Almost everyone knows that the seeds of the Second World War were sown

Question

Almost everyone knows that the seeds of the Second World War were sown in the First. Shared experiences of both wars allow the historians to relate the two in a very direct sense. More than 30 historians have linked both wars because the second war was led by men who had fought in the first and whose sons met combat in the second. The editors of “The Great World War” have tried to put more solid flesh on the idea that the links between the two conflicts are tangible and important. The result is more a compendium than a unified history.

On the issue of leadership in war, there is a greater problem. Comparing Lloyd George with Churchill, or Marshall Foch with General Eisenhower, is not very helpful. The real problem with treating the wars as part of a single great conflict is that the second was not an inevitable or even necessary consequence of the first. The turning point was the decision taken on January 30th, 1933, when Field Marshal Hindenburg, hero of the Great War, called Adolf Hitler, the villain of the next, to be German Chancellor. By chance, the war that had passed and the war in the making were briefly united.    1 
 1. According to the passage which of the following is true?

A. The deliberate making of some specific circumstances leads to world war two
B. Historians believe that the sons of the soldiers of the first world war fought in the second world war
C. The result of both wars is like an integrated past of the two events
D. Historians’ accounts on the connection between the two wars are biased
E. Comparing Lloyd George with Churchill, or Marshall Foch with General Eisenhower, is only helpful in the issue of leadership in war

2 
 2. All of the following can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT

A. Historians mentioned in the passage were those who faced both the wars
B. The second world war was not necessarily a consequence of the first.
C. If Hindenburg had not appointed Adolf Hitler to be German Chancellor, the second world war would not have happened.
D. The accounts provided by the historians on the connection of the two wars are inaccurate
E. World war one and two are unwittingly connected

3 
 3. The topic of the passage would best be:

A. The history of world war one and two
B. Adolf Hitler and world war two
C. What historians say on world war one and two
D. The connection between world war one and two
E. Issues in connecting world war one and two

RC Butler 2022  -  Practice Two RC Passages Everyday.   
Passage # 04 Date: 02-Jan-2022
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2022 .  Click here for Details

100mitra · Accepted Answer

Para 1  : Historian claim WW2 was caused because of WW1
  Para 2  : January 30th, 1933, when Field Marshal Hindenburg, hero of the Great War, called Adolf Hitler, the villain of the next, to be German Chancellor linked WW1 and WW2

1. According to the passage which of the following is true?  
A. The deliberate making of some specific circumstances leads to WW2
  Wrong:   No some specific circumstances information is mentioned in the passage

B. Historians believe that the sons of the soldiers of the first world war fought in the second world war
  Correct:   more than 30 Historians believed
 
C. The result of both wars is like an integrated past of the two events
  Wrong:   result of WW1 was ignitor of WW2, post which there is no such result, hence it cannot be linked with the integrated past of this events

D. Historians’ accounts on the connection between the two wars are biased
  Wrong:   it’s the opposite, Historians were clear in thoughts about the connection between WW1 lead to WW2.

E. Comparing Lloyd George with Churchill, or Marshall Foch with General Eisenhower, is only helpful in the issue of leadership in war
  Wrong:   as mentioned in paragraph 2, first line, is not very useful.

2. All of the following can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT  
A. Historians mentioned in the passage were those who faced both the wars
  Wrong:   More than 30 historians have linked both wars because the second war was led by men who had fought in the first and whose sons met combat in the second – can be inferred from passage

B. The second world war was not necessarily a consequence of the first.
  Wrong:   The real problem with treating the wars as part of a single great conflict is that the second was not an inevitable or even necessary consequence of the first – can be inferred from passage

C. If Hindenburg had not appointed Adolf Hitler to be German Chancellor, the second world war would not have happened.
  Correct:    The turning point was the decision taken on January 30th, 1933, when Field Marshal Hindenburg, hero of the Great War, called Adolf Hitler, the villain of the next, to be German Chancellor – Confusion statement

D. The accounts provided by the historians on the connection of the two wars are inaccurate
  Wrong:   The result is more a compendium than a unified history. – last line of paragraph 1 - – can be inferred from passage

