Copyleft: feel free to use these questions in your quizzes. This is not a game, there's no scoring, and questions are provided as a service only. "NEW" means less than a month old. Spanish flags denote Spanish-based questions.

History

190 questions in this category

NEW! In which Spanish city was Isabel La Católica crowned Queen of Castille?
A: Segovia
With thanks to Bren Murphy of The Irish Rover for correcting the answer

Q: What was Operation Sea Lion in the Second World War?
A: The planned invasion of Britain
With thanks to Alan Boxall for fine tuning the answer to this question

Q: What was Mahatma Gandhi's first name?
A: Mohandas (Karamchand Gandhi)
With thanks to Jim Welsh for spotting a duplicate question

Q: In 1554 a Portuguese ship sighted a beautiful island in East Asia and in an imaginative mood named it "Ilha Formosa", Beautiful Island. What is its current name?
A: Taiwan
With thanks to Jim Welsh for correcting a typo

Q: Who was Indira Gandhi's father?
A: Jawaharlal Nehru

Q: Who was King of Great Britain during the American War of Independence?
A: George III
With thanks to Lesley Melvin for correcting this question

Q: What was the roman word for Spain?
A: Hispania

Q: When Spaniards first arrived in the Canary Islands they found a native population (which for the usual colonial reasons no longer exists). What were they called? (Collectively, not each one of them.)
A: Guanches

Q: Who said Africa starts at the Pyrenees?
A: Napoleon I

Q: Why was the capital of Spain moved to Madrid?
A: It's in the centre of the country.

Q: Who was the Irish missionary who sailed west across the Atlantic before the Vikings or Columbus?
A: Saint Brendan

Q: Who banned Christmas in England from 1647 to 1660 and in Boston from 1659 to 1681?
A: Puritans

Q: Who was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1799 and 1803 and took advantage of his position to collect artwork, in particular from the Parthenon in Athens?
A: Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine

Q: What was the name of the Roman festivities spanning from December 17th to December 23rd and elements of which were incorporated into Christmas?
A: Saturnalia

Q: The youngest and oldest men to be elected President of the United States took office on the same day twenty years apart. Who were they?
A: John F. Kennedy in 1961 and Ronald Reagan and 1981 (Theo Roosevelt was the youngest president when he took office after McKinley's assasination but wasn't elected president until he was 46 years old)
With thanks to Tony Newman for fine tuning the answer to this question

Q: Which twentieth century war is known in one country as the 'Great Patriotic War'?
A: The Second World War in Russia

Q: What was adopted in the United States on June 14th 1777, and is celebrated every year on that day?
A: The flag of the United States. 14th June is Flag Day.

Q: What's the former name of Bangladesh?
A: East Pakistan

Q: Which is the only country in Southeast Asia never colonised by a European power?
A: Thailand

Q: Who was the first US president born in the twentieth century?
A: John F. Kennedy

Q: In which war did the Battle of Hamburger Hill take place?
A: The Vietnam War (May 10-20, 1969)

Q: Who was the first person pictured on a postage stamp?
A: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Q: What in the twentieth century was know as 'The Emergency' in Ireland?
A: The Second World War

Q: Which Irishman became the sixth President of Israel in 1983?
A: Chaim Herzog (1918 1997; in office 1983-1993)

Q: What was the Roman name for Ireland?
A: Hibernia

Q: Who was the first person to be granted Honorary Citizenship of the United States?
A: Sir Winston Churchill in 1963

Q: What is the most popular name for a pope?
A: John (there have been 23)

Q: How many different flags has the United States had in the 20th Century?
A: Five (with 45, 46. 48, 49, and 50 stars adopted in 1896, 1908, 1912. 1959 and 1960)

Q: Which country has been ruled by the Chakri dynasty since 1782?
A: Thailand

Q: Atahualpa was the last emperor of which empire?
A: The Inca Empire

Q: What was the name of the plan for the defence of Gibraltar during W.W.II that was devised by a Naval Intelligence office who subsequently wrote spy stories whilst living in a house of the same name?
A: Operation Goldeneye

Q: Who was the first president of the Republic of Texas?
A: Sam Houston

Q: Bulgaria achieved independence in 1908 from which country?
A: The Ottoman Empire

Q: What was the name of the anti-colonial group that led a revolt of the Kikuyu people in Kenya in the 1950s?
A: Mau Mau

