Charge! Trivia Quiz

Answer: All of these

Santa Ana led the Mexican troops at the siege of the Alamo, and he is also generally credited with introducing chewing gum to North America. The Pastry War happened when the French tried to claim damages of $600,000 (an even more massive sum in 1839 than in the 2000s) for damages to a pastry shop belonging to a Frenchman in Mexico City. Santa Ana led the Mexican troops when a war actually broke out though it soon came to a close when the British mediated between the aggrieved parties.

Answer: Had them beheaded

Richard the Lionheart's treatment of the prisoners who surrendered to him following the siege of Acre is regarded as an extreme reaction to the events which surrounded the siege, where Richard believed that not all of his treaty terms had been adhered to. It took his soldiers almost three days to complete the executions.

Answer: Had them play dice to decide which one was to die

Although the three ringleaders were tried and sentenced to summary execution, Cromwell felt that there was no need for all three to die - in fact, more good could be served by showing mercy to some of them. Therefore, to decide their fate, Cromwell had the three of them play dice. Private Richard Arnold threw the lowest score - and he was promptly shot on the spot.

The other two were spared - and the Levellers were heard of no more.

Answer: Had his skin made into a drum which led them into battle

Quite simply, Zizka commanded that his skin be made into a drum which would be played when the Hussites went into battle - it would inspire his soldiers, and send their enemies running at its sound.

Answer: A coconut husk

Kennedy was captaining a torpedo boat on routine patrol when the boat was accidentally cut in half by the Japanese destroyer "Amagiri". The survivors made land on Plum Pudding Island, which was controlled by the hostile Japanese forces. So Kennedy and his crew swam a further four kilometers to an unnamed island.

They holed up there for six days, until two local fishermen made contact with them. Their boat was too small to evacuate all the crew, and they had no paper for Kennedy to write a note for them to pass on. Instead, he found a coconut husk and wrote the note on that. The fishermen carried the note through 60 kilometers of occupied territory to the nearest allied base, and a rescue of the stricken men was eventually facilitated.

The coconut husk spent Kennedy's White House years on his desk at the Oval office, and it now occupies pride of place in the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.

Answer: General Winfield Scott

General Winfield Scott (1786-1866) served under 14 different presidential administrations, and took part in five major conflicts. As such, he holds the record of being the longest actively serving general in the US Army. He also made an unsuccessful attempt to stand for the presidential nomination.

The nickname "Old Fuss and Feathers" came from his obsession with discipline and dress code, although it was not used maliciously - Scott was by all accounts an extremely popular chap with all who had dealings with him. He was encouraged to stand for the presidential nomination, but his anti-slavery stance proved unpopular in the South, and he lost the nomination to the incumbent, Millard Fillmore, by a landslide.

By the time of the American Civil War Scott was still an active general, though he was approaching his 80th year. He suffered teribly from gout and rheumatism, and his weight had ballooned to over 300lbs (over 21 stone). He couldn't sit on his horse any more, and would direct his battles from a reinforced chair in his tent. The newspapers started referring to him as "Great Scott" - a term referring both to his size and his accomplishments and reputation as a man and soldier. The term has stuck as an exclamation of surprise ever since.

Answer: A swarm of bees

Aitken's attempts to invade German East Africa (roughly modern Tanzania) was fraught with mishaps from the outset. Much of this was down to Aitken's ineptitude to plan and execute his plans properly. The final ignominy, though, followed the German ambush of the last British attempt to land on the shores of the country. As the British retreated through the swamps of Manza Bay, the sounds of the battle had enraged a swarm of very aggressive African bees. They attacked the retreating British troops, sending them into disarray as they tried to escape the furious insects.

Aitken had to sue for a truce, and his remaining soldiers boarded their ships and sailed away from Africa.

Answer: The cavalry

The air force wasn't such a crazy answer if you chose that - the French had started experimenting earlier that decade with observation balloons, and they'd dropped the odd bomb onto targets into the bargain. But in this particular instance, it was the French cavalry - yes, that's armed men on horseback - who defeated the Dutch navy whilst they were anchored out at sea. It could be an interesting exercise in lateral thinking for me to start a competition to see who could come up with the most plausible explanation for this. By all means stop reading now and mail me your theories if you like!

For those who like their explanations given to them on a plate - the winter of 1795 was particularly harsh, and even the sea around Holland was frozen solid. So when the French forces under General Pichegru spotted the Dutch navy at anchor in the frozen sea, he promptly ordered his cavalry to attack the ice bound ships. As you can imagine, ships aren't really set up to defend against attack on horseback, so the commander of the Dutch fleet, on seeing the sabre wielding cavalry surrounding his fleet, promptly surrendered. More in shock than anything else, I suspect - but a great tale nevertheless!

Answer: A turnip

Sergeant Clifton had come across a turnip field whilst on patrol. Food was scarce, and as he was pulling a turnip from the ground, the bugles sounded to say that the company was under attack. Clifton slipped the vegetable into a convenient storage space - his shako, or tall, cylindrical military cap.

During the ensuing encounter with the Sikh force, Sergeant Clifton's horse was shot from underneath him, and he was set upon viciously by Sikh swordsmen, who repeatedly hacked at his head. Some of his colleagues came to his rescue, and the survivors of the company made good their retreat. When the dishevelled troupe eventually made it back to their base, an inspection of Clifton's headgear revealed a rather shattered shako - and an even more pulverized turnip, which had absorbed over half a dozen blows from Sikh swords. Sergeant Clifton emerged from his ordeal without even a scratch.

History doesn't record whether Clifton and his men enjoyed turnip soup that evening.

Answer: The British went for a cup of tea

The Gallipoli landings were a sorry affair for all concerned. In the eight months of the campaign, over 100,000 soldiers were killed and almost 300,000 others injured.

On the day of the initial landings, the main carnage was suffered in fighting around the main beaches - those under Chunuk Bair hill, and those on Cape Hellas.

A third beach, known simply as Y beach, was not considered important by the Turks, although it was the landing point to get to the village of Krithia - a strategic crossroads to get to and from the beaches. Control Krithia village, and the upper hand would be gained. A British task force landed on Y beach relatively unhindered, and two of their officers on a scouting mission walked into a deserted Krithia. They strolled back to their colleagues on Y beach, and joined them for a cup of tea and a spot of sunbathing, with the idea of occupying Krithia at their leisure.

Turkish scouts on Y beach had rushed a message to their army about the British landings, and by the time the British had finished their 'cuppas' and strolled on to Krithia, it was occupied by a superior force of Turkish reservists. The British hastily retreated to Y beach, where they dug in for the attritional eight month battle - a victory eventually for Kemal Ataturk's forces, helped significantly by their occupation of the village of Krithia, and the British penchant for a nice cup of tea.