H is For Hydaspes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Treaty

The German city of Hamburg has given its name to three treaties.
The treaty of Hamburg 1638 confirmed the agreement between France and Sweden at Wismar in 1636. France paid a large amount of cash for the Swedish military campaigns against the Austrian Empire (the Habsburg dynasty) in Silesia and Bohemia, while France promised to open a front with Austria near the Rhine river. Although France was a Catholic country, they found it profitable to support the Protestant forces in the Thirty Years' War for geopolitical reasons (the Habsburg family had a branch in Austria and Germany, and another branch in Spain and the Netherlands, thus almost completely surrounding France).

The Hamburger Vergleich 1701 was a settlement of the succession of the Mecklenburg dynasty. It resulted in the origination of two separate states: Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. These two would only be reunited in Nazi-Germany and finally merged with Vorpommern (Western Pomerania) in 1945.

The treaty of Hamburg 1762 between Sweden and Prussia confirmed the pre-war state in Pomerania (then for a great part in Swedish possession) after an alliance between Prussia and Russia made it impracticable for Sweden to reconquer their lost Pomeranian territories by means of war.

By the way, there was also a battle for Hamburg in 1945.

Answer: Treaty

The Hague is a city in the Netherlands where dozens of treaties have been signed. It houses the Permanent Court of Arbitration (mainly for commercial disputes), as well as the International Court of Justice (the supreme court for disputes between sovereign nations, and also the Supreme Court for punishing war crimes and crimes against humanity).

The first Treaty of the Hague was signed in 1433 by the Duchess of Hainaut and the Duke of Burgundy. Several later treaties of The Hague settled various disputes in which the Netherlands were one of the different parties.

More important were the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which sketched the judicial apparatus to maintain the Geneva Convention 1864 on international law on warfare and war crimes. A third Hague Convention was planned in 1914 but cancelled because of the Great War, and in 1919 the League of Nations erected the Permanent Court of Justice (which after WW II was transformed into the International Court of Justice).

By the way, there was a battle for the Hague in 1940. Several more or less famous people have the surname Hague, but I found no one with the surname The Hague. 

Answer: Treaty

Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea, while Zanzibar is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean and belongs to Tanzania. So the combination of these two may come as a surprise. But in 1890 a treaty was signed between the UK and Germany with the title Treaty of Heligoland-Zanzibar (or Anglo-German Agreement of 1890).

The contents of the Treaty of Heligoland-Zanzibar was an exchange: the UK ceded to Germany the archipelago of Heligoland as well as some coastal settlements near German South-West Africa (nowadays Namibia) and the coast near Dar Es Salaam. This coast would form German East-Africa (later Tanganyika, nowadays Tanzania). In return, the British obtained a strip of land in which they would build a railroad stretching from Egypt to Lake Victoria, and the German neutrality as to Zanzibar - which they later conquered.

Several battles have been fought out either near Heligoland (1917 being the best known) or near Zanzibar (for instance 1896), but not near both of these locations.

Answer: Treaty

Hudaybiyah is a small hamlet between Medina and Mecca, and has given its name to a peace treaty between the prophet Mohammed (a Muslim would add PBUH) and Suhayl, the chief of those who lived in Mecca.

At first Mohammed (PBUH) preached his new religion in Mecca, but the majority of the inhabitants of this city would not accept his belief. In 622 Mohammed and his comrades fled to the oasis Medina, where their number increased significantly. In 628 Mohammed (PBUH) decided to make a pilgrimage to the Ka'aba in Mecca, and a large number of Muslims followed him. The Meccans tried to intercept the Muslims with 200 cavalry troops, but Mohammed (PBUH) led his men to Hudaybiyah and thus avoided battle.

From Hudaybiyah Mohammed and Suhayl started negotiations, and the Treaty of Hudaybiyah settled their differences. One of the most important items of the Treaty was a ten-year truce, and what mattered the most: the Muslims were allowed to make yearly a pilgrimage to the Ka'aba at a fixed date.

Answer: Battle

Hondschoote is a small village in France, very near the Belgian border and close to the English Channel. In 1793 the French revolutionary army (about 40,000 troops) fought against about 36,000 troops from the (conservative) Coalition between Great-Britain, Hanover and Hessen-Kassel. Houchard commanded the French army, while the Duke of York and Marshall Freytag commanded the Coalition.

The Duke of York decided to take about 14,000 troops with him to attack and besiege the nearby Dunkirk, leaving Marshall Freytag to defend the supply lines. Freytag then split up his army in small units each defending one of the small villages between Poperinge (Belgium) and Steene (France) - a front line of more than 30 km (20 miles). Houchard commanded the French to a victory, forcing Freytag and also the Duke of York to retreat.

Answer: Battle

Hué is a port city in Vietnam, site of a battle in 1968 between the North-Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong on the one hand, and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) plus eight US battalions on the other hand. During the Tet Offensive (January 30 - February 28) the North-Vietnamese forces launched attacks over a wide front, including crossing the Perfume River into Hué.

Although the ARVN and the American allies suffered from an ill preparation, they still largely outnumbered the attacking NVA. They had to leave the city at the first attack, but came back and fought the NVA in house-to-house street fights, finally driving them back - at the cost of several casualties. The city of Hué was almost totally destroyed in this battle. American and South-Vietnamese army officials claimed the battle of Hué was a victory, but the public opinion in the US veered to a harsh dejection of the war effort.

Treaties of Hué were in 1863, 1883 and 1884. José de Carvajal y Hué (1835-1899) was a Spanish author and lawyer.

Answer: Battle

Hampton Roads is a waterway on the border of Virginia and North-Carolina, as well as the surrounding cities and villages. When during the American Civil War the Union Navy blockaded several Confederate ports, the Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory decided that the Confederacy had to build better ships than the Union, and thus chose for ironclad vessels. The first of these was the CSS Virginia, made from the scrap of a crippled US ship.

