2025 civics test: Recent American history

Questions 100 to 118 of the official 2025 list, with every accepted answer and a short note on each.

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These nineteen questions go from 1900 to the present: two world wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the civil rights movement and the attacks of September 11, 2001. Many begin "Why did the United States enter..." and the accepted answers are short. For Korea and Vietnam the answer is the same: to stop the spread of communism. The part ends with two questions that let you choose from a long list, an American Indian tribe and an American innovation. Pick one of each now and stay with it.

1. 100 Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.

   • World War I
   • World War II
   • Korean War
   • Vietnam War
   • (Persian) Gulf War

   One answer is enough. Only wars between 1900 and 1999 count here.

2. 101 Why did the United States enter World War I?

   • Because Germany attacked U.S. (civilian) ships
   • To support the Allied Powers (England, France, Italy, and Russia)
   • To oppose the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria)

   The United States joined the war in 1917, after German submarines attacked ships carrying Americans.

3. 102 When did all women get the right to vote?

   • 1920
   • After World War I
   • (With the) 19th Amendment

   The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

4. 103 What was the Great Depression?

   • Longest economic recession in modern history

   It was a long period of very high unemployment and poverty that lasted through the 1930s.

5. 104 When did the Great Depression start?

   • The Great Crash (1929)
   • Stock market crash of 1929

   Share prices on the New York stock market collapsed in October 1929.

6. 105 Who was president during the Great Depression and World War II?

   • (Franklin) Roosevelt

   Franklin Roosevelt was elected four times and served from 1933 until his death in 1945.

7. 106 Why did the United States enter World War II?

   • (Bombing of) Pearl Harbor
   • Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
   • To support the Allied Powers (England, France, and Russia)
   • To oppose the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan)

   Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.

8. 107 Dwight Eisenhower is famous for many things. Name one.

   • General during World War II
   • President at the end of (during) the Korean War
   • 34th president of the United States
   • Signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (Created the Interstate System)

   Eisenhower commanded the Allied forces in Europe in World War II and was president from 1953 to 1961.

9. 108 Who was the United States’ main rival during the Cold War?

   • Soviet Union
   • USSR
   • Russia

   The Cold War was a long period of tension, without direct fighting, from the late 1940s to 1991.

10. 109 During the Cold War, what was one main concern of the United States?

    • Communism
    • Nuclear war

    The United States feared the spread of communism and a war fought with nuclear weapons.

11. 110 Why did the United States enter the Korean War?

    • To stop the spread of communism

    The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953.

12. 111 Why did the United States enter the Vietnam War?

    • To stop the spread of communism

    American forces fought in Vietnam through the 1960s until 1973.

13. 112 What did the civil rights movement do?

    • Fought to end racial discrimination

    The movement of the 1950s and 1960s won laws that ended legal segregation and protected the right to vote.

14. 113 Martin Luther King, Jr. is famous for many things. Name one. 65/20

    • Fought for civil rights
    • Worked for equality for all Americans
    • Worked to ensure that people would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”

    King led peaceful protests for equal rights. He was killed in 1968. A national holiday honours him in January.

15. 114 Why did the United States enter the Persian Gulf War?

    • To force the Iraqi military from Kuwait

    Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. A coalition led by the United States drove the Iraqi army out in 1991.

16. 115 What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States? 65/20

    • Terrorists attacked the United States
    • Terrorists took over two planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City
    • Terrorists took over a plane and crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia
    • Terrorists took over a plane originally aimed at Washington, D.C., and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania

    Hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington; a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.

17. 116 Name one U.S. military conflict after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

    • (Global) War on Terror
    • War in Afghanistan
    • War in Iraq

    One answer is enough. These conflicts followed the attacks of 2001.

18. 117 Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

    • Apache
    • Blackfeet
    • Cayuga
    • Cherokee
    • Cheyenne
    • Chippewa
    • Choctaw
    • Creek
    • Crow
    • Hopi
    • Huron
    • Inupiat
    • Lakota
    • Mohawk
    • Mohegan
    • Navajo
    • Oneida
    • Onondaga
    • Pueblo
    • Seminole
    • Seneca
    • Shawnee
    • Sioux
    • Teton
    • Tuscarora For a complete list of tribes, please visit bia.gov.

    One answer is enough. Choose a name you can say easily, and learn to pronounce it clearly.

19. 118 Name one example of an American innovation.

    • Light bulb
    • Automobile (cars, internal combustion engine)
    • Skyscrapers
    • Airplane
    • Assembly line
    • Landing on the moon
    • Integrated circuit (IC)

    One answer is enough. Choose one you can say easily, such as "light bulb" or "airplane".

Studying this part

• This part has 19 of the 128 questions, numbers 100 to 118 in the official list.
• 2 questions here are marked 65/20: no. 113, no. 115. Applicants who qualify for the 65/20 special consideration study only the marked questions.
• Where several answers are listed, one is enough unless the question asks for more. Choose the one you find easiest to say.
• Cover the answers with your hand or use the button below, say your answer aloud, then check.

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