History Question of the Week
January 2022
What was the first war in which the United States attempted to blockade a foreign port, shell a foreign capital and land troops on foreign soil?
Answer: The First Barbary War (1801-1805).Source: The Wars of the Barbary Pirates by Gregory Fremont-Barnes
More at: History
What was unusual about the death of King Henry I of England?
Answer: He died of food poisoning as a result of eating an extraordinary number of lampreys, a popular fish dish.Source: English Economic History by George W Southgate; General Historical Texts
More at: History
Who was the first Russian citizen to lie in the state in Saint Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral?
Answer: Russian composer of the late-Romantic period, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who died aged 53 in 1890.Source: Tchaikovsky by David Brown
More at: History
December 2021
What was the name of the 19th century treaty which ended the three year Opium War between China and Britain, gave Britain control of Hong Kong, and opened up five treaty ports to international traders?
Answer: The Treaty of Nanking, on 29 August 1842, between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
What was the name of the American painter and inventor who secured funding from the US government to build the first telegraph line in the US from Baltimore to Washington, completed in 1844?
Answer: Samuel Morse (1792-1872)Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
What is the significance of Samuel Plimsoll (1824-98) in maritime history?
Answer: In 1876 the Maritime Shipping Act was passed in the UK which required every ship to have a line painted on the side. If the line sank below the water, the ship was deemed overloaded and not allowed to sail. This line is still used today, and is named after Plimsoll, who made detailed studies of why so many ships sank.Source: Our Seamen: An Appeal by Samuel Plimsoll
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According to legend, in which year did the Emperor Jimmu found Japan?
Answer: 660 BCE. He is said to have ascended to the throne at Kashiware, the first capital of Japan.Source: Japan - A Concise History by Milton Walter Meyer
More at: History
Aeschylus and Sophocles are considered two of the three greatest writers of Greek tragedy. Who was the third?
Answer: Euripides. Considered a master of the tragedy, his thinking on religion and morality were highly unorthodox for their time.Source: The Wisdom of the Great by Sam Majdi
More at: History
November 2021
Which steam ship, launched on 31 January 1858, remained the largest ship ever built in both length and tonnage for over forty years?
Answer: The SS Great Eastern, designed by famed British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.Source: Understanding the Victorians by Susie Steinbach
More at: History
When was Arbitration first used as a dispute resolution technique in international diplomacy?
Answer: 1794, from the Jay Treaty between the United Kingdom and United States. The two sides agreed that disputes over debts and the boundary between America and Canada should be sent to arbitration, a first in diplomatic history.Source: The Historical Foundations of World Order by Douglas M. Johnston
More at: History
In what year during World War One was the German spiked Pickelhaube helmet replaced by the metal Stahlhelm, which offered better protection?
Answer: 1916, the middle year of that tragic encounter in world historySource: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
What is the name of the country which achieved its formal independence in the Treaty of Lisbon of 1668?
Answer: Portugal, achieving independence from its neighbor Spain. It marked the culmination of the Portuguese Restoration War.Source: The Making of Modern Europe by Geoffrey Treasure
More at: History
October 2021
Which Asian island did the Portuguese Empire first visit in 1506, consequently becoming actively involved in its political and religious affairs over the next 150 years?
Answer: Sri Lanka. Previously known as Ceylon.Source: The Encyclopedia of Asian History by Ainslie T. Embree
More at: History
What was the slogan used by the 19th century British slavery abolitionist movement, which was also adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society established?
Answer: ‘Am I not a man, and a brother?’Source: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
More at: History
Which decade saw Mickey Mouse win an honorary Golden Globe, the launch of the first canned beer in New York City, and the world’s first launderette open in Texas?
Answer: The 1930s.Source: Jazz – The Crash Course by Simon Adams
More at: History
What was the name of the Vietnamese national group in 1943, established with the support of the Japanese, which was still playing a part in Vietnam’s politics thirty years later?
Answer: The Dai-Viet Party.Source: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
More at: History
September 2021
What was unusual about the early occupations of 20th US President James A Garfield and the 36th holder of that office Lyndon Baines Johnson?
Answer: They were both school teachers.Source: The Americans by J C Furnas; General Historical Texts
More at: History
What was the first commercially successful paddle steamer?
Answer: The steamship Clermont, which began operations on the Hudson River, New York, in circa 1807. She was built by the wealthy investor and politician Robert Livingston and inventor and entrepreneur Robert FultonSource: World History Factfinder by Colin McCreedy
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What pioneering treaty, signed in 1860 between England and France, inaugurated a period of relative free trade among many European nations that survived until the 1890s?
Answer: The Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. The treaty is considered the first modern multinational trade agreement.Source: Encyclopedia of Free Trade by Cynthia Northrup et al
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What is the name of the Russia’s oldest city, settled by Varangian chef Rurik in 862 CE?
Answer: Novgorod.Source: Oxford Dictionary of People and Places by Frank Abate
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The Lena is one of the great rivers of Siberia, rising near Lake Baikal in Central Asia and flowing into the Arctic Ocean. How was it discovered?
Answer: It was first discovered by Cossack explorers searching for furs around 1630.Source: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
More at: History
August 2021
Which French scientist was the first to recognise and name both oxygen and hydrogen, the first in 1778 and second in 1783, and is often considered the ‘father of modern chemistry’?
Answer: Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794).Source: Oxygen by Michele Thomas
More at: History
In 1941, in one of the seminal events of the War in the Pacific, what time did the first Japanese bomb drop on the British colonial outpost of Singapore, to the closest hour?
Answer: 4am Sunday December 7. The British surrendered to the Japanese on February 15 of the following year, the greatest capitulation in British military history.Source: A Sinister Twilight: Fall of Singapore by Noel Barber
More at: History
Which event in Chinese history took place first; the adoption of Confucianism by Emperor Wu, the death of Emperor Xuan or the Battle of Zhizhi?
Answer: The adoption of Confucianism by Emperor Wu, in 140 BCE.Source: An Introduction to Confucianism by Xinzhong Yao
More at: History
In which year were the first daily weather forecasts printed?
Answer: 1860, in famed British newspaper The Times.Source: The Handy Weather Book by Kevin Hile
More at: History
July 2021
Which of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’ was the first to be destroyed?
Answer: The Temple of Artemis in 401 CE.Source: Pilgrimage by Linda Kay Davidson
More at: History
What was the first war in which the United States attempted to blockade a foreign port, shell a foreign capital and land troops on foreign soil?
Answer: The First Barbary War (1801-1805).Source: The Wars of the Barbary Pirates by Gregory Fremont-Barnes
More at: History
Which French scientist was the first to recognise and name both oxygen and hydrogen, the first in 1778 and second in 1783, and is often considered the ‘father of modern chemistry’?
Answer: Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794).Source: Oxygen by Michele Thomas
More at: History
In what year was the oldest bank still in operation founded?
Answer: 1472. This is the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which remains a large bank in Italy to this day.Source: A Cultural History of Finance by Irene Finel-Honigman
More at: History
In 1870s London, how many mail deliveries were there per day?
Answer: No fewer than ten.Source: The Last Lion by William Manchester
More at: History
June 2021
Dr James Barry was a military surgeon in the British Army, serving in India and South Africa before becoming the high profile Inspector-General of British Hospitals for the Crimean War (1853-1856). What remarkable fact was later discovered about Barry however?
Answer: Barry was actually a woman. Born Margaret Ann Bulkley and raised as a female, it is speculated she chose to live as a man so she could go to university and become a doctor.Source: Loose Cannons by Graeme Donald
More at: History
The British aristocratic socialite Unity Mitford was a prominent supporter of Fascism and from 1936 a close confidant of Adolf Hitler himself. What was ironic about where she was conceived however?
Answer: She was conceived in the town of Swastika, Ontario, where her family had gold mines.Source: The Sisters by Mary S. Lovell
More at: History
Genrikh Yagoda was a formidable leader of the Soviet Union’s secret police, the NKVD, under Josef Stalin, serving from 1934 to 1936. A committed member of the Communist Part, he was also well known for his unusual ‘hobbies’. What were some of these?
Answer: Yagoda appreciated the ‘good life’: collecting fine wines, tending impressive orchards, courting famous writer Maxim Gorky’s daughter-in-law, amassing ladies underwear, and buying German pornographic films and obscene cigarette holders.Source: Stalin - The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore
More at: History
In Ancient Babylon, being a surgeon was a risky business. Why was this?
Answer: According to the Bablyonian Code of Hammurabi of ca. 1700 BCE, if the patient on whom the surgeon was operating died, the surgeons’ hands were to be cut off.Source: History of Medicine by Jacalyn Duffin
More at: History
May 2021
Kenneth McAlpin played a unique role in the pre-history of Scotland in the year 844 CE. What was this?
Answer: As a Scottish chieftain, he formed a union between the Scots and the Picts.Source: Through the Ages by Alf Henrikson
More at: History
Aeschylus and Sophocles are two of the three greatest writers of Greek tragedy. Who was the third?
Answer: Euripides. Considered a master of the tragedy, his thinking on religion and morality were highly unorthodox for their time.Source: The Wisdom of the Great by Sam Majdi
More at: History
What cultural movement, originating in Europe in the 18th century, emphasised the role of reason in human affairs and was committed to material progress and the liberation of humankind from political servitude?
Answer: The Enlightenment.Source: Critical Theory by Stuart Sim and Borin van Loon
More at: History
When the first US volunteer cavalry regiment was established for the Spanish-American War in 1898, its heavy recruitment of skilled riders from the West earned it what nickname?
Answer: The “Rough Riders”.Source: A Dictionary of American History by Thomas L. Purvis
More at: History
April 2021
In what year during World War One was the German spiked Pickelhaube helmet replaced by the metal Stahlhelm, which offered better protection?
Answer: 1916, the middle year of that tragic encounter in world history.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
What is the name of the country which achieved its formal independence in the Treaty of Lisbon of 1668?
Answer: Portugal, achieving independence from its neighbor Spain. It marked the culmination of the Portuguese Restoration War.Source: The Making of Modern Europe by Geoffrey Treasure
More at: History
What was the name of the college established at Oxford founded for ‘the education of working men and women’? It was not originally part of the university, but students were allowed to attend lectures.
Answer: Ruskin College, established in 1899Source: General Historical Texts
More at: History
How many days did King Edward VIII of Britain reign before he abdicated to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson in 1936?
Answer: 325. Before his death, Edward’s father King George V said that his son would “ruin himself” within a year of George’s death. The opinion of many is that this was a pretty accurate prediction.Source: General Historical Texts
More at: History
What was the Cisalpine Republic and when was it established?
Answer: It is the former republic in Northern Italy created by Napoleon in 1797 from conquered territories. It was centred in the Po river valley and included lands around Milan. It was incorporated into the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy in 1805.Source: Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopaedia
More at: History
March 2021
By 19th century European continental standards, the British Army was small. What did German Chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck say he would do if the British Army ever landed in Prussia?
Answer: 'Send a policeman and have it arrested'.Source: The Last Lion by William Manchester; General Historical Texts
More at: History
In which year were the first daily weather forecasts printed?
Answer: 1860, in the British newspaper The Times.Source: The Handy Weather Book by Kevin Hile
More at: History
The Lena is one of the great rivers of Siberia, rising near Lake Baikal in Central Asia and flowing into the Arctic Ocean. How was it discovered?
Answer: It was first discovered by Cossack explorers searching for furs around 1630.Source: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
More at: History
February 2021
Which nation was first called ‘the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata’?
Answer: Argentina. The title originated in the May Revolution of 1810, though was later superseded by the creation of the Argentine Republic in 1831.Source: The Human Tradition in Colonial Latin America by Kenneth J. Andrien
More at: History
How many French protestants fled France after King Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, thus depriving his country of a group renowned for their industriousness and broad skills?
Answer: Around 900,000. Other countries and states welcomed the evacuees including Germany and England.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
‘To shine on the east’ is the translated meaning of the name of which twentieth century historical figure?
Answer: Mao Zedong (1893-1976) Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China.Source: Mao The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
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The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, was the primary peace treaty which officially ended the First World War. The German military was forbidden from having what: a navy or an air force?
Answer: Article 198 of the treaty prohibited Germany from having an air force, and required Germany pass over all its air force equipment.Source: Strategies of Arms Control by Stuart Croft
More at: History
January 2021
Which great empire was a cosmopolitan combination of East and West, Christianity and paganism, and lasted for over 1000 years before it was eventually toppled in 1453?
Answer: The Byzantine Empire.Source: Byzantium by Judith Herrin
More at: History
When was the first declaration of war issued by telegram?
Answer: When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. This was exactly one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, in Sarajevo.Source: 1914 by Paul Ham
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Across the broad span of Japanese history, what is the meaning of uchi harai?
Answer: Uchi Harai was the Japanese government policy of firing on and driving away foreign vessels from the Japanese coastline. It was most notably central to a decree against foreign involvement in 1825. Any foreign vessel, from naval frigate to mere fishing boat, could be targeted.Source: A History of Japan 1582-1941 by L.M. Culle
More at: History
In the pantheon of brilliant generals of Ancient Times, Hannibal, died in Bithynia in 182 CE. What was the cause of his death?
Answer: He poisoned himself.Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
December 2020
What was the slogan used by the 19th century British slavery abolitionist movement, which was also adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society established?
Answer: ‘Am I not a man, and a brother?’Source: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
More at: History
Spain’s inglorious conquest of Latin America from 1492 meant that by 1650 the Indigenous population had declined by how much, as a result of conquest disease and ill-treatment?
Answer: Ninety percent.What was the Cisalpine Republic and when was it created?
Answer: It is the former republic in Northern Italy created by Napoleon in 1797 from conquered territories. It was centred in the Po river valley and included lands around Milan. It was incorporated into the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy in 1805.Source: Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia
More at: History
What is the oldest international sporting trophy?
Answer: The America’s Cup, awarded for winning the America’s cup sailing match race. It was first presented in 1851.Source: The America’s Cup by Oilin Stephens
More at: History
Despite his enormous wealth and power, France’s King Louis XVI (1754-1793), who was famously overthrown in the French Revolution, was a distinctly unhappy man. What did he later recall were the only two happy moments of his life?
