Tales of War: Who Won? Trivia Quiz

Answer: United States

Prior to the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the British government had mostly left their colonies in America alone to govern themselves; after the war, however, new laws and taxes were passed. Both the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, for example, were passed to help raise money to pay for British troops that remained in the colonies.

The colonists believed that these types of taxes were examples of "taxation without representation", because they were not allowed any representation in Parliament. The first battles of the war took place in 1775, when British soldiers were sent to disarm colonists in Lexington and Concord; the Second Continental Congress formally declared independence on July 4, 1776. By September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and Great Britain formally recognized the sovereignty of the United States. Boundaries of the newly formed independent country were Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

Answer: Allies

WWI was fought between 1914-1918 between the Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria - and the Allies, which included Britain, France, Russia, and the United States (entered in 1917). The causes of the war are many and varied, but they are typically given in history books as nationalism, imperialism, the arms race, and alliances; these issues had been building up in Europe for quite a while before the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which set the war into motion.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, blamed Germany for the war, and resulted in hard feelings that helped lead the world to WWII.

Answer: Rome

As Rome began to push further into southern Italy and beyond, it made sense that eventually there would be a conflict with Carthage, a city-state that had been founded by the Phoenicians in what is called Tunisia today. While the immediate cause of the conflict was that both had an interest in controlling trade in Sicily, the underlying cause was the competition for control of the Mediterranean Sea. Three wars were fought from 264 BC-146 BC between Rome and Carthage, during which Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with war elephants (Second Punic War); finally, however, Rome won. Carthage was in ruins, its people sold into slavery, and salt plowed in the soil.

Answer: Muslims

The Crusades were a series of wars that were fought between Christians and Muslims over Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Christians were concerned that Muslims would not allow pilgrims access to holy sites; historians, however, are still debating whether that was the main issue.

In 1054 there had been a break between the Christians in the west (Roman Catholic) and the east (Eastern Orthodox). Some think that the pope who called for the Crusades, Urban II, may have thought that somehow these holy wars would reunite the Christian churches under his control.

A series of nine Crusades, beginning in 1095, lasted almost two hundred years and accomplished very little as far as Christians were concerned, unless, of course, one takes into consideration the fact that the Crusades had a lot to do with ending the Middle Ages. Militarily, however, they were a failure as far as Christians were concerned; Muslims retained control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

Answer: Great Britain

Known as the Seven Years' War in Europe, the French and Indian War was fought from 1756 to 1763 between France, England, and the Indian allies of both sides over colonial territories in America. France's expansion south from Canada into the Ohio Valley brought forth a declaration of war from England. Hampered at first by France's ability to attract Indian allies, the British position was strengthened by William Pitt, who became an informal leader (virtual prime minister) of Parliament in 1757. He provided funding for England's ally, Prussia, to help fight the war in Europe, while colonists were reimbursed for raising troops to fight in America.

The climax of the war was near Quebec on the Plains of Abraham. After a British victory there, the focus was on seizing French colonies elsewhere.

At the peace conference in 1763, France was forced to cede Canada to Britain, and Spain, who had joined with France, was forced to cede Florida to Britain, although they received France's Louisiana Territory as compensation for losing Florida.

This war further familiarized the colonists with British war maneuvers and helped to train colonial leaders, such as George Washington, who would serve during the American Revolution.

Answer: House of Lancaster

Fought between the Houses of Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose), the War of the Roses began in 1455, even though the root of the conflict began in 1377 when Edward III of England died. Even though the Lancastrians ruled after Edward's death, both families were able to claim descent through his sons. Beginning even before the Hundred Years War concluded, the Yorkists are said to have pressed their claim due to the fact that the throne had been inherited by Henry VI, who became king when he was less than a year old.

The king's council that ruled in his place was inefficient, and as the young king grew older, signs of mental instability became apparent. In addition, the aftermath of the Hundred Years War was a difficult time in England. Money was tight, unemployed soldiers roamed the countryside, and the new king was weak.

Although the war lasted for thirty years, there were only a few months of actual fighting, and fewer than twenty battles. Richard, Duke of York, was able to gain Parliament's backing against the King; his son established the House of York and became Edward IV.

The War of the Roses eventually was ended by Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancasters, at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. He married Elizabeth of York and incorporated both roses in his emblem. A new dynasty had begun.

Answer: Prussia

Called the War of 1870 in France, the Franco-Prussian War between the Second French Empire of Napoleon III and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia, lasted less than a year. The French feared that the European balance of power would shift if Prussia continued to press for German unification. German states in the south joined with Prussia as the army invaded northern France. Superior in numbers, training, and leadership, the German forces successfully laid siege to Paris. Was this all a plan of the Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, to lure the southern German states into a union with Prussia? Historians still debate his motive.

It is certain, however, that the European balance of power that was established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was upset when the new united country of Germany was formed, and France's fear of Germany on her border, along with the determination to regain Alsace-Lorraine, which had been ceded to Germany under the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt, were factors that brought about WWI.

Answer: France

Fought between France and England, the Hundred Years War was actually incorrectly named; it really lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453. It all began when King Charles IV of France died in 1328 without heirs. Edward III of England believed that he was the rightful heir to the throne of France through the family of his mother, Isabella of France.

His claim was denied on the grounds that due to Salic Law a woman could not inherit land, and Phillip VI, a cousin of Charles IV became king. At the beginning of the war, the English definitely had an advantage; they were fighting with longbowmen, while the French were using heavily armored knights. By 1429, however, inspired by the leadership of Joan of Arc, the French army was well on its way to victory. England lost all of its continental holdings with the exception of Calais, and both countries had kings whose power was more absolute.

Answer: Sparta

The Persian threat was finally over; King Xerxes had been soundly defeated, due in large measure to the army and navy of Athens. Many (approximately 350) of the Greek city-states were persuaded by Athens to join a defense league that was called the Delian League. Athens enjoyed a brief period of brilliance, which is commonly known as the Golden Age of Athens or Age of Pericles. Which major polis did not join the Delian League? Sparta, of course! While the Greek historian, Thucydides, said the immediate cause of the Peloponnesian War was that Corinth, angry at Athens, asked Sparta to join in a war against Athens, he said that he believed the underlying cause of the war was that Sparta actually feared the growing power of Athens. Fought from 431-404 BC, the result of the Peloponnesian War was especially devastating for Greece, as most civil wars tend to be.

In the end, while Sparta claimed the victory, it wasn't long before all the proud, independent Greeks became part of a new and growing empire - the Macedonian - and lost their freedom for a long time to come.

Answer: India

India and Pakistan fought a brief war, the Kargil War, from May-July of 1999, which took place in the Kargil district of Kashmir. In Kashmir, a long-disputed area on the borders of India and Pakistan, the Line of Control is a military line that presently serves as a "de facto" border between the two countries; that means that the border is not a legal boundary, but one that has been agreed upon by the two countries.

The war began when Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants moved across the line into Indian territory. According to the terms of an earlier agreement between Indian and Pakistan, each had high peak posts could be vacated during the winter without worry that the other would try to seize them.

This was done so that their soldiers would not have to spend the winter in such a disagreeable environment. Nevertheless, about 140 Indian Army posts were occupied by the Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants.

These posts were so remote that the Indian government didn't know what had happened until the situation was reported by a shepherd. Pakistan refused to admit any involvement for quite some time; heavy bombing by the Indians and international pressure eventually forced them to vacate every post.