished off by a Japanese submarine). However, a second attack from the U.S. carriers a few hours later found and destroyed Hiryū, the last remaining fleet carrier available to Nagumo. With his carriers lost and the Americans withdrawn out of range of his powerful battleships, Yamamoto was forced to call off the operation, leaving Midway in American hands. The battle proved to be a decisive victory for the Allies. For the second time, Japanese expansion had been checked and its formidable Combined Fleet was significantly weakened by the loss of four fleet carriers and many highly trained, virtually irreplaceable, personnel. Japan would be largely on the defensive for the rest of the war.

Question: At what altitude did the American dive bombers commence their attck on the Japanese carriers?
Answer: 10,000 feet

Question: Which Japanese carrier survived the first wave of American dive bombers in the Battle of Midway.
Answer: Hiryū

Question: Who won the Battle of Midway?
Answer: Allies

Question: How many fleet carriers were lost by the Japanese in the Battle of Midway?
Answer: four