The Three Clue History Quiz

Answer: Vikings

The Vikings were excellent seafarers, so much so that Leif Erickson set foot on North America long before Christopher Columbus was ever dreamed of. They were pagans whose end-of-the-world story was Ragnarok.

The Mongols expanded their empire from a small Asian khanate to the majority of Asian and European lands. But they did this on horses, not ships.

The Phoenicians were seafaring people all right, but they were traders and not conquerors. Cyrus the Great conquered them in 539 B.C.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was chronically depressed, naming his depressive episodes his "Black Dog". He was responsible for much of the Allies success in World War II, with his rallying speeches and wooing of the American president Franklin D. Roosevelt. He knew that the American entry into the conflict would turn the tide.

The other men listed were famous in the 19th century for:
Gladstone - Prime Minister of Britain
Morris - artwork used to beautify Victorian homes
Wilde - playwright, short story writer, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

Answer: Jonathan Edwards

My ancestor, Jonathan Edwards, was a famous Great Revival preacher. He traveled from one small community to another bringing his particular brand of hell fire and brimstone. He more helpfully performed marriages, baptisms and funerals when needed. I have his pewter mug that he often used to hold water for baptisms.

Cotton Mather was involved in the Salem Witch trials although his father, Increase, would not participate. Both were theologians.

Lyman Beecher, the minister and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a much sought after preacher of the 19th century.

Answer: George III

George III of England was happily married to Queen Charlotte until his illness became permanent in 1811. He despised his son and heir George IV. Although George III appeared mad at the time, his problems may have been the result of a hereditary disease porphyria.

Ivan the Terrible descended into madness after he killed his son accidently in the course of an intense argument. He never owned the American colonies.

Neither did Ludwig II. His endless building projects crippled his country and his obsession with Richard Wagner didn't help.

Answer: Nazi concentration camps

These are only a few of the camps where Jews, homosexuals, disabled persons, and other 'enemies of the Third Reich' were murdered. Allied armies that liberated some camps were so enraged by what they found that they forced German citizens who claimed not to know what had been done near their towns (as human ash drifted in their streets) to walk through the camps and observe.

Answer: Cleopatra

Cleopatra did everything she could to hold onto power. But once she ranged herself with Marc Antony against Octavian, later Augustus, she was doomed. Rather than submit to being paraded through Rome's streets she supposedly reached into an asp-filled basket of figs and died of their poison.

Boudicca was a fierce British queen who battled the Romans successfully - for a short time, but her people were eventually massacred by them.

Agrippina and Messalina were Roman Empresses.

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi's title Mahatma means "great soul" among other things and so he was. He led Indian people on the Salt March to protest British taxation of salt.

Dr. King followed in this great man's footsteps when leading protests against racial discrimination in the Unied States.

Mr. Shaw wrote plays on socialist issues.

Mr. Tutu was a South African bishop who protested apartheid.

Answer: Tonya Harding

Tonya Harding's life has been very hard right from childhood. When her ex-husband tried to eliminate Nancy Kerrigan from the 1994 Winter Olympics by knee capping her right leg, she didn't co-operate with the police at first. So she was stripped of her place in the Olympics and banned for life.

The other two folks were gold medalists in Ice Skating.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore built up his frail body by living a rugged life. That included boxing, working as a cowboy, joining the Rough Riders and hunting way too much!

The other gentlemen were all Presidents of the U.S.A. just like Theodore.

Answer: Joan of Arc

Joan heard Archangel Michael, the Virgin Mary and other angels speaking to her. So the English burned her at the stake. No paybacks there for her many victories over them, noooo! Now we'd just give her lithium.

Charles VII was the king she was fighting for.
Gilles de Rais was one of her foremost fighters. He later also killed on a large scale for lust, and was ultimately convicted and hanged. His trial is said to have been one of the first on record for this kind of crime.