General Historical Topics 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yangshao

The archeological site at Yangshao in Henan was first discovered in 1921. Since then around half a million pieces of pottery have been recovered and these reveal much about the culture of the people. This particular settlement was some four times larger than the first settlements in Mesopotamia (Iraq) with a population of perhaps 700.

However the Yangshao civilisation originated considerably later than the earliest Mesopotamian civilisation - which began around nine millennia ago.

Answer: Khufu

Khufu ruled from 2638 to 2613 BCE - some 4,618 years ago! This is over a millennium before Homer's semi-mythic poetic epic, The Odyssey, took place, almost two millennia before Rome was founded and predates China's first dynasty, the Xia, by several centuries. And yet Khufu's creations stand as high and awe-inspiring today as ever they did. Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon all gazed upon the Great Pyramids in their long, long life and Khufu today is remembered as having left a legacy that out-lasted the mightiest empires of history and remains to this day one of humanity's greatest achievements.

Answer: 60 million

The Han Empire's population at its height was roughly the same as the Roman Empire's at its height. The Roman Empire, it is believed, was somewhat more urbanised, with Rome itself having a population of more than a million - no city in China at the time could rival this. Only in later years would China leave Europe far behind in the size of its cities. Han, however, had a far larger standing army and superior metal-working techniques to the Roman Empire, making it a more potent military power. Both empires ruled over a similar area of land during roughly concurrent periods. Both empires dominated absolutely their respective parts of the world.

However, China would recover from the disunity following Han's collapse, whereas Europe (especially Western Europe) would remain divided following Rome's collapse.

Answer: Cao Cao

Cao Cao was born in the county of Ciao in 155 CE during the last decades of the Han Empire. In the wake of the chaos that culminated in the enthronement of Emperor Xian, Cao Cao rose rapidly and defeated those who plotted around the throne and essentially seized control of all of northern China and much of the northern part of the Korean peninsula.

His two archenemies, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, allied against him and thwarted his attempt to extend his dominion to the lands south of the Yangtze. When he died in 220 he had not yet completed the unification of China and the Middle Kingdom would not be fully unified again until 581 when Sui Wendi (otherwise known as Yang Jian) founded the Sui Empire.

Answer: Xuanzang

Xuanzang is one of the most famous figures in the history of Chinese Buddhism. His epic journey from the chaotic former Sui capital of Chang'an to Madras and Kanchipuram in southern India and many, many places in between took some 16 years in which he travelled thousands of kilometres.

He wrote 'A Record of the Western Regions', describing the areas he had visited. In addition he translated over a thousand Buddhist texts, many of which he had obtained on his pilgrimage to India, from Sanskrit to Mandarin.

His entire journey was illegal as the Tang emperor who had seized the throne following the Sui's collapse had forbidden all travel in and out of the empire. However by the time of Xuanzang's return the empire's internal conflicts had been resolved and the threat of Turkish invasion from the west was largely dealt with. Xuanzang met the Emperor Tang Taizong in 645 CE, offering to make Xuanzang a court advisor on the western regions. Xuanzang declined and translated Buddhist works for the rest of his years.

Answer: Hoysala Empire

The Hoysala Empire is today credited with creating some of the most magnificent buildings in all of India. Its name is derrived from the words spoken to its legendary founder, Sa'la, when he faced a tiger. "Hoy, Sa'la!", meaning "Strike, Sa'la!" were the instructions given to Sa'la before he slew the tiger with only his hands.

This great feat became a defining part of the empire and thus the name Hoysala came to be.

Answer: 1187

Salah ad-Din, or Saladin, was of Kurdish heritage, but rose to rule over the Turkic Saracens. Today he is an esteemed figure amongst Muslims of all races. He annihilated Christian armies in the Battle of Hattin and later that year seized Jerusalem itself.

This ultimately led to the Third Crusade during which Saladin fought against the famed English monarch, Richard I "the Lion-hearted". In 1192 the Christians had been kept at bay by Saladin and were forced to accept Saracen control of Jerusalem. This was Saladin's great achievement - to capture and hold Jerusalem against the Crusaders.

Answer: Hakata Bay

The Battle of Hakata Bay was a largely indecisive battle with neither side especially successful. Soon after the battle a storm did immense damage to the Mongol fleets and forced the combined Mongol, Chinese and Korean force to retreat back across the Sea of Japan to Korea. The storm was referred to by the Japanese as the 'Divine Wind' or, in Japanese, kamikaze.

Answer: Tlacaelel

Tlacaelel was a brutal and utterly ruthless man. As the grand vizier of the Empire he did much to strengthen the cult of Huitzilopochtli, claiming that the Mexica were that deity's chosen people and destined to rule. Mass sacrifices and more centralized imperial control were just two elements of Toltec culture Tlacaelel adapted for Tenochtitlan and its empire.

