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Answer: Charles, Duke of Rothesay and Cornwall

Queen Victoria, still the longest-reigning monarch in British history at the end of the 20th century, gave birth to her first son, Albert Edward, a little over four years after she became queen. He was the "heir apparent", first as the Earl of Dublin then later as the Prince of Wales, from November 1841 until January 1901 before taking the throne as King Edward VII. (He died less than 10 years after becoming king.) That was the longest anyone had waited as first in line to the throne until the Prince Charles (now King Charles III), Duke or Rothesay, Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales.

He became heir apparent when his mother Queen Elizabeth II became Queen in February 1952, when he was just over three years old. In the summer of 2012, Prince Charles surpassed the former King Edward VII as the longest-serving heir apparent in British history. George, Crown Prince of Hanover, was born as heir apparent to George III in 1762 and did not become King George IV until 1820 -- more than 57 years in waiting. Prince Edward's father, Henry III, has already been on the throne for 23 years when he was born in 1239. Even so, he had to wait more than 33 years, until 1272, before he became King Edward I.

Answer: William Howard Taft

The 48th state, and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, Arizona, achieved statehood on February 14, 1912. The President at the time was William Howard Taft, who took office in March 1909, succeeding Theodore Roosevelt who had completed most of two full terms. Taft ran for a second term in the 1912 election, but lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson in a race that also included Roosevelt (running for a third term under the banner of the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party) and the Socialist Party's Eugene Debs. Dwight Eisenhower was President in 1959, when the latest two states, Hawaii and Alaska, joined the Union.

Answer: Gordian I

From 98 until 238 AD, first through the Nervan-Antonian and then through the Severan dynasties, there were a total of 15 Roman Emperors in more than two centuries. The trouble began when the 13-year reign of Severus Alexander ended with his murder by the German army, who proclaimed Maximinus I Emperor in 235.

In March 238, Gordian I, although technically a usurper, became Emperor by Senate proclamation and ruled jointly with his son, Gordian II. Just 21 days after gaining power, though, the son was killed fighting a pro-Maximinus army at the Battle of Carthage. Distraught at the news of his son's death, Gordian I promptly committed suicide.

A week later, the Senate proclaimed three co-emperors in opposition to Maximinus, Pupienus, Balbinus and Gordian III.

This status quo lasted less than six weeks, until the Praetorian Guard assassinated Maximinus, thus appearing to solve the disputed claims. Apparently still not happy, though, just a month later the Pretorian Guard assassinated both Pupienus and Balbinus.

This left Gordian III in sole charge, and there were no more murders or assassinations for almost six years... Then, in early 244 AD, Gordian III was murdered, apparently on the orders of Philip I (aka Philip the Arab), and round the merry-go-round went again.

Answer: 16th

Looking for an easier route to Peru in order to give them a competitive advantage over the Portuguese, King Charles V of Spain, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor, first came up with the idea of a canal across Panama in 1534. As you can see, it would take a further 480 years for this plan to come to fruition -- some wait! There were numerous other attempts in the meantime. Curiously, the King of Scotland actually tried to set up an overland route across Panama in the 1690s, but that quickly died a death.

In the 1780s, an Italian nobleman who was a Spanish naval officer at the time drew up detailed plans for the construction of a canal but nothing came of those either. The Panama Railroad, which crossed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, opened in 1855, but a ship canal was still seen as necessary.

The French, hot from their success building the Suez Canal, were the next to try, but their efforts had petered out by 1889. In early 1904, the US under the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt paid the French $40m for their equipment (including the Panama Railroad), the Panamanian government another $10m for the right to build, and began construction on May 4 of that same year.

The cargo ship SS Ancon became the first vessel to pass through the Canal, on August 15, 1914.

Answer: Henry VI

The incumbent French king, Philip VI, disagreed with Edward's assertion. Edward invaded the French mainland on numerous occasions, notably in 1340 and again in 1346, with notable victories for the British such as the Battle of Crecy (1346) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356).

The advantage swung back and forth, though, with long periods of truce thrown in. The accession to the French throne of Charles V in 1369 coupled with Edward's death and the subsequent crowning of the child-king Richard II in 1377 saw the French gain the upper hand.

The English gained supremacy again following the accesssion of Henry V in 1413. They invaded again two years later, enjoying victories at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) and even took Paris. The English laid siege to Orleans in 1428, but the appearance of Joan of Arc sparked a French revival.