Answer: His coronation in June 1775 and a visit in June 1786 to an engineering project in Cherbourg Harbour, the only time he left Paris and Versailles.Source: Citizens by Simon Schama
More at: History
November 2020
The carrot, of course, is widely acknowledged to be an orange vegetable, but prior to the seventeenth century purple, red and white variants were equally common. What do some claim to be the reason for this?
Answer: Some say Dutch farmers cultivated carrots to be primarily orange in tribute to William of Orange, who led the struggle for Dutch independence. Such was the strength of this feeling that in the late 18th century, Dutch patriots who revolted against the House of Orange saw carrots as an offensive tribute to the monarchy.Source: Patriots and Liberators by Simon Schama
More at: History
The Ghurids, a ruling house founded by Ala-ud-Din Husayn, conquered much of Ghaznavid Afghanistan. When was the dynasty founded?
Answer: In the year 1151.Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
What was significant about the funeral held in London in 1824 of brilliant but controversial English poet Lord George Byron, who was described, amongst other things, as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’.
Answer: Many of London’s aristocracy sent their empty carriages to be driven past the funeral service, as a final act of contempt for Byron.Source: General Historical Texts
More at: History
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles brought to a close hostilities in Europe, but one European allied nation technically remained at war with Germany after this. Which nation was this?
Answer: Andorra, in South Western Europe. While it declared war on Germany during the First World War, it was forgotten at the Versailles peace treaty and, as such, remained in an official state of belligerency with Germany. ‘Peace’ was not formally declared until 1957.Source: Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of by Thomas M. Eccardt
More at: History
October 2020
Which Asian island did the Portuguese Empire first visit in 1506, consequently becoming actively involved in its political and religious affairs over the next 150 years?
Answer: Sri Lanka. Previously known as Ceylon.Source: The Encyclopedia of Asian History by Ainslie T. Embree
What was the name of the Vietnamese national group in 1943, established with the support of the Japanese, which was still playing a part in Vietnam’s politics thirty years later?
Answer: The Dai-Viet Party.Source: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
More at: History
Aeschylus and Sophocles are two of the three greatest writers of Greek tragedy. Who was the third?
Answer: Euripides. Considered a master of the tragedy, his thinking on religion and morality were highly unorthodox for their time.Source: The Wisdom of the Great by Sam Majdi
More at: History
Prior to World War One Russia experienced an economic boom, one of the characteristics of which was a flourishing stock market. In the country’s 1913 census how many Russians said they were involved in the market?
Answer: Over 40,000 described their occupation as ‘stock market speculator’. Within four years, the capitalist system would be crushed in the Russian Revolution, and a brutal Communist regime installed which condemned private ownership of assets.Source: 1914 by Paul Ham
Who was the youngest signatory of the American Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776?
Answer: Edward Rutledge was a mere 26 when he signed the famous document. He went on to become Governor of South Carolina.Source: Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies by Gregory Fremond-Barnes
More at: History
September 2020
Famed Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) married French seamstress Thérèse Levasseur in 1768, but they already had five children between them from previous marriages. What then happened to the children?
Answer: Rousseau sent them to a foundling hospital for deserted children. He was allegedly worried that they would either interfere with his work or suffer a life of poverty. Rousseau later said he deeply regretted abandoning his children.Source: Discourse on the Origin of Inequality by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
More at: History
When did the Battle of Guadalcanal take place?
Answer: The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower, was a campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 during the Second World War. In a major offensive against Japanese troops, it was a decisive victory for the Allies in the Pacific theatre.Source: The Battle of Guadalcanal by Samuel B. Griffith
More at: History
What was the first major battle of the American Civil War (1861-1865)?
Answer: The Battle of Fort Sumter, April 12–13, 1861, took place near Charleston, South Carolina. It saw the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the South Carolina militia, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, which started the American Civil War.Source: The American Civil War by Cole Christian Kingseed
What happened to US President Abraham Lincoln’s corpse after he was assassinated in Washington on April 15, 1865?
Answer: After his death, caskets containing Lincoln's body and that of his son Willie travelled for three weeks on the Lincoln Special funeral train. The train grew large crowds on its route from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois.Source: Abraham Lincoln - A Life by Michael Burlingame
More at: History
August 2020
Where is the world’s oldest brewery?
Answer: The Brauerei Weihenstephan located at the Weihenstephan Abbey in Bavaria, Germany, is said to be the world's oldest continuously operating brewery. It can trace its roots as far back as 768 CE and had its first brewing license awarded in 1040.Source: William M. Johnston, Encyclopedia of Monasticism
More at: History
What is Hokusai most famous for?
Answer: Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was a Japanese artist arguably best known for his woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.Source: Hokusai: Life and Work by Richard Lane
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What was the ‘Spring of Nations’ in 1848?
Answer: The year saw a series of popular revolutions in Europe, the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history.Source: 1848 by Mike Rapport
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Scurvy has blighted humanity down through the centuries but was particularly prevalent in ships’ crews. The British navy discovered that lime juice was an antidote to the disease. What year was this introduced and what did this lead to in terms of an alternative description, sobriquet if you will, for the English?
Answer: The year was 1795 and it led to an English person being described, predominantly by Americans, as a ‘limey’.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
July 2020
Relations between members of the British royal family often have had their ups and downs. When the then Prince of Wales became a father in 1767, with the birth of a daughter, the prince’s father, George II, did what? And how did a senior court official Lord Hervey describe the birth of the daughter, Augusta?
Answer: King George forbade his son from visiting him and told foreign ambassador’s not to call on the Prince of Wales. Lord Harvey reported that there had been delivered ‘a little rat of a girl, about the bigness of a good large toothpick case’.Source: George III by Christopher Hibbert
More at: History
The late 17th century Salem witch trials in colonial America saw over 150 people arrested and imprisoned. Twenty-nine were convicted of the capital felony of witchcraft. Nineteen of these, of which fourteen were women were hanged. What were the poignant last words of Elizabeth Howe, executed on July 19, 1692?
Answer: “If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent of any thing of this nature.”Source: History’s Greatest Headlines by James Inglis and Barry Stone
More at: History
The name of 19th century Prussian philosopher Frederick Engels lives on through the ages for his collaboration with Karl Marx as the intellectual catalyst of Communism. Why was Engels’ interest in the plight of working people unusual, given his background?
Answer: He was the son of a prosperous businessman who owned textile mills in Prussia and a cotton mill in England. While working for the family firm in Manchester he led a double life. In his sparetime he met workers and studied the economic conditions of people in England. This resulted in his book, ‘The Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844’Source: Marx's General. The Revolutionary Life Of Friedrich Engels by Hunt Tristram
More at: History
Like in North Korea today, Russia under Communism saw loyalty to the state as compulsory and not an option. How did this manifest itself when the head of Soviet Russia Vladimir Lenin died in January 1924?
Answer: Some 900,000 people filed past Lenin’s body as it lay in state in Moscow for four days.Source: A History of the Modern World by Paul Johnson
More at: History
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung was a great friend of 20th century psychoanalyst icon Sigmund Freud. What was the cause of their falling out?
Answer: Jung began his career as a follower of Freud but split with him after challenging the emphasis he placed in his work on sex.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
June 2020
Which famous figure, the son of Abe Zimmerman and Beatrice Stone, was born in Duluth, an iron-ore shipping town in northern Minnesota, in May 1941?
Answer: Bob Dylan (1941 – Present).Source: Down the Highway – The Life of Bob Dylan by Howard Sounes
What Roman General was famous for acting only after “long taking of counsel” and was considered a master of delaying tactics?
Answer: Fabius Maximus (280-203 BCE)Source: Barricades and Borders – Europe 1800-1914 by Robert Gildea; General Historical Texts
More at: History
“There certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them.’ So wrote English author Jane Austen (1775-1817) in which of her six novels?
Answer: Mansfield Park, first published in 1814.Source: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
More at: History
Which decade saw Mickey Mouse win an honorary Golden Globe, the launch of the first canned beer in New York City, and the world’s first launderette open in Texas?
Answer: The 1930s.Source: Jazz – The Crash Course by Simon Adams
More at: History
May 2020
“Deliver us from the Pitt of destruction” was a common attack on which British statesman?
Answer: William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), British prime minister. He took office in this most senior of positions at the remarkable age of 24. His father, William Pit also, was known as the 'Great Commoner'.Source: William Pitt the Younger by William Hague
More at: History
What Ancient ruler is alleged to have said that freedom, dignity and wealth were the greatest happiness of humanity, and if you bequeath all three to your people, “their love for you will never die”?
Answer: Cyrus the Great (600 – 530 BCE), Persian EmperorSource: Xenophon's Cyrus the Great - The Arts of Leadership and War by Larry Hedrick
More at: History
What is the significance of March 1854 in the relations between Japan and the United States?
Answer: After arriving in Japan in July 1853, naval officer Commodore Perry on behalf of the US government introduced the Japanese authorities to western technology such as the telegraph, steam locomotives and sophisticated agricultural equipment. This was the genesis of Japan revolutionising its society and culminated in the battle for hegemony in the Pacific which saw its apotheosis in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
It was said of Britain’s top admiral in World War One John Jellicoe that he was the only man who could lose the war in one day. The most important naval engagement of the war was the Battle of Jutland on May 31 1916. Who actually won the battle?
Answer: It was claimed as a victory by both sides. By the Germans because they destroyed many more ships and men. By the British because they retained control of the North Sea.Source: Castles of Steel by Robert K Massie
April 2020
Elizabeth Fry was an early 19th century English Quaker philanthropist and promoter of prison reform. What melancholy observation did she make on visiting London’s Newgate prison on March 4, 1817?
Answer: An Elizabeth Fricker was in a state of torment and distress as she awaited her impending execution for robbery. Besides her, there were also six men to be hanged, one, whose wife was heavily pregnant, was due to be executed as well. In addition, seven young children were also to be hanged.Source: Reportage by John Carey
More at: History
US president Abraham Lincoln was described by Union Civil War General George McLellan in a letter to his wife as what?
Answer: McLellan, nicknamed ‘Little Mack’ by his men, was unimpressed with his commander in chief and described him to his spouse as a ‘baboon’.Source: The Civil War by Shelby Foote
More at: History
Why were Scottish regiments in World War I, who wore kilts, instructed that they could not travel on the top level of open top London buses?
Answer: As they did not wear underpants, it was perceived as a threat to public morality.Source: World War One by Sir Martin Gilbert
More at: History
The first year of the Islamic calendar marks which event that took place in 622 CE?
Answer: When Muhammad (570-632 CE) emigrated from Mecca to Medina. The year is the known as anno hegirae.Source: Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire by Jennifer Lawler
More at: History
The Battle’s of Rhone Crossing, Nola and Zama all took place during which conflict?
Source: The Fall of Carthage - The Punic Wars 265-146BC by Adrian GoldsworthyMore at: History
March 2020
Which famous author served as a pharmacy assistant during the First World War (1914-1918)?
Answer: Agatha Christie (1890-1976). The experience is reflected in many of her books.Source: The World of Agatha Christie by Martin Fido
More at: History
Sundiata (1277-1255), known as the “Lion King”, was the founder of which empire?
Answer: The Mali Empire.Source: African Literature and the Politics of Culture by James Tar Tsaaior
More at: History
Which Second World War battle, taking place from February 19 to March 26, 1945, saw some of the most brutal fighting of the entire conflict?
Answer: The Battle of Iwo Jima, between the United States and JapanSource: Ways of War by Matthew S. Muehlbauer and David J. Ulbrich
More at: History
Who “crossed the Rubicon” in 49 BCE?
Answer: Answer: Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE). He defied the Roman senate by crossing the river Rubicon, a move that led to civil war. The expression "to cross the Rubicon" now means to make a decision that commits one to a course of action from which there is no turning back.Source: Crossing the Rubicon - Caesar's Decision and the Fate of Rome by Luca Fezzi
More at: History
February 2020
When Italy’s Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, it was the first time this had been described in detail. How did lawyer and magistrate Pliny the Younger describe this dramatic event?
Answer: ‘A cloud shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches.’Source: History’s Greatest Headlines by James Inglis and Barry Stone
18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant has been criticised for one of his most famous expositions on the human condition. How so?
Answer: His is best known for his notion of the ‘categorical imperative’, an inborn sense of moral duty. Many have suggested that beneath a very thin patina much of humanity manifests an all too obvious type of ego-centric, jungle reasoning.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
During the American Civil War fought between 1861 and 1865, how many medals for gallantry were issued to their soldiers by the Confederate government?
Answer: None. They were all considered heroes.“I may be kindly, I am ordinarily gentle, but in my line of business I am obliged to will terribly what I will at all.”
Source: Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay by S. Austin AlliboneThe last viceroy of India Lord Louis Mountbatten was mentor, great uncle, honorary grandfather and intimate friend to HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, prior to Mountbatten’s murder in 1979. The old admiral made his country home available for Charles to entertain lady friends. What precautions did Mountbatten take to ensure that ‘potentially troublesome conquests could be swiftly and handsomely paid for their silence’?
Answer: Mountbatten set up a slush fund administered by a British lawyer through a private bank in Nassau in the Bahamas. Certainly two, possibly three, six figure dollar contracts were signed between December 1974 and July 1979.Source: The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie
More at: History
January 2020
The British colonisation of Australia began with the arrival of the 11 ships of the First Fleet at Botany Bay on January 26 1788. What was the unfortunate fate of 17 year old convict James Barrett within two weeks of the fleet arriving?
Answer: Barrett was hungry and stole some food. On February 8 he was charged, convicted, sentenced and hanged within an hour.Source: The Birth of the Modern by Paul Johnson
More at: History
In the 1930s, British writer Somerset Maughan famously said the French Riviera was “a sunny place for shady people”. What are the origins of the term ‘shady’, as an indication of poor character?
Answer: Historical evidence suggests that its origin is in Ancient Rome where it was understood that people of quality spent their time in the sun. Life in the shade was an easier, less exposed life. It was viewed as a second-best life. The active politician, the soldier and administrator lived in the sun and the dust. Virtue, as an entity, was seen as being, among other things, dusty and sunburnt.Source: Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome by J P V D Balsdon
More at: History
In 1917 Lucy Slowe (1885-1937) made history as the first what?