On March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia and several confederate wooden ships attacked the blockading force, a large number of wooden ships. The Virginia sank two Union ships (the USS Congress and the USS Cumberland) and severely damage a third (the USS Minnesota). When night fell, the CSS Virginia retreated for light repair.

The next day the CSS Virginia showed up to sink the USS Minnesota, but encountered a Union ironclad vessel: the USS Monitor. During several hours, the both ironclad ships fired at each other, without breaking the stalemate.
So ended the naval Battle of Hampton Roads rather undecidedly - the first encounter of two heavily armoured ironclads, both of which retreated after heavy fights.

In 1865 there was a Conference of Hampton Roads, with representation of the Union and the Confederates. 

Answer: Battle

The Hydaspes (nowadays called the Jhelum) is a river on the Indian - Pakistani border, between Jammu and Kashmir on the Indian side and Punjab on the Pakistani side. In 326 BC the Macedonian army, led by Alexander the Great, encountered an Indian army led by King Porus. Each force occupied one bank of the Hydaspes, a river so strong that any crossing in the sight of the enemy would have to lead to disaster. Porus' army matched the Macedonian army probably in number of infantry troops and cavalry troops, but had also a few hundred war elephants and perhaps a thousand charioteers.

But Alexander came up with a brilliant plan. While maintaining a strong base camp across the stream facing the encampment Porus had set up, Alexander with his cavalry and heavy infantry sneaked away for several miles to find a suitable ford, crossed the river at night during a heavy monsoon storm. Porus first sent out a small cavalry troop with most of the charioteers, but they were annihilated by Macedonian horse archers. Then Porus led his main force against Alexander, who first attacked the both cavalry wings and then used his phalanx of heavy infantry to crush the war elephants.

There are very few reliable sources of the respective casualties. However, "Wikipedia" expresses that the casualty rate was perhaps 1 to 20 in favour of the Macedonian army.

Answer: Person

Juvenal Habyarimana was born in 1937 in a small town in Rwanda, as the son of a rich Hutu family. He studied medicine in Leopoldville (nowadays Kinshasa) and the officer's training at Kigali.

In 1963 Lieutenant Habyarimana was appointed the head of the National Guard of Rwanda, and in 1965 he became Minister of Police. Meanwhile he rose to head of the General Staff of the Army, and in 1973 Habyarimana staged a coup to remove President Kayibanda, who suppressed the Tutsi rights too much. The new President Habyarimana then outlawed all political parties but the one he founded (the Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Développement, abbreviated MRND) and as only candidate for this unique party, he was "elected" President in 1978 AD, 1983 and 1988 AD. But in 1990 the MRND allowed the formation of other political parties, as international pressure (especially from France and from the World Bank) mounted.

In 1990 the Rwandan Civil War broke out: Tutsi expatriates invaded Rwanda from Uganda, and were rapidly driven back to their starting point. The Arusha agreements of 1993 ended the war, and according to these agreements an interim government would be installed attending free elections.

When on April 6, 1994, Habyarimana's private airplane approached the airfield at Kigali, it was shot down by persons still unknown. Habyarimana and the Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira were killed instantaneously. A French inquiry accused the Tutsi leader Paul Kagame, who denied all involvement. This unsolved murder ignited the Rwandan Civil War once again, with hundreds of thousands victims (mostly Tutsi).

Answer: Person

Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus (nowadays Bodrum in Turkey) around 484 BC. He travelled a lot all over the then known world: he visited Egypt and Babylon, lived for a while in Athens and ended up in Calabria (Italy). His main work is the "Histories", the first written account of history (including the Greco-Persian wars) that is still extant. That's why several contemporaries dubbed him "the father of history" and second only to Clio, the Muse of History.

But Herodotus included in his work also many mythical stories, folklore and unverified allegations. That's why he is also dubbed sometimes "the father of lies". Herodotus died about 425 BC.

Answer: Person

Hyder Ali was born in Mysore (South-India) around 1720 AD. He enlisted in the army and ascended the ranks swiftly. In 1755 he already commanded about 4,500 troops, which would resemble in present terms a brigade and earn him the rank of colonel. Four years later he commanded the complete Mysorean army.

In 1761 the army lead by Hyder Ali staged a coup and ousted King Krishnaraja Wodeyar. Hyder Ali became the Sultan and led Mysore until his death in 1782 AD. Via a series of wars he gradually increased Mysorean territory to almost all the southern half of present-day India.

Answer: Person

Hannibal was born in Carthage (nowadays in Tunisia) in 247 BC. After the First Punic War, Carthage had lost to Rome several territories, including the economically important island Sicily. That's why Hannibal's father went to Spain, trying to conquer valuable pieces of land (especially rich in silver mines).

Hannibal himself led the attack on the Roman settlement Saguntum in 218 BC, thus igniting the Second Punic War. After having secured the Spanish possessions, Hannibal then set out with a large army and several war elephants on a long march to Italy, crossing on the way both the Pyrenees and the Alps.

Reinforced with Celtic tribes from the Po valley, Hannibal's army then defeated Roman legions at the Trebia river (with almost equal forces), at the Trasimene Lake (with a numerical advantage), and at Cannae (outnumbered by the Romans), each time with use of cunning tactics and a surprise manoeuvre. The Romans then appointed Fabius Maximus as the army general, and he decided to avoid major confrontations but to concentrate on cutting the Carthaginian supply lines. Thus the major fear of Rome subsided.

Finally, Scipio Africanus landed troops near Carthage, thus luring away Hannibal from Italy. At Zama Scipio defeated Hannibal thoroughly. Hannibal then went in exile, and died in 183 BC or 181 BC - sources differ.