America's Wars Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spanish maritime supremacy

The explosion on aboard the USS Maine did not immediately lead to war, but it did focus America's attention on Cuba and their struggle with Spain. The highly biased articles in American newspapers helped to further develop the calls in Congress for war. Additionally, a Spanish official had written to a comrade expressing doubts about the American President McKinley's resolve to go to war, and whether the US Navy could possibly be a match for the historically strong Spanish Navy.

Answer: True

Although Santa Ana was the former president of Mexico, Taylor was not yet president. During the beginning of the war Santa Ana was in exile in the United States, from there he was able to convince the US to let him through the American naval blockade to try to convince Mexico to surrender. Instead, Santa Ana rejoined the Mexican military as commander and began a renewed assault on American forces.
Zachary Taylor became president of the United States in 1849 and died of acute gastroenteritis just 16 months into his term. This made him the second president in US history to die in office.

Answer: Nebraska

Mexican territory in what is now the "lower 48" extended north into Wyoming, west to the Pacific Ocean, and east as far as Louisiana.

Answer: 1836

In 1836 Texas declared its independence from Mexico. The Republic of Texas had its own president and vice president, as well as its own currency. Texas was not the only Mexican state to secede from Mexico and declare independence. The Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas would also withdraw themselves from Mexico and would form their own short-lived federal republic called the Republic of the Rio Grande with Laredo as the capital, which is in the present day State of Texas. The Mexican state of Yucatán also seceded and formed the Republic of Yucatán. Several other states also went into open rebellion including San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Jalisco and Zacatecas. Texas, however, was the only seceding Mexican state to retain its independence.

Answer: 15

"...and the rocket's red glare gave proof through the night that our flag was still there..." Though there were eighteen states in the union at the time, there were only fifteen stars. In 1818 the flag was changed to twenty stars.

Answer: True

Before the President sent troops to the Pacific he sent them to reinforce the British in Europe. Only thirty days after the Pearl Harbor attack the first U.S. troops began to arrive in Ireland. Roosevelt had anticipated that the USA would be forced to enter the war sooner or later, and he had already begun preparations. Roosevelt gave Prime Minister Winston Churchill his word that the first U.S. troops would arrive in the European rather than the Pacific theater.

Answer: Protecting the oil fields from terrorists

The President was very careful not to mention the word 'oil' as a cause for the war. In fact, the press was ridiculed by the administration when it suggested that that may be one of the underlying factors. But late in 2006 the president changed his views and began touting the need to protect the oil from terrorists who, if in control, could threaten the world economy by inflating the price of oil.

Answer: True

Before her last voyage, a group of German-Americans who feared an attack, talked to the German consulate in New York. The German government, hoping to avert a war with the US published a warning to American citizens to avoid the RMS Lusitania. The Lusitania was attacked by a German U-boat in May 1915 killing 1,200 people, including 128 Americans.

The United States and its government were outraged by the attack, and it is still cited as one of the main reasons for American involvement in the "Great War." When the ship was torpedoed, there was a second, massive explosion on the Lusitania, which hastened the sinking of the massive ship.

This has encouraged speculation that the ship was carrying munitions.

Answer: A series of bank robberies in St. Albans, Vermont

In this incident, known as the St. Albans Raid, one of the most unusual in American history, Bennett H. Young led Confederate forces. Young had been captured in John Hunt Morgan's 1863 raid in Ohio, but escaped to Canada in the fall of that year. Morgan went to the south, where he proposed Canada-based raids on the Union as a means of building the Confederate treasury and forcing the Union army to protect their northern border as a diversion. Young was commissioned as a lieutenant and returned to Canada, where he recruited other escaped rebels to participate in the 19 October 1864 raid on St. Albans, Vermont, a quiet town 15 miles (25 km) from the Canadian border.
Young and two others checked into a local hotel on 10 October, saying that they had come from St. John's in Canada for a "sporting vacation." Every day, two or three more young men arrived. By 19 October, there were 21 cavalrymen assembled; just before 3:00 p.m. the group simultaneously staged an armed robbery of the three banks in the town. They announced that they were Confederate soldiers and stole a total of $208,000. As the banks were being robbed, eight or nine of the Confederates held the townspeople prisoner on the village green as their horses were stolen. One townsperson was killed and another wounded. Young ordered his troops to burn the town down, but the four-ounce bottles of Greek fire they had brought failed to work, and only one shed was destroyed.
The raiders fled with the money into Canada, where they were arrested by authorities. A court decided that the soldiers were under military orders and that the officially neutral Canada could not extradite them to America. They were freed, but the $88,000 the raiders had on them was returned to Vermont. (From wikipedia)

Answer: Lake Champlain

Valcour Island is on Lake Champlain. Though Arnold lost most of his ships during the battle, the British were routed for the time. The British were attempting to split the colonies in half which would have been disastrous. Instead, the two sides fought it out on land at the famous Battle of Saratoga in 1777.