Answer: African-American tennis champion.Source: The Match - Althea Gibson and a Portrait of a Friendship by Bruce Schoenfeld
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The American ‘Teapot Dome scandal’ took place during whose presidency?
Answer: Warren G. Harding (1865-1923).What was the name given to the volunteers who supported Giuseppe Garibaldi’s (1808-1882) invasion of Sicily in 1860?
Answer: The Thousand.Source: Garibaldi - Invention of a Hero by Lucy Riall
December 2019
According to Greek legend, who gave fire to human beings?
Answer: Prometheus.Source: Greek Mythology by Simone Payment
More at: History
A Venetian cannon ball destroyed significant parts of what ancient building in 1687?
Answer: The Parthenon in Athens.Source: The Parthenon - From Antiquity to the Present by Jenifer Neils
More at: History
What faction split from the Bolsheviks at the Communist Party Congress of 1903?
Answer: The Mensheviks.Source: Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul Le Blanc
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In 11th century Japan poetry was of great significance, with many Japanese from all social strata penning verse. What was one of the more unusual aspects of this love of written rhyme?
Answer: An official government department was established to deal with poetical affairs.Source: A History of Japan by J. G. Caiger and Richard Mason; Modern World Encyclopedia.
More at: History
November 2019
What is the connection between some of histories’ great writers and the medical profession?
Answer: Many of them trained initially as doctors. Examples include: English writers John Keats and Somerset Maughan; Russian writer Anton Checkov; US author Michael Chrichton. French writer Gustave Flaubert’s father was a doctor, but this may be stretching the analogy too much.Source: General Historical Texts
More at: History
Reginald FitzUrse, William de Tracy, Richard Brito and Hugh de Morville were all guilty of what?
Answer: The murder of 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket (1118-1170).Source: The History of England by William Goldsmith
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“To shine on the east” is the translated meaning of the name of which twentieth century historical figure?
Answer: Mao Zedong (1873-1976)Source: Mao The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
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Which American President went by the nickname of “Old Public Functionary”?
Answer: James Buchanan (1791-1868)Source: James Buchanan by Jean H. Baker
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October 2019
How many times did Bertie, the Duke of York and future King George VI, propose to Scottish aristocrat Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, before she accepted him?
Answer: According to friends of Lady Elizabeth, no fewer than 17 times. They were married in 1923.Source: The Queen Mother’s Century by Robert Lacy; Channel 5 History
More at: History
What is the name given to the 6,000-mile journey made by Chinese Communists between 1934 and 1935 to escape the bombardments of the Chinese nationalists (Kuomintang)?
Answer: The Long March.Source: China's Long March by Jean Fritz
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“I’m bored with it all” were the last words of which famous figure?
Answer: British prime minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965).Source: Churchill’s Final Farewell by Rodney J Croft
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Northanger Abbey, written in 1798 by Jane Austen (1775-1817), contains one of the earliest written references to what sport?
Answer: Baseball.Source: Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn
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Born in around 1400 German blacksmith and goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg developed an early prototype of the printing press which has been described as having a similar impact on the world as the invention of the internet in the last years of the 20th century. How big a commercial success was Gutenberg’s invention for him?
Answer: Gutenberg went bankrupt and others claimed invention of his new technology. It wasn’t until the 19th century that it was ascertained that credit for the revolutionary breakthrough belonged to Gutenberg.Source: Johannes Gutenberg by Albert Japr
September 2019
15th and 16th century Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus made an earth shattering pronouncement in his Commentariolus in 1514. What was this?
Answer: “All the spheres revolve around the sun at their midpoint and therefore the sun is at the centre of the universe." Until then the earth was believed to be at the centre.Source: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus
More at: History
Which people made an incredible impression on southern Europeans when they encountered them prior to the third century BCE, largely because they would take to the battlefield naked?
Answer: The Celts. The impressions of Roman writers were recorded in literature, surviving sculpture and the minor arts.Source: Rome’s Enemies by Pete Wilcox
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“Boxwallah”, “Chummery” and “Sayer” were common phrases dating from which time in history, and maintained by some to this date?
Answer: Colonial British India. Many of the words derived from British privateers’ trade interactions with the local population.Source: The British in India – Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience by David Glimour
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Which dynasty held influence in China between 1046 and 256 BCE?
Answer: The Zhou Dynasty.Source: The History of China by Kenneth Pletcher
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August 2019
Which English mediaeval figure seized power from King Henry III, establishing a council to rule in the king’s name and overturning the social order in a way that would not be seen until the rule of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)?
Answer: Simon de Montfort (1205-1265). De Montfort and his revolutionary council ruled for some fifteen months before he was defeated in battle in 1265.Source: The Song of Simon de Montfort by Sophie Therese Ambler
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In the first month of 1912, China had three possible rulers. Who were they?
Answer: Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), a republican president, sat in Nanjing. Yuan Shikai (1859-1916) was prime minister and in command in Beijing. Puyi (1906-1967), an infant emperor, was in the Forbidden City.Source: The Penguin History of Modern China by Jonathan Fenby
More at: History
The first permanent settlement by English settlers in North America was founded in 1620. True or false?
Answer: False. While Plymouth colony was founded in 1620, the Jamestown settlement in modern day Virginia was founded first, in 1607.Source: Savage Kingdom - The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America by Benjamin Woolley
More at: History
Which English mediaeval figure seized power from King Henry III, establishing a council to rule in the King’s name and overturning the social order in a way that would not be seen until the rule of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)?
Answer: Simon de Montfort (1205-1265). De Montfort and his revolutionary council ruled for some fifteen months before he was defeated in battle in 1265.Source: The Song of Simon de Montfort by Sophie Therese Ambler
More at: History
What was a little-known development in America in the last quarter of the 18th century which contributed to the French Revolution?
Answer: The French and Indian War fought for some seven years in the middle of the century mainly between Britain and France over disputed colonial interests. This had been extraordinarily expensive for both countries. France’s military defeat to Britain and the financial burden it placed on the French economy contributed to the French Revolution which began in 1789.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
July 2019
In Iceland in 1915 an interesting social experiment took place which was soon to be replicated in the USA. What was this?
Answer: Iceland introduced prohibition of alcohol. While subsequently modified to allow certain alcoholic beverages, a partial ban still existed in one form until 1989.Source: A Brief History of Iceland by Gunnar Karlsson
More at: History
What is the name of the famous ancient landmark, which still stands today some two miles from Rome, where Roman emperor Constantine I fought his most crucial battle in 312CE?
Answer: The Milvian Bridge. Victory against the forces of Maxentius, secured Constantine control of the western half of the Roman Empire. This events most significant outcome was the confirmation of his prophetic vision of success and his new found faith in the Christian God.Source: Forty Centuries – From the Pharaohs to Alfred the Great
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Which saint founded the Franciscan religious order in 1209?
Answer: Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226 CE)Source: Philosophers and Religious Leaders by Christian von Dehsen
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Who wrote the USA’s Federalist Papers?
Answer: Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), James Madison (1751-1836) and John Jay (1745-1829).Source: The Essential Federalist - A New Reading of the Federalist Papers by Quentin P. Taylor
More at: History
June 2019
What battle arguably marked the last major German offensive of the First World War (1914-1918)?
Answer: The Second Battle of the Marne (July 15-18, 1918)Source: The Second Battle of the Marne by Michael S. Neiberg
More at: History
The famous doomed ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ took place during which conflict?
Answer: The Crimean War (1853-1856).Source: Crimea by Orlando Figes
The continent of Australia was first circumnavigated, Great Britain declared war on France, and the United States completed the Louisiana Purchase. What is the year?
Answer: 1803.Source: The Encyclopedia of World Facts and Dates by Gorton Carruth
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British composers Gustav Holst, Frederick Delius and Edward Elgar all died in which year?
Answer: 1934.Source: The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music by Don Randel
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May 2019
How many French protestants fled France after King Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, thus depriving his country of a group renowned for their industriousness and broad skills?
Answer: Around 900,000. Other countries and states welcomed the evacuees including Germany and England.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
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Britain’s King Edward VII was a sybarite and culinary voluptuary par excellence. Often sitting down to a ten or more course meal, he was not an excessive drinker, enjoying primarily champagne. In the early years of his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, what was his favourite port?
Answer: A Comet 1811.Source: Edward and Alexandra by Richard Hough
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Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I, who ruled between 306 and 337 CE, was a great believer in propaganda, particularly as regards his family. What was just one example?
Answer: The propaganda emphasized the fact that he had three adult sons, a sign of divine favour.Source: Complete History of the World by Richard Overy
More at: History
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the capture of which city in 1863 gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union and split the Confederacy?
Answer: Vicksburg.Source: Vicksburg, 1863 by Winston Groom
Which Chinese painter was, along with Xia Gui (1195-1224), one of the creators of the Ma-Xia school of landscape painting and one of the great masters of the Southern Sung period?
Answer: Ma Yuan (1190-1229).Source: The Heart of Ma Yuan - The Search for a Southern Song Aesthetic by Richard Edwards
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April 2019
What was the name of Britain’s policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws against the early American colonies?
Answer: Salutary neglect.Source: Independence - The Tangled Roots of the American Revolution by Thomas P. Slaughter
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What was the 1803 Court decision that gave the U.S. Supreme Court the right to determine whether a law violates the Constitution, therefore establishing the principle of judicial review?
Answer: Marbury v. Madison.Source: The Supreme Court and the Constitution by Charles Austin Beard
Which city was established by Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) during his brief foray into Egypt in 332-331 BCE?
Answer: Alexandria.Source: Cities of the Classical World by Colin McEvedy
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A huge coal strike destabilised Britain, the first television transmission took place and the United States invaded Nicaragua. What year is it?
Answer: 1926.Source: A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume One by Martin Gilbert
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March 2019
In the year 100 BCE, what proportion of Roman society were slaves?
Answer: Around one third.Source: Daily Life in the Roman City by Gregory S. Aldrete
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Is it correct that in Rome’s long history there was more than one emperor at the one time?
Answer: Absolutely, there were times when Rome was not even a monarchy at all, and up to four emperors divided among them the title of Augustus and Caesar. Sharing the powers and territories of the Roman empire, quarrelling among themselves and treating the others as usurpers.Source: A History of the World by Rene Sedillot
More at: History
Which British naval commander conducted exploration and survey work in New Guinea and had his name enshrined in the capital of modern-day Papua New Guinea?
Answer: John Moresby (1830-1922).Source: Incidents and International Relations - People, Power, and Personalities by Greg Kennedy and Keith Nelson
More at: History
What was the name of the musical piece published in 1741 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), which explored thirty different variations on the one line for harpsichord?
Answer: The Goldberg Variations.Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Music by Michael Kennedy et. al.
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February 2019
The last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, who oversaw the persecution of protestants in England, nearly became Pope himself in 1549. Who was it?
Answer: Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-1558).Source: Heretics and Believers - A History of the English Reformation by Peter Marshall
More at: History
In 1709, Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) was rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island. This inspired which novel?
Answer: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DefoeSource: The 100 Best Novels in English by Robert McCrum
More at: History
The Exception and the Rule (1929), The Measures Taken (1930), and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948) are all plays by which German Marxist playwright?
Answer: Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956).Source: Bertolt Brecht - Political Theory and Literary Practice by Betty Nance Weber and Hubert Heinen
More at: History
In 1400, the city of Cairo was larger than any city in western Europe. True or false?
Answer: True. It had a population of 600,000.Source: After Tamerlane - The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000 by John Darwin
More at: History
January 2019
What is the significance of American surveyor Charles Mason (1730-1787) in US history?
Answer: Hired with Jeremiah Dixon to mark out - between 1763 and 1767 - the boundary between the American colonies Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Mason-Dixon line came to be regarded as the frontier between North and South in the USA.Source: General Historical Texts
More at: History
What was unusual about the marriage of England’s King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the daughter of a German duke, on September 8, 1761?
Answer: The couple met for the first time on their wedding day. Prior to the wedding, the future English queen’s measurements were sent from Germany so that the dress could be made ready for her arrival in England.Source: George III – A personal history by Christopher Hibbert More at: History
Which town was the seat of Welsh leader Owain Glyndwr’s (1359-1415) Parliament in 1394 and is considered by some the ancient capital of Wales?
Answer: Machynlleth.Source: The Hundred Years War, Volume 4 - Cursed Kings by Jonathan Sumption
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The Allied invasion of French North Africa (1942) during the Second World War (1939-1945) was called what?
Answer: Operation Torch.Source: Beetle - The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith by Daniel K. R. Crosswell
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The tomb of which Egyptian Pharaoh was discovered by Howard Carter (1874 – 1939) in 1922?
Answer: Tutankhamun (1341-1323 BCE).Source: The Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter and John Romer
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December 2018
Which city was the capital of Japan between 710–794 CE, after which the capital moved to Kyoto?
Answer: Nara.Source: Premodern Japan - A Historical Survey by Mikiso Hane
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Which famous thinker was the son of the court physician to the Macedonian King Amyntas III (?-370 BCE)?
Answer: Aristotle (382-322 BCE), Greek philosopher.Source: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece by Nigel Guy Wilson
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Which car was dubbed the European Ford Model T for its role in bringing the automobile to the average consumer?
Answer: The Citroen Type A, introduced in 1919.Source: Encyclopedia of World Biography by Paula K. Byers
Who were the Luddites?
Answer: Opponents of perceived job killing innovation, these were a group of people involved in machine-wrecking riots in the North of England between 1811 and 1816. The organiser was believed to be a General Ludd, but this may have been actually a fiction. For their troubles, many Luddites were hanged or transported to penal colonies such as Australia.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
November 2018
When was the first declaration of war issued by telegram?
Answer: When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. This was exactly one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, in Sarajevo.Source: 1914 by Paul Ham
More at: History
What was significant about Japanese 20th century novelist Yukio Mishima?
Answer: He committed hara-kiri, or ritual suicide, in 1970 as a protest against what he saw as the corruption of the nation and the loss of the samurai warrior tradition.Source: Mishima: A Biography by John Nathan
More at: History
What is significant about US lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key? (1179-1843)
Answer: He wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” while Fort Henry in Tennessee was being besieged by the British in 1814. Since 1931, it has been the United States’ national anthem. Between 1833 and 1841 Key was attorney of the District of Columbia.Source: General Historical Texts
More at: History
What was the Franco-German entente?