Henry VI was crowned King of France in 1429 but the decision to execute Joan of Arc in 1431 seems to have been the turning point as the French again gained the upper hand. English defeat at the Battle of Castillon in 1453 effectively ended the war some 116 years after it had begun, and Charles VII of France is still known today as "Charles the Victorious". With the Wars of the Roses starting at home in 1455, English appetite for continued conflict with France quickly dissipated. Officially, though, England and France remained at war for another 20 years.

Answer: Ming

Between the 8th and the 5th Century B.C., the warring states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan all built significant walls to defend their territory. After the Qin Dynasty's victory in 221 B.C., all walls built by the individual states were destroyed and a wall constructed to protect the northern frontier of the new empire. The Han and Sui Dynasties subsequently constructed fortifications, but far to the north of the wall we know today. It was during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) that most of the "Great Wall" was built (or previous structures fortified).
When the Qing Dynasty took over (1644-1912), one of their first moves was to significantly expand the Empire's territory to the north, specifically into Mongolia. This effectively rendered The Wall irrelevant, and both construction and maintenance was virtually halted.
Measuring The Wall from end to end, it stretches some 5,500 miles, although 'only' 3,889 miles of that is actual wall. (There are also 223 miles of trenches and 1,387 miles of natural barriers such as hills and rivers.) The more amazing statistic, though, is that when you include all of the branches and extensions, there are an astonishing 13,171 miles of wall. That is about half of the circumference of the Earth!
As Roger Waters asked many years later, though: "Mother, did it have to be so high?" :)

Answer: Thailand

The French had four consecutive kings named Louis (Louis XIII to Louis XVI) between 1610 and 1792, whilst England had three Edwards between 1272 and 1377 and four Georges between 1714 and 1830. Those streaks pale beside the dynasty that has lasted more than two centuries, beginning in the Kingdom of Siam and, now, Thailand.
Born Thong Duang in 1737 in what was then the national capital, Ayutthaya, he became king in 1782 and established the Chakri Dynasty that still reigns today. At the time, he didn't take a royal name, but was known simply as "Your Majesty" or "King", but he was subsequently designated as Rama I (literally "First Reign"). On his death in 1809, one of his 42 offspring, Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, became King of Siam and took the name Rama II. The tradition still continues today -- when Bhumibol Adulyadej (born in 1927) ascended to the throne in 1946 he took the name King Rama IX. More than 65 years later, perhaps the world's most-loved monarch remained on the throne as both the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history and the world's longest-serving head of state.
Of the alternatives, the naming of Danish monarchs followed a curious pattern for more than four centuries -- King Christian II was succeeded by Frederick I in 1523 and thereafter alternate kings were named Christian and Frederick until the cycle was broken in 1972 by the death of King Frederick IX and the accession of Queen Margrethe II.

Answer: Utah

The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 instigated the building of the Union Pacific line westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa and the Central Pacific line eastwards from Oakland, CA. On May 10, 1869, the two lines joined up at Promontory Summit, 50 miles west of the city of Ogden, Utah, thus creating North America's first transcontinental railroad.

Answer: Colossus of Rhodes

The last of the "Seven Wonders" to be completed was the Lighthouse of Alexandria -- construction began around 280 B.C. and was completed in 247. Only for a brief period of a little over two decades was it possible to visit all seven finished structures. Just 21 years after the completion of the Lighthouse, an earthquake in 226 B.C. destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes. Since that was also the sixth of the seven to be completed (it took 12 years to build and was finished in 280 B.C.), the Colossus of Rhodes was also the shortest-lived of the seven, surviving for only 54 years. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built around 600 B.C. and lasted more than half a millennium before earthquake destroyed them sometime during the 1st Century B.C. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was actually built twice -- completed around 550 B.C., it was destroyed by Herostratus arsonists in 356; it was then rebuilt 30 years later but survived less than a century the second time around before it was plundered by the Goths in 262 B.C.

Other than the Great Pyramid, the one to survive the longest was the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (or Tomb of Mausolus) -- finished around 351 B.C. it survived undamaged for about 1,500 years. It was destroyed by a series of earthquakes between 1150 and 1494.

Answer: 872 days

Perhaps the first example of siege warfare dates back to the late 16th-Century B.C., when the forces of Pharaoh Ahmose I of Egypt cut off the ancient Negev Desert town of Sharuhen for more than three years. History is rife with examples, from the Siege of Troy around 1200 B.C. to the Berlin Blockade in the late 1940s and the 4-year Siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War of the 1990s. The Siege of Leningrad began on September 8, 1941, when German forces reached the shores of Lake Lagoda, thus completing the encirclement of the city.

It finally ended on January 27, 1944 -- 872 days later. Besides the enormous loss of life, there was massive structural damage done, with more than 9000 houses burned, plus 3200 residential buildings and almost 1000 factories destroyed.