We Go On Trivia Quiz

Answer: Philip II

Alexander the Great was born in Pella, capital of the Greek Kingdom of Macedon in 356 BC. Succeeding his father, Philip II, at the age of twenty, he reaffirmed Greek unity by defeating the Theban separatists and then led the united Greeks in their campaign against Persia. Alexander defeated the Achaemenids, spread Greek culture and mores deep inside Asia, founded cities and promoted people based on merit and not noble status. So great was the prestige and respect he enjoyed amongst the peoples he ruled over that, in some parts of Asia, he is viewed as a divine being who is prophesized to return to those lands.

Answer: Trajan

Hadrian was the Emperor of Rome from 117 AD to 138 AD. Successor to Trajan, whose conquest of Dacia and advances in the Near East brought the Roman Empire to the apex of her territorial expansion, Hadrian did not have an appetite for further conquests.

Instead, he opted for the construction of impressive defensive fortifications (such as the Wall in Britain) and also dedicated much time to intellectual pursuits like philosophy. Nonetheless, at the final years of his reign, he had to crush a Jewish rebellion in Palestine in a particularly severe fashion.

Answer: Pepin the Short

Charlemagne is renowned mostly for his claim to have restored the Roman Empire in the West, over three centuries after its "fall" in 476 AD. Descending from a dynasty of stewards, his father, Pepin, had usurped the Merovingian ruling family and had claimed kingship over the Franks. Charlemagne marched to the defense of the papacy when it was threatened by the Lombards and also crushed the Avar Khaganate, while annexing Bavaria and Saxony to his realm.

Answer: Saint Volodymyr

Yaroslav the Wise belonged to the Riurikid House, which, from the ninth to the thirteenth century, ruled supreme over a polity based on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Yaroslav's father, Saint Volodymyr, had embraced Byzantine Christianity and had striven to make Kyiv a miniature Constantinople on the Dnipro. Yaroslav codified the laws of his realm and introduced a rather complicated system of princely rotation and collateral succession.

Although Muscovite (and later Imperial, Soviet and federal Russian) depictions of Yaroslav show him with a beard, in his seal he appears only with a moustache, such as the one sported by his grandfather Svyatoslav and the Ukrainian Cossacks of later centuries.

Answer: Algirdas

Both Algirdas and Kestutis were the sons of the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania, the founder of Vilnius and one of the most influential rulers of his time, the 14th century. Lithuania was, by then, the sole remaining Pagan state in Europe, but it was rapidly expanding on Orthodox Christian lands (Ukraine and Belarus).

While Algirdas eventually converted to Orthodoxy, Kestutis remained a Pagan until his death. This may be explained by the fact that, while Algirdas was responsible for the south and east parts of the Grand Duchy, where Orthodox magnates and commoners viewed Lithuania as their protector from the Mongols, Kestutis had to deal with the north and west, where lay the menacing threats of German and Polish Catholic crusaders.

Answer: "Bloody" Mary I

Elizabeth I was the second daughter of Henry VIII of England. Before her, the throne belonged to her older half-sister, Mary, who earned the sobriquet "Bloody" because of her execution of many Protestants. In contrast to Mary, Elizabeth was committed to Protestantism and separation from Catholic Rome. During her reign, England gained the upper hand over Spain in terms of naval power and began a project of expansion and colonialism.

Moreover, many luminaries of English culture lived at that era, including William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.

Answer: Henry of Valois

Although a monarch, Stefan Batory had been elected by the nobility of his realm, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Succeeding Henry of Valois, Batory, whose Transylvanian origins made some people treat him as less worthy than themselves, had to defeat a brutal Muscovite invasion, led by Ivan the Terrible, a task which he ably fulfilled. Batory also proved open-minded in regard to his subjects' religious persuasion, although he remained a firm Catholic and took steps to improve the level of education among Catholic priests and monks in his domains.

Answer: Frederick William I

Frederick is often called "The Great", in account of his military prowess. After detaching Royal Prussia from Poland, he officially crowned himself as King of Prussia, while his previous title had been Elector of Brandenburg. Apart from his exploits on the battlefield, however, Frederick was also a patron of learning associated with the Enlightenment. Sadly, the fact that his legacy was abused by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis led to many people uncritically attacking Frederick, ironically accepting the distorted image of him that Hitler had wished to propagate.

Answer: Franz Joseph I

Charles I of Austria was the last King of his country. Assuming his duties after his grand uncle's death in 1916, his reign was very brief and he proved unable to stop the disintegration of Habsburg Central Europe, which was given impetus by the monarchy's defeat in the First World War. Charles didn't outlive his realm for long, as he died in 1922 in Portugal.

Answer: Neville Chamberlain

Known as the Father of Victory at the Second World War, Churchill wasn't Prime Minister of the UK when the Nazis invaded Poland. However, since it was apparent that the policy of appeasement had failed and that only a determined leader could save Europe from Nazism, Neville Chamberlain resigned (his failing health was another burden on his shoulders) and Churchill succeeded him.

His charisma, determination and uncompromising stance contributed tremendously to maintenance of morale, perseverance and willingness to fight.