Answer: Answer: This was the resumption of friendly relations between France and Germany after World War Two designed to eradicate the hostility of successive wars, most recently World War One and Two. It was instigated by French president Charles de Gaulle during his visit to West Germany in 1962 followed by the Franco German treaty of friendship and cooperation in 1963.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
Prior to World War One Russia experienced an economic boom, one of the characteristics of which was a flourishing stock market. In the country’s 1913 census how many Russians said they were involved in the market.
Answer: Some 40,000 described their occupation as ‘stock market speculator’. Within four years, the capitalist system would be crushed, and a brutal communist regime installed which excoriated private ownership of assets.More at: History
Source: 1914 by Paul Ham
More at: History
October 2018
What were the unusual circumstances during the American Civil War when US President Abraham Lincoln had to protect his wife Mary Todd’s honor?
Answer: Sixteenth US President Abraham Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd came from a wealthy Southern family, but she experienced much sadness in her life. Three sons pre-deceased her and she was sitting beside President Lincoln when he was shot by an assassin in April 1865. Later, her remaining son Robert had her committed to an insane asylum. During the Civil War, when the war was not going well for the North, rumours began in Washington that Mary Todd was a Confederate spy. The rumours became so prevalent that a Senate Committee was established to investigate the claim. On the first day of the proceedings, an alarmed clerk at the front door entered the room to tell the committee members that President Lincoln had arrived unexpectedly. Startled, the senators asked that he be shown in. Lincoln walked solemnly in, took off his stovepipe hat and said slowly and with great emphasis, ‘I, Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, do hereby swear and affirm that my wife Mary Todd is not a Confederate spy.’ With that he turned and left the room. The Senators were so taken aback and moved by Lincoln’s unquestionable honesty and integrity, that they immediately closed down the investigation.Source: Lincoln by Carl Sandburg
More at: History
What was the name given to the oath prescribed by act of U.S Congress in 1867, as part of Reconstruction, that forbid those who had formerly supported the Confederacy from being in government?
Answer: The Ironclad Oath.Source: Dictionary of American History by Harold W. Chase et al
Who published On The Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres in 1543, the same year as his death?
Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)Source: The Scientific Revolution by William E. Burns
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Which famous French artist began painting while working as a stockbroker?
Answer: Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)Source: Millet to Matisse by Vivien Hamilton
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September 2018
Which Russian author was for most of his career a medical doctor, declaring that medicine was his lawful wife, and literature his mistress?
Answer: Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904)Source: New Directions in Literature and Medicine Studies by Stephanie M. Hilger
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Wang Wei (699–759 CE), Li Bo Bai (701–762 CE) and Du Fu (712–770 CE) are all famous what?
Answer: Chinese poets. All were prominent participants in the Tang golden age of Chinese poetry (617 – 907 CE).Source: China’s Cosmopolitan Empire by Mark Edward Lewis
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Who wrote the influential treaties Reflections on the Revolution in France, published in 1790?
Answer: Edmund Burke (1729-1797).Source: Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
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England’s Habeas Corpus Act is likened to the 1215 Magna Carta as a cornerstone of English justice. When was this passed by the English parliament?
Answer: 1679.Source: General Historical Texts.
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August 2018
Who ordered the building of Fort Jesus in Mombasa, Africa, completed in 1593?
Answer: It was built at the command of King Phillip II of Portugal. It proved to be of strategic importance to Portugese endeavours in the Indian Ocean in the 17th century.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
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What is the name of the Russia’s oldest city, settled by Varangian chef Rurik in 862 CE?
Answer: Novgorod.Source: Oxford Dictionary of People and Places by Frank Abate
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Which famed settlement was built in circa 1450 but was amazingly left undiscovered until 1911?
Answer: Machu Picchu, modern day Peru.Source: World Mythology by Mark Daniels
More at: History
Which treaty, signed in 1699, marked a turning point in the history of both Europe and the Middle East as it led to the Ottoman Empire ceasing to be an aggressive power?
Answer: The Treaty of Carlowitz.Source: The Cambridge History of Islam by P.M. Holt
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In 1832, Scotsmen William Jardine and James Matheson established what influential company?
Answer: Jardine, Matheson & Co. China’s first multinational corporation, it exists to this day.Source: Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750 by Odd Arne Westad
More at: History
July 2018
Which year saw the last pagan ruler in Europe convert to Christianity, the ratification of the Treaty of Windsor between England and Portugal and Timur Leng complete his conquest of Persia?
Answer: 1386.Source: History Year by Year by Joe Fullman et al
Which significant medieval siege involved armies from across Europe, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Maghreb and lasted two years?
Answer: The Siege of Acre (1189-1191) during the Third Crusade.Source: The Siege of Acre, 1189-1191 by John D. Hosler
More at: History
In 1847 a magnificent new technology saw the light of day in Germany. What was this?
Answer: A telegraph line connecting Frankfurt to Berlin was installed by a firm owned by Werner Siemens (1816-92) who had developed a technique for seamless insulation of copper wire.Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
Which Persian mystical poet produced over 100 works, most notable of which was ‘Seven Thrones’, which consisted of some 25,000 couplets?
Answer: Jami (1414-1492).Source: The Historical Dictionary of Iran by John H. Lorentz
More at: History
June 2018
What decade saw the British surrender to American forces at Yorktown, Lord Cornwallis become governor-general of India and the First Fleet arrive in Australia?
Answer: The 1780s.Source: A New History of Britain since 1688 - Four Nations and an Empire by Susan Kingsley Kent
More at: History
Which country was founded on May 25 1810 when the First Governing Junta of the Homeland was formed?
Answer: Argentina.Source: Histories of Nations by Peter Furtado More at: History
Which French King oversaw the absorption of Burgundy into France in the 15th century?
Answer: Louis XI (1423-1483).Source: Histories of Nations by Peter Furtado
More at: History
Where was Thomas Becket (1119-1170), Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered; Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral or the Tower of London?
Answer: Canterbury Cathedral.Source: Invasion, Plague and Murder - Britain 1066-1485 by Aaron Wilkes
More at: History
May 2018
Isca Dumnoniorum, Darioritum and Cabillonum were all important Roman cities. Which one was located on site of modern day Chalon-sur-Saône, France?
Answer: Cabillonum. Cabillonum was a major river port for the Roman Empire.Source: Focus on Fortifications by Rune Frederiksen et al
More at: History
Who invented the first sophisticated water saving flush system for the toilet in 1860?
Answer: English plumber Thomas Crapper.Source: The Life Millennium – The 100 most important events and people of the past 1,000 years; General Historical Texts
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Which European monarch declared “I am the state”?
Answer: King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715).Source: The Modern World by Sarolta Takacs
More at: History
What pioneering inventor was born at 16 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, on March 3rd, 1847?
Answer: Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).Source: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘Alexander Graham Bell’ by R.W. Burns
More at: History
When was trial by jury first introduced in England?
Answer: 1219.Source: Law, Liberty and Constitution by Harry Potter
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April 2018
Which famous city was sacked in in 390 BCE, 410, 455, 1084 and 1527?
Answer: Rome.Source: The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather
More at: History
Sunday derives from a decree made by Roman Emperor Constantine that the Roman day of rest would be dies Solis (“day of the Sun”), “Sunday”. True or False?
Answer: True.Source: Rethinking Constantine by Edward Smither
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What pioneering treaty, signed in 1860 between England and France, inaugurated a period of relative free trade among many European nations that survived until the 1890s?
Answer: The Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. The treaty is considered the first modern multinational trade agreement.Source: Encyclopedia of Free Trade by Cynthia Northrup et al
More at: History
What was the first commercially successful paddle steamer?
Answer: The steamship Clermont, which began operations on the Hudson River, New York, in circa 1807. She was built by the wealthy investor and politician Robert Livingston and inventor and entrepreneur Robert FultonSource: World History Factfinder by Colin McCreedy
More at: History
March 2018
In what year was the Solomonid Dynasty established in Ethiopia?
Answer: 1270Source: The Modern Reference Encyclopaedia Illustrated
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The sixth Mughal emperor of India, Aurangzeb, reigned for 48 years, until his death in 1707. For how many years of his reign was he at war with the Maratha Empire?
Answer: 27Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
Industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947) once worked under famed inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931) and they were good friends. True or False?
Answer: True.Source: Henry Ford by Blago Kirov
More at: History
Of these countries, which was the first to give women the right to vote: France, Austria or Spain?
Answer: Austria, in 1918. Spain followed in 1933 and France in 1944.Source: Women Activists between War and Peace by Ingrid Sharp et al
More at: History
Which year saw the introduction of a formal constitution in Japan?
Answer: 1889.Source: Histories of Nations by Peter Furtado
More at: History
February 2018
Which African nation was formerly called the Gold Coast, christened by Portuguese traders searching for the ‘African Eldorado’?
Answer: Ghana.Source: Histories of Nations by Peter Furtado
More at: History
Which Catholic nobleman established Maryland in 1634?
Answer: Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605-1675).Source: Lord Baltimore by Cliff Mills
More at: History
Who first used the term “invisible hand”, which has since become the most famous metaphor in economics?
Answer: Adam Smith (1723-1790).Source: A Flag Worth Dying For by Tim Marshall
More at: History
What were the famous last words of Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh before his execution on October 29, 1618?
Answer: “This is a sharp medicine, but it is physician for all diseases and miseries.”Source: Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay by S. Austin Allibone
More at: History
January 2018
What are the essential differences between leading historical figures, Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Charles Darwin (1809-1882), whose ideas brought about great and enduring social and other change?
Answer: Marx regarded himself as the scientific theorist of the evolution of man as a social animal. Darwin, who had performed the same function for natural man, viewed natural selection as the mechanism for change.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
In Russian history, who were ‘The Mighty Handful’?
Answer: Five pioneering 19th-century Russian composers: Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin.Source: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture by Nicholas Rzhevsky
More at: History
Which Spanish King ruled from 1556-1598, oversaw one of the largest empires of all time and was nicknamed ‘the Prudent’?
Answer: King Philip II (1527-1598).Source: Historic World Leaders by Anne Commire
More at: History
In 1776 which American figure famously declared “we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately”?
Answer: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).Source: American Sayings by Henry Wood
More at: History
December 2017
What were “the three perfections” of Ancient China?
Answer: Painting, poetry and calligraphy.Source: A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor
More at: History
Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica, the Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent is born and King Ivan the Great of Russia issues his law code, the Sudebnik. What decade is it?
Answer: The 1490s.Which early form of science combined the disciplines of chemistry, physics, spiritualism, medicine and astrology?
Answer: Alchemy.Source: The Dragon Throne: China’s Emperors from the Qin to the Manchu by Jonathan Fenby
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The Würzburg witch trials, between 1626–1631, is one of the biggest mass-trials and mass-executions seen in Europe during the Thirty Years War. How many people were burned at the stake as a result of the trials?
Answer: No fewer than 900.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
November 2017
The fall of Singapore in February 1942 to the Japanese was the greatest military disaster in British history. Some 125,000 British and colonial troops surrendered to around 25,000 Japanese, after a brilliant 10 week campaign led by General Tomoyuki ‘Tiger’ Yamashita. Writing in the 1970s, what did British historian Jan Morris say, in the context of the surrender, was an unusual feature of the Ford motor car factory in Kota Bharu in Singapore?
Answer: Thirty years after the end of the war, the factory was a popular tourist destination for Japanese tourists, as this was the location where British commander Lieutenant General Arthur Percival surrendered to the Japanese in 1942.Source: Pax Britannica Trilogy by Jan Morris
More at: History
Which country became the first self-governing former British colony?
Answer: Canada, in 1867.Source: The Times Complete History of the World by Richard Overy
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“This is the end of earth … but I am composed” were the last words of which American statesman?
Answer: John Quincy Adams (1767-1848).Source: Ecstatic Nation - Confidence, Crisis and Compromise by Brenda Wineapple
More at: History
In what year did Mary Wollstonecraft publish her seminal Vindication of the Rights of Women?
Answer: 1792.Source: The Mansion of Happiness - A History of Life and Death by Jill Lepore
More at: History
October 2017
“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves.” Who said this in 1862?
Answer: President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).Source: The Fiery Trial - Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner
More at: History
How many American colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776?
Answer: Thirteen.Source: Republicanism and Responsible Government by Benjamin T. Jones More at: History
Which military commander lead the famous 1775 expedition to Quebec during the American War of Independence (1775-1783)?
Answer: Benedict Arnold (1741-1801).Source: Benedict Arnold's Army by Arthur S. Lefkowitz
More at: History
William Pulteney, the second Earl of Bath, is famous in British political history for what reason?
Answer: He is generally considered to be the shortest serving prime minister in British history. After accepting the seals of office on 10 February 1746, he soon realised he did not have the support to form a government. He relinquished the post on 12 February, after just two days in that high office.Source: Prime Ministers by David Bastable
More at: History
September 2017
What was unusual about the early occupations of 20th US President James A Garfield and the 36th holder of that office Lyndon Baines Johnson?
Answer: They were both school teachers.Source: The Americans by J C Furnas; General Historical Texts
More at: History
William Phips, was a poorly educated colonial American who had been a shepherd, carpenter and trader. In 1687 his life changed remarkably and in a most singular fashion. What occurred?
Answer: Phips discovered a wrecked Spanish ship off the Bahamas Islands, from which he recovered no less than £300,000 – a staggering sum at the time. This resulted in him being knighted and appointed Provost-Marshall of New England. Five years later in 1692 he was made of Governor of Massachusetts.Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Biography by David Crystal
More at: History
Which Chinese city is historically important for trade between Korea and Manchuria?
Answer: Dandong, formerly known as Andong, modern day Liaoning province.Source: De-Bordering Korea by Valérie Gelézeau et. al
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“I would not creep along the coast but steer out in mid-sea, by guidance of the stars.” This is a famous line from which nineteenth century novel?
Answer: Middlemarch by George Eliot, also known as Mary Anne Evans (1819-1880).Source: Middlemarch by George Eliot More at: History
August 2017
What was the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, founded by Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) on his voyages of 1492 and 1493?
