A History Jumble Trivia Quiz

Julius Caesar was a general in the Roman army before being appointed to the position of Dictator in 54 BC. A Dictator was a position with extraordinary magisterial powers, usually appointed for a specific period of time. In 44 BC he was declared himself Dictator Perpetuo (forever), changing his status to be more like that of a king. His populist program upset many of the elite members of Roman society, and a plot was hatched between Brutus Albinius and several other Roman senators and generals to assassinate Caesar.

On the 15th of March, 44 BC, Caesar was arriving at the senate when he was accosted by the group of assassins. A senator named Casca reportedly struck Caesar first with a knife, and soon the whole group was stabbing Caesar. Reportedly, when Caesar saw Brutus, whom he trusted, among the murderers, he said the words "Et tu, Brute?", meaning "You too, Brutus?", and gave up fighting. He died soon after, and his murder threw the Empire into a civil war.

After the Roman Empire had grown to encompass most of the then-known world, the Empire began having troubles defending all of its borders against its enemies. To make governing the Empire easier, it was split into two different regions: the Eastern and the Western Roman Empires. Civil wars and enemy invasions continued to weaken the Western Empire, though. Although the fall of the Empire took a long time, it officially ended in 476 AD.

In 476 AD, the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, who was only 16 years old, was forced to give up his rule to Odoacer, a Germanic barbarian. Odoacer had held the real power for several years, and when Augustulus left the throne Odoacer became the first King of Italy instead of a Roman Emperor. One of history's greatest empires had ended.

King Edward the Confessor, King of England, died in 1066 without any family to take over the rule of the country. Instead, he left the throne to Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, who was crowned King soon after. Meanwhile, William, Duke of Normandy, decided to claim the throne of England as his own.

On October 14, 1066, after William and his armies had landed on English soil, the battle began between William's and Harold's forces. The battle took place near the town of Hastings in East Sussex. After a full day of fighting, Harold was killed and William had won. He soon became King of England, and the first Norman (meaning, from Normandy) to do this.

The full name for the Magna Carta is Magna Carta Libertatum, which means "Great Charter of Freedoms" in English. It was a document signed by King John on June 15, 1215. The document was influential in setting down basic rights and freedoms for the church, the English barons, and the English people.

The rules set out in the Magna Carta were not followed either by the barons or by King John, so it wasn't very useful in reality. But it helped to set the standard for basic rights, and it made the King admit that he still had to submit to laws even though he was King.

The Wars of the Roses were between two rival families who wanted to take control of England, the Lancaster and the York families. The wars began in 1455 and lasted for over 32 years, finally ending in 1487. By that time, the male heirs of both families had been killed in the wars, and the Tudor family finally took control of England, after the Battle of Bosworth Field, when Richard III of York was defeated by the Lancaster Henry Tudor.

The Wars of the Roses got its name from the heraldic badges, or emblems, of the two warring families: the symbol of the York family was a white rose, while the symbol of the Lancaster family was a red rose. When the Tudor family took control, their symbol became a red rose with a white rose in the center, unifying the two warring families.

The Spanish Armada was a fleet of Spanish ships sent to invade and take control of England in 1588. This happened during the Anglo-Spanish War, which lasted from 1585 to 1604, when England and Spain were enemies. In 1588, the decision was made to send Spain's vast Armada to invade England. The goal was to take control of England, as well as to reinstate Catholicism instead of Protestantism as the chief religion in England.

The British ships met the Spanish Armada in the English Channel, and the battle began on July 30th. When the battle finally ended on August 8th, the Spanish surrendered. England had lost none of their 197 ships, but Spain had lost about 44 of their 137 ships. Although the war continued, England had managed to prevent an invasion.

Also known as the American War of Independence, the Revolutionary War took place between America and England, between 1775 and 1783. Many factors caused America's breaking away from being a colony of England for independence; for example, having to pay high taxes on goods like stamps and tea angered colonists in America when they had no say in British government.

On April 19, 1775, the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" was made, when the first shots were fired in the war at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was made that self-declared America as independent of Britain. Although the war didn't end until 1783, it ended successfully for America: now known as the United States of America, it was its own country, and no longer a colony of England.

The Battle of Waterloo was the battle that ended the Napoleonic Wars fought between England and her allies, and France and her allies. It was fought on June 18, 1815. England's forces were led by Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, and France's forces were led by the self-proclaimed Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Bonaparte had already been captured by England and put in prison in 1814, but he managed to escape. Although the Battle of Waterloo was a decisive British victory, the Duke of Wellington called it "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life"; the French could have won, but didn't. Bonaparte was exiled again, and the war between England and France ended.

Queen Victoria gave her name to the Victorian era, which was the time period of her rule between 1837 and 1901--more than 63 years! (Although she became queen in 1837, her coronation, which took a lot of planning, was not until the following year.) She ruled longer than any other British monarch had before her. She wasn't originally supposed to have been queen, though; when she was born, she was only the 5th in the line of succession to the throne. At the age of 11, though, she became heir to the throne when her uncle, William, IV, became king; when he died, she became queen at the age of 18.

Britain prospered under Queen Victoria's rule, and many territories were added to her dominion, including India. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840, and had 9 children. When she died in 1901, her son, Edward VII, became king. The Victorian age ended, and the Edwardian age began.

World War I was a global war between many of the world's countries. It began in 1914 and didn't end until 1918. The countries were divided into two sides: the Allies, which included Great Britain, France, Russia, and Italy; and the Axis, which included Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary.

World War I was known for its trench warfare, where the different sides dug trenches opposite each other and fought each other from there. It was also one of the deadliest wars in history: about 15 to 22 million people died.