Historical Terms III Trivia Quiz

Answer: A faction that split from the liberal Russian Constitutional movement in 1905

Octobrists were a right wing faction that split from the Russian liberal constitutional movement following the publication of the October Manifesto in 1905. Support for the Octobrists came from the right wing 'Zemstvo' movement and the business classes and they were prepared to co-operate with the government in the Duma.
Led by Alexander Guchkov the Octobrists established a union for the purpose of assisting the govermnent in implementing the October 17 Manifesto of Czar Nicholas II which promised greater freedom for the people.

Answer: Soviet security police agency

OGPU (The Soviet security police agency) was founded in 1922 as the GPU (State Political Administration) and retitled Unified State Political Administration after the formation of the USSR in 1923. Its prime function was to suppress counter revolutionary elements.

The Communist Party leadership used this agency to uncover political dissidents and enforce the collectivization of agriculture. From 1930 the OGPU dominated all police activities in the USSR until 1934 when it was absorbed by NKVD.

Answer: An era in American politics

Progressive Era refers to a time in American politics circa 1890-1914 when a major movement advocating state intervention in social policy and the strict regulation of economic life was espoused by progressive, mainly middle class, politicians. These men sought to reduce corruption in domestic politics and brought about a plethora of new laws regulating the conduct of elections and the adoption of the Primary system for selecting candidates. They sought also to establish limited forms of social protection, bringing about laws on child labour and unemployment insurance, etc.

In 1912 a Progressive Party was formed to support Theodore Roosevelt's campaign.

Answer: A system of tax collecting

Ryotwari (Urdu) was a system of land tax collection under the British Raj in India. Under this system peasants were treated as the proprietors of their land and paid taxes directly to the government. Previously, under the Mogul emperors, an official (Zemindar) had been responsible for collecting district taxes.

Answer: Semi independent Indian states in the 19th century

The Princely States was an expression used to describe the 570 states in British India that remained under the rule of their own princes rather than under the direct rule of the colonial government. After the Indian revolt of 1857-58, the British preserved the privileges of the Indian aristocrats in return for their collaboration.

In 1947, following independence from Britain, the territories controlled by the princes were annexed by India and Pakistan.

Answer: A royal commission of enquiry

Quo Warranto (Lat: by what warrant?) refers to medieval commissions from King Edward I (1239-1307) enquiring into how estates and judicial rights had passed from the Crown to private individuals and corporations. Also to find out which estates were in fact royal manors.

Answer: Members of a US society

Birchers were members of the John Birch Society in the USA. The society was a right wing organization in the late 1950s and early 1960s with a firm, in fact obsessive belief that Christianity and America itself were under a deadly threat from Communism.

Answer: A 17th century religious sect in England

Muggletonians refers to an English religious sect founded in c. 1651 by two tailors, Ludowicke Muggleton and John Reeve. They made quite an impact at the time and unlike most sects of that period they professed no political interest at all but were purely religious. Muggleton and Reeve rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and asserted that God had a human body.

They also insisted that the Father, not the Son, died on the cross and that he left Elijah in charge. Muggleton and Reeve asserted and fully believed that they represented Aaron and Moses.

Answer: Strength through joy

'Kraft durch Freude' means 'strength through joy'. It was in fact a recreational organization founded by the Deutsche Arbeiterfront in November 1933. Its function was to provide the social outlets that the German trade unions had supplied before being suppressed by the Nazi Party. Cut-price theatre tickets, adult education, trips to the seaside, etc.

It also helped finance German rearmament by means of the Volkswagen savings swindle. This was a fraud in which people paid instalments in advance for new cars that they never in fact received.

Answer: Reconquest of Spain from the Moors

Reconquista refers to the 800 year long struggle by the Spanish to drive the Moorish occupiers from Spain. The very last Arab kingdom in Spain was that of Grenada, and the Moors were finally defeated in a campaign that lasted from 1482 to 1492 and left the entire peninsula under the control of Ferdinand II and Isabella I.