Answer: Hispaniola.Source: Societies, Networks, and Transitions by Craig A. Lockard
More at: History
Queen Victoria (1819-1901) acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom, Uruguay adopts its first constitution and Samuel Colt (1814-1862) receives a U.S. patent for the Colt revolver. What is the decade?
Answer: The 1830's.Source: Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries by Rodney P. Carlisle and A New History of Modern Latin America by Lawrence A. Clayton et al
More at: History
Which Chinese dynasty, the first of the four southern dynasties in China, lasted from 420-479 CE and was founded by a former woodcutter who staged a military coup?
Answer: The Liu Song Dynasty.Source: The Dragon Throne by Jonathan Fenby
More at: History
Which French revolutionary was nicknamed “the Incorruptible”?
Answer: Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794).Source: Robespierre by Peter McPhee
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Throughout President Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, but especially at the start, he was continually pestered by office seekers. This was because his campaign managers had promised jobs to a great many people, who came to collect them. One man saw the president one day looking perturbed, and he said to him: “What’s the matter, Mr President?” What was Lincoln’s reply?
Answer: "There's too many pigs for the tits".Source: Shelby Foote author of the Civil War trilogy
More at: History
July 2017
In what year did Pepin the Short become King of the Franks?
Answer: 751 CE.Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McEvedy
More at: History
In what year did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart begin his grand tour as a child prodigy?
Answer: 1763. Mozart was just seven years old.Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McEvedy
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The Rock of Cashel is the name given to the traditional seat of the rulers of which Irish Kingdom?
Answer: Munster.Source: Buildings and Landmarks of Medieval Europe by James Tschen-Emmons
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Henry McCarty was the real name of which gunfighter of the American Wild West?
Answer: Billy the Kid (1859-1881).Source: Crime and Punishment in America by David B. Wolcott et. al
More at: History
June 2017
In which nation was the Zand Dynasty formed in 1760?
Answer: Iran.Source: The Cambridge History of Iran by P. Avery More at: History
Which year saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the birth of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the death of Chinese general Qi Juguang?
Answer: 1588.Source: Hobbes, Locke, and Confusion's Masterpiece by Ross Harrison
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According to Greek mythology, who was the first woman on earth?
Answer: Pandora.Source: The Complete Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology by Guus Houtzager
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Which tribe, originally from Poland, established Kingdoms in Spain and North Africa in the fifth century?
Answer: The Vandals.Source: Building Blocks of Western Civilisations by GW Staufenburg
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When year did the first German immigrants arrive in North America?
Answer: 1683.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
May 2017
In what year did the population of Paris reach half a million?
Answer: 1675.Source: World History Factfinder Colin McEvedy
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Of the 63 clauses contained in the original Magna Carta signed by King John I of England at Runnymede in 1215, how many survive as laws today?
Answer: Just three.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
Which famed Soviet composer died less than an hour before Joseph Stalin?
Answer: Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953). Both died on March 5, 1953.Source: Shostakovich - A Life by Laurel E. Fay
More at: History
Which author was made famous for works including ‘A Tale of Tub’, ‘Draper’s Letters’ and ‘A Modest Proposal’?
Answer: Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).Source: Jonathan Swift - The Reluctant Rebel by John Stubbs
More at: History
April 2017
Reginald Pole (1500-1558) was the last Roman Catholic to hold what position?
Answer: Archbishop of Canterbury.Source: Supremacy and Survival by Stephanie E. Mann
More at: History
Which Chinese organisation’s avowed aims were ‘expelling the Manchus, restoring China for the Chinese, establishing a republic, and equalising land holdings’?
Answer: The United League (Tongmenghui). This later became the Kuomintang.Source: Historical Dictionary of Modern China by James Z. Gao
More at: History
Which territory was ruled mostly by Danes until 1807, was then seized by Britain before being ceded in 1890 to Germany?
Answer: Heligoland, a small archipelago in the North Sea.Source: Heligoland by Jan Ruger
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Which Second World War (1939-1945) Axis leader was killed by communist partisans, only two days before the death of Adolf Hitler?
Answer: Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)Source: Britain in the Second World War by Mark Donnelly
More at: History
March 2017
In what year did George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel become professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin?
Answer: 1818.Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McCreedy
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Who was the first Russian citizen to lie in the state in Saint Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral?
Answer: Russian composer of the late-Romantic period, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who died aged 53 in 1890.Source: Tchaikovsky by David Brown
More at: History
What was the name of the 19th century treaty which ended the three year Opium War between China and Britain, gave Britain control of Hong Kong, and opened up five treaty ports to international traders?
Answer: The Treaty of Nanking, on 29 August 1842, between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
What was the name of the American painter and inventor who secured funding from the US government to build the first telegraph line in the US from Baltimore to Washington, completed in 1844?
Answer: Samuel Morse (1792-1872)Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
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What is the significance of Samuel Plimsoll (1824-98) in maritime history?
Answer: In 1876 the Maritime Shipping Act was passed in the UK which required every ship to have a line painted on the side. If the line sank below the water, the ship was deemed overloaded and not allowed to sail. This line is still used today, and is named after Plimsoll, who made detailed studies of why so many ships sank.Source: Our Seamen: An Appeal by Samuel Plimsoll
More at: History
February 2017
HMS Endeavour, HMS Discovery and HMS Resolution are all Royal Navy ships associated with which famous British explorer?
Answer: Captain James Cook (1728-1779).Source: The Life of Captain James Cook by J.C. Beaglehole
More at: History
Which figure coined the term “War of the Roses”, helped popularise the historical novel, made Highland dress fashionable and located the long lost Scottish crown jewels?
Answer: Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).Source: The Hero Building by Johnny Rodger
More at: History
Which year saw Ernest Shackleton’s (1874-1922) expedition claim to find the magnetic South Pole, the establishment of the city of Tel Aviv and the birth of Hollywood actor Errol Flynn?
Answer: 1909.Source: On This Day in History by Graeme Donald
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Which West African leader fought an independence campaign against France for 14 years until his eventual defeat in 1898?
Answer: Samori Ture (1830-1900).Source: Islam, Continuity and Change in the Modern World by John Obert Voll
More at: History
January 2017
The Taj Mahal was constructed in the memory of whom?
Answer: Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631). She was the chief consort of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666).Source: The Taj Mahal by Lesley A. DuTemple
More at: History
Who declared in a 1792 speech that “I am not a courtesan, not a moderator, not a tribune, and not a defender of the people; I myself am the people.”
Answer: Maximillien Robespierre (1758-1794), French revolutionary politician.Source: Chambers Biographical Dictionary by Una McGovern
More at: History
In France during World War One, a shortage of manpower meant that women were recruited into a diversity of jobs traditionally set aside for men. By 1918, how many French munition workers were women?
Answer: Some 1.7 million, or around a third.Source: The First World War by Sir Martin Gilbert
More at: History
In 1687, the English physicist Isaac Newton published the universal law of gravitation, one of the most astounding of all scientific discoveries. It elucidated as to what holds the universe together. Newton’s work would dominate scientific views for how long?
Answer: Some 300 years.Source: History Year By Year by Dorling Kindersley
More at: History
December 2016
In 1037, the Seljuks, under Chagri Beg and his brother Tughril Beg, invaded Khurasan in Persia. Three years later in 1040 they crushed who at a famous battle?
Answer: The Ghaznavids at the Battle of Dandanqan, winning control of Eastern Persia. This was the first step to creating a new Islamic empire.Source: History Year By Year by Dorling Kindersley
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What was Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s idea of the good life?
Answer: Waging continuous war on bodily pleasure.Source: Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome by J P V D Balsdon
More at: History
During the American Civil War, approximately how many slaves left the South and enlisted in the Union army?
Answer: No fewer than 180,000.Source: The Civil War by Shelby Foote
More at: History
When Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of the French in 1804, famed German composer Ludwig van Beethoven had an interesting response. What was this?
Answer: He was so disgusted that he scratched the Corsican’s name off the dedication page of his third symphony.Source: A History of the World by Andrew Marr.
More at: History
In France, after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, which saw France defeated, what was the famous saying that Frenchman were told to think of, but never say?
Answer: In reference to the loss, “Never speak of it. Always think of it.” The objective was to generate rage for the day when revenge would be sought. As history records, this was to occur in August 1914.Source: The First World War by Sir Martin Gilbert
More at: History
November 2016
In 1941, Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed. How long did it take to construct?
Answer: 14 years.Source: Mt. Rushmore and Keystone by Tom Domek and Robert E. Hayes
More at: History
Which famous thinker and economist played the leading role in overturning the orthodoxy that markets are optimally self regulating, and instead argued for state intervention to ensure full employment and economic stability?
Answer: John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946).Source: The Essential Keynes by Robert Skidelsky
More at: History
What ship left Boston for Genoa in 1872 and was famously found adrift and deserted four weeks later?
Answer: The Mary Celeste.Source: The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin
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Which event in Chinese history took place first; the adoption of Confucianism by Emperor Wu, the death of Emperor Xuan or the Battle of Zhizhi?
Answer: The adoption of Confucianism by Emperor Wu, in 140 BCE.Source: An Introduction to Confucianism by Xinzhong Yao
More at: History
October 2016
Geronimo (1829-1909) was a prominent Native American leader. From which Native American tribe did he originate?
Answer: Apache.Source: Once They Moved Like The Wind by David Roberts
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What was the name of the armed uprising in March 1921 by Russian sailors who had originally supported the Russian revolution but later were spurred to action by food shortages and labour unrest?
Answer: The Kronstadt Rebellion.Source: Historical Dictionary of Russia by Boris Raymond and Paul Duffy
More at: History
What did famed US World War Two four star General George S Patton say on the question of how to get the best out of people in fulfilling a task?
Answer: “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what the job is that needs to be done, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
Vegetarianism has been around for many centuries and is by no means a modern day fad. What were early vegetarians called?
Answer: Pythagoreans, after the Greek mathematician Pythagoras (b 571 BC).Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
More at: History
September 2016
How many palaces and castles did King Henry VIII of England own when he died in January 1547?
Answer: No fewer than 70.Source: Henry VIII by Alison Weir
More at: History
Which Ancient Greek ruler did Plutarch (46-120 CE) describe as “As good as thought commander and King of all Greece”?
Answer: Agesilaus II (444-360 BCE), King of SpartaSource: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith
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Although other religions were tolerated at different times, what was the official state religion of the Mughal Empire?
Answer: Islam.Source: A History of Islamic Societies by Ira M. Lapidus
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What sport was invented in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith (1861-1939)?
Answer: Basketball.Source: The Canadian Encyclopaedia by James H. Marsh
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When the first US volunteer cavalry regiment was established for the Spanish-American War (1898), its heavy recruitment of skilled riders from the West earned it what nickname?
Answer: The “Rough Riders”.Source: A Dictionary of American History by Thomas L. Purvis
More at: History
August 2016
What is the name given to the ‘Community of all Muslims’, first developed in the 7th century, which radically altered Arabia and the region by supplanting the traditional role of kinship in the community?
Answer: Ummah.Source: The Earth and its Peoples by Richard Bulliet et al
More at: History
In the early Soviet Union, the Politburo was one of the permanent decision making bodies of the ruling Communist Party. There were two others. What were they?
Answer: The Secretariat and the Orgburo.Source: Encyclopaedia of Russian History by James R. Miller
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How old is the world’s oldest rose bush?
Answer: 1000 years old. The Rose of Hildesheim grows on a wall of the Hildesheim Cathedral, a Catholic cathedral in Hildesheim, Germany, that is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.Source: Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim
More at: History
The samurai of feudal Japan lived by a strict code of honour. What was it called?
Answer: Bushido, translated as “the way of the warrior”.Source: Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan by William E. Deal
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July 2016
What was the name of the medieval empire that ruled half of France, all of England and parts of Ireland and Wales from 1154-1214?
Answer: The Angevin Empire.Source: The Cambridge Atlas of Warfare by Nicholas Hooper
More at: History
Which dynasty ruled China from 1368-1644 and is known for its many achievements, including the construction of the Forbidden City and the voyages of Admiral Zheng He?
Answer: The Ming dynasty.Source: China - Ancient Culture, Modern Land by Robert Murrowchick
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Which British Prime Minister was known by the nickname “Gentle Shepherd”?
Answer: George Grenville (1712-1770), Prime Minister from 1763-1765.Source: George Grenville - A Political Life by Philip Lawson
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Which European city was founded in 1703, built on wetlands using designs by Venetian, French and German architects and the construction of which led to the death of 30,000 labourers?
Answer: St. Petersburg, Russia.Source: A Brief History of Russia by Michael Kort
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June 2016
In what year did Emperor Philip celebrate 1000 years of Rome’s foundation?
Answer: 247 CESource: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
More at: History
Which European city was founded in 1703, built on wetlands using designs by Venetian, French and German Architects and the construction of which led to the death of 30,000 labourers?
Answer: St. Petersburg, Russia.Source: A Brief History of Russia by Michael Kort
More at: History
Which U.S. President was the first to visit Europe during his presidency?
Answer: Woodrow Wilson, visiting for the Paris Peace conference in 1919Source: Peacemakers by Margaret Macmillan
More at: History
Which famous work of postcolonial theory argued that throughout history the West has deliberately “infantilized” the East, doing so not only ideologically but as an excuse to exert political control over it?
Answer: Orientalism by Edward W. SaidSource: Orientalism by Edward W. Said
More at: History
Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), Bernardo O’Higgins (1778-1842) and José de San Martín (1778-1850) were all prominent South American Independence leaders. Which one was Supreme Dictator of Chile from 1817-1823?
Answer: Bernardo O’Higgins.Source: Liberators, Patriots and Leaders of Latin America by Jerome R. Adams
More at: History
May 2016
What cultural movement, originating in Europe in the 18th century, emphasised the role of reason in human affairs and was committed to material progress and the liberation of humankind from political servitude?
Answer: The Enlightenment.Source: Critical Theory by Stuart Sim and Borin van Loon
More at: History
The Battle of Catalaunian Plains (451) was a confrontation between an army led by Roman general Flavius Aetius (391-454) and the Visigothic King Theodoric I (393-351) against who?
