Man's Inhumanity to Man Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Spanish Inquisition

The Tribunal, established to investigate these matters, initially only had power over people who had been baptized as Christians. So its earliest "heretics" were people of the Jewish faith who had converted to Christianity to escape anti-Semitic persecution, which was very prevalent at the time. The sincerity of their conversion was held in doubt, and many were believed to still be practicing Jewish rituals in secrecy. This conversion to Christianity was encouraged by a royal decree in 1492, which gave Jews the choice between accepting Christianity and leaving the country.
By the 16th century, the Tribunal was also using its powers to persecute Protestants and the Moors who were of the Islamic faith. It also concerned itself with all issues of heresy, including witchcraft, homosexuality and censorship; later, even Free Masons were declared heretics and found themselves subject to persecution by the Tribunal.
The powers of the Tribunal were not abolished until 1834, by Queen Isabella II.

Answer: Pogrom

There were a number of pogroms leveled at Jews in the 19th century, in Eastern Europe and Russia. Each successive pogrom seemed to increase in brutality, with an ever increasing mortality rate. From the mid 1800s through to the Revolution of 1917, literally thousands of Jewish homes were destroyed, with many of the occupants being raped (in the case of women) and killed (in the case of men, women and children). An estimated two million Jews left Russia during this time, to escape the persecution, or the numbers might have been even higher. Some of the pogroms were sparked by the erroneous belief that the Jews were responsible for the assassination of Alexander II, while others occurred after anti-Semitic rioting was, unbelievably, blamed on the Jews by Alexander III.

Many of these pogroms were carried out by crowds whipped into a fervour by religious leaders.

Answer: Ku Klux Klan

Although I have referred to the second incarnation of the Klan as a rebirth, many feel that the only thing that the two groups had in common was the name. The second forming of the group was felt to have been inspired by the film "The Birth of a Nation", which glorified the creation of the original Klan. One of the most frightening things about the Klan was how widespread its influence reached, with membership believed to be in the millions during its peak years.

Answer: The Final Solution of the Jewish Question

Hermann Goering used the expression in a directive to Reinhard Heydrich, instructing him to submit a plan for the genocide of the Jews of Europe. Some sources credit Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking Nazi official who was instrumental in organizing the logistics of the plan, of coining the phrase.

However the expression was being used at the Wannsee Conference on Jan. 20, 1942, when the decision to commit to the mass murders was spelled out. Eichmann was present at the Wannsee Conference, but only as a recording secretary. The implementation of 'The Final Solution' signified the beginning of the serious attempt to wipe out the European Jews, including the building of death camps.

Answer: Idi Amin

Thought by many to be the victim of advanced syphilis, Amin was often referred to as a buffoon, due to the ridiculous nature of many of his actions. He had bestowed upon himself many bizarre titles, including Conqueror of the British Empire and King of Scotland.

In 1972 he expelled the 50,000 Asians who were then living in Uganda, claiming that he had been told to do so by God in a dream. His cruelty was legendary, and he is believed to have been responsible for the torture and murder of anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 people.

He formed his own death squads to take care of anyone whom he felt was a threat, and unsubstantiated rumours suggest that he cannibalized some of his enemies. He was a known supporter of the PLO, who landed a high-jacked flight, full of 256 hostages, at Entebbe Airport in 1976.

The stand-off was ended by a successful Israeli attack and all but two of the hostages were rescued alive. Amin had the one hostage, who had been removed to the hospital, summarily executed. Amin died in exile in 2003, in Saudi Arabia.

Answer: Cambodia

Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge forced people to work long days, split up families and disbanded institutions such as churches and schools. Many people were murdered outright, others forcibly relocated, usually out of the cities and thousands literally starved to death.
This reign of terror lasted until the Vietnamese army overthrew the Khmer Rouge, and the United Nations was able to move in a large peacekeeping force.

Answer: Tiananmen Square

According to the People's Republic of China only 200- 300 people were killed during the suppression of the protests, but other sources (student associations and the Chinese Red Cross) estimate the death toll to be between two and three thousand. The protestors did not all hold the same beliefs.

Some were there because they were tired of the corruption within the government, while other protestors were concerned about the high rate of inflation and the resultant effects on their ability to survive.

Some gathered to protest the Party's treatment of Hu Yaobang, a former Secretary General whose criticism of the party led to his disgrace. His death on April 15, 1989 was the rallying point for many of the protestors. Protests continued throughout May in various forms, with some students engaging in a hunger strike that garnered a lot of public support. On June 4, 1989, the army's attack on the protestors began, with many being killed and many more being injured. Later reports by the People's Republic tried to claim that 5,000 soldiers were injured by the protestors, while only 2,000 protestors suffered injury at the hands of the soldiers.

The Chinese Red Cross puts the number of injured protestors at around 30,000.

Answer: Bosnia

Although smaller in number, the Serbian population of Bosnia declared war on the Muslim population, in an effort to completely drive them out of the country. This action was referred to as ethnic cleansing and involved mass shootings, rape, the sniping of civilians in the capital city of Sarajevo, forcible relocation of entire towns and villages, and the internment of Muslim men and boys in concentration camps. Over the four years of conflict, in the mid 1990s, an estimated 200,000 Muslims were killed by Serb actions. Cessation of these hostilities only occurred with military intervention by the U.S. and by NATO forces, and even that didn't come without a fight from both the NATO forces, and from the Bosnian Muslims who were given arms from other Islamic countries.

Answer: Rwanda

The differences and tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis have long been those of class and power. The Tutsis have traditionally been the group who held the power, granted to them by the German and Belgian colonists who settled the area in the late 19th century.

After WWII, the Hutus gained power, and many Tutsis fled the country, many finding homes in Uganda. There the Tutsis formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and laid plans to regain power in their own country. In August of 1993, the Rwandan President negotiated a treaty with the (RPF) which gave them back some of the rights they had lost.

This did not sit well with the more militant elements of the government, and the seeds of the genocide were sown.

Answer: Saddam Hussein

Hussein's regime of fear lasted for 24 years. His power was absolute and when asked in an interview if he had ever used torture, he answered "of course". His attack on the Kurdish people involved the use of mustard gas, which left an estimated 5,000 dead and another 10,000 injured. During the 24 years of his rule he has entered into a prolonged war with neighbouring Iran, invaded Kuwait and been at war twice with the United States.

He was captured by American forces on December 13, 2003.