E. WW1 and WW2 are unwittingly connected
  Wrong:   By chance, the war that had passed and the war in the making were briefly united – last line of paragraph 2 – can be inferred from passage

3. The topic of the passage would best be:  
A. The history of WW1 and WW2 
  Wrong:   No historic details mentioned between WW1 and WW2
 
B. Adolf Hitler and WW2
  Wrong:   No historic details mentioned between Adolf Hitler and WW2

C. What historians say on WW1 and WW2
  Wrong:   No historian verbatim details mentioned between WW1 and WW2, expect connection between WW1 and WW2

D. The connection between WW1 and WW2
  Correct:   Historian claims and details mentioned in passage, can be concluded

E. Issues in connecting WW1 and WW2
  Wrong:   there is no issues in connecting WW1 and WW2, and either no details mentioned in passage too.

nsrivastav064 · Answer

Request you to post the official explanation for Q2

Buggs23Bunny · Answer

Can anyone provide a better explanation for Q2??
I still cannot understand why C is the OA and not A

kntombat · Answer

Sajjad1994 ,  bm2201 , I feel the OA for question 2 should be A not C.
because from the passage we do not come to know whether any of the historians were participants in WWII.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

2. All of the following can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT

Difficulty Level:   700+

Explanation

This is a global inference question with "EXCEPT". We cannot go back to the read any particular text portion again. Let's read each answer choice one by one.

A. Historians mentioned in the passage were those who faced both the wars

Following is the related portion from the passage from which we can infer this option.

"Shared experiences  of both wars allow the historians to relate the two in a very direct sense. More than 30 historians have linked both wars because the second war was led by men who had fought in the first and whose sons met combat in the second.

Keep track of what is written in the passage; The word "shared experience" is important to note here. "30 historians" are those mentioned earlier sentence. This can be inferred.

B. The second world war was not necessarily a consequence of the first.

This is also mentioned "......the second was not an inevitable or even necessary consequence of the first."

C. If Hindenburg had not appointed Adolf Hitler to be German Chancellor, the second world war would not have happened.

This is a trap of cause-and-effect reasoning. Opposite to this option is mentioned but as such. This cannot be inferred and is a possible answer here.

D. The accounts provided by the historians on the connection of the two wars are inaccurate

This one is also clear in the passage and can be inferred.

E. World war one and two are unwittingly connected

Clearly mentioned in the passage.

Answer: C

purvikhandelwal1 · Answer

Sajjad1994,

Q2 (D) Can you please explain from where can it be inferred that the accounts provided by historians on two wars is inaccurate?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

There is no explicit text to find option  (D)  rather one can infer it by analyzing the overall structure of the passage:

"Shared experiences of both wars allow the historians to relate the two in a very direct sense."

The above text initiate the debate that there are some historian who provide their insights of World war I and II.

"The editors of “The Great World War” have tried to put more solid flesh on the idea that the links between the two conflicts are tangible and important."

Some more text about the relating the World Wars

"The result is more a compendium than a unified history."

This text shows up what the author thinks about the relationship of both the wars

"On the issue of leadership in war, there is a greater problem."

This text shows that there is still some problem is going on regarding some particulars of the war and that the riddle is not solved yet.

"Comparing Lloyd George with Churchill, or Marshall Foch with General Eisenhower, is not very helpful."

This text show that the accounts provided by the historian are not perfect or helpful to know the reality  (D)  by all these identifications available in the passage]

This is how I can infer (D).

Thank you!

Krishnak13 · Answer

1. According to the passage which of the following is true?

B. Historians believe that the sons of the soldiers of the first world war fought in the second world war

Does this option mean "ALL historians believe" or should we assume "Some historians believe"? Could you please help understand what can we infer from such answer choices...

Sajjad1994 · Answer

The question didn't differentiate all historians from some historians. What we have to do is to find support from the passage and select the best answer based on the supported text. Below is the text on which the answer is based.

"More than 30 historians have linked both wars because the second war was led by men who had fought in the first and whose sons met combat in the second."

So basically these more than 30 historian but we are concerned with number, or minority or majority. The question simply ask historian and keep it to that.