Q: Who returned as president of Uganda after the fall of Idi Amin?
A: Milton Obote

Q: What happened to the Archbishop of Kraków in 1978?
A: He became Pope John Paul II

Q: Who was offered but declined the presidency of the State of Israel in 1952?
A: Albert Einstein

Q: Who was the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated, in the year 1812?
A: Spencer Perceval, KC (1 November 1762 - 11 May 1812)

Q: Into which royal family/dynasty was the unfortunate Marie Antoinette born?
A: Habsburg

Q: Who was the first president of the United States whose father was also president of the United States?
A: John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), 6th President of the USA, son of John Adams (1735-1826), 2nd President of the USA

Q: Who said 'I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse'?
A: Emperor Charles V of Germany (1500-1558)

Q: In which two English cathedrals is there a copy of the Magna Carta?
A: Lincoln and Salisbury

Q: Who commissioned the Arc de Triomphe in Paris?
A: Napoleon I

Q: Which two out of the 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations have no historical connection with the UK?
A: Mozambique and Rwanda

Q: Poland was the first country occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II. Which was the last?
A: Greece

Q: In the US military, what is a Purple Heart awarded for?
A: Wounded or killed in action ('Being wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States or as a result of an act of any such enemy or opposing armed forces')

Q: What is the current name of White Russia?
A: Belarus

Q: Who was the first Prime Minister of the Soviet Union? (also know as Premier of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR or Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR)
A: Vladimir Lenin

Q: During which battle did the charge of the Light Brigade take place?
A: The Battle of Balaclava (25th October 1854)

Q: What was the name of the border crossing between East and West Germany located at the junction of Friedrichstrasse, Mauerstrasse, and Zimmerstrasse in Berlin?
A: Checkpoint Charlie

Q: Emperor Showa, the 124th emperor of Japan, is better know in the west by his personal name. What is it?
A: Hirohito

Q: Who was Israel's defence minister during the Six Day War?
A: Moshe Dayan

Q: What is the modern name of ancient Mesopotamia?
A: Iraq

Q: Who was the last Queen of Pakistan?
A: Queen Elizabeth II (until the declaration of the republic on 23rd March 1956)

Q: The St Valentine's Day Massacre took place in which city?
A: Chicago

Q: Who claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of Italian prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978?
A: The Red Brigades

Q: The Nazi regime was the III Reich. Which was the first?
A: The Holy Roman Empire. (The second was the German Empire of 1871-1918.)

Q: Who was the Japanese emperor during the Showa era?
A: Hirohito

Q: In which century did the Black Death reach Britain?
A: 14th century (1348-50)

Q: The ancient region of Nubia is in which two modern counries?
A: Egypt and Sudan

Q: Air Force One is the US President's plane. What is Marine One?
A: A helicopter

Q: At the beginning of the War of American Independence, what was considered to be the 14th colony?
A: Nova Scotia

Q: Eboracum is the roman name for which city?
A: York

Q: How long did the 100 Years War last?
A: 116 years: 1337 - 1453 or 114 years: 1339 - 1453

Q: In 1579, the Netherlands achieved independence from which country?
A: Spain

Q: In which country did Che Guevara die?
A: Bolivia

Q: In which country is Waterloo, where the battle took place?
A: Belgium

Q: In which war did jet aircraft first fight each other?
A: The Korean War

Q: Only one South American country had a Monarchy. Which was it?
A: Brazil

Q: Parker and Barrow were the surnames of which famous couple?
A: Bonnie and Clyde

Q: Rorke's Drift was a battle in which war?
A: The Zulu War

Q: Sitting Bull belonged to which tribe?
A: Sioux

Q: The American M4 tank was better known by a General's name. What was it?
A: Sherman

The Condor Legion was the name of the German air force flying for Franco's nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War. What was the name of the Irish volunteers on Franco's side?
A: The Blue Shirts, founded by former Irish president William Cosgrave and commanded by General Eoin O'Duffy

Q: The eruption of Mt Vesuvius that buried Pompeii also buried another town. Which one?
A: Herculaneum

Q: The Poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" written during the bombing of Baltimore is now much better known by another name.
A: The Star-Spangled Banner

Q: The War of Jenkin's Ear was waged between which two countries?
A: Britain and Spain (1739)

Q: What is 1999 in Roman numerals?
A: MCMXCIX

Q: What is the name of the German officer, who lived and died in Madrid, who rescued Mussolini?
A: Otto Skorzeny

