Odd Things People Did Trivia Quiz

Answer: Admiral Ludwig von Reuter

As a condition of the Armistice of November 1918 in World War I Germany agreed to hand over its fleet to be interned at Scapa Flow, Scotland while peace negotiations were being held. Admiral von Reuter gave the (encrypted) order to scuttle the ships on June 21st, 1919 after arriving at Scapa Flow.

He did it so that the fleet would not fall into British hands, right under noses of the British, and against his own country's orders. He was accused of sabotage by Britain but was acquitted because a peace treaty had not been signed between the two countries. From a legal point of view, World War I was still going on.

He went back to Germany a hero. http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/scuttle.html

Answer: A two person glider

The glider was assembled in an attic and hidden from the guards view. When the prisoners were about to use it in 1945 the Allies were liberating the camp. According to the site listed it would have flown successfully and the site has a link on how the prisoners built it from scrap material around the prison. The prison itself was a castle adapted to house high risk escape prisoners of war.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/naziprison/glider.html

Answer: Using birds to set fire to the city

In 945 A.D. her husband was collecting tribute from the city when he was brutally murdered. She then ordered an attack on the town and marched with the troops. The city elders fearing for their lives asked what she wanted in tribute. She asked for three pigeons and sparrows from each house and she would leave in the morning. At night her soldiers attached pieces of cloth to the tails of the birds, set the cloth on fire then let the birds loose. The birds then flew back to the town and set it on fire. (Nice gal, true to her word!)
http://www.petipol.com/korosten/iskorosten.htm

Answer: Panicky passengers

With probably enough time, the Captain ordered his men to check the ballast tanks because they were not working properly. The passengers meanwhile were becoming frantic because of the listing and began running around the ship getting in the way of the crew members, making it impossible for them to check the ballast tanks. Other factors were overcrowding and too many people on one side of the ship.
http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/timea3a1.htm

Answer: The fire of London

He went to bed the night before and forgot to put out the fire in his ovens. The embers ignited a nearby stack of firewood. His blunder set the stage for rebuilding much of London. 87 churches were destroyed and 13,200 homes burned to the ground. Ironically only six people were recorded as dead from the fire.
http://www.angliacampus.com/education/fire/london/history/greatfir.htm

Answer: Dispensing holy water

Developed by Heron or Hero of Alexandria in ancient Greece, he used the weight of the coin to activate a lever that would lift a valve open and allow holy water into a person's cup. When the coin fell off the lever it would close the valve. ttp://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/sci/history/AHistoryofScienceVolumeI/chap39.html

Answer: Napoleon

He would dream about his strategy and when he woke he set toy soldiers in a sandbox at strategic locations and map out his strategy from there. The link below discusses it in some detail and it is also mentioned in a book called useless knowledge by Jon Edelman and Dave Samson.
http://library.thinkquest.org/26857/significance_dreams.htm

Answer: It varied from country to country

Countries fixed the New Year date at different times of the year.The new calendar was not welcomed in most countries at the time. Only Portugal, Spain, and Italy adopted it. The Protestant countries continued to use the Julian calendar until the mid seventeenth century or later. Russia did not adopt it until the Bolsheviks took over.
http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/cal_art.html#Adoption

Answer: Pet rocks

He started it in 1975 as a joke. He must have the cheapest Research and development department in the country!http://www.virtualpet.com/vp/farm/petrock/petrock.htm

Answer: Stonewall Jackson

He was accidentally shot by his own troops at Chancellorsville and died later from complications after his arm was amputated.
http://www.teach12.com/ttc/Assets/courseDescriptions/885.asp?pc=SiteIndex