Dates in World History Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1917

On November 7, Vladimir Lenin and his men stormed the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg and overthrew Kerensky's Provisional Government. Civil war followed in Russia and soon also foreign intervention; but by 1921-22 the Bolsheviks had consolidated their rule.

Answer: 1215

King John of England agreed to the Magna Carta in 1215, and it took immediate effect. It was a Latin document that he was forced to accept by the feudal barons in a successful attempt to limit the king's power and to protect their own rights. It also provided some rights for ordinary citizens.

Answer: September 1, 1939

The invasion began very early on September 1, 1939, after a faked Polish attack on the German radio station at Gleiwitz, close to the border with Poland. (The attack was in fact carried out by men in Polish uniform acting under orders from the German secret service). Hundreds of thousands of German troops were massed on the German side just waiting for the order to attack.

Answer: 1066

The Battle of Hastings was fought on October 14, 1066. The Normans conquered England and the result was that William the Conqueror became the first Norman king of England.

Answer: 1492

Christopher Columbus started his first voyage on August 3, 1492. On his first voyage, he wanted to reach Asia. On October 12, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean. On October 28, Christopher Columbus made landfall in Cuba. On December 5, Christopher Columbus became the first European to step foot on Hispaniola.

Answer: 410 A.D.

As the first in a series of attacks on Rome, the Visigoths moved west into Rome and began to take control. The Visigoths were led by Alaric I. It had been close to eight hundred years since Rome had been taken by an enemy.

Answer: 1969

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy laid out the plan that someday man would walk on the moon. On July 20, 1969, a United States astronaut did just that thing. Neil Armstrong took the first televised step on the moon. The space race between the U.S. and the Soviets, which began in the 1950s, was given a huge leap by the United States.

Answer: Virginia

Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The site of Lee's surrender is now a national park.

Answer: Japan

On the morning of August 6, 1945, the United States became the first country to use a nuclear weapon. Hiroshima, Japan was hit with an atomic bomb by United States Force. This accelerated the end of World War II.

Answer: French Revolution

The storming of the Bastille began the ten year revolution known as the French Revolution. The seven prisoners held in the Bastille were freed. Elsewhere, peasants attacked the nobility.

Answer: December 7, 1941

The attack of Pearl Harbor on the day of December 7, 1941 is what brought the United States into World War II when Japanese forces attacked the naval base in Hawaii.

Answer: Declaration of Independence

The document was signed more than a year after the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The Declaration of Independence would give Americans freedom from Britain.

Answer: China

With Mao Zedong taking control, Communists took over China from the Nationalists. The Cultural Revolution started by Zedong began in 1966 and lasted for ten years. The goal of the revolution was to strip China of all opposition elements and maintain a "permanent revolution".

Answer: November

Destruction on the Berlin Wall began on November 9, 1989. (Some sections of the Wall did not come down until late in 1990).

Answer: 2001

Over 3,000 people lost their lives in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania when planes hit the two World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. Because of this attack, the United States went to war with Afghanistan and Iraq.