Q: What was Operation Dynamo in World War II?
A: The evacuation at Dunkirk

Q: What was the code name for the American landings in Morocco in 1942?
A: Operation Torch

Q: What was the name of Haile Selassie before he was crowned in 1930?
A: Ras Tafari

Q: What was the name of the anti-missile missiles used by the US to shoot incoming Scud missiles in the first Gulf War?
A: Patriot

Q: What was the name of the blind Benedictine monk who allegedly invented Champagne?
A: Dom Perignon

Q: What was the name of the cult that Charles Manson lead which killed at least seven people?
A: The Family
With thanks to Ian for correcting this question

Q: What was the name of the spacecraft in which the first three astronauts were killed in a fire in 1967?
A: Apollo I

Q: What was the Volstead Act?
A: The National Prohibition Act named after Andrew J. Volstead which provided enforcement guidelines for the 18th Amendment.

Q: What were Little Boy and Fat Man?
A: The two atom bombs dropped on Japan

Q: Which agreement resulted in the splitting of Germany?
A: The Yalta agreement

Q: Which American City is named after a British Prime Minister?
A: Pittsburgh

Q: Which American President saw active service in both World War I and World War II?
A: Eisenhower

Q: Which battle does the French Foreign Legion celebrate every year?
A: Camerone (Mexico - a defeat)

Q: Which city became the capital of the USA in 1788?
A: New York

Q: Which civilization built Machu Picchu?
A: The Incas

Q: Which political party's name means "Soldiers of Destiny" in its own language?
A: Fianna Fáil (founded by Eamon de Valera in 1923 and first formed government in 1932)

Q: Which Republic exists in France since 1958?
A: The Fifth Republic

Q: Which town was the scene of the gunfight at the OK Corral?
A: Tombstone, Arizona

Q: Which two countries fought the Pastry War (La guerra de los pasteles) of 1838?
A: Mexico and France

Q: Which two other countries joined the EEC at the same time as Ireland?
A: Denmark and the UK

Q: Which was the last port of call of the Titanic?
A: Queenstown (now known as Cobh, Co. Cork)

Which was the most important battle fought by the Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War?
A: The Battle of Jarama

Which was the name of Hitler's Spanish division?
A: The Blue Division

Q: Who did Henry VIII marry at the age of 18 (she was 24)?
A: Catharine of Aragon

Q: Who first crossed the English channel by aeroplane?
A: Louis Blériot

Q: Who is the only American President to have served non-consecutive terms in office?
A: Grover Cleveland

Q: Who succeeded Charles de Gaulle as president of France?
A: Georges Pompidou

Q: Who was killed playing poker while holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights leading to the expression "dead man's hand"?
A: Wild Bill Hickock

Q: Who was known as "the third mate of an American tramp"?
A: Edward VIII (the Duke of Windsor)

Who was prime minister of Spain three times between 1856 and 1866?
A: O'Donnell. (Leopoldo O'Donnell y Joris, Count of Lucena and Duke of Tetuán; b. Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1809 - d. Biarritz 1867)

Q: Who was the last British Prime Minister not to have a wife?
A: Margaret Thatcher

Q: Who was the real spy (for the Germans) in the Dreyfuss Affair?
A: Major Esterhazy

Q: Who were Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders"?
A: US volunteers who fought against the Spaniards in Cuba

Q: Alcock and Brown became well know by achieving what?
A: The first non-stop trans-atlantic flight, in 1919. Lindbergh only achieved the first solo crossing nearly eight years later.

Q: In which decade does Stanley meet Livingstone, William I of Prussia become Kaiser of a united Germany, and the Paris Commune is set up?
A: 1870s

Q: In which decade does the Battle of Wounded Knee (the last Indian uprising) take place, Marconi invent the wireless, and the Dreyfuss Affair take place in France?
A: 1890s

Q: In which decade does the Indian Mutiny take place, work on the Suez Canal commences, and the Second Republic is overthrown in France and Louis Napoleon becomes Emperor Napoleon III?
A: 1850s

Q: In which decade was the Congress of Vienna held, Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles, and Argentina and Chile become independent from Spain?
A: 1810s

Q: In which year did the Ottoman Empire collapse, the Baltic nations, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia become independent, and women over 30 are given the vote in Britain?
A: 1918

Q: In which year did the Yom Kippur War take place, Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka, and a revolution in Chile overthrows Presidente Allende?
A: 1973

