Dictators & Tyrants Trivia

1. Juvénal Habyarimana was born where in what is now Rwanda?

From Quiz Dictator of Rwanda: Juvénal Habyarimana

Answer: Gisenyi

Gisenyi is located in Rwanda's Western Province (one of the five provinces of Rwanda) and is situated on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Juvénal Habyarimana was born in 1937 to an affluent Hutu family, when what is now Rwanda was part of the territory Ruanda-Urundi, which existed from 1916-1962, ruled by various colonial forces. He was born when Ruanda-Urundi was under Belgian rule. He went to university in 1958 in Léopoldville, which is now Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1960, the Rwandan Revolution happened, and he quit university to train as an officer in Kigali.

From Quiz Dictator of Romania: Nicolae Ceaușescu

Answer: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej became the first leader of Communist Romania, becoming prime minister from 1952-55, and president of Romania's State Council from 1961-65. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej escaped from prison in 1944, after being sentenced to 12 years labor for his participation in the 1933 Grivița railwaymen's strike. Communism was illegal in Romania at this time. While in prison for joining the Communist party and serving 30 months in prison, Ceaușescu was in the same jail as Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and later joined the latter's government.

From Quiz "Sic Semper Tyrannis"

Answer: Thus always to tyrants

Some have speculated that this Latin pronouncement was originally uttered by Marcus Brutus during the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. Plutarch, the most widely accepted historian of the time, does not confirm this. However, the popular mythology persists, and there is no doubt the phrase has been used worldwide over the years to call out tyranny and rally people against perceived tyrants. It appears on the seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a patriotic rejoinder to the British during the Revolutionary War, adopted as the state motto in 1776. Most notably in American history, it was shouted by Southerner and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth after he shot president Abraham Lincoln on the evening of April 14th, 1865.

From Quiz Mussolini and Friends

Answer: Emilia Romagna

His father Alessandro was a blacksmith and a socialist, and his mother Rosa was a devoutly Catholic schoolteacher. Interestingly, Mussolini was named "Benito" after Mexican revolutionary reformist President Benito Juárez.

From Quiz If I Were A Dictator......

Answer: Charles Macarthur Taylor

Before becoming the leader of his country, he was a warlord and leader of the rebel group the National Patriotic Front of Liberia. On 29 May 2012, he was sentenced to 50 years in jail by the UN backed "Special Court for Sierra Leone".

From Quiz Run from Tyrants and Dictators!

Answer: Roderigo Borgia

Roderigo Borgia was actually born Roderigo Lancol, in Spain 1431. His mother, Isabella Borgia, was the sister of Alfonso Borgia, who later became Pope Callixtus III. In many ways Roderigo Borgia does appear to have been a bad man. He helped to restore law and order to Rome and heard petitions from the population in weekly courts. However, his personal life was not very becoming for a Pope. He was involved in wild orgies and accused of having several illegitimate children. Tales that he poisoned his enemies and had sexual relations with his daughter, Lucrezia, are no longer taken seriously by many historians.

From Quiz The Cruel Dictator: Teodoro Mbasogo

Answer: Equatorial Guinea

As of October 2009, the President of Egypt is Hosni Mubarak, the President of Namibia is Hifikepunye Pohamba, and the President of Cameroon is Paul Biya. In a coup on August 3rd 1979, Teodoro Mbasogo forcibly removed President Francisco Macías Nguema from power, officially taking office as President on October 10th 1979.

From Quiz Dictator, President, King, or Outlaw?

Answer: Dictator

Although Amin declared himself president of Uganda, he was never elected by the people. The Entebbe Raid was an operation in July 1976 by Israeli commandos to free hostages held by Palestinian terrorists. It was a complete success. Idi Amin had supported the terrorists and the raid humiliated him. This raid was the beginning of his fall from power and he was eventually deposed in 1979.

From Quiz The 'Great Dictators'

Answer: Karl Doenitz

Karl Dönitz (1891-1980) was a German naval commander during World War I and II. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for war crimes. He died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve 1980.

From Quiz Twentieth Century Dictators

Answer: Hitler

Hitler was able to take advantage of the scheming and secret agendas of many factions in the German establishment of the day. For instance, Papen and many non-Nazis thought having Hitler as chancellor was to their advantage. Other conservative members of the former aristocratic ruling class desired an end to the republic and a return to an authoritarian government that they thought would restore Germany to glory and bring back their old class privileges. For them, putting Hitler in power was just the first step toward achieving that goal since they thought it was likely he would wreck the republic.

