Grabbing Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory Quiz

Answer: The 7th Cavalry could handle anything it encounters

Despite Custer's claim the 7th Cavalry could handle anything it encountered, any examination of the regiment's readiness would have shown otherwise. Not only was the regiment dangerously undermanned, but also poor marksmanship and shoddy equipment doomed Custer's march to failure.

Answer: through the "purges" of the military

During the late 1930s, Stalin's "Great Purge" resulted in the dismissal, exile, or execution of nearly 40,000 Soviet Army and Navy officers. If the lack of experienced leadership weren't enough, just months before Germany's invasion in 1941 more purges were conducted, leaving the Soviet Air Force gutted and the entire Soviet military ill-equipped to fight.

Answer: Two hospital ships had their lights on while moving at night

While the rest of the Russian fleet sailed in blackout conditions during the night, the two hospital ships behind the fleet kept their lights on so they could be identified as hospital ships. Those two ships were spotted by the Japanese, allowing the Russian fleet to be ambushed and nearly wiped out.

Answer: HMS Victoria

HMS Victoria was the largest battleship in the Royal Navy. It was purported to be unsinkable by any other vessel at the time. On June 22, 1893, HMS Camperdown, equipped with a massive ram on its bow, collided with the Victoria, tearing a massive hole at a weak spot in the Victoria's 17-inch armor. Within a few minutes, the Victoria sank taking down half her crew and the admiral.

Answer: True

At the time, Italy brought in around 18 billion lire annually. The cost of maintaining the new colonies was approximately 19 billion lire. This shortfall made existing economic problems worse, and was one of the reasons for Mussolini's disastrous defeat during World War II just a few years later.

Answer: The pilot had ejected over Poland

After the pilot ejected, the plane continued to fly on autopilot until running out of fuel 600 miles later over Belgium. Fighter planes were sent to see what this Russian plane was doing in Dutch airspace, and encountered a pilotless aircraft. They were ordered to shoot it down over the North Sea, but unfortunately the MiG ran out of fuel and crashed into a Belgian house.

Answer: China

Despite the success of the Inchon landings, the U.N. forces were not in a position to make a unified attack further north into Korea. Throwing sound judgement and prudence to the wind, General MacArthur ordered an attack. China had made warnings about approaching its border, and just as the U.N. forces were stretched to their limit, attacked, nearly destroying the entire U.N. army. China pushed all the way back to the 38th parallel, and MacArthur was unable to make any further breakthroughs.

Answer: Douglas MacArthur

Ignoring President Hoover's order to stop, MacArthur attacked the veterans and their families with cavalry and infantry, ordering the cavalry to charge into the makeshift village with the infantry following behind using tear gas. Over a thousand veterans and family members were injured.

A total of 69 police officers were injured during their earlier failed attempt to remove the veterans, in which two veterans were killed by the Washington, D.C. police.

Answer: Anti-aircraft rounds hit the cruiser's depth charges

During the training, a kite that was being used for target practice was shot down, and the gunner continued firing at it as it fell. Some of the rounds then hit the depth charges stored on deck. The explosion detonated all the depth charges and then the ammunition stored below deck, ripping the ship apart. Within three minutes the ship had sunk, leaving 36 survivors and 336 dead.

Answer: they didn't know there was a war

At first it sounds laughably stupid to not inform far-flung outposts that there is a war going on. But, as has been shown, Spain had nothing to do with the sinking of the USS Maine, and was completely unprepared for a war.