Q: In which year does Lebanon become a republic, Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, and Britain is hit by a nine-day General Strike?
A: 1926

Q: In which year does Panama gain independence from Colombia as a US protectorate, the first radio transmission between the US and Britain take place, and the first flight in a heavier than air machine take place?
A: 1903

Q: In which year does the Gold Coast (renamed Ghana) achieve independence, an unsuccesful Tibetan uprising causes the Dalai Lama to flee to India, and the Soviet Union launch the first artificial satellite?
A: 1957

Q: In which year was Malcolm X assasinated, Singapore became independent from Malaya, and Sir Winston Churchill died?
A: 1965
With thanks to Steve Rose for correcting this question

Q: The Roman Appian Way went from Rome to where?
A: Brindisi (Brundusium)

Q: Which Irish president was born in Manhattan?
A: Eamon de Valera (he never spelled his name 'Eamonn')

Q: Enola Gay was the name of the bomber that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, but what was the name of the bomber that dropped it on Nagasaki?
A: Bock's Car

Q: What did members of the Nazi SS have tattooed on their armpits?
A: Their blood group

Q: What's the ruling family of Monaco called?
A: Grimaldi

Q: What did the USA try to buy from Denmark for $100,000,000 in 1946?
A: Greenland

Q: Who was the first woman to be elected head of government in a Muslim country?
A: Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan 1988-1990 and 1993-1996

Q: What is the meaning of the word "Bolshevik", adopted by a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split apart from the "Menshevik" faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903?
A: It's from the Russian 'bolshinstvo' (majority) as opposed to 'menshinstvo' (minority)

Q: The Free World Military Forces, or FWMF was a military force composed of mainly Koreans with Thai, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers with a few Taiwanese and Spanish (30). In which war in the second half of the twentieth century did they take part?
A: The Vietnam War

In addition to Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar, Spain has which other territorial dispute over a town?
A: Olivenza (Olivença) occupied by Spain in the War of the Roses in 1801 and claimed by Portugal since the Treaty of Paris in 1814

Q: Joseph Bonaparte (Giuseppe Buonaparte) became king of which country in 1808?
A: Spain

Q: Sam Houston was the first president of which independent country in 1836?
A: The Republic of Texas

Q: From which country did Panama declare independence in 1903?
A: Colombia

Q: What was Papa Doc's real name (president of Haiti)?
A: Dr François Duvalier

Q: Who preceded Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa and then became deputy president under Mandela? (He shared the Nobel Peace Prize and the Príncipe de Asturias with Mandela)
A: F.W. (Frederik Willem) de Klerk

Q: Which is the only president of the United States not to have been elected as either president or vice-president?
A: Gerald Ford

Q: Which European country had a 'Carnation Revolution' on the 25th of April 1974?
A: Portugal

Q: Who succeeded Paul von Hindenburg as the German head of state?
A: Adolf Hitler

Q: What did Captain Cook name Hawaii when he first arrived?
A: The Sandwich Islands

Q: Clara Petacci was murdered for being the mistress of whom?
A: Benito Mussolini

Q: The Kings of Italy all belonged to which house?
A: House of Savoy

Q: Christopher Columbus died on May 20, 1506 in which Spanish city?
A: Valladolid

Q: Who revealed the Koran to Mohammed?
A: The angel Gabriel (Jibril)

Q: Who had the titles of Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine?
A: Napoleon I

Q: Where was the ancient Kingdom of Iberia from where the Iberians in Spain probably came from?
A: Modern Georgia

Q: Complutum was the Roman name for which Spanish town?
A: Alcalá de Henares

Q: Pedro II was the last emperor of which country?
A: Brazil 1831-1889

Q: The 'Dauphin of France' was a title given to whom?
A: The heir apparent to the throne of France (from 1350 to 1791 and from 1824 to 1830)

Q: In the Second World War, what was the 'British Free Corps'?
A: British and Commonwealth volunteers in the Waffen-SS. It achieved a maximum strength of 27 men.