VKat · Answer

Hello Team,

I have query regarding Question2.
Please let me know how can we inferred that accounts provided by Historians are inaccurate?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Read the post in the link below https://gmatclub.com/forum/almost-every ... l#p2992458

pk72 · Answer

Hello Sajjad,

I have a query on explanation of C option of Q2:
Can I say that in passage the person called Hitler to be chancellor does not necessarily mean he appointed Hitler to be chancellor, is the reason why it cannot be inferred and hence the correct choice?
Is my understanding correct?

Thanks

Sajjad1994 · Answer

No! This is not the reason for  (C)  being the wrong answer choice. Here is an example of simple logic that works on GMAT CR and RC.

Statement I 
Alex worked hard and hence he passed the exam

Statement II 
Alex passed the exam hence he must have worked hard.

The above statements are not the same. This passage wants us to assume a similar situation as same.

According to the passage:

Hitler was the reason behind the second world war.

Option  (C)  says
Had Hitler not been appointed the chancellor of Germany, world ward 2 would not have happened. This is a  Could be true  statement not a  must be true  statement because contary to the situation has not been discussed in the passage. Hence  (C)  cannot hold true.

aarav293 · Answer

For Q3 in the 2nd Paragraph - "The real problem with treating the wars as part of a single great conflict is that the second was not an inevitable or even necessary consequence of the first."

Is not here we are talking about two events in connection??

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Yes! Indeed. That's the reason  (D)  is the answer.

Prob2303 · Answer

Hi Sajjad,

Can I get the official explanation of the passage?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. According to the passage which of the following is true?

Difficulty Level:   650-700

Explanation

A. The deliberate making of some specific circumstances leads to World War Two.

The passage does not explicitly mention the deliberate making of specific circumstances leading to World War Two. It emphasizes the connection between the First and Second World Wars.

B. Historians believe that the sons of the soldiers of the First World War fought in the Second World War.

The passage state that "more than 30 historians have linked the two wars because the second war was led by men who had fought in the first, and their sons also met combat in the second". Therefore,  option B  accurately reflects the information presented in the passage.

C. The result of both wars is like an integrated past of the two events.

While this statement may seems correct, it doesn't specifically address the historical aspect of the First World War and Second World War, which is the primary focus of the passage.

D. Historians' accounts on the connection between the two wars are biased.

The passage doesn't provide information about bias in historians' accounts. It mentions historians linking the wars but doesn't make any judgment about bias.

E. Comparing Lloyd George with Churchill, or Marshall Foch with General Eisenhower, is only helpful in the issue of leadership in war.

The passage actually suggests that comparing leaders from the First and Second World Wars, such as Lloyd George with Churchill or Marshall Foch with General Eisenhower, is not very helpful. It points out the greater problem with treating the wars as part of a single great conflict.

Answer: B

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. The topic of the passage would best be:

Difficulty Level:   650

Explanation

A. The history of world war one and two.

This option is too broad and generalizes the topic. While the passage discusses aspects of the history of both World War One and World War Two, the central focus is on the connection between the two wars, not a comprehensive history.

B. Adolf Hitler and world war two.

While Adolf Hitler and World War Two are mentioned in the passage, the primary focus is not on Hitler or a detailed history of World War Two. The passage concentrates more on the broader connection between the two wars and the turning point in 1933.

C. What historians say on world war one and two.

This option is partially correct, as the passage does mention that more than 30 historians have linked both wars. However, it does not exclusively focus on what historians say; rather, it discusses the tangible and important links between the wars.

D. The connection between world war one and two.

This is the correct option. The passage centers around the connection between World War One and World War Two. It discusses how the experiences of the First World War influenced the Second, with soldiers from the first war leading in the second and their sons participating as well.

E. Issues in connecting world war one and two.

This option is partially correct, it is not as precise as option D. The passage does address issues in connecting the two wars, such as the challenge of comparing leadership and the assertion that the second war was not an inevitable consequence of the first.  D  is better.

Answer: D

Almost everyone knows that the seeds of the Second World War were sown

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Almost everyone knows that the seeds of the Second World War were sown

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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