General Historical Topics 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lusitania

The Lusitania was sunk by German U20 in 1915 and took with her 1,195 people to a watery grave. This had profound and far-reaching consequences - the Germans had crossed the line by killing a number of American civilians in this senseless attack. Sentiment in America against Germany rose sharply but it was unrestricted U-boat warfare that Germany began as a matter of policy in 1917 that tipped the balance. (The Zimmermann Note of 1917 is still controversial but is generally held to be less significant).

Answer: Maastricht

The Treaty of Maastricht is one of the most important events in modern geopolitics. The European Union, which was established by the treaty, thus building upon the older organisation, the European Community, is possibly the most powerful international organisation on Earth, commanding more authority over its member states than the United Nations and possessing a GDP considerably larger than that of the United States, Japan or China.

Indeed with its member states moving closer together as time goes on (clearly demonstrated by the introduction of the Euro as a common currency in 11 of the 25 members states, but with about two-thirds of the population of the EU) the EU may become a superpower.

Answer: Qin

The Qin dynasty was founded by the king of the western Chinese state by the same name. This king was originally named Ying Zheng, but upon rising to the imperial throne he gave himself the name, Qin Shi Huangdi - literally the First Emperor of China. He wished for all his successors to assume the same name, changing the number to whatever was appropriate.

Despite claims by prominent historians of the time that the dynasty would last for 1,000 or 10,000 generations the Qin period was relatively short-lived lasting from 221 BCE to 206 BCE - preceded by the Warring States Period and followed by the longer-lasting Han Dynasty.

Answer: Laurent Kabila

Laurent Kabila's rise to power led to escalating internal strife throughout the nation and the Congo Civil War rapidly grew to engulf a large number of surrounding nations. The war ultimately claimed in excess of 3 million lives and displaced millions more, making it the most costly conflict on Earth since the end of the Korean War. Laurent Kabila was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, assumed power. By 2004 the conflict still hadn't been fully resolved, despite numerous treaties and cease-fires.

Answer: National Party led by Dr Daniel Malan

The election in 1948 of Dr Daniel Malan to the post of prime minister marked beginning of institutionalised apartheid throughout South Africa - the system of government that deliberately kept the racial groups of South Africa apart and degraded the native African population to a lower level than the white Afrikaaners and a small British population. (Before that, some racial restriction had been in force at local level).

The system of apartheid was engineered by one of Malan's chief ministers - Dr Hendrik Verwoerd who received the infamous title of 'the Architect of Apartheid'. Verwoerd later went on to become prime minister. (He spent 1935-39 as a student in Nazi Germany, but returned to South Africa in August, 1939).

Answer: Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the successor of Oda Nobunaga who had begun the reunification of Japan following the Sengoku Jidai - the 'Age of the Nation at War'. Hideyoshi brought all of Japan under his control following Nobunaga's death. Following this, the megalomaniacal and arrogant Hideyoshi, now Imperial Regent (he was unnable to take the sought after title of shogun due to his lowly birth), aimed to subjugate neighbouring nations.

When Korea and China defied him he immediately invaded with a force of more than 100,000.

Despite a rapid conquest of South Korea the Japanese were held up by enormous Chinese armies and the conquest was left unfinnished at Hideyoshi's detah.

Answer: T'ai-Ping Rebellion

The T'ai-Ping Rebellion ultimately claimed more lives than the First World War and was the bloodiest upheaval in human history up until the Second World War. It is estimated that the death toll surpassed 20 million. The T'ai-Ping Rebellion is not as well known as the much smaller Boxer Uprising in the early 20th Century, due mainly to the fact that the latter was a revolt against foreign influences on China and therefore of more interest to self-centred Westerners.

The T'ai-Ping Rebellion was instrumental in the eventual collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the last of China's Imperial Dynasties that had begun two thousand years earlier with the Qin's victory in the Warring States Period.

The Rebellion was the product of a desire for equality amongst the lower classes of Chinese society (i.e. the peasants) and was inspired by a philosophical text written before what is often referred to as the "First T'ai-Ping Rebellion" in 184.