Q: What did the acronym MAD, coined by then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, referring to nuclear weapons stand for?
A: Mutually Assured Destruction

Q: Which country lost access to the sea in the 19th Century although it still maintains a navy on a lake?
A: Bolivia

Q: Sir Stamford Raffles founded which city in 1819?
A: Singapore

Q: What was the capital city of India until December 1911?
A: Calcutta

Q: To which city was Tsar Nicholas II and his family taken to and executed after the Russian revolution?
A: Yekaterinburg

Q: The Wars of the Roses (1455-87) were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of which two houses of England?
A: Lancaster and York

Q: Which was the first European country to gain independence in the XX Century in 1905?
A: Norway

Q: What was the name of the foot soldiers who moved on horseback, especially popular in the 17th and 18th centuries?
A: Dragoons

Q: Who was the penultimate King of Egypt?
A: King Farouk I, succeeded by his infant son King Fuad II

Q: In 1990, four countries united to form two countries. North and South and East and West formed which countries?
A: North and South Yemen became Yemen, and East and West Germany became Germany

Q: On the 18th of December 1961, India went to war with a European nation. In two days India defeated which country?
A: Portugal

Q: What are, in this order, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, George Bush?
A: Losing US presidential candidates (1976-1992). Followed by Robert Dole, Al Gore, and John Kerry.

Q: What in 1982 were Operation Rosario and Operation Corporate?
A: The Falklands War (Rosario was the Argentine invasion and Corporate was the British counterattack)

Q: What was unusual about Khaled Ibrahim Tafeesh, who was running for election (for Hamas) in 2006?
A: He was in an Israeli prison

Q: O'Duffy's Irish Brigade and Conolly's Column were made up of Irish volunteers and they fought on opposite sides of which war?
A: The Spanish Civil War

Q: In what language is the Book of Kells written?
A: Latin

Q: Which Irish saint supposedly sailed to America in the sixth century?
A: Saint Brendan

Q: Who was crowned 'Imperator Augustus' by Pope Leo III on Christmas day 800 AD?
A: Charlemagne

Q: When the Portuguese built Casablanca in 1515 its original name only differed by one letter from its current name. What was it?
A: Casabranca

Q: What is commonly know as the 'Zapruder film'?
A: The Zapruder film is a silent, 8 mm colour home movie, shot by a private citizen named Abraham Zapruder, of the presidential motorcade of John F. Kennedy through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. The film is the most complete visual recording of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Q: What did Napoleon's soldiers find in 1799 that would later prove invaluable to archaelogists and historians, among others?
A: The Rosetta Stone

Q: Which 20th century dictator ordered that all sparrows in the land be killed?
A: Mao Zedong, with a great deal of success although it backfired on him

Q: Who discoverered the Tristan da Cunha islands in 1506?
A: Tristan (or Tristão) da Cunha

Q: Who was Alexander the Great's famous tutor?
A: Aristotle

Q: Troops from (mainly) which country stormed Vimy Ridge in 1917?
A: Canada

Q: What were the Janissaries?
A: Christian troops fighting for the Ottoman Empire (1330-1826)

Q: Which German line lay opposite the French Maginot Line?
A: The Siegfried Line

Q: The names of two items of clothing originated in the Crimean War. Which ones?
A: Balaclava and cardigan

Q: In 1783 the Peace Treaty with the thirteen colonies of America gave Florida to Spain in compensation for what?
A: Gibraltar

Q: Who was the first US president to be shot and survive (whilst in office)?
A: Ronald Reagan (Theodore Roosevelt was shot while campaigning in 1912)
With thanks to Sebastien D. Fortas for fine tuning the answer to this question

Q: Only one amendment to the US Constitution has ever been repealed. Which one?
A: Eighteenth repealed by the twenty first (prohibition)

Q: Who fought a last stand against the Persians at Thermopylae?
A: Leonidas, King of Sparta
With thanks to Jimmy Rafferty for amending this question

Q: Which religious group was founded by Ignatius of Loyola?
A: The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)

Q: Who was the first of Tudor Kings of England, crowned in 1485?
A: Henry VII

Q: In which war did the battle of Majuba Hill take place?
A: The First Boer War

Q: On which day is the Battle of the Boyne commemorated?
A: The 12th of July, although the battle was fought on the first

Q: In what war did the crucial Battle of Bunker Hill take place?
A: The American War of Independence

Q: In what year was NATO founded?
A: 1949

The quiz is held in English and consists of eight rounds of ten questions. Each round is on a topic or theme and one round may be chosen as a joker round earning double points for each correct answer.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Whitaker's Almanac, The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Collins Gem Fact File, Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa 1 and Wikipedia.. This page layout was last updated on Saturday, September 15^th, 2018 @ 7:41pm CEST (Europe/Madrid).

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