From Quiz Personality Cults

Answer: The Leader

Adolf Hitler, known as 'Der Fuehrer' or 'Leader', led Germany with his Nazi party from triumph to ruin between 1933 and 1945. Hitler surrounded himself with a retinue of fawning sycophants who would try to outdo each other in their attempts to interpret the will of 'Der Fuehrer'. His aura of authority and fiery speeches created a focus in the lives of many of these flawed individuals many of whom were psychopaths. These people implemented the will of the 'Fuehrer' with unquestioning obedience and committed some of the greatest crimes of the 20th Century in the process. A large portion of the population fell under his spell as a result of an unremitting propaganda campaign, and few dared question his authority.

From Quiz The Quotable Tyrant

Answer: Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan said this just after he ordered the sacking of Samarkand, one of the world's foremost trading centers. Genghis Khan finally won after a savage, week-long battle in which the Mongols used their slaves as decoys and and entered the the city by stealth where they pillaged and raped at will.

From Quiz Dictators' Wives

Answer: Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippines dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, was famous for her collection of shoes. She is said to have possessed over 3000 pairs of designer shoes, including a pair of battery-powered sling-backs that twinkled when she danced.

From Quiz Coup d'etat

Answer: Jerry Rawlings

He first took power in a bloodless coup 1979, and, having returned power to a civilian government, staged another coup 1981. He then remained in power until 1992, when he was elected president under the new multiparty constitution. He was re-elected for a second term December 1996.

From Quiz Sic Semper Tyrannis

Answer: Francisco Franco

Franco, nominally neutral during WWII, ruled until his death in 1975.

From Quiz Dictator of Rwanda: Juvénal Habyarimana

Answer: Agathe Kanziga

Agathe Kanziga was regularly regarded as an influencer of Habyarimana, her opinion carrying significant weight with him during his 20 years as President of Rwanda. Her family were wealthy, well-connected Hutus, who are alleged to have provided Habyarimana with resources during his time in power. In 2010 during a visit to France, long after her husband's death in 1994, Agathe Kanziga was arrested by French police after French President Nicolas Sarkozy had visited Rwanda. Having been in France since 1998, she remains there since France refused to extradite her to Rwanda in 2011. However, she is not there receiving asylum status, as France understandably suspect her of having a considerable part of one of the most horrific genocides in human history. She if often accused of being part of the "Akazu" - the Hutu group who planned and orchestrated the genocide.

From Quiz Dictator of Romania: Nicolae Ceaușescu

Answer: Doftana Prison

Once striking fear and dread into the citizens of Romania, Doftana prison is currently in a state of disrepair as an abandoned building. Ceaușescu received harsh treatment in the prison and developed a stammer because of this. He escaped from prison in 1944.

From Quiz "Sic Semper Tyrannis"

Answer: He was shot by Union troops whilst hiding in a barn

After delivering his famous line about tyrants and shooting President Lincoln, who was attending a play at the Ford Theater, Booth did in fact jump down onto the stage, possibly breaking his leg in the process. He was still able to get out the back of the theater and escape on horseback, leaving the fatally wounded president, his horrified wife, and the stunned theater audience behind as he fled toward southern Maryland. There he hoped to find safety among fellow Confederate sympathizers. The date was April 14, 1865, five days after General Lee had surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Booth, with an accomplice named David Herold, was able to get his leg treated, row across the Potomac River to Virginia, and evade capture for twelve days. But Union military were swarming the area, further motivated by a reward which eventually rose to $100,000. With the help of a tip, they tracked him down at Richard Garrett's farm, where he was sleeping in the barn. With the barn surrounded, Herold gave himself up, but Booth refused to come out. The soldiers set the barn on fire, and Sergeant Boston Corbett, who had gone in the barn to flush Booth out, ended the suspense by shooting him in the neck. Although he claimed Booth had raised a pistol at him, Corbett was disciplined by his commanding officer for "acting without orders" and preventing the troops from taking Booth alive. The nation was in mourning, and even most southern news sources, who generally despised Lincoln, decried the assassination. History has definitively judged Booth harshly, as he clearly failed in his attempt to rally the Confederacy, and only exacerbated the deep divide in the country.

From Quiz Mussolini and Friends

Answer: Switzerland

Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland to avoid military service. He was deported in 1903 for false papers; he came back again for a little while, but in 1904, he returned to Italy to take advantage of an amnesty for desertion, for which he had been convicted.

From Quiz If I Were A Dictator......

Answer: Ahmed Sekou Toure

He was one of the founding members of the RDA (African Democratic Rally) which was the driving force behind independence in Africa from French rule. He died in 1984 in the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, whilst undergoing surgery.