Answer: The Huns, led by Attila (406-453).Source: Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe by Michael Frassetto
More at: History
Bernard Freyberg (1889-1963) was an Allied commander during the Second World War (1939-1945). (On a visit to Winston Churchill’s country home, Chartwell, Churchill asked Freyburg to take off his shirt so he and his guests could count his battle scars) Which country’s forces did he command?
Answer: New Zealand.Source: The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War II by Wayne Stack
More at: History
Which famous work of postcolonial theory argued that throughout history the West has deliberately “infantilized” the East, doing so not only ideologically but as an excuse to exert political control over it?
Answer: Orientalism by Edward W. SaidSource: Orientalism by Edward W. Said
More at: History
April 2016
Which famous building was reduced to a partial ruin by a Venetian cannon ball on September 26 1687?
Answer: The Parthenon, in Athens, Greece.Source: An Ancient Greek Temple by John Malam
More at: History
“The object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war.” This is a line from which novel that satirizes Soviet totalitarianism?
Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1903-1950)Source: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
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Which Spanish colony was occupied by the British in 1762 before being returned to Spain in exchange for Florida?
Answer: CubaSource: Spanish Colonies in America by Alexandra Lilly
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Parts of Spain were under Islamic rule from 711 to 1492 CE. Which other area of Europe was also governed by Muslim rulers in the Middle Ages?
Answer: Sicily, from 965 to 1091 CE.Source: History of Islam in Southern Italy by Frederic P. Miller et al
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March 2016
The Red River expedition was an ill-fated campaign in what conflict?
Answer: The American Civil War (1861-1865). It was carried out by the Union Army.Source: The American Civil War by Steven Woodworth
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Which famed African scholar was born in 1556 in Araouana, modern day Mali, and is considered the greatest mind of the Songhai Empire?
Answer: Ahmad Baba al Massufi (1556-1627).Source: A Labyrinth of Kingdoms by Steve Kemper
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What was the principal asset gained by the United States from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, following the end of its war with Mexico?
Answer: A vast area of land that included CaliforniaSource: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
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What time did the first Japanese bomb drop on Singapore to the closest hour?
Answer: 4am Sunday December 7. The British surrendered to the Japanese on February of the following year, the greatest capitulation in British military history.Source: A Sinister Twilight: Fall of Singapore by Noel Barber
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How tall was King John the First of England, and why is this question flawed?
Answer: John was five feet five inches tall. The ‘first’ is not needed in the question, as there was only King John of England.Source: History of England by Paul Johnson
More at: History
February 2016
Brazil patrolled for submarines and contributed thousands of troops to the European theatre of the Second World War (1939-1945). Which side did they fight for?
Answer: The Allies.Source: Latin America During World War II by Thomas M. Leonard
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Which of the following groups did not exist in Ancient Briton: Iceni, Dumnonii, Wessex or Catuvellauni?
Answer: Wessex. This was a Saxon Kingdom that existed from the 5th to the 10th century.Source: Iron Age Communities in Britain by Barry Cunnliffe
More at: History
Arthur Kinnaird (1847-1923), Bert Freeman (1885-1955), Otto Siffling (1912-1939) and Guillermo Stábile (1905-1966) were all early players of which sport?
Answer: Association Football (Soccer).Source: The Leaguers by Matthew Taylor
More at: History
In 1657 what disaster struck Edo, the capital of Japan, destroying two-thirds of the city with an estimated loss of 100,000 lives?
Answer: A great fire.Source: Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia by Rajib Shaw et al
More at: History
January 2016
Which Ancient Roman God, known as the “bull-slayer”, was the focus of a male-only mystery cult that promised new life after death and was popular among Roman soldiers?
Answer: Mithras.Source: The Mysteries of Mithras by Payam Nabarz
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Which French city was controlled by the papacy from 1348 until 1791?
Answer: Avignon.Source: The French Revolution, 1789-1795 by Bertha Meriton Gardiner
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What was ground breaking psychiatrist Sigmund Freud’s view on the principal task of civilization?
Answer: “Its actual raison d’etre, is to defend us against nature.”Source: Civilisation’s Quotations by Richard Krieger; General Historical Texts
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As a result of the Irish potato famine, what was the decline in the population of Ireland between 1841 and 1851?
Answer: From 8 million to 6.5 million.Source: Modern World Encyclopaedia
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December 2015
The 16th century Seven Year War, when Japanese forces mounted a sustained invasion of Korea, began in what year?
Answer: 1592Source: General Historical Texts
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Which U.S. President, best known for his diplomatic work, lost his bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson in 1828?
Answer: John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)Source: The Birth of Modern Politics by Lynn Hudson Parsons
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In 1863 the Red Cross was founded in which European city, a city which was also later the headquarters of the League of Nations (1919-1939)?
Answer: Geneva, Switzerland.Source: Concise Encyclopaedia of World History by Carlos Ramirez-Faria
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Who in the late fifteenth century was the first European to reach the Indian subcontinent by sea?
Answer: Vasco Da Gama (? - 1524)Source: Vasco Da Gama by Tony Napoli
What do Warren Hastings (1732-1818), John Lawrence (1811-1879). Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (1845-1927) and George Curzon (1859-1925) all have in common?
Answer: They were all rulers of the British Administration in India.Source: A History of India by Peter Robb
More at: History
November 2015
Which great empire was a cosmopolitan combination of East and West, Christianity and paganism, and lasted for over 1000 years before it was eventually toppled in 1453?
Answer: The Byzantine Empire.Source: Byzantium by Judith Herrin
More at: History
Which French scientist was the first to recognise and name both oxygen and hydrogen, the first in 1778 and second in 1783, and is often considered the “father of modern chemistry”?
Answer: Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794).Source: Oxygen by Michele Thomas
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Who won the inaugural Noble Peace Prize in 1901?
Answer: Henry Dunant (1828-1910) and Frédéric Passy (1822-1912).Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia by David Crystal
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There were three capitals of Han Dynasty China (206 BCE-220 CE); Chang’an, Xuchang and what?
Answer: Luoyang, capital from 25-190 CE.Source: Encyclopaedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations by Charles Higham
More at: History
October 2015
The Battle of Crécy on August 26, 1346 was an important clash in which conflict?
Answer: The Hundred Years’ War.Source: The Hundred Years War by David Green
Which year saw Ivan the Terrible become Tsar of Russia, Thomas Cranmer appointed the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury and the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople?
Answer: 1533Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia by David Crystal
The Central Powers of the First World War (1914-1918) included Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and which fourth power?
Answer: The Kingdom of Bulgaria.Source: The European Powers in the First World War
Which Roman Emperor ruled first; Tiberius or Vespasian?
Source: Vespasian by Barbara LevickWhich is the oldest regiment of the British regular army, one that can trace its origins to the New Model Army of the 1650s?
Answer: The Coldstream Guards.Source: Second to None by Julian Paget
September 2015
How long did the Siege of Leningrad last before finally being broken in January 1944?
Answer: 872 days.Source: Leningrad by Anna Reid
Which famous seventeenth century soldier of fortune served a range of armies during his career, including Dutch, French, Portuguese and English forces, before eventually being killed in action at the Boyne (1690) while serving as Commander-in-Chief of Ireland?
Answer: Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg (1615-1690).Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia by David Crystal
Which year did famed British Statesman William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778) first enter the House of Commons?
Answer: 1735.Source: Eighteenth-Century England by Earl A. Reitan
Which middle eastern city was founded by the Ottoman Empire in 1869 to control the nearby Dulaim tribe and ultimately became a wealthy city due to its location both on the Euphrates river and on the western road into Jordan and Syria?
Answer: Ramadi, modern day Iraq.Source: A Beduin Century by Aref Abu-Rabia
August 2015
Which Mughal Indian ruler commissioned the Taj Mahal?
Answer: Shah Jahan (1592-1666).Source: Taj Mahal by Catherine Arnold
Who was the first fighter pilot to shoot down an opposing aircraft while piloting an aircraft armed with a synchronised machine gun?
Answer: German fighter ace Kurt Wintgens (1894-1916).Source: Lost Wings of WWI
Which battle, taking place in 1622, was the only major engagement that was fought between two European powers on the Chinese mainland?
Answer: The Battle of Macau, between Portugal and the Dutch Republic.Source: Fidalgos in the Far East by C. R. Boxer
What was the first war in which the United States attempted to blockade a foreign port, shell a foreign capital and land troops on foreign soil?
Answer: The First Barbary War (1801-1805).Source: The Wars of the Barbary Pirates by Gregory Fremont-Barnes
July 2015
As a percentage of the world population, battlefield deaths reached their largest extent during the Second World War (1939-1945), followed by the First World War (1914-1918). Which is the third most deadly conflict?
Source: The War of the World by Niall FergusonWhen was the first time cannons were used in a naval battle?
Answer: The Battle of Zonchio in August 1449.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
Aethelstan, Eric Bloodaxe and Eadred were all names of what?
Answer: Rulers of English Kingdoms during the ninth and tenth centuries.Source: The Age of Athelstan by Paul Hill
Who were the “Hong merchants” and why were they among the richest and most powerful figures in Qing Dynasty in China?
Answer: Owners of trading companies in Guangzhou were authorised to do business with foreigners. This monopoly helped them to establish huge wealth. They were organised into the “Cohong” in 1720.Source: China by Michael Dillon
Which Asian island did the Portuguese Empire first visit in 1506, consequently becoming actively involved in its political and religious affairs over the next 150 years?
Answer: Sri Lanka.Source: The Encylopedia of Asian History by Ainslie T. Embree
June 2015
Which historical event began on September 2, 1945 and concluded on April 28, 1952, when the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into effect?
Answer: The occupation of Japan.Source: General Historical Texts
Which Greek statesman and poet formulated an influential code of laws and has been regarded as the found of Athenian democracy?
Answer: Solon (638 - 558 BCE)Source: Encyclopaedia of World Biography by Paula Byers et al
What year is the Safavid Empire considered to have been founded?
Answer: 1501.Source: General Historical Texts
May 2015
Who was the first ruler of the Sassanian Dynasty?
Answer: Ardashir, who ruled from 224 to 242.Source: General Historical Texts
In 1921 Charles Strite of Minneapolis, USA, patented which common kitchen appliance?
Answer: The pop-up toaster.Source: Breakfast - A History by Heather Arndt Anderson
Which year saw David Hume complete “A Treatise on Human Nature”, Fredrick the Great become King of Prussia and Benedict XIV succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope?
Answer: 1740.Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia by David Crystal
In 1829 British Home secretary Robert Peel (1788-1850) created the world’s first what?
Answer: Organised police force, through the Metropolitan Police Act 1829.Source: Law, Power, and Justice in England and Wales by Ian K. McKenzie
April 2015
During the Second World War (1939-1945), what was the only Allied fighter plane to remain in full production from the first to the last days of the conflict?
Source: The Spitfire Story by Peter March“Give me liberty, or give me death!” is a famous quotation belonging to which American founding father?
Answer: Patrick Henry (1736-1799). The quotation is from a speech Henry made at the Virginia Convention in 1775.Source: Birth of the Republic by William McFerran
What was the name of the first United States president to be assassinated?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) on April 15 1865. The other Presidents who were assassinated are James A. Garfield (1831-1881), William McKinley (1843-1901) and John F Kennedy (1917-1963).Source: The Executive Branch of Federal Government by Brian R. Dirck
The Treaty of Amiens was signed on March 25 1802. It ended hostilities between which two countries: France and Britain or France and the Holy Roman Empire?
Answer: France and Britain. The peace only lasted only one year before hostilities resumed, lasting until 1815.Source: The Naval History of Britain by William James
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of which conflict?
Answer: The English Civil War. The battle took place on 23 October 1642.Source: Edgehill 1642 by Peter Young
March 2015
After World War One, how much territory did Germany lose?
Answer: Some 13 percent. Most went to the new state of Poland, while France regained Alsace-Lorraine.Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, was the primary peace treaty which officially ended the First World War. The German military was forbidden from having what: a navy or an air force?
Answer: Article 198 of the treaty prohibited Germany from having an air force, and required Germany pass over all air force equipment it already possessed.Source: Strategies of Arms Control by Stuart Croft
Charles the Simple (879-929) and Charles the Bald (823-877) were both rulers from which European country?
Answer: France.Source: Those of My Blood by Constance Bouchard
According to British historian Eric Hobsbawm, who through their actions invented the concept of “the politician as a saint”?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian nationalist.Source: The Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm
February 2015
Which Chinese dynasty, through the so called ‘Oracle Bones’, offer us the first written records of China?
Answer: The Shang Dynasty (1556-1046 BCE).Source: History of Chinese Philosophy by Bo Mou
Which year saw Thomas Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Ivan the Terrible become Tsar of Russia and the Treaty of Constantinople between the Ottoman Empire and Austria?
Answer: 1533.Source: General Historical Texts
Who was the first person to fly across the English channel?
Answer: Louis Bleriot (1872-1936). He made the crossing on the July 25, 1909.Source: One Hundred Years of World Military Aircraft by Norman Polmar
In 1904, the location known as ‘Times Square’ in New York City was renamed to Times Square. What was it called before?
Answer: Long Acre Square.Source: Supreme City by Donald L. Miller
January 2015
Mehemet Ali Pasha (r.1805-1848), Abbas II Helmi (r.1892-1914) and Ahmed Fouad (r.1922-1936) were all rulers of which country?
Answer: Egypt.Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia by David Crystal
Which year saw Chester Alan Arthur become President of the USA, Alexander III became Tsar of Russia and French chemist Louis Pasteur first vaccinate sheep against anthrax?
Answer: 1881.Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia by David Crystal
Which Imperial Chinese dynasty came first: the Sui Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty?
Answer: The Sui Dynasty, which ruled from 581–618 CE. The Yuan Dynasty existed much later, between 1271 and 1368.Source: China in World History by Paul S. Ropp
The concept of ‘übermensch’, translated as ‘overhuman’, is a philosophical concept developed in 1883 by what philosopher?
Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900).Source: Nietzsche, Truth and Transformation by Katrina Mitcheson
Which classical period of Japanese history saw the emergence for the first time of an indigenous Japanese culture famed for its art, literature and poetry?
