Which Country (1935)? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Soviet Union

Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev had, together with Stalin, formed the ruling triumvirate of the Soviet Communist party during Lenin's illness, but in 1925 they broke with Stalin and formed a front with his opponent Trotsky. In late 1934 they were arrested after the assassination of Sergei Kirov, and in 1935 they were convicted of 'moral complicity' in Kirov's murder.

In 1936, during the first large show trial, both would be sentenced to death for being part of a supposed 'Trotskyite' conspiracy.

Answer: Ethiopia and Italy

Mussolini used the Ual-Ual incident to prepare for the invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). When an international committee decided that the Ethiopians were in the right, he dropped his claim to Ual-Ual, but kept his warlike attitude, making heavy demands on other points and further militarizing Eritrea and Italian Somaliland until the Italians finally invaded Ethiopia later that year.

Answer: Siam (Thailand)

Officially, King Rama VII (Prajadhipok) resigned for health reasons, but in reality the reason is generally believed to have been that he could not agree to end absolute rule and accept the establishment of a constitutional monarchy after a revolt in June 1932.

Answer: Germany

At this time, a number of high-ranking Nazis left the church and converted to the 'Glaubensbewegung Deutsche Christen', a Nazi religious movement based mostly on 'Germanic' roots and keen to 'de-Judaize' Christianity. Friction between the Catholic church and the German government are high around this time, because of attempts by the government to suppress every anti-Nazi political action by the church.

Answer: The Philippines

The Philippines had been a Spanish colony, but after the Spanish-American war of 1898 had come under United States rule. In 1935 the Philippines became a commonwealth, similar to the status of the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 1946 it did indeed gain full independence. Another colony that also got a new constitution in 1935 is India; however, the Indian nationalists were against it because it did not grant India full dominion status.

Answer: Italy

The sanctions were established because of the Italian invasion in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and were in force from 18 November 1935 until 15 July 1936.

Answer: Greece

King George II had gone into exile in 1923, and in 1924 a republic had been declared. Thirteen revolts later, in 1935, the king was asked to return by prime minister Georgios Kondylis. The king wanted to do so only after a plebiscite, which was duly held, although not in anything like a fair manner.

Answer: New Zealand

The governing coalition of United Party and Reform Party was punished for their handling of the economic crisis, which was disliked by the voting public. The Labour Party scored 46.1% of the vote, and its representation in Parliament rose from 24 to 53 of the 80 seats.

Answer: Sweden

Princess Ingrid was the third of five children of King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden and his wife Margaret of Connaught, and their only daughter. Fredrick became king of Denmark on the death of his father Christian X in 1947, and the pair remained king and queen until Fredrick's death in 1972.

They had three children, the eldest of which is Margrethe II, who succeeded her father as the Danish monarch.

Answer: Switzerland

Jacob was politically active before the Nazis came to power, his antimilitaristic stance making him unpopular with them. In 1932 he fled to France, and from Strasbourg still worked producing anti-national-socialist propaganda. He was invited to Basel by a friend turned Gestapo officer who falsely promised to give him a German passport.

He was taken to Germany and arrested there. However, energetic protests by the Swiss authorities made the Germans release him again a few months later, not wanting to cause even more international incidents.

After France was invaded by the Germans, Jacob fled to Spain, then Portugal, where he was seized and brought to Germany in 1941, shortly before he would be setting sail for the United States. In 1944 he died in a German prison.