My Favorite Kaisers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gaius Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar declared himself dictator for life in 44 BC, but was never designated an emperor. A month later, he was assassinated. Octavian, whom Caesar chose for his heir, became Rome's first emperor with the elimination of Mark Antony and Lepidus, the other two members of the Second Triumvirate.

Lucus Papirius Cursor was a great general who was twice declared dictator and was five times a consul. He died about 200 years before Caesar.

Marcus Valerius Corvus was a contemporary of Papirius and was also twice elevated to dictator and a six-time consul.

Answer: Charlemagne

Germans know Charlemagne as Karl der Große, or Charles the Great. The Latin form of his name is Karolus Magnus. He has been called the "Father of Europe."

He became King of the Franks in 768 and is considered the founder of the Carolingian Dynasty. In 800 he was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" in St. Peter's Basilica, which ended the claims to what was left of the western Roman Empire by the Byzantine Empire. His capital was at present-day Aachen, Germany.

Answer: Joseph II

Known as the "Musical King," Joseph was a patron of the arts and commissioned work from both Mozart and Beethoven. The oldest son of Empress Maria Theresa, Joseph ruled as Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1765 to 1790.

Answer: Wilhelm II

Wilhelm, whose full name was Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert Hohenzollern, ruled for 30 years from 1888 to the end of World War I and the abolition of the German Empire in 1918. He was the oldest grandchild of Britain's Queen Victoria, his mother Victoria being the British queen's oldest child.

After Germany's defeat in 1918, Wilhelm went into exile in the Netherlands.

Answer: Otto I (the Great)

When Henry the Fowler passed away in 936, Otto was crowned Duke of Saxony and King of Germany. A month before his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor, Otto crowned himself King of Italy in Pavia before continuing on to Rome. Otto I was the first to be named Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope, as Charlemagne was designated Emperor of the Romans only.

Although he was a Saxon, he held his coronation as King of Germany in Aachen, dressed as a Frankish king, in order to show his reign as part of the legacy of Charlemagne.

All of the three incorrect answers were also Holy Roman Emperors.

Answer: Charles V

Charles V was heir to three European dynasties: the Houses of Habsburg, Valois-Burgundy (Netherlands), and Trastamara (Spain). Due to health concerns, including an increasing inability to chew, through a series of abdications, he finally retired to a monastery at age 56, dying two years later.

His rule over much of Europe and his global Spanish holdings around the globe lasted 34 years. His younger brother Ferdinand became the HRE Ferdinand I, and his son Philip II became ruler of the Spanish Emipire.

Answer: Frederick Barbarossa

"Barbarossa" means "red beard."

In 1164 Frederick donated what are believed to be relics of the Biblical Magi to the Archbishop of Cologne. They are now housed in the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne cathedral.

In 1189 Frederick joined French King Philip Augustus and English King Richard the Lionhearted in the Third Crusade, an enterprise that he never completed.

Augustus the Strong ruled for 39 years as Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Charles Martel was known as Charles (or Karl in German) the Hammer. Hermann, also known as Arminius, was the Cherusci chief who defeated three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9.

Answer: Wilhelm I

In 1861 Wilhelm became the seventh King of Prussia. The House of Hohenzollern had ruled the state since its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. Its status was elevated to a kingdom in 1701.

Bismarck used his office as Prussia's chancellor to unify the splintered German states into one empire. Using tactics he referred to as "Blood and Iron," Bismarck led Prussia to successful wars against Austria, Denmark, and France.

Answer: Franz Josef I

Only Louis XIV of France (72 years) and Johann II of Liechtenstein (71 years) had longer reigns than Franz Josef in European history. Technically, Franz Josef was Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Although he passed away in 1916, halfway through the course of World War I, and never knew the total calamity of that conflict, Franz Josef suffered many personal family tragedies.

His brother, Maximilian, was executed in Mexico in 1864, and his only son and heir, Crown Prince Rudolf, committed suicide in 1889. Furthermore, his wife, Empress Elizabeth, was assassinated in 1898, as was his nephew and heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo in 1914.

Answer: Frederick III

Born in 1415, Frederick III ruled as King of Germany for 53 years, from 1440 until his death in 1493. Twelve years after Frederick was elected King of Germany, Pope Nicholas V crowned him Holy Roman Emperor.

Beginning with Otto the Great in 962, it was customary for the Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the title. However, Frederick III's son, Maximilian I, was never crowned by the pontiff, but nonetheless succeeded his father and ruled until 1519.