Sally Forth Trivia Quiz

Answer: Persia

After a failed first attempt at conquest, the Persian king Xerxes led what Herodotus estimated at 1.2 million men in an invasion of the Greek peninsula. That number has been lowered by modern historians, down to a more reasonable 60,000 men. Greece was divided at this time, and the militarily strong Greek city of Sparta only sent 300 of their men, led by King Leonidas to help Athens and the other states to hold off the invading Persians.

A religious Spartan festival was occurring at the same time of the invasion, and it was believed if Spartans were to miss the festival, they would feel the wrath of God.

This festival is believed to have coincided with the invasion, though the Persians did not know about the festival. Though the Persians won at Thermopylae, the Greeks responded with wins at Salamis and Plateca, pushing the Persians back out of Greece.

Answer: One day

The English used their prowess of the longbow to defeat the French at Crecy in 1346 and Poitiers in 1356, but after Henry V ascended the throne in 1415 the Hundred Years' War was reignited. Henry demanded the French throne, and began to assemble an army of over 100,000 men when his request was turned down.

After laying siege to the port city of Harfleur, the French army was able to locate the marching army at the wet farmlands near Agincourt. Outnumbered roughly 2:1, the longbow was used effectively to drive back the French, and allow the English to take prisoners.

Answer: Eastern Mediterranean Sea

The Battle of Lepanto was a naval battle contested by the Holy League, a papal formed alliance consisting of Spain, many Italian states, and Malta against the Ottoman Empire. The bloody battle was fought mostly with galleys, a sailing ship customized for war. Large enough to hold cannons and soldiers, each galley required 144 rowers, usually slaves.

The losing Ottoman side lost 210 ships, including 117 that were seized by the Holy League, and 25,000 soldiers.

Answer: False

The battle was part of the Orin War, a Japanese civil war that lasted ten years in the 15th century when Japanese central authority deteriorated, and individual states held power. Takeda Shingen led his undermanned army into rival territory, where after a successful siege of the Nagoshino Castle, it was destroyed by the combined armies of the Owari and Tokugawa provinces. Oda Nobunago, the head of the Owari state and military used the win to seize the military dictatorship over Japan.

Answer: Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher

The veteran General Blücher was 72 at the time of the battle. His initial Prussian army of 117,000 men was defeated at Ligny by the French Army, commanded by Napoleon. The loss forced the Duke of Wellington to retreat in line with the Prussians to the eventual battlefield at Waterloo. Fighting strategically from the top of a ridge, the unified army led by Wellington was able to disintegrate the waves of attacks from the French.

It took the late day arrival of Blücher and the Prussians to make victory certain.

Answer: Army of Northern Virginia

General Lee wanted to launch an invasion of the northern states, and sought after a decisive battle to demoralize the North, force European intervention on the Southern side, and to help swing the upcoming 1864 election towards the Democrats. He led his army of roughly 70,000 up the Shenandoah Valley with the intended destination of Harrisburg.

The invading army was noticed by Union cavalry near Gettysburg, and the three day battle (July 1-3, 1863) commenced. Each side lost 23,000 men, and the losing Confederate army retreated to Virginia.

Answer: Douglas Haig

While preparing for battle in the trenches, German artillery was able to kill British soldiers both in no-man's land and behind the trenches. German machine guns were superior, and could fire on all parts of the Allied line. After heavy losses during battle, Haig couldn't end the battle for two reasons.

The French and Russian armies had each received similar losses (there were over 400,000 British casualties in the Battle of the Somme). Secondly, the French allies were also locked in battle at Verdun, so Haig had to continue to pressure the Germans at the Somme.

The deadlock continued for four and a half months, prompting public opinion at home to believe the British troops were "lions led by donkeys".

Answer: Tanks

The German army attempted an attack on Kursk in an effort to straighten their line against the Soviet Union late in 1943. The T-34 was the most common Russian tank. Though cheap and mass produced, T-34's had thick armour and could only be destroyed by heavy artillery.

The Germans used their Tiger and Panther tanks. The Tiger came with a powerful gun, and a thick armour shield. The Panther was the German's direct response to the Soviet T-34, a fast and agile tank that was well-armored. The Panther debuted at Kursk, and 200 of them were used.

The Soviet tanks were able to fend off the attacking Germans, and it took the Allied landing in Sicily and a successful Soviet counter-offensive that pushed the Germans back west.

Answer: Hamburg

The RAF used the Bomber Stream tactic to co-ordinate both planes and to bomb specific areas, a system they had used since 1942. They also dropped aluminum foil over German airspace, which 'fogged' German radar, a move that the RAF thought could backfire if the Germans used the same tactic on them. On the night of July 27, nearly 800 bombers dropped over 2300 tons of explosives on Hamburg.

The individual fires caused by each incendiary bombs compounded into a giant fire. The dry conditions in Hamburg at the time led to hurricane-like winds, and temperatures reached 1400°C inside. 40,000 civilians died, most of them became trapped in bomb shelters and exposed to carbon monoxide and the extreme heat.

The RAF bombing was one of a series of raids that had begun on 24 July and continued until August 3.

In all, an estimated 42,600 German civilians were killed in these raids.

Answer: Half of the soldiers were never entering battle

Furthermore, some Americans were angry as they believed the South Vietnamese weren't contriubuting enough to the fight. The Tet Offensive of 1968 heightened the outrage of the American people. General William Westmoreland had claimed soon before the attacks that the North Vietnamese army was close to defeat. On Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, the Communist north attacked all major cities in South Vietnam. Nearly 50,000 American soldiers died in the War, for no victory as the communist North invaded South Vietnam effortlessly after the US had withdrawn.

While over 9 million Americans served in Vietnam, only a few hundred thousand never saw front line action.