Answer: Islam Karimov

Islam Karimov was raised in a Soviet state orphanage and went on to receive tertiary degrees in engineering and economics before becoming a member of the communist party. He came to power in Uzbekistan in the late 80s and in August 1991 declared his country's independence from the crumbling Soviet Union. Karimov was widely accused of being a dictator.

His human rights record was often cited by such critics. He was president until his death in 2016.

Answer: Teutonic Knights

The Teutonic Knights were probably the most powerful order of knights ever to exist. In contravention with the laws of chivalry they established a Teutonic state ruled by the Grand Master of the order from his castle at Marienburg in Prussia. Between the easterly advance of the knights and the westerly advance of the Mongols the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe faced complete subjugation until the Teutonic threat was alleviated by the victory at Tannenberg in 1410.

Interestingly the Germans got their "revenge" in 1914 when a single German army crushed two vastly larger Russian armies at the same location. (That said, the fighting in 1914 was quite some distance from Tannenberg and the name was chosen for historical reasons).

Answer: 1431

The city of Angkor is one of the most spectacular ruins in the world today. With over forty ancient temples it is the site of the capital of the ancient Khmer Empire that stretched across much of Southeast Asia at one point, reaching its height at the turn of the millennium under the rule of King Suryavarman I when Angkor's famous temples were built.

It was during its decline that the armies of the neighbouring kingdom of Aruthaya (essentially modern-day Thailand in which there is today a city near Bangkok by the same name) rampaged through the empire and devestated Angkor.

Answer: Hungarian

The Siege of Constantinople involved an Ottoman host of about 150,000 assaulting a city held by fewer than 8,000 defenders, mainly Genoese mercenaries. Constantine XI, the last Emperor of Byzantium, also stood before the Turkish onslaught. Despite the numerical odds the Turks had great difficulty with the attack and several frontal assaults failed.

It was the Hungarian bellmaker, Urban, whose cannons carried the day for the Ottomans. Constantine died during the battle as did the commander of the Genoese.

Answer: Fleurus

At the battle of Fleurus in 1794 the experimental French balloon company was put into action to gather aerial intelligence. This was a revolutionary move in warfare, but future technical difficulties led to the disbanding of the balloon company and it wasn't until much later in the next century that air power once again became a factor in warfare.

Answer: Asoka

Asoka is said to be the greatest of the Mauryan emperors and is famous for his conversion to Buddhism following deep regret for brutal acts he committed during conquest. His Buddhist leanings had a profound influence on India into the future with his construction of numerous Buddhist temples across the empire.

Answer: Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie, otherwise known as Ras Tafari, was Emperor of Ethiopia for much of the mid-twentieth century (1930-1974, though from 1936-41 the country was under Italian colonial rule) and is regarded by many as an idol for all those of native African descent.

In the lead-up to the Second World War Haile Selassie was deposed by the invading Italian armies of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, but following Italy's defeat he was returned to power until a military coup in 1974 deposed him permanently.

In Jamaica the Rastafarian religion was founded in his honour.

Answer: Solovetsky Archipelago

The Gulag (an acronym of the original Russian for "Chief Directorate of Collective Labour Camps") was one of the most (if not the most) monstrous manifestations of the totalitarian state ever seen. Millions passed through the system of camps during the history of the early Soviet Union and millions perished there, especially under Stalin from the late 1930s until his death in 1953. How many millions died is unknown, but hte figure compares with the number that died in Hitler's camps (such as Auschwitz). In total it is generally agreed that Stalin killed far more people than his German counterpart.

And that is the quiz. It should be noted that all the questions were developed using my own general knowledge and involved no research other than the question on Asoka for which I had to check the dates of that emperor's reign. The additional information provided after every question was, however, researched, although I kept this to a minimum. I wanted to pit the user against myself, not against the entire internet and all its billions of web pages. Obviously though, because it was not researched mistakes may have been made. If anyone finds such mistakes please don't hesitate to inform me.