European History Trivia

1. Pyrrhus (319 BC - 272 BC) defeated the Romans twice, but not without the loss of many of his officers and veterans. Which small kingdom did he command?

From Quiz E Is For Epirus

Answer: Epirus

Pyrrhus became king of Epirus, on the west coast of Greece, in 306 BC. At that time several former generals of Alexander the Great fought for influence in the Middle East, and Rome was slowly conquering the Italian mainland on the Greek colonies and local tribes. In 280 BC the Greek colony Tarentum invoked the help of Pyrrhus, and he came with a large army. But after two heavy battles, Pyrrhus had lost most of his veterans and generals, while the Romans started calling up other legions. Pyrrhus would then have made the comment "Another victory against the Romans and we're lost". Pyrrhus then tried his luck against the Carthaginian settlements on Sicily, but to no avail. In 275 BC Pyrrhus retreated to Greece, briefly became king of Macedon, and tried to subdue the Peloponnesus. He was killed in Argos, and soon after Pyrrhus' death the Romans subdued Tarentum. Eleusis was a town in Boeotia, near Athens. Epidaurus was an independent city in the Peloponnesus, near Argos and Mycenae. Euboea was (and still is) a large island to the north of Attica and Athens.

From Quiz History of Vilnius

Answer: Gediminas

Gediminas is credited with founding the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which, at its largest, stretched from the Baltics south to the Black Sea and west into what is now Germany. Gediminas is also widely known for establishing his capital at Vilnius (though he did not found the city) when he built a small castle there. Gediminas was a noted Pagan who resisted converting to Christianity. Despite that, Gediminas was religiously tolerant and he opened his kingdom to Christians, Jews and others fleeing persecution.

From Quiz Modern European History: 1850-2000

Answer: Crimean War

The war commenced in October 1853 and mainly took place in the Crimean Peninsula. It was a battle to decide who would control the various territories of the Ottoman Empire and religious issues were also the causes of the conflict. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1856, thus bringing an end to the Crimean War. It is famous for highlighting the important work of women working as army nurses, such as Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

From Quiz Europe: The Scramble for Africa

Answer: Portugal

Despite their later irrelevance in the struggle, the Portugese were the first, beginning in the 15th century, to construct fortresses, ports, and trade outposts on the west coast of Africa. However, no European attempt was made to penetrate the interior of the continent for three centuries.

From Quiz European History: Part II

Answer: Charlemagne

Clovis was instrumental in unifying the Frankish tribes under his rule in the 5th and 6th Century. Additionally, he is often considered the founder of the Merovingian dynasty. Charles "The Hammer" Martel was an important military and political leader of the Franks who was most famous for his participation in a major battle in the 700s. Leo X was the reigning pope, who died a few years before Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

From Quiz European History Part I

Answer: Britain

The reason that the Industrial Revolution originated in Britain was that it had a large market for its goods, was willing to adopt new agricultural methods, had a well-developed banking/credit market, and had a large population. It also had extensive trade.

From Quiz Life & Times of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Answer: Joanna of Castile & Philip the Handsome

Joanna of Castile was the daughter of Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II or Aragon who were known as 'Los Reyes Católicos' in Spain. These were the monarchs responsible for the Reconquista and eventual decline of the Moors in Andalucia. Frederick III and Eleanor of Portugal were the parents of Maximilian I, who was the predecessor to Charles V. Ferdinand I was Charles V brother and successor to the Holy Roman Empire.

From Quiz European History, 1648-1789

Answer: Peace of Westphalia

The Peace of Westphalia allowed the official practice of Calvinism within the Holy Roman Empire, as well as giving the component principalities and duchies effective sovereignty. The Peace of Münster ended the Eighty Years War between the Dutch Republic and Spain, which ran parallel to the Thirty Years' War. The Peace of Augsburg was signed in 1555, which granted Lutheran princes the right to profess their faith. The Peace of Pavia was signed between the Duchy of Savoy and Spain in 1617.

From Quiz FYR Macedonia: Modern is the New Ancient

Answer: Philip II

Alexander himself was born in Pella, which is now in modern Greece, though the bulk of Alexander's ancestral kingdom was in present-day FYROM.