Answer: The Heian period, which is widely considered to have existed from 794-1185 CE.Source: The Essential World History by William J. Duiker
December 2014
Which out of Delaware, Tennessee and Maryland was not one of the original thirteen colonies which signed the American Declaration of Independence in 1776?
Answer: Tennessee.Source: The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of British History
What is the world’s oldest daily newspaper?
Answer: Lloyd’s List, a publication based in London first published in 1734. Its origins were linked to Lloyds of London, an insurance firm, and its focus to this day continues to report on shipping news and maritime insurance.Source: On the Brinks by Andrew Duguid
Which of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’ was the first to be destroyed?
Answer: The Temple of Artemis in 401 CE.Source: Pilgrimage by Linda Kay Davidson
‘No official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.’ This is a line from what historical document?
Answer: The Magna CartaSource: The Magna Carta Manifesto by Peter Linebaugh
November 2014
Which major Arab city and capital was founded by the Fatimids 969 CE?
Answer: CairoSource: Damascus - A History by Ross Burns
Who was the youngest signatory of the American Declaration of Independence?
Answer: Edward Rutledge, who was born on 23 November 1749 and was a mere 26 when he signed the document. He went on to become Governor of South Carolina.Source: Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies by Gregory Fremond-Barnes
Bartolomé Mitre (1821-1906) and Nicolás Avellaneda (1837-1885) were leaders in which South American nation during the 19th century?
Source: South American Independence by Catherine Davies et alWhich of these was not a Roman settlement in Britain in the 70s CE – Viroconium, Noviodunum or Londinium?
Answer: Noviodunum, which was a Roman settlement in Gaul, modern day France.Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith
October 2014
The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, was the primary peace treaty which officially ended the First World War. The German military was forbidden from having what: a navy or an air force?
Answer: Article 198 of the treaty prohibited Germany from having an air force, and required Germany pass over all air force equipment it already possessed.Source: Strategies of Arms Control by Stuart Croft
What was so remarkable about the Soviet Air Forces 588th Bomber Regiment in World War II?
Answer: It was entirely composed of women. The 588th was one of three all female air regiments and tasked with night bombing German military targets from 1942 until the end of the war. They flew 23,000 sorties dropping 3,000 bombs.Source: General Historical Texts
What countries formed part of the historic country of Gran Colombia in South America?
Answer: Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The county was formed during the wars of liberation against Spain in the nineteenth century, but later fractured and disintegrated.Source: Iberia and the Americas by John Michael Francis
Which day of the year marks the anniversary of Henry IV of France issuing the Edict of Nantes, the first performance of Handel’s Messiah, the Amritsar massacre by British soldiers in India and the foundation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City?
Answer: April 13.Source: The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald
Which river did George Washington’s troops cross to engage in the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776?
Answer: The Delaware river.Source: George Washington, The Crossing by Jack. E Lewin
September 2014
Which was the only country in Southeast Asia never ruled by European powers?
Answer: The Kingdom of Thailand.Source: Culture and Customs of Thailand by Arne Kislenko
How long did Edward Gibbon take to write his epic ‘The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ first published in 1776, and still in print today?
Answer: Twenty two years.Source: The Modern World Encyclopedia
What was the famous remark by Napoleon Bonaparte about Prussia’s origins?
Answer: ‘Prussia was hatched from a cannon ball’.Source: Modern World Encyclopedia
When was the first recorded contact between Japan and the Western World?
Answer: 1542, when a Portuguese ship sailed off-course and reached the southern tip of Japan.Source: Western Power in Asia by Arthur Cotterell
August 2014
What is the oldest international sporting trophy?
Answer: The America’s Cup, awarded for winning the America’s cup sailing match race. It was first awarded in 1851.Source: The America’s Cup by Oilin Stephens
Which Chinese city, a capital of nine dynasties, is known as the cradle of Chinese civilisation?
Answer: Luoyang, in modern day Henan province.Source: Chinese States by Dorothy Wong
How tall was King John the First of England, and what is wrong with this question?
Answer: Five feet, five inches. And what is wrong is that 'the First' is not necessary, as there was only one King John of England.Source: A History of the English People by Paul Johnson
Which book was Italian explorer Christopher Columbus said to carry on his person at all times?
Answer: Il millione by Marco Polo, also known as The Travels of Marco Polo. The exploration of Asia by Polo was an inspiration for Columbus.Source: Columbus Then and Now by Miles Davidson
July 2014
Which mediaeval European city was considered amongst the most cosmopolitan of its era, with all 72 known languages of the world spoken there?
Answer: Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire.Source: The Age of Justinian by J.A.S Evans
Which famous writer wrote under the pen name ‘Ellis Bell’?
Answer: Emily Bronte (1818-1848). Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847.Source: The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature by Joanna Shattock
In 47 BCE, which famous classical figure uttered the words ‘Veni, vidi, vici’?
Answer: Julius Caesar. The latin translates to ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’Source: Julius Caesar by Rose Williams
By 19th century European continental standards the British Army was small. What did German Chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck say he would do if the British Army ever landed in Prussia?
Answer: 'Send a policeman and have it arrested.'Source: The Last Lion by William Manchester; General Historical Texts
Where was Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte exiled after the Battle of Waterloo?
Answer: St Helena, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean.Source: Napoleon After Waterloo by Michael John Thornton
June 2014
Which British settlement was known by the Romans as ‘Aquae Sulis’?
Source: Water by Ian BradleyWhat year saw Alexander II become Tsar of Russia, chemist Michael Faraday publish his ‘Experimental Researches of Technology’, and explorer David Livingstone discover Victoria Falls?
Answer: 1855.Source: General Historical Texts
Which nation was first called ‘the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata’?
Answer: Argentina. The title originated in the May Revolution of 1810, though was later superseded by the creation of the Argentine Republic in 1831.Source: The Human Tradition in Colonial Latin America by Kenneth J. Andrien
Which was the first written language in human history?
Answer: Cuneiform. It was developed by the Sumerians of Southern Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago.Source: The Book of Origins by Trevor Homer
May 2014
What is the world’s oldest continuously published sports annual?
Answer: The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, first published in 1864.Source: Young Wisden by Tim de Lisle
Which year saw John Quincy Adams succeed James Monroe as American President, Bolivia gain independence from Spain and the world’s first modern railway open?
Answer: 1825.Source: The Railways of Great Britain by M.H. Cobb and The Encyclopedia of World History
In which year were the first daily weather forecasts printed?
Answer: 1860, in the British newspaper The Times.Source: The Handy Weather Book by Kevin Hile
What was the Cisalpine Republic and when was it established?
Answer: It is the former republic in Northern Italy created by Napoleon in 1797 from conquered territories. It was centred in the Po river valley and included lands around Milan. It was incorporated into the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy in 1805Source: Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopaedia
In the year 1907, which had the largest population – the British Empire or Qing Dynasty China?
Answer: The British Empire. Its population was estimated to be just under 422 million in 1900, around seven million more than China.Source: Dictionary of World History by A J P Taylor
April 2014
Who was King Louis XVI second, morganatic, wife?
Answer: Madame de MaintenonSource: Madame de Maintenon: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV by Veronica Buckley
What was the name of the ransom paid by England to the King of Denmark, first paid during the reign of Ethelred the Unready, in order to prevent Danish attacks?
Answer: The Danegeld. The first payment of 20,000 marks was made in 991.Source: The Vikings by R Chartrand et. al
Which prestigious British institution was founded in 1768, and whose first president was Joshua Reynolds.
Answer: The Royal Academy of ArtsSource: School of Genius by James Fenton
Which country achieved its formal independence in the Treaty of Lisbon of 1668?
Answer: Portugal, achieving independence from its neighbor Spain. It marked the culmination of the Portuguese Restoration War.Source: The Making of Modern Europe by Geoffrey Treasure
March 2014
Which British Suffragette threw herself under the King’s horse at the Derby in 1913?
Answer: Emily Davison. It appears unlikely she meant to do so, instead hoping to attach a suffragette banner to the horse.Source: The Women’s Suffrage Movement by Elizabeth Crawford
Which famous Russian communist was assassinated with an ice pick in Mexico City on 21 August 1940?
Answer: Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)Source: Trotsky - The Eternal Revolutionary by Dmitri Volkogonov
According to legend, in which year did the Emperor Jimmu found Japan?
Answer: 660 BCE. He is said to have ascended to the throne at Kashiware, the first capital of Japan.Source: Japan - A Concise History by Milton Walter Meyer
Aeschylus and Sophocles are considered two of the three greatest writers of Greek tragedy. Who was the third?
Answer: Euripides. Considered a master of the tragedy, his thinking on religion and morality were highly unorthodox for their time.Source: The Wisdom of the Great by Sam Majdi
February 2014
Which steam ship, launched on 31 January 1858, remained the largest ship ever built in both length and tonnage for over forty years?
Answer: The SS Great Eastern, designed by famed British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.Source: Understanding the Victorians by Susie Steinbach
When was Arbitration first used as a dispute resolution technique in international diplomacy?
Answer: 1794, from the Jay Treaty between the United Kingdom and United States. The two sides agreed that disputes over debts and the boundary between America and Canada should be sent to arbitration, a first in diplomatic history.Source: The Historical Foundations of World Order by Douglas M. Johnston
‘It will be years — and not in my time — before a woman will lead the party or become prime minister’. Who made this statement in 1974?
Answer: Margaret Thatcher. Before the end of the following year she became leader of the Conservative Party, eventually acceding to the role of prime minister in 1979.Source: Wise Women by Carole McKenzie
Who in 1876 received the first ever PhD in political science from Harvard University?
Source: The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia by David CrystalJanuary 2014
What is the oldest existing university outside Europe?
Answer: Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, a public university in Morelia, Mexico. It can trace its origins to 1540 and was founded within what was then the Viceroyalty of New Spain.Source: Library World Records by Godfrey Oswald
Which ancient war, which took place from the second to first century BCE, is estimated to have been the largest and most destructive war mankind had ever waged until that point?
Answer: The Punic Wars, a series of conflicts between the Roman Republic and Carthage.Source: The Punic Wars by Adrian Goldsworthy
Which city is older, St. Petersburg, Russia, or New York City, USA?
Answer: New York City, established in 1626 as ‘New Amsterdam.’ St. Petersburg was founded 77 years later in 1703.Source: Empire City by Kenneth T. Jackson & Peter the Great by Derek Wilson
What was the first purpose built aircraft carrier?
Answer: The Japanese carrier Hōshō, commissioned in 1922. While aircraft carriers had existed before this, notably the British carrier HMS Argus, the Hōshō was the first ship built purely for the task.Source: Aircraft Carriers by Chris Bishop and Chris Chant.
Which U.S. President was the first to visit Europe during his presidency?
Answer: Woodrow Wilson, visiting for the Paris Peace conference in 1919Source: Peacemakers by Margaret Macmillan
December 2013
Who was the American General who headed Task Force 56 at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945?
Answer: General Holland ‘Howlin Mad’ SmithSource: The United States in Asia by David Shavit
What came first, gunpowder or the printing press?
Answer: Answer: Gunpowder, developed by Chinese alchemists hoping to discover an elixir for immortality in the ninth century CE. The Printing Press came nearly five hundred years later, widely credited to Johannes Gutenberg around 1450.Source: Ancient Chinese Inventions by Yinke Deng
Which European monarch, highly unusually, became king from the day of his birth, and would go on to rule for a further forty four years?
Answer: Answer: Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886-1941).Source: Kings, Rulers and Statesman by Leonard F. Wise et. al
In 1940, which country did Britain successfully invade with a force of 750 marines, most of whom were ill-equipped and only partially trained?
Answer: Iceland. The neutral Icelandic government strongly protested but put up no resistance, allowing the haphazard invasion force to secure their objective.Source: All the Countries We’ve Ever Invaded by Stuart Laycock
November 2013
In what year was the oldest bank still in operation founded?
Answer: 1472. This is the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which remains a large bank in Italy to this day.Source: A Cultural History of Finance by Irene Finel-Honigman
Which Egyptian god possessed bird-like features, protected children and the Pharoah from harm, and also cured snake bites?
Answer: Horus.Source: The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw
Roman Emperor Claudius put down two revolts in the year 42 CE. Soon after, he turned his attention to the Roman senate by doing what?
Answer: He executed more than 300 senators.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
In what year did Viking King Harald Bluetooth commence the mass minting of coins?
Answer: 975Source: The Modern World Encyclopedia
October 2013
In what year during World War One was the German spiked Pickelhaube helmet replaced by the metal Stahlhelm, which offered better protection?
Answer: 1916Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
What was the name of the first person to make accurate timepieces that enabled longitude to be calculated with precision?
Answer: English clockmaker John Harrison. He makes the first, the H1, in 1735 and the final H4 in 1759.Approximately how many people stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789?
Answer: Around 600.Source: General Historical Texts
January 27, 1822 is a significant day in Greek history, for what reason?
Answer: On this day the country declared independence following her war against Turkey.Source: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
Kenneth McAlpin played a unique role in the pre-history of Scotland in the year 844 CE. What was this?
Answer: As a Scottish chieftain, he formed a union between the Scots and the Picts.Source: Through the Ages by Alf Henrikson
September 2013
In what year did Emperor Hideyoshi of Japan begin his persecution of the Christians?
Answer: 1598Source: Dictionary of World History edited by A J P Taylor
In what year was the Oseberg boat found near Oslo, providing a near perfect example of Viking vessels?
Answer: 1904Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McEvedy
At the Battle of Grunwald, or 1st Battle of Tannenberg, on July 15, 1410, who led the defeated Teutonic Knights?
Answer: Grand Master Ulrich von JungingenSource: The Complete History of the World by Richard Overy
When Jerusalem, which had long been under Muslim rule, was seized by Christian Crusaders in 1099, who led the Christian forces?
Answer: Godfrey of BouillonSource: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
August 2013
How old was Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rikn when he died in Amsterdam in 1669?
Answer: 63.Source: General Historical Texts
What was the approximate value of the tea dumped by American colonist into Boston Harbour as part of the Boston Tea Party of 1773?
Answer: Around 10,000 pounds sterling.Source: History Year by Year by Dorling Kindersley
In what year did the British defeat the Marathas and become the effective rulers of India?
