The Birth of Any Nation Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sam Houston

Houston earned the nickname because he both led the Texas forces that defeated Mexican president Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and because he was elected president of the new republic twice. The other three died at the Alamo.

Answer: India

Known by the nickname "Netaji" in India, Bose is rarely known outside India because in leading the Indian National Army against the British in World War II, Bose received his aid from Germany and Japan. Like many leaders of Asian independence movements during and after the war, Bose was imprisoned by the British, and after his release, went separate ways from Gandhi by resorting to military force in his efforts to gain Indian independence, thus making him more like Washington than the Mahatma. Although he never got to see Indian independence, as he disappeared in 1945, he was twice elected President of the Indian National Congress, in 1938 and again in 1939, which gives credence to the epithet of "the George Washington of India."

Answer: David Ben-Gurion

Polish-born Ben-Gurion served two terms as Prime Minister between 1948 and 1963, as he was out of office just from January of '54 to November of '55. Herzl, as founder of the Zionist Movement, earned the title, "Visionary of the State," but never served in the Israeli government. Dayan was the second child born in the first Jewish kibbutz while it was still under control of the Ottoman Empire, in 1915.

He was a military commander during the 1948 war and served as Israel's Minister of Defense (1967-1974) and Foreign Minister (1977-1979).

A Palestinian, Arafat was a sworn enemy of the Jewish State of Israel.

Answer: Simon Bolivar

O'Higgins is the "father of the fatherland" for Chile, while Bonifacio was the advisor to Brazil's first independent ruler, Dom Pedro I, and Cespedes is the "father of the fatherland" of Cuba. Born in Venezuela, Bolivar earned the epithet of "The Liberator" for his efforts in leading almost all of northern South America to independence from Spain in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century.

Answer: Krste Misirkov

Misirkov is identified as the "Father of the Nation" of Macedonia. He was a linguist who helped standardize the Macedonian language and in Macedonia has been identified as "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century," according to his Wikipedia entry on "the Macedonian Conflict."

Besides being Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV was also King of Bohemia, and Bohemia is the core of the modern state of the Czech Republic. He was the first King of Bohemia to become Holy Roman Emperor and was declared "Father of His Country" at his funeral by Albertus Ranconis. Palacky was the leader of the Czech National Movement of the first half of the 19th century, while Masaryk was the first president of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1935.

Answer: Sun Yat-sen

As leader of the Kuomintang, Sun was the first president of the Republic of China at its beginning in 1912. He is still called "Father of the Nation" in Taiwan, while the People's Republic of China (mainland China) still honors him with the nickname of "forerunner of democratic revolution." Sun remained President of the Republic of China until he was replaced in March of 1912, while holding the title of "Premier of the Kuomintang of China" from 1919 until his death in 1925.

After forcing the Nationalists off the mainland in 1949, Mao ruled the Peoples Republic of China until his death in 1976. Ma Ying-jeou became Taiwan's thirteenth president in 2008. Qin is the famous "first emperor" who left us the fantastic terra cotta warriors of Xian.

Answer: Lee Kuan Yew

Singaporean by birth, Lee Kuan Yew's great-grandfather was a Hakka Chinese who emigrated to Singapore in 1863. Lee's native tongue is English, but he began learning Chinese when he was 32 and later also learned Japanese. Hassan is Somalia's "Father of the Fatherland," while Artigas is the "Father of Uruguayan Independence," and Mara is the "Founding