From Quiz European History Mix II

Answer: 1545-1563

Started under Pope Paul III, this was a reaction to the Reformation. It took place in Trento (Adige, Italy) (1545-1547), Bologna (1574), and Trent again (1559-1563). Pope Pius IV presided over the last sessions between 1559-1563, after Paul III's death.

From Quiz European History Mix

Answer: Gregory I

Gregory I the Great (lived c. 540-604) did not have any desire to become Pope. However, in this book he asserted the primacy of the papacy and stressed the importance of strict hierarchy in the Church. In the English-speaking countries he is well known for a remark attributed to him by Bede. When he saw fair-haired slaves for sale in Rome he asked where they came from, and on being informed that they were Angles, he replied: 'They are not Angles, but angels' ('Non Angli, sed angeli sunt'). He sent St. Augustine to Canterbury to convert the Kingdom of Kent.

From Quiz European History Common Bond

Answer: Albania

Albania is a country in southeast Europe. The capital is Tirana which is the financial center of the nation. Democracy has opened the country to foreign investment particularly in the areas of transport and energy.

From Quiz Huguenot History

Answer: France

Huguenots were French Protestants. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century it is estimated that around a quarter of a million Huguenots fled their homeland to escape persecution. Many found refuge in England. The Huguenots who came from the southern French speaking part of Belgium, Wallonia, are generally known as Walloons.

From Quiz European Intellectual History

Answer: a heliocentric view of the universe

He was one of the first to disagree with Aristotle's beliefs and was forced by the Inquisition to recant his beliefs.

From Quiz Classical Music in History

Answer: The Fifth

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1829) was a German composer. His grandfather was Belgian. Beethoven is most famous for his symphonies, but left us also one opera ("Fidelio") and several piano sonatas. The Third Symphony ("Eroica", 1803) was dedicated to Napoleon. However, Beethoven revoked the dedication when he became aware of Napoleon's harshness. The Sixth Symphony ("Pastoral", 1808) is another famous symphony of Beethoven's. It does not fit in this theme, for it bears no evident connection with history. The Ninth Symphony (1824) ends with the chorus song "Ode an die Freude" ("Ode to Joy") by Friedrich Schiller. The European Union adopted the melody (not the lyrics) as an anthemn in 2003. The Fifth Symphony starts with four notes which every amateur of classical music will recognize (and recite) immediately: "da da da dum". During World War II, these four notes announced BBC Radio broadcasts - especially those with cryptic messages for the resistance. There are some symbolical coincidences related to this topic. The Fifth Symphony is also sometimes noted as "Symphony Nr. V", from the Roman numeral. The first notes of the Fifth Symphony correspond with the Morse code for "V" - maybe because Samuel Morse was inspired by Beethoven. The letter "V" was also used by British propagandists as the abbreviation of "Victory" - and the Fifth Symphony does sound rather victorious.

From Quiz The Autumn of Nations: 1989, the Fall of Communism

Answer: Brezhnev Doctrine

The Brezhnev Doctrine held that an attack on one communist country by capitalism was an attack on all. Essentially this meant that the Soviet Union considered itself at liberty to intervene in the internal affairs of other Eastern Bloc countries. The communist governments of Eastern Europe were not keen on the policies of glasnost and perestroika which Gorbachev had initiated in the Soviet Union. However, Gorbachev's revocation of the Brezhnev Doctrine signaled to opposition groups within these countries that the Soviet Union would not intervene in their internal affairs and encouraged them to push for reform. More commonly referred to as the Fall of Communism, the Autumn of Nations not only refers to the fact that these revolutions occurred in the latter part of 1989 but harks back to the revolutions of 1848 which swept across Europe and were known as the 'Spring of Nations'.

From Quiz The Spring of Nations: The Revolutions of 1848

Answer: The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

The island of Sicily had been incorparated into a union with Naples as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1815, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. On the 12th of January, 1848 a revolution occurred in Sicily against rule from Naples, a revolution that would ignite liberal sentiments and revolutionary fervour across Europe. Sicily managed to maintain a sort of quasi-independence until the uprising was finally crushed. Ironically, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies would last for only twelve more years before it was incorporated into the newly-founded kingdom of Italy.