More than any other individual, Tlacaelel built the Mexican Empire. At one time, in honour of his achievements, thousands of human sacrifices were made.

Answer: The Hôjô

The Siege of Odawara was not one of the Taikô's most impressive victories in that it was a foregone conclusion from the beginning. His army of more than 200,000 was confronted by just 40,000 Hôjô troops commnaded by the powerful daimyo Hôjô Ujimasa. Commanding part of Hideyoshi's vast army was the future shôgun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had some time earlier accepted Hideyoshi as the pre-eminent leader of Japan.

Answer: 20 April 1792

The war that began on 20 April 1792 would continue on for a further twenty-three years until 20 November 1815 when the Allies and France finally made peace. During the period between three and a half and six and a half million people would die and millions would take up arms.

The long period of constant warfare saw the rise of Napoléon I, the beginning of modern warfare. The conflict would touch every inhabited continent but Australia. It would define European history and politics for the next century, pave the way for total conquest of India by Britain, trigger revolutions in Latin America against Spanish rule and see the Cape Colony turned over from the Dutch to the British, thus beginning a long and arduous chapter of South African history.

In addition the United States of America would once again go to war with Britain, this time over the issue of free trade (which Britain was trying to restrict as part of its blockade of France). French soldiers, bearing revolutionary ideas, would march deep into the heart of Russia and in turn Russia soldiers would fight in Central and Western Europe.

This sewed the seeds of revolution amongst the Russian people and a century later would culminate in the overthrow of the Tsarist autocracy. In the Caribbean the first black republic was founded in Haiti by Touissant l'Ouverture. Both the United States and the United Kingdom would receive massive boosts in their drive towards superpower status - the US would receive the Louisiana Territory from France, more than doubling the North American nation's size and the UK would win a crucial victory against French and Spanish fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar. In short the Great French War as the Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars are collectively known, was one of the most important events in world history.

Answer: False

All but one of the above events occurred on 2 December. Illinois became the twenty-first US state on 3 December 1818. An interesting fact to note is that the date 2 December is seemingly very closely linked with the destiny of the Bonaparte dynasty. The first of three Bonapartes to be crowned emperor, Napoléon I, ascended the throne on 2 December 1804 and exactly a year later won what ranks amongst the most famous and spectacular victories of all time at Austerlitz.

His nephew, Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, would seize power on the same date in 1851 and exactly a year later (by careful design) crowned himself emperor like his uncle, thus completing the Bonaparte quartet for important events on 2 December.

Answer: Hongli

Qianlong was in many respects a lot like his grandafther, the Kangxi Emperor in that he took an interest in both classical literature and martial arts. Generally he is thought to be the last Qing emperor to rule in any especially effective manner. After him the empire went downhill so that by the mid-nineteenth century it was suffering exploitation by western powers and was immersed in a colossal civil war - the Taiping Rebellion.

Answer: Abyssinia and Liberia

Liberia was set up by the US-based American Colonization Society as a refuge for freed American slaves and was under the Society's protection for much of its early history until it was declared an independent republic in 1847. Abyssinia was an independent empire and was far stronger and more centralised than most other African nations (indeed much of Africa wasn't under the control of any national government at all prior to European conquest) and this is most likely why it was able to remain independent.

However in 1935 it was invaded and annexed by Italy. The empire was restored after Benito Mussolini was overthrown in Italy.

Answer: Ussuri/Wusuli River

The Sino-Soviet Border Clashes of 1969 were possibly the closest two superpowers came to open war during the Cold War era (not including Korea where the Chinese People's Volunteers Army fought against the US, but never the official Chinese army, the People's Liberation Army.

In addition Korea was a confined conflict). Although both China and the Soviets possessed nuclear weapons, the Chinese had a relatively small arsenal, thus making the 'mutually assured destruction' theory less applicable to Sino-Soviet relations than to US-Soviet relations. Thus war was far more likely between the Chinese and the Soviets and the US and the Soviets for the deterrent was weaker.

Despite both nations being communist, the Soviets were deemed to be revisionists and capitalist-roaders by the hardline Chinese communists. Each nation adhered to a different school of commuunist ideology - China was Maoist, whereas the Soviet Union was Stalinist. Since 1960 the split between both nations had been growing wider and with the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in China anti-Soviet fanatacism erupted across the People's Republic. On 2 March 1969 a series of skirmishes between the Soviet Red Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army resulted in roughly a 1,000 total casualties being sustained between the two powers. Both nations deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to their borders and for years the Chinese feared an enormous Soviet invasion. Both nations almost went to war again ten years later when the Chinese invaded pro-Soviet Vietnam after that nation invaded and removed the Maoist government of Cambodia.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan also stretched relations. However nothing eventuated of the hostility between the two nations and war was averted.