Who Was in Charge When....? (2) Quiz

Answer: Andrew Fisher

The WWI Gallipoli Campaign began on April 25, 1915 with Anzac troops landing on the Gallipoli peninsular in the Ottoman Empire. The peninsular, now known as the Gelibolu district, stands on the northern bank of the Dardanelles, the narrow strait in northwestern Turkey that connects the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

One of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war, the Gallipoli Campaign lasted more than seven months, until January 9, 1916. Despite the eventual defeat, "ANZAC Day", April 25, is today the most important commemoration of veterans and military casualties in both Australia and New Zealand.

Andrew Fisher was born in 1862 in the village of Crosshouse, near Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire in Scotland. He became a member of the inaugural Australian Parliament in 1901, representing the division of Wide Bay in Queensland. He succeeded Chris Watson as Labor Party leader in October 1907 and a year later became Australia's fifth Prime Minister, taking over from Alfred Deakin. Fisher's first period in office lasted just seven months, until June 1909, but he returned to the Premiership for a 3-year term in 1910. Fisher spent the next 15 months as Leader of the Opposition, during which time Australia entered WWI as members of the British Empire force. Fisher returned for his third term as Prime Minister in September 1914, and it was during this 13-month period in office that ANZAC troops landed at Gallipoli. By the end of the Gallipoli Campaign, Fisher had departed and been replaced as PM by Billy Hughes. (The fourth alternative, Robert Menzies, was Australian PM during WWII.)

Answer: Louix XIV

The Great Fire of London began on September 2, 1666 and over three days gutted much of the medieval City of London within the old Roman walls. Charles II reigned in England from 1660 until 1685.

Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or The Sun King, is the longest-reigning monarch in European history. He became king at the age of just four in 1643, and remained on the French throne until his death aged 76 in 1715.

Of the alternatives, Philip VI was the 14th-century French king during part of the Hundred Years War and, particularly, at the time of the Battle of Crecy; Charles VII was the 15th-century French king who handed Joan of Arc over to the English for execution; and Louis XVI was famously executed during the French Revolution at the end of the 18th-century.

Answer: Pius IX

Born in 1809 in the town of Hodgenville in central Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was elected as a Member of the Illinois House of Representatives at the age of just 25 and later represented the state of Illinois in Congress for two years (between 1847 and 1849).

He was elected as the 16th President of the U.S. in November 1860, but two months before his inauguration the following March seven states seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy, and thus sparking the American Civil War. His Presidency is remembered for many great speeches, not least the Gettysburg Address, delivered in little over two minutes on a Thursday afternoon, November 19, 1863.

The war effectively ended with Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, five days before Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth. Three weeks after that, the war officially ended with the May 9 proclamation, although the last shot was not fired until six weeks later, on June 22, 1865.

On the other side of the planet, Pius IX was engaged in the longest ever papacy. Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti in 1792 in the commune of Senigallia in Ancona province on the Adriatic coast of Italy, Pius IX was elected Pope in June 1846 at the relatively young age of 54. By the time of his death 11,560 days later, he had served 31 years 7 months and 23 days in office, more than five years longer than any elected Pope before of since. (Pope John Paul II, 1978-2005, has come closer than anyone to matching Pius's papacy in terms of length.)

Pius's reign is notable for the establishment of the concept of 'papal infallibility' by the 'First Vatican Council' (1869-70). He is also the last Pope to reign over the Papal States, which were invaded by the Italian Army in 1870 and incorporated into the recently-established (1861) Kingdom of Italy.

Of the alternatives, Urban VII is the shortest-lived of all Popes, his papacy lasting just 13 days in September 1590; Leo XIII followed Pius IX as Pope and is the only other Pope whose papacy exceeded 25 years; and Adrian I (Pope from 772-795) who held the record for the longest papacy for more than 1,000 years (until passed by Pius VI, 1775-1799).

Answer: Willy Brandt

The Games of the XX Olympiad were held in Munich in southern Germany between August 26 and September 11, 1972. These Olympics will always be remembered for the attack of the Palestinian terrorist organization called Black September, who broke into the Olympic Village on September 5 and took members of the Israeli team hostage. In a botched rescue attempt, all of the hostages, five of the terrorists and a West German policeman lost their lives.

Born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm in 1913 in the north German city of Lubeck, he adopted the pseudonym Willy Brandt when he left Germany for Norway in 1934 to escape Nazi persecution. After the war, he returned to Germany and spent a decade (1957-66) as Mayor of West Berlin. From 1966 until 1969 he held the posts of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor under the Chancellorship of Kurt Georg Kiesinger, before taking the top job in October 1969. Brandt spent more than four years as Chancellor before being succeeded by Helmut Schmidt in May 1974.

Answer: Augustus

Most Christian religions preach that Jesus of Nazareth was the 'Son of God'. Scholars of antiquity agree that he was a real person, a Galilean, Jewish rabbi born between 7 and 2 B.C. in the Herodian Tetrarchy, a client-state of the Roman Empire covering much of the southwestern Levant. He was executed by crucifiction on the orders of the Roman Prelate Pontius Pilate sometime between 30 and 33 A.D.

