1906: Events of the Year Trivia Quiz

Answer: Denmark

On January 29, 1906, King Christian IX of Denmark died at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen at the age of 87. He was popularly known by his nickname the "father-in-law of Europe" as his six children all married into the royal families of other European nations, making him a direct ancestor of the monarchs of not just Denmark, but also others such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, Norway and Spain. He was succeeded by his eldest son King Frederick VIII (who had married Princess Louise of Sweden in 1869), which continued a tradition of Danish monarchs alternating between the names Christian and Frederick that dated back to the 15th century.

Thanks to his father's longevity, Frederick VIII was 62 years old when he came to the throne. His reign was therefore short, but notable for his support of liberal policies, including democratic parliamentary reform. He died in 1912 and was succeeded by his eldest son, King Christian X. His second son, Prince Carl, had previously been elected as King Haakon VII of Norway in 1905.

Answer: HMS Dreadnought

HMS Dreadnought was the first large, fast, heavily armoured battleship to be completely equipped with powerful 12 inch guns and its name quickly became synonymous with this type of vessel. The ideas behind the specification of the ship are credited to Admiral Sir John Fisher who held the position of First Sea Lord (the military head of the Royal Navy) from 1904 to 1910. HMS Dreadnought was built in record time at the naval dockyard in Portsmouth, having been launched just over four months after it was initially laid down in October 1905.

The combination of its size, power, and the speed at which it was built resulted in an arms race as other countries sought to quickly equip their own navies with ships that could match or outpower this new military threat. Increasingly larger and more powerful battleships (eventually known as super-dreadnoughts) continued to be built in the lead-up to and throughout the First World War, until the Washington Naval Treaty limiting naval construction was signed in 1922.

Answer: Italy

The most famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius probably remains the 79AD event that obliterated the Roman city of Pompeii, but it has been active throughout the intervening centuries and, in the 20th century, erupted in 1906, 1929, and 1944. It is located close to the Italian city of Naples and the 1906 eruption - which resulted in the ejection of record levels of lava - caused major damage to Naples and the surrounding area, as well as the deaths of over 100 people.

The rebuilding costs resulted in Italy cancelling plans to host the 1908 Olympic Games in Rome, and that event was subsequently relocated to London.

Answer: San Francisco

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake occurred in the early hours of the 18th of April and the shaking was felt over a vast area of the US west coast from Oregon in the north to Los Angeles in the south. It remains one of the strongest and deadliest quakes associated with the region around California's San Andreas fault, and it is believed that it would have measured approximately 7.9 on the Richter scale (although this system of earthquake strength measurement did not exist at the time).

While the quake itself caused significant damage, the majority of the destruction was caused by fires resulting from ruptured gas pipes, botched attempts to create firebreaks, and deliberate attempts to gain insurance pay outs (which covered fire but not earthquake damage). Overall the quake resulted in the total destruction of around 80% of San Francisco and the deaths of over 3,000 people.

Answer: Switzerland

The Simplon Tunnel connects the northern Italian city of Domodossola with the Swiss city of Brig, around 33 kilometres (20 miles) away on the other side of the Lepontine Alps mountain range. The tunnel itself is around 20 kilometres (12 miles) in length and was the longest railway tunnel in the world until the completion of the Daishimizu Tunnel in Japan in 1982.

The Simplon Tunnel is actually two separate single-track tunnels. Work on the first tunnel began in 1898, and was completed after around eight years of challenging construction work that was impeded by underground flooding, unexpectedly high temperatures, and strikes by the workers protesting against poor working conditions. Its construction cost the lives of at least 67 workers. The second tunnel, expanded from a service tunnel built during the original construction, later opened in 1921.

Answer: Le Mans

The 1906 French Grand Prix was held in the north-west of the country, on the roads around the city of Le Mans - a location that has since become synonymous with motor racing as the home of the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race. It is widely considered to be the first ever 'grand prix' race - a term that derived from the French for "great prize", and reflected the fact that the winner of the 1906 race walked away with the first prize of 45,000 francs (equivalent to 13 kilograms of gold).

The roads that made up the 104-kilometre (64-mile) circuit were closed for the event and roughly formed a triangle between Le Mans and the towns of Saint-Calais and La Ferte-Bernard to the east. Competitors were required to complete 12 laps of the circuit over two days; the winner was Ferenc Szisz, a Renault driver from Hungary, who completed the required distance in a time of 12 hours, 14 minutes and 7 seconds.

Answer: Cuba

Tomas Estrada Palma was the first President of Cuba, holding that office from May 20, 1902, until his resignation on September 28, 1906. The collapse of his government followed the disputed results of the previous year's presidential election, which Estrada Palma had won by a landslide, but was subsequently accused of rigging. Supporters of his liberal opponent Jose Miguel Gomez started a revolt in August 1906, and both sides sought US military assistance for their cause. US President Theodore Roosevelt and his Secretary of War, William Taft, refused to support the Cuban government, and Estrada Palma resigned as a result. The US then sent in troops and set up a political administration under the terms of the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty of Relations.

This period in history, known as the Second Occupation of Cuba, lasted until Gomez was installed as Cuba's second president in February 1909 following fresh presidential elections. The First Occupation of Cuba had lasted from 1898 to 1902 after Spain ceded control of the country to the US following its defeat in the Spanish-American War.

Answer: Gas ballooning

The Gordon Bennett Cup is also known as Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett because it was first awarded for a gas ballooning competition held in Paris on September 30, 1906. The winners were simply the team who were able to fly furthest from the starting point before having to land. In that first year, the prize was awarded to the American team of Frank Lahm and Henry Hersey, who flew their balloon (imaginatively named "United States") a total of 641 kilometres (398 miles) in just over 22 hours. The competition is sanctioned by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) and was held annually from 1906 to 1938 before being disrupted by the Second World War. It was not officially reinstated until 1983.

Both the original competition and the trophy were sponsored by the US newspaper publisher and adventurer James Gordon Bennett Jr., who also sponsored similarly named trophies given for yachting and motor racing. The phrase "Gordon Bennett", often used to express frustration or outrage, is also said to derive from a reference to the same man.

Answer: Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839. He was the son of a banker and initially studied law before moving to Paris to study art. He was a friend of the novelist Emile Zola and a protégé of the painter Camille Pissarro. He followed Pissarro by painting in both the impressionist and post-impressionist styles, although his work can be split into various 'periods', including his early 'dark period' when he produced works in the romanticism and realism styles. Cezanne came to be particularly associated with post-impressionism, with its more abstract use of colour and symbolism.

In his later years, Cezanne returned to live and paint in the Provence region, where he died and was buried in October 1906. Cezanne's best-known works include 1905's 'The Bathers', his 'Card Players' series that was painted during the 1890s, and various still-lifes, including one entitled 'Jug, Curtain and Fruit Bowl' from 1894.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

US President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1906, "for his role in bringing to an end the bloody war recently waged between two of the world's great powers, Japan and Russia". Roosevelt offered to mediate peace talks between the two countries, which were successfully held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the war ended under the terms of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth.

Roosevelt was unable to travel to Oslo to collect his award in person, so it was accepted on his behalf by the US Ambassador to Norway. He initially gave the prize money to Congress to fund the establishment of an Industrial Peace Committee, but it was eventually donated instead to charities supporting victims of the First World War.