From Quiz Run from Tyrants and Dictators!

Answer: Hernando Cortes

Hernando Cortes was born in western Spain in 1485. After briefly studying law he set off for the Americas. In 1511 he helped Diego Velázquez in the conquest of Cuba. He then left for Mexico and the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. Initially, he was welcomed by the Aztec king, Montezuma II, but relations turned sour and the Spanish were driven out. He returned in 1521 and took Tenochtitlán, building Mexico City on the ruins. His cruelty to the native population, and Western diseases introduced by the Spaniards, caused the death of tens of thousands.

From Quiz Dictator, President, King, or Outlaw?

Answer: President

Although many consider Chavez to be a dictator he was in fact elected by the people of Venezuela. He was involved in an earlier attempted coup in 1992 but it failed and he was sent to prison. After two years in prison he was pardoned and in 1998 he was elected president. In 2002 a coup was attempted against him but it failed within 48 hours and he was returned to power.

From Quiz The 'Great Dictators'

Answer: SS

SS stands for Schutzstaffel. This name, which means 'protective squad', dates from the time which the SS was Hilter's personal boydyguard. After the assassination of Roehm in 1934, the SS expanded to include the entire Nazi terror apparatus, including the Gestapo. The Waffen-SS was added in the late 1930s. Heinrich Himmler was appointed head of the SS in 1929, and held the post till 1945.

From Quiz Twentieth Century Dictators

Answer: Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) was a Russian composer and pianist who came from the Ukraine. Many children have had their first real experience of orchestral music through listening to his musical story 'Peter and the Wolf'. He also wrote many other great works including symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, ballets and operas. Prokofiev died of a brain haemorrhage on 5 March 1953. His death was hardly mentioned in the newspapers because the dictator Stalin died on the same day.

From Quiz Personality Cults

Answer: Helmsman

'The Great Helmsman' was a title bestowed on Mao during the Cultural Revolution which he launched in 1966 in response to his perception that capitalist roaders were in the ascent and he wanted to give the youth a revolutionary experience. To this end schools were closed and students were urged onto the streets to identify counter-revolutionaries and backsliders. The disruption to the country was profound and the movement was declared ended in 1969 but Mao supporters, most notably the 'Gang of Four', continued the turmoil till his death in 1976. They created an all pervading personality cult with politicised art and all party members were required to carry at all times, the 'Little Red Book', a collection of Mao's quotes. Nearly 30 years after his death there are some in China who still revere Mao at family altars and temples.

From Quiz The Quotable Tyrant

Answer: Mao Tse-Tung

This quote was said to have originally been coined at jokingly by Mao after a large rally outside Tiananmien Square, celebrating the fall of Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomintag, or Nationalist Army. The rest, as they say, is history.

From Quiz Dictators' Wives

Answer: Grace

While millions of Zimbabwe citizens do not own any shoes, Grace Mugabe spends thousands of dollars on Ferragamo designer shoes because, she says, "I have narrow feet and Ferragamos are the only shoes I find comfortable". Grace's international shopping sprees are legendary.

From Quiz Coup d'etat

Answer: Frederick Akuffo

Frederick Akuffo was deposed in a bloodless coup led by Flight-Lt Jerry Rawlings. Coincidentally, Akuffo also seized power in a coup after deposing Ignatius Acheampong in 1978 and even Acheampong came to power after replacing President Edward Akufo-Addo in a coup in 1972.

From Quiz Sic Semper Tyrannis

Answer: Nicolae Ceausescu

Ceausescu was one of the more repressive, and megalomaniacal, Eastern Bloc despots. His wife, an active partner in his tyrannical rule, was shot with him.

From Quiz Dictator of Rwanda: Juvénal Habyarimana

Answer: Dominique Mbonyumutwa

Dominique Mbonyumutwa was a Rwandan politician who served as the first President of Rwanda (while it was still part of part of Ruanda-Urundi), who held the post for 9 months in 1961. This was following the abolition of the Rwandan monarchy, when King Kigeri V of Rwanda was away from the country. He lost the election of October 1961, the first election in the country. In 2010, Dominique Mbonyumutwa's son, Shinguiro Mbonyumutwa, protested against the government orders to exhume the remains of his father, who died in 1986. The exhumation was ordered because Dominique Mbonyumutwa was buried in Gitarama town's sports stadium, Democracy Stadium, which was in the process of being renovated. This stadium is where Rwanda's Hutu leader announced the abolishment of the Hutu monarchy.

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Last Updated Nov 16 2024 5:50 AM

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