From Quiz 19th and 20th Century Europe

Answer: Soviet Union

Both Italy and Germany supported Franco, and provided him with air support, troops, and supplies. Russia provided the loyalists, with funding and supplies.

From Quiz Early Modern Europe

Answer: 1483-1485

Richard III controversially gained the throne at the expense of his nephew (Edward V), who was placed in the Tower of London by Richard until his mysterious disappearence. He was deposed at the Battle of Bosworth on August 21 1485, whereupon Henry Tudor (Henry VII) began the Tudor dynasty.

From Quiz European History - A Miscellany: 1

Answer: In order to overthrow the Provisional Government, which was based there

The notion that Lenin and the Bolshevists deposed Nicholas II is an urban legend. He'd been forced to abdicate after the February Revolution (1917) - at a time when Lenin wasn't even in Russia. That earlier Russian Revolution had been much more broadly based. At the time of the storming of the Winter Palace the Provisional Government was headed by Kerensky.

From Quiz The Hanseatic League

Answer: 1143

Lübeck achieved city status in 1143 and became one of the chief trading centres in Northern Europe. The Hanseatic League was founded in roughly around 1256 , although its origins are nebulous and cannot be dated precisely. Later many other cities united and Lübeck played the primary role. However, after the discovery of the "New World", the center of trade progressively shifted to the west, and eventually the Hanseatic League dissolved. In its heyday (c. 1400-1500 or slightly later) Lübeck was the third largest city in Central Europe - after Cologne and Prague.

From Quiz British Appeasement of Germany

Answer: Yielding to the demands and threats of a dictator

The term "appeasement", which has been revived in connection with foreign policy in the 21st century, is pejorative, suggesting abject submission in the face of threats and bullying by a dictator.

From Quiz The Livonian Crisis

Answer: Ivan the Terrible & Ivan IV & Tsar Ivan IV & Tsar Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV was certainly one of history's more interesting characters. He launched numerous wars of expansion, especially against the Kazan and Astrakhan Tartars, the Lithuanians and the Livonians. He faced considerable domestic resistance, namely from the Metropolitan Sylvester, Adayeev and Prince A.M. Kurbsky. Ivan's eventual reaction earned him his moniker: in what has been described as a civil war without formal opposition Ivan's elite regiments devastated Novgorod and Pskov, slaughtering the inhabitants and devastating the countryside. Some modern scholars believed Ivan to have suffered from mental illness; Soviet scholars used his campaigns to justify Soviet expansionism - strong overtones of this are seen in the three Soviet era films about Ivan's life. He remains largely enigmatic.

From Quiz Hungarian Names of East European Cities

Answer: Pozsony

Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine were both lost to Czechoslovakia after WW1. Both Slovakia, Vojvodina (Yugoslavia) and Transylvania (Romania) still have large Hungarian minorities.

From Quiz German Names of East European Cities 2

Answer: Agram

Zagreb was founded in 1093. It was destroyed by the Mongols in 1242. It was rebuilt and was capital of Croatia-Slavonia 1718-1918.

From Quiz German Names of East European Cities

Answer: Reval

Tallinn was established in the 10th century. In 1219 it was conquered by the Danes. Its name originally meant "the Danish city". Then it was German 1285-1561, Swedish 1561-1710, before Peter the Great conquered it in 1710.

From Quiz The Concert of Europe 1815-1914

Answer: Talleyrand & talleyrand

Talleyrand, an excellent diplomat, secured excellent terms for the new France of Louis XVIII. Of course, Europe had learned its lesson: in order to keep Bonapartists and war-hawks out of power in France they understood concessions would have to be made to the defeated state. However, they didn't take any chances: France's borders were restored to pre-Revolutionary status; the Netherlands were greatly strengthened and Prussia was awarded Westphalia so both could act as a defensive block against eastward French expansion.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:44 AM

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