Another Mixed History Bag Trivia Quiz

Answer: 509 BC

In 510 BC the last King, a brutal tyrant, was deposed and the Roman republic was founded in 509 BC.

Answer: 55 BC

In 55 and 54BC Julius Caesar came to Britain with a Roman army. Both times he made some progress into England before returning to Gaul (France) without having conquered Britain.

Ideas of invading Britain faded until Claudius became Emperor in 41 AD. He was eager for people to think of him as a strong man and knew that a successful war would make people in Rome like him. He started to invade Britain in 43 AD.

The tribes were divided as to their allegiance. The tribes in the South were mainly anti-Roman and would have defended their territory. North of the Thames, the tribes were more relaxed in their attitudes to the invading army and so may well have surrendered without much of a fight. Claudius regarded this as useful as his policy of war was to divide and conquer. The British tribes met the Romans in a fiercely fought battle at the River Medway. After much bloodshed the Romans emerged victorious and four legions went on to conquer all of England, much of Wales and parts of Scotland.

Answer: 1492

In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Fernando, took advantage of the rivalry of the last Muslim governors of Spain and completed the reconquest by taking Granada (January 2nd). Later that year a Spanish expedition discovered America (October 12th).

Answer: 1821

In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain, and decided to impose his brother Joseph Bonaparte, as king of Spain (1808-1810). The Criollos (Mexican-born Spaniards) found in this circumstance the opportunity to seek their independence from Spain.

Influenced by the concepts of liberty, equality and democracy proposed by the French philosophers Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and by the war of Independence of the United States, they decided to start a revolt. It was 1810, and their plan was to start the war on the 2nd of October.

In the early hours of September 16, 1810, father Hidalgo, accompanied by several conspirators -Iganacio Allende, Doña Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez- rang the bell of his little church, calling everyone to fight for liberty. This was the beginning of the Independence War, which lasted 10 years.

The independence was finally granted on September 27, 1821 with the Treaty of Córdoba.

Answer: 1842

When Britain won the first Opium war with China in 1842, the Treaty of Nanking was signed, opening some ports for trade and tariff privileges, etc. Other powers secured similar privileges, including the treaty concluded by the U.S. with China (Treaty of Wang-hsia) in 1844. That treaty came up for renewal after twelve years and, accordingly, the American plenipotentiary, William Reed, arrived in China in 1857 to renew negotiations, which proved to be long-drawn-out.

At issue were such concerns as extending trade, permission for diplomatic residence at the capital Peking, and extension of religious freedom to Christians. One year earlier (Oct. 1856), a second Opium war had begun between Britain and China over the complications caused by China's refusal to apologize for an incident arising out of the boarding of a harbor craft flying a British flag.

In this she was joined by France, smarting over a previous incident involving the murder of a missionary. The position of the U.S., like that of the other interested power, Russia, was to maintain a strict neutrality.

By the date of Reed's letter requesting renegotiations, Canton had already been stormed (Dec. 1857) by British troops and a British expedition was soon (Apr. 1858) to sail north to Tientsin to negotiate yet another 'unequal treaty' with China.

Answer: 1867

On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7 million. Was it too much to pay for a piece of land that was mostly unexplored? At the time, critics thought Seward was crazy and called the deal "Seward's folly." Seward was laughed at for his willingness to spend so much on "Seward's icebox" and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden." Alaska Became a US state in 1959.

Answer: 1,250,000

population in 1939 :
------------------

Germany : 79.5 millions
UK : about 48 millions
France : 41.9 millions
Italy : 43.1 millions
USA : 131.67 millions (1940)
USSR : more than 150 millions (?)
Japan : 70.6 millions (1937)

= Note that these figures are estimations and some sources disagree with other ones. =

War dead:

USA :
soldiers : about 298,000
civilians : about 5,000

UK :
soldiers : 245,000 to 264,000
civilians : about 92,700

France :
soldiers : 211,000 to 213,300
civilians : 330,000 to 350,000

Japan :
soldiers : about 1,250,000
civilians : about 672,000

Germany :
soldiers : 3,500,000 to 3,850,000
civilians : 780,000

USSR :
soldiers : about 11,000,000
civilians : about 7,000,000 to 10,000,000

Italy :
soldiers : 230,000 to 242,200
civilians : 153,000

China :
soldiers : about 1,310,200
civilians : about 10,000,000

Answer: 1863

French, British and Spanish landed at Vera Cruz (Dec. 1861) to force Mexican president Benito Juarez to honor his financial obligations and resume payments he had suspended. Britain and Spain withdrew (April 8, 1862) after it was clear that the France had more far reaching plans. The battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862) ended with the slaughter of crack French troops. Austrias Archduke Maximilian took the throne of Mexico (April 10, 1864), reaching Mexico City (June 12) at the head of French troops who actually drove Juarez north of the border into the United States.
The most famous event in the history of the Foreign legion occured during this war, in Camerone.
At the Camerone Hacienda near Puebla, 3 officers and 62 legionnaires resisted 2,000 Mexicans. After a day of heroic fighting the last six survivors fixed bayonets and charged. Three more are killed when a senior Mexican officer stepped forward and again asked them to surrender. "On the condition we keep our weapons and you look after our officer," replied Legionnaire Maine. The terms were accepted by the officer who stated, "To men such as you, one refuses nothing."
When the final three defenders were brought to the Mexican commander, Colonel Milan, he initially could not believe that they were the only standing survivors. When he was finally convinced, he exclaimed, "Truly, these are not men, they are demons." One of the men, Legionnaire Berg received permission from Milan to write a short note to the Legion commander: "The Third Company of the 1st is dead, my Colonel, but it did enough to make those who speak of it say, 'It had nothing but good soldiers.'"

In honor of the battle, Napoleon III ordered the names Camerone, Danjou, Maudet, and Vilain to be inscribed in gold letters on the walls of the Invalides in Paris.

Even today, in Mexico, formal military ceremonies are conducted annually at the site of the battle memorial which reads: "They were less than sixty here--Opposed to a whole army--Its mass crushed them--Life instead of courage--Abandoned these French soldiers."

Answer: 1879

Chile fought the War of the Pacific against Peru and Bolivia from 1879 to 1883, winning Antofagasta, Bolivia's only outlet to the sea, and extensive areas from Peru.

Answer: France

On 26 December 1994 the GIGN (the French SWAT) prevented Algerian Islamic terrorists from crashing a plane on Paris (possibly on the Eiffel tower) by storming their plane that was waiting to take off from the Marseilles Airport.