Where did this Happen?: 1930s Edition Quiz

Answer: Uruguay

Compared to the spectacles of today, the 1930 tournament was a rather simple affair. There were no qualifiers - any FIFA member interested could field a team. Yet, it proved extremely difficult for the organizers to raise interest from any non-American nations and in the end, they managed to persuade only four teams from Europe to make the long and expensive trip.

The only one of them to make it to the elimination rounds was Yugoslavia, who lost their semifinal match to later champions Uruguay. The Belgian referee assigned to the final match was so afraid for his life that he would only agree to oversee it after a boat was provided for him to be able to leave the area quickly. Times have changed for sure...

Answer: China

After three years of heavy drought, China saw massive snowfalls in the 1930/31 winter, followed by torrential rain in spring and summer of 1931. These amounts of water, largely unable to filter into the parched ground, led to water levels up to 16 meters above normal and flooded an area equivalent to more than half of Britain. At least 422,000 people died of drowning, disease and starvation; most estimates put that number much higher - between 2 and 4 million. The number displaced was much larger still; estimates range from 25 to 53 million affected.

As a reaction, damming and flood protection programs were begun, however the wars of the 1930s and 40s prevented any significant progress on those and catastrophic floods along the Yangtze river continue into the 21st century.

Answer: Iraq

Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi first was crowned king of Syria in 1920, but his reign there lasted only for four months. The British then considered him a good ruler for their protectorate of Iraq and had him crowned king in August 1921. During most of his reign, Faisal was dependent on Britain's goodwill in furthering his Arab agendas, further hampered by the fact that Syria, still a major interest of his, was a French protectorate. Through his diplomatic efforts, he managed to negotiate a partial independence for Iraq in 1930 and achieved full independence for his country in October 1932, a year before his sudden death rumored (but not confirmed) to have been caused by poison.

After his death, Iraq was ruled by his son and then grandson until the 1958 coup.

Answer: The Vatican

The Reichskonkordat was a treaty between the Nazi government and the Roman Catholic Church, represented by Pope Pius XI, who were, even at this very early stage, very concerned that the Nazi rule would significantly curtail the rights and position of the Church in Germany - concerns that were all too justified.

While on paper, the agreement did grant the church a high level of protection and freedom, religious activity in the Third Reich was monitored and largely controlled by the state. The Reichskonkordat was never abolished and technically remains in force with the Federal Republic of Germany as successor; it has actually been invoked by the Holy See in 1957 in a dispute about the teaching of religion in school.

Answer: Canada

The Dionne sisters were identical quintuplets, with most likely a sixth fetus conceived but stillborn. While quintuplets are rare as such, the fact that they were an identical set and the first to all survive their infancy makes them well-known to the present day. Of the five, two were still alive by 2019 while the other three died at ages 20, 35 and 67 respectively. Neither of the two early deaths was medically connected to the sisters' birth history.

To this day, controversy still surrounds the Dionne sisters, especially the way their youth was handled by family, state and the media. Their fame and publicity on the one hand secured them much needed funds (their parents were very poor and already had five older children) but also were exploiting them, even while wards of the state, to an extent that would be considered serious child abuse in modern days.

Answer: United States

One might suspect this marvel of engineering to be of Swiss or German origin, but it was developed in Oklahoma. The design of the meter was rather simple - a coin acceptor triggering the mechanism that would add a certain amount of time to a mechanical clock. Similar to the flag on chess clocks but more prominently visible, the meters included a visual indicator that would come up when time expired.

The design, patented in 1938, did not see significant change or improvement until the advent of electronic parking meters in the 1980s. Today, traditional singe-space meters have largely being phased out in favor of centralized solutions that can offer more payment options, different rates and lower operating costs.

Answer: Mandatory Palestine

The Tulkarm shooting (also known as Anabta shooting) was an unprovoked attack of Arab men on Jewish drivers. The attackers created a roadblock and stole weapons and cash from passing drivers. Three Jews among the drivers were shot at point blank range; one died immediately and one in hospital while the third survived.

The attack was the trigger event of what would turn first into a constant trading of attacks between Jewish and Arab Palestinians, then a general strike lasting for half a year and finally civil war situation between Arabs and British forces. Over 900 murders were committed in those three years while police killings and executions aimed at repressing the rebellion measured in the thousands.

Answer: New Guinea

Having obtained her pilot's license in 1921 at the age of 24, Amelia Earhart immediately set her mind on competitive flying and promoting aviation, especially for other women. In 1928, she was the first female on a transatlantic flight but did not have an active role in piloting the craft, a fact she regretted and that inspired her to her 1932 solo transatlantic flight. On her 1937 quest to circumnavigate Earth, she had to abandon the first attempt due to a takeoff incident on the second leg that left her craft with severe damage. On the second attempt, she had completed three quarters of the distance. Taking off from New Guinea on July 2, her destination was Howland Island, a small US possession in the Pacific. During her approach to the hard to find island, she made radio contact but was not able to hear the operators and missed the island. Weak transmissions were received for several days, suggesting that she might have successfully touched down on land, but neither the plane nor the crew were ever found and the authenticity of those additional transmissions remains doubtful to the present.

Answer: Spain

Lasting from 1936 to 1939, the Spanish Civil War has entered history as particularly devastating on the civilian populace, memorialized in Picasso's famous "Guernica" painting. The battle of the Ebro was the longest of the war and began as a counter-offensive by the Republican troops whose area of control had been split into two parts by Nationalist Franco's forces earlier in the year.

Initially, the Republicans gained some significant territory before being pushed back to their original positions by the German-supported Nationalists.

While, in terms of territory gains and losses, the battle was a stalemate, the massive Republican losses in both personnel and material proved decisive for the further course of the war and within five further months, the Republican resistance had collapsed, leaving Franco free to establish a fascist-inspired dictatorial regime in Spain on April 1, 1939 that lasted until his death in 1975.

Answer: Finland

In what was called the Winter War, the Soviet Union invaded Finland as it had always been intended and written down in the pact between Hitler and Stalin. Within a week, the Soviet troops had reached the Mannerheim line, approximately fifty kilometers into Finland.

While many sources erroneously depict this line as a heavily fortified zone similar to the Maginot line, it was actually a lightly fortified area with highly mobile defenses which were however very suitable for stopping the tank-based Soviet advance.

The numerically superior Soviets suffered heavy casualties with at least 125,000 dead while, on the Finnish side, only 25,000 died. After heavy fighting in December and January, a changed tactic finally achiever a Soviet breakthrough and Finland was forced to cede a significant part of its territory to the Soviets in March 1940.