Answer: 1818 CESource: The Complete History of the World by Richard Overy
Spain’s conquest of Latin America from 1492 meant that by 1650 the Indigenous population had declined by how much, as a result of conquest disease and ill-treatment?
Answer: Ninety percent.Source: The Complete History of the World by Richard Overy
The key issue facing South American countries after their independence in the nineteenth century was the struggle to integrate extremely diverse peoples into a cohesive whole, an issue still felt today. What do you think?
How many days did King Edward VIII of Britain reign before he abdicated to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson in 1936?
Answer: 325.Source: General Historical Texts
July 2013
What year did the Bedouin defeat the Sasanian army at the battle of Dhu Qar?
Answer: 611 CESource: The Complete History of the World by Richard Overy
English editor and social campaigner Thomas Bowdler formed a morals society in 1802. What was its name?
Answer: The Society for the Suppression of ViceSource: On This Day by Hamlyn
The tomb of Genghis Khan was discovered in 1927 by whom?
Answer: Russian archaeologist Peter Kozlov.Source: Dictionary of World History by A J P Taylor
How many eunuchs were estimated to have been employed by China’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)?
Answer: Over 100,000Source: The Modern World Encyclopedia; General Historical Texts
June 2013
What was the name of the coins minted from silver mined at Joachimsthal in Bohemia in the early 16th century?
Answer: The ThalerSource: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
When American pilot Amelia Earhart made her solo transatlantic flight in 1932, what was the aircraft she flew in?
Answer: A Lockheed Vega monoplane.How tall was King John the first of England, and what’s wrong with this question?
Answer: He was five feet five inches tall, and it is not necessary to mention ‘the first’, as there was only one King John of England.Source: History of England by Paul Johnson; General Historical Texts
What make of gun did Gavrilo Princip, the 19 year old member of the Serbian Black Hand movement, use to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofie in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, the event which sparked World War One?
Answer: An FN Model 1910 pistol, designed by John Moses Browning, chambered, in .38 ACP.Source: General Historical Texts
May 2013
What was the slogan used by the 19th century British slavery abolitionist movement, which was also adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society established?
Answer: ‘Am I not a man, and a brother?’Source: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
What famous fizzy drink was put on sale for the first time at a pharmacy in Atlanta in 1886?
Answer: Coca ColaSource: The Story of Coca Cola by Lonnie Bell
What was the tragic fate of Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Mexico?
Answer: Born in Vienna, the brother of the Emperor Francis Joseph and Archduke of Austria, he was invited to accept the Mexican crown in 1864, but was executed by firing squad three years later.Source: General Historical Texts
What 19th century honor does the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, have for United States sports fans?
Answer: It was the venue for the first ever official baseball match on June 19, 1846 between the ‘New Yorks’ and the ‘Knickerbockers’.Source: The Modern World Encyclopedia
In May of 1627, England’s Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was made a unique offer, which he was to refuse. What was this?
Answer: He was offered the title of King of England.Source: On This Day – The History of the World in 366 Days by Hamlyn
What was the name of the college established at Oxford founded for ‘the education of working men and women’? It was not originally part of the university, but students were allowed to attend lectures.
Answer: Ruskin College, established in 1899Source: General Historical Texts
April 2013
Who was the first director-general of New Netherlands in America?
Answer: Peter Minuit (1580-1638)Source: General Historical Texts
The Lena is one of the great rivers of Siberia, rising near Lake Baikal in Central Asia and flowing into the Arctic Ocean. How was it discovered?
Answer: It was first discovered by Cossack explorers searching for furs around 1630.Source: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
When was the Mudros Armistice brought into existence, ending hostilities between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire in the last weeks of the First World War?
Answer: October 30, 1918Source: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
In what year was the Remington typewriter first sold?
Answer: 1876Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McEvedy
March 2013
What was the principal distinguishing feature of the construction of the Beauvais Cathedral in 1235?
Answer: It was the tallest building ever attempted by Gothic architects.Source: World History Factfinder by Colin McEvedy
In 1598 Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes. What was the significance of this?
Answer: It granted protestant Huguenots the freedom to practise their religion in France within existing limits.In what year did Paul Revere, made famous for his ride from Charlestown to Lexington to warn of militia men of the arrival of English troops, die?
Answer: 1811Source: General Historical Texts
Who was the victor of the Battle of Preveza, fought off western Greece, in September 1538?
Answer: The Ottoman fleet led by Khair-ed Din (Barbarossa)Source: General Historical Texts
February 2013
When did US abolitionist John Brown (1800-59) attack a federal armoury at Harpers Ferry, Virginia?
Answer: On the night of October 16, 1859. Brown’s two sons were killed and Brown was later hanged.Source: General Historical Texts
The sixth Mughal emperor of India, Aurangzeb, reigned for 48 years, until his death in 1707. For how many years of his reign was he at war with the Marathas?
Answer: 27Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
In what year was the Solomonid Dynasty established in Ethiopia?
Answer: 1270Source: The Modern Reference Encyclopaedia Illustrated
Perhaps the most brilliant general of Ancient Times, Hannibal, died in Bithynia in 182 CE. How did he die?
Answer: He poisoned himself.Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
January 2013
How many delegates attended the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to agree on what form the future government of America would take?
Answer: 55Source: General Historical Texts
Emperor Joseph II reduced the powers of Estates in the Austrian Netherlands, which led to an outcry from Belgian patriots, in what year?
Answer: 1787Source: World History Factfinder
In what year did Emperor Philip celebrate 1000 years of Rome’s foundation?
Answer: 247 CESource: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Guttenberg was the first person to have made printing by movable type practical in around 1450. What was his profession?
Answer: GoldsmithSource: General Historical Texts
In what year did the University of Paris obtain its charter?
Answer: 1200Source: World History Factfinder
December 2012
What was the name of the first French king of the Capetian line to succeed to the throne as a secure inheritance?
Answer: Louis VII (1121-80)Source: General Historical Texts
What was the name of the 12th century emperor and puppet-prince elected by his fellow German princes on the death of the last Salian emperor?
Answer: Lothaire III (reigned 1125-37)Source: The Modern Reference Encyclopaedia Illustrated
What was the name of the Vietnamese national group in 1943, established with the support of the Japanese, which was still playing a part in Vietnam’s politics thirty years later?
Answer: The Dai-Viet PartySource: Dictionary of World History by G M D Howat
What was the name of the British half penny daily newspaper founded by Alfred and Harold Harmsworth in the 1890s which featured vigorous journalism and short paragraphs?
Answer: The Daily Mail.Source: General Historical Texts
November 2012
English writer Izaak Walton, who died in 1683, is best known for what?
Answer: His treatise on fishing, ‘The Compleat Angler.’Source: Dictionary of World History Advisory Editor A J P Taylor
Who was the first person to swim the English Channel, a distance of some 21 miles?
Answer: Twenty seven year old master mariner Matthew Webb in 1875, swimming the breaststroke.Brilliant Confederate army commander General T J ‘Stonewall’ Jackson died in 1863 in unusual circumstances. How did he die?
Answer: He was shot accidentally by his own troops.Source: General Historical Texts
The Ghurids were a dynasty founded by Ala-ud-Din Husayn who conquered much of Ghaznavid Afghanistan. When was the dynasty founded?
Answer: In the year 1151.Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
Which ship was the first to cross the Atlantic using steam power?
Answer: The US vessel Savannah in 1819Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
October 2012
How many people stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789, one of the most significant events of the French Revolution?
Answer: 600Source: A History of France by Alfred Cobban
What year did German engineer Karl Benz patent his petrol-driven, three wheeled Benz motor-wagen?
Answer: 1886Source: History Year by Year published by Dorling Kindersley
How many days did King Edward VIII reign before he abdicated to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson in 1936?
Which Pharaoh built the Great Pyramid of Giza?
Answer: The Great Pyramid, known to the ancient Egyptians as Khufu’s Horizon, was built over a 20 year period between 2560 and 2540 BC, for the Pharaoh Khufu.Source: Chronicle of the Pharaohs by Peter A. Clayton
September 2012
Henry Ford’s famous Model T automobile – The ‘Tin Lizzy’, was available in any colour, so long as it was, what?
Answer: Black.Source: General Historical Texts
When was the Coliseum built?
Answer: Construction began on the Coliseum, or as it was known to the Romans the Amphitheatrum Flavium, in 72 AD, under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus.Source: The Coliseum by Mary Beard and Keith Hopkins
When the war between the US and Mexico ended in 1847 through the Treaty of Guadalupo Hidalgo, the US gained a vast area of land including what now famous state?
Answer: CaliforniaSource: General Historical Texts
What was the name of the famous 16th Century English warship, one of the largest and most heavily armed of its time, which sank in the Solent Channel fighting the French, reportedly while King Henry VIII was watching from the shore.
Answer: The Mary Rose in 1545. The ship was raised in 1982 after 437 years on the sea floor.What was the name of the period given to the period of counter-insurgency against the Communists in Malaya between 1948 and 1960?
Answer: The Malayan EmergencySource: General Historical Texts
August 2012
Who were the attendants at Chinese courts from earliest times, who served in a variety of positions such as attendants on imperial consorts and princesses, who were entirely trusted for one particular reason as regards their manly capacities, or, sadly, incapacities?
Answer: The EunuchsSource: General Historical Texts
Who was the European aristocrat who was executed nine months after her husband and while imprisoned was presented with the head of her best friend on a pole outside her window. She is best remembered for the saying, ‘Let them eat cake?”
Answer: Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)Source: General Historical Texts
What was the famous naval battle in the Pacific in 1942, only seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, where the Japanese suffered severe naval losses, which essentially signaled that Japan would lose the war, but not before another three terrible years of war?
Answer: The Battle of Midway in June 1942Source: General Historical Texts
What make of motorcycle was T E Lawrence – Lawrence of Arabia – riding when he died in a crash in 1935?
Answer: A 1000 cc Brough.Source: General Historical Texts
Who were the three French Dukes killed at the battle of Agincourt in 1415?
Source: Agincourt by Juliet Barker
July 2012
Who won the English Premier Football Competition the FA Cup in 1879?
Answer: The Old EtoniansSource: General Historical Texts
When Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Roosevelt stormed up San Juan Hill on July 1 1898 what did the ‘USV’ on his uniform stand for?
Answer: United States VolunteersSource: General Historical Texts
Which ancient peoples were the first to discover that gold can be plated thin so as to cover stone or wood?
Answer: The EgyptiansSource: Forty Centuries by S G F Brandon and Friedrich Heer
When did the last German soldier leave France following the final payment of the indemnity to the Germans arising from the Franco Prussian war of 1870?
Answer: September, 1873Source: A History of Modern France by Alfred Cobban
June 2012
What was the US’s first overseas colony?
Answer: Liberia on the coast of West Africa, established in 1822. Its capital Monrovia was named after US President Monroe and its flag was a simplified Stars and Stripes.Source: The Americans by J C Furnas
Who said this about the treaty of Versailles: The Conference was ‘a turbulent collision of embarrassed demagogues’?
Answer: Winston L S ChurchillWhich British Army ensign – who later became a field marshal – took eight months by ship to reach the Second Burmese War in 1852, was wounded in the second day of action, and promptly sent back home to England again?
Answer: Garnet WolesleySource: Heaven’s Command – An Imperial Progress by James Morris
May 2012
What was the major development around the mid 19th Century that radically transformed global trade, which was called ‘the short cut through the desert’?
Answer: The construction of the Suez Canal, opened in 1869Source: General Historical Texts
George Washington is esteemed as the United States’ first President. But many say, in reality, another man was the first US President. Who was this?
Answer: Peyton Randolph, President of the first Continental Congress held in Philadelphia in 1774.Source: The Americans by J C Furnas; A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
The novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, first published in 1852, was a major catalyst for moving public opinion in America against slavery. Queen Victoria, it was said, wept on reading it. In Holland, in the mid 19th century, a similar book was published which highlighted the brutalities of the Dutch colonial system in Java in the East Indies, such that it lead to major reforms being introduced. What was the name of the book?
Answer: Max Havelaar, published in 1860 by a Dutch Javanese colonial official Eduard Douwes DekkerSource: General Historical Texts
Which US cities were the first and second to have an underground electric railway system?
Answer: Boston in 1897 and New York in 1904.Source: The Americans by J C Furnas
When Clyde Barrow and Bonny Parker were killed by US Rangers and Sheriff’s Deputies in Louisiana in May 1934, how many bullet holes were found in each of their bodies?
Answer: 53 in Barrow and 51 in Parker.Source: General Historical Texts
April 2012
Which famous British military figure had the nickname ‘111’?
Answer: Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson Nelson. For one arm and two legs.Source: General Historical Texts
Four 18th Century Chinese Qing Emperor Qianlong was an avid poet who composed some 20,000 verses over his 60 year reign. He built a special, ornate tower in Beijing for his beloved concubine, Xiang Fei. Why did he do this?
Answer: So she could look west towards her homeland of Xinjiang.Source: City of Heavenly Tranquility – Beijing in the History of China by Jasper Becker
Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky changed his name from Leib David Bronstein. Where did he get the name Trotsky from?
Answer: It was the name of one of his jailers when he first escaped from Siberia.Source: Dictionary of Modern History 1789-1945 by Duncan Townson
What was the name of the biscuit introduced in England in the mid-19th Century to commemorate the visit of a celebrated European military and later political figure?
Answer: The 'Garibaldi' named after Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi who visited England in 1854. The biscuit was introduced in 1861.Source: General Historical Texts
March 2012
In what year was crucifixion, dismemberment and boiling alive removed from Japan’s criminal code?
Answer: 1867Source: Japan - The Blighted Blossom by Roy Thomas
Who was Benito Mussolini speaking of when he said ‘You only have to look at his head to see that he has a little brain?’
Answer: Germany’s Foreign Minister Joachim von RibbentropSource: ‘How War Came’ Donald Cameron Watt p46
Approximately, how many palaces and castles did King Henry VIII of England own when he died in January 1547?
Answer: 70Source: Henry VIII by Alison Weir.
What was the full name of Confederate General Robert E Lee’s eldest son?
Answer: George Washington Custis Lee.Source: Dixie Betrayed by David J Eicher
