19th Century Mania: 1800-1810 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Holy Roman Empire is dissolved.

The Treaty of Lunéville was signed in 1801 by the Austrians and Napoleon, after the Austrians' defeat at the Battle of Marengo. In 1800, the capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington DC. Robert Owen established New Lanark, in Scotland, when he acquired the cotton mills, houses and surrounding land from his father-in-law David Dale (who had constructed cotton mills and houses for the workers in 1786), and, in 1817, established the first infants' school in Britain.

The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806.

Answer: The first steam powered submarine is produced.

The first submarine was built in 1801, by Robert Fulton, who was also the first person to give rides up and down the Hudson river in a steam boat called the Clermont. Fulton's Submarine was called the Nautilus." It sank 25 feet under water for a time period of six hours, and was only large enough for one man.

The Negro slave Rebellion was lead by Toussaint L'Ouverture in 1802. The French, busy fighting in Europe, sent a small force to put down the revolt, but it was defeated - mainly by typhus.

This defeat lead Napoleon to lose interest in the Americas, and in 1803, he sold Louisiana to the United States to raise funding for an invasion into England. Eli Whitney started using the interchangeable parts in 1800. Napoleon appointed his law commission in 1800, and the first of the codes - the Code Civil, became law in 1804. (It was fllowed by a further four codes in 1807-11). Key features of Napoleon's codes included: equality before the law, no inherited privileges (in particular, no aristocracy by birth), freedom of worship, separation of church and state, free choice of occupation and a significant strengthening of the family.

The last of these features increased the powers of the husband and greatly restricted the rights of married women ...

Answer: Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo was born in 1802. He was famous for such books as "Les Misérables" and the "Hunchback of Notre Dame". During the 1840s he brought to light the poor living conditions of the French peasants.

Answer: Alexander Dumas

Herder, born in 1744, was a key figure in German Pre-Romanticism ("Sturm und Drang" - "Storm and Stress"). Andersen, Danish, was born in 1805. He wrote such fairy tales, including "The Princess and the Pea", "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling". Tocqueville, French, was born in 1805. He wrote about American politics.

Answer: Herder

Herder is probably best known for his interest in, and collections of, folk-songs and for his belief in "national character" as something real, akin to individual charcter. (That said, he had much of the Enlightenment universalist about him and was not particularly nationalistic). Marx, the founder of Marxism, the basis of Communism, died in 1883. Fichte was a German philosopher but did not die in 1803.

He was a profesor at the University of Jena and later at Berlin. He proposed an autarkic and quasi-socialist state, and urged German unification. Friedrich Jahn was not a philosopher. From c.1810 onwards he organized gymnastics among students in Germany, with a view to keeping young men fighting fit. By 1819 he was involved with prohibited student societies and was gaoled for six years. Both Fichte and Jahn are widely regarded as key founders of German nationalism.

Answer: True

The Duke, the last of the Condé line (of the Bourbons) had been accused of plotting the assasination of Napoleon, but was innocent. Napoleon had him tried and convicted, and later he was shot. It's widely assumed that, before proclaiming himself Emperor, Napoleon wanted to weaken the royalists.

Answer: Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz was between the French, Austrians and the Russians on December 2nd, and came to be known as the Battle of the Three Emperors. Both Eylau and Friedland were fought in 1807. Here he chased the Russians back to their border on June 14. Wagram was in 1809. France beat the Austrians, and gained the Illyrian Provinces at the treaty of Schonbrunn.

Answer: Horatio Nelson

After a bloody five hour battle Nelson was killed in action. In order to preserve his body, his crew kept it in a keg of rum until they returned back to England where he received one of the largest state funerals ever performed.

Answer: Pope Pius VII

Pope Leo X was Pope during the reformation, and Pope Boniface VIII was captured by the French in 1302. He was taken to Avignon and this time period from 1305-1378, when the Pope did not reside in Rome, is often referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy", by analogy with the Babylonian captivity of the ancient Israelites.

Answer: Napoleon divorced Josephine.

Napoleon divorced Josephine in 1809, and a year later married the Austrian Marie Louise, thus seeking to underpin an alliance with Austria. This angered Czar Alexander I, and was one reason why he broke his alliance with Napoleon.