Best Left Unsaid Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Holocaust

During the World War II years, the Germans and collaborators committed the mass genocide of the Jews living in Nazi-occupied Europe. Nearly six million European Jews were killed between 1941 and 1945 during the Holocaust. These Jews were murdered by riots, shootings or gas execution in Nazi-controlled camps.

Answer: Terrorist attacks

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the terrorist group Al-Qaeda executed a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States. Terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes with the purpose of crashing into landmarks in the United States. Two of the airplanes crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. One of the airplanes crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

The passengers on the fourth airplane thwarted the hijackers and the vehicle crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania.

Answer: Earthquake followed by a tsunami

A major earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean near island of Sumatra in Indonesia. This natural disaster occurred on December 26, 2004. The oceanic earthquake was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Indian Plate and the Burma Plate.

The oceanic earthquake caused series of massive tsunami waves affecting the countries of Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. These tsunamis killed an estimated 227,898 people.

Answer: Nuclear power plant

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear accident occurred at a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. A poorly designed experiment at the reactor was attempted causing a chain reaction of events which led to the reactor being compromised. A large amount of radiation exploded out of the reactor. The radiation went into the atmosphere and spread through the local communities.

Pripyat, Ukraine, the host community of the nuclear power plant, was abandoned and became a ghost town. This tragedy has been considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history in terms of both cost and casualties.

Answer: Spanish flu

The Spanish flu was a H1N1 influenza A virus which caused a serious global influenza pandemic. The Spanish flu infected approximately a half billion people from February of 1918 through April of 1920. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was the first well-known person to be reported to have this flu. The Spanish flu was also spread among military personnel participating in World War I.

Answer: Rwandan genocide

As part of the Rwandan Civil War, a refugee rebel group known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front invaded Rwanda. Between April 7 and July 15, 1994, the rebel group committed a mass genocide by slaughtering nearly a million local Rwandans belonging to the Tutsi, Twa and Hutu ethnic groups. Reportedly, no country in the world intervened to prevent the killings.

Answer: Space Shuttle Challenger

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded near Cape Canaveral, Florida killing the seven crew members aboard the ship. The spacecraft was in the air for only seventy-three seconds after leaving the Kennedy Space Center. The unspeakable tragedy was televised live on CNN and was seen by millions of people.

Answer: Bhopal disaster

On the night of December 2, 1984, a methyl isocyanate gas leak occurred at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The toxic gas spread to the surrounding towns. A half million people were either injured by the explosion or exposure to the toxic gas. Eight thousand people died due to gas exposure.

Answer: Hurricane Katrina

In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall as Category 3 storm. Coastal properties in the communities of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi were completely destroyed by wind and coastal water surges.

The levee system that contained the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne in Louisiana were overwhelmed and flooded the city of New Orleans.

Answer: Atomic bombs

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb known as "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb known as "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The atomic bombings of these two cities killed approximately 226,000 people.

This unspeakable tragedy happened as a means to persuade the Imperial Japanese armed forces to unconditionally surrender and end the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.