Born Gaius Octavius in Rome in 63 B.C., Augustus was from and old and wealthy family. He became the first Roman Emperor in 27 B.C., he position he occupied for more than 40 years, until his death at the age of 75 in 14 A.D. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son, Tiberius, who would reign for 22 years. just two emperors in more than 60 years was an unusually stable period in Roman history.

Answer: Henry II

Nicholas Breakspear was born sometime around 1100 in the village of Abbots Langley in southwestern Hertfordshire in central England. After holding numerous prominent posts within the Catholic church (Bishop of Albano in Italy and papal legate to Scandinavia), Breakspear succeeded Anastasius IV to become the 169th Pope on December 4, 1154, taking the papal name of Adrian IV. His reign lasted four years and 271 days, until his death in September 1159.

Henry Curtmantle (aka Henry FitzEmpress or Henry Plantagenet) was born in 1133 in the city of Le Mans in northern France. He became Duke of Normandy at the age of 17 and a year later inherited the region of Anjou and married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the former wife of King Louis VII of France. In 1153, Henry led a military expedition to England and King Stephen, fearful of a full-scale invasion, quickly agreed to a peace treaty. The result of this treaty was that when Stephen died in 1154, Henry inherited his rights to the throne.

Henry II became King of England on December 19, 1154, just two weeks after Adrian IV was elected as Pope. Henry's reign lasted somewhat longer than Adrian's -- 35 years until his death at the age of 56 in 1189 matched the longest reigns in English history at the time -- Aethelred (978-1013) and Henry I (1100-1135).

Answer: Sir Robert Borden

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was fought over four days from 9-12 April, 1917. The Canadians displayed considerable technical and tactical innovation in capturing the ridge from the German Sixth Army, who held the high ground at the beginning of the battle. Today, a 250-acre site on the former battleground is home to the 'Canadian National Vimy Memorial'.

Robert Laird Borden was born in 1854 in the rural community of Grand-Pre in central Nova Scotia. Borden succeeded Wilfrid Laurier to become Canada's eight Prime Minister, and the third Nova Scotian to hold the office, in October 2011. He remained in office throughout WWI, serving until July 1920. Since 1976, his portrait has appeared on Canadian $100 bills.

Answer: John II

Born in 1450 or 1451, Columbus was living in Portugal in the 1480s and presented his plans to King John II but was turned down. He approached numerous other leaders, in Genoa, Venice and even England's King Henry VII before going to the Spanish. Columbus set out on the first of his four voyages in August 1492, returning in March the following year. Word of his discoveries quickly spread across Europe.

John II (Joao II in Portuguese) was born in 1455 in 'Castelo de Sao Jorge' overlooking Lisbon, the third child and second son of King Afonso V, and he became king on the death of his father in 1481. Although he reigned for only 14 years (before dying aged just 40 in 1495) he was instrumental in the Portuguese Age of Exploration that saw Diogo Cao (Congo River), Bartolomeu Dias (Cape of Good Hope) and Álvaro Caminha (Sao Tome and Príncipe islands) expanding Portuguese influence around the world.

John II considered the Americas within the Portuguese 'sphere of influence' so, when Columbus returned having claimed much territory there for Spain, John II threatened to use his army to take them for Portugal. In the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Isabella of Castile agreed to share land outside Europe with Portugal.

Answer: Qing

Also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, the First Opium War began in 1839 and was ended by the 1842 treaty which ceded Hong Kong to the British crown "in perpetuity". The background to the war was the huge trade imbalance between China and Britain -- Britain bought tea, silk, porcelain and many other things from China, but sold them virtually nothing. In order to recover much of the silver flowing out of Britain, the British began shipping huge quantities of opium grown in India into China. The Daoguang Emperor's rejection of the British proposal to legalize and tax the trade sparked the war.

He was born Mien-ning in 1782 in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the second (but oldest legitimate) son of the Jiaqing Emperor. On the death of his father in 1820, he became the Daoguang Emperor, the eighth emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the sixth to rule over a unified China. His reign lasted almost 30 years, until his death at the age of 67 in 1850.

The Qing was the last imperial dynasty to rule China, surviving more than two and a half centuries until 1911, when China became a republic.

Answer: Andrew Jackson

The Belgian Revolution began in August 1830 and lasts just 33 days. The 'Great Powers' recognize Belgian independence in December that same year. "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" was first published in January 1831. The French Foreign Legion was official founded on March 10, 1831. German Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria becomes the first king of Greece on May 27, 1832 and would reign for 30 years.

Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 somewhere in the Waxhaws border region between North and South Carolina. He was first elected to public office before his 30th birthday, as a Representative from Tennessee. He subsequently represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate and held the position of Military Governor of Florida before succeeding John Quincy Adams to become the seventh U.S. President in March 1829. Jackson was succeeded by martin van Buren in March 1837.

Jackson was the fifth President to serve two full terms, something only one other President (Ulysses S Grant 40 years later) would do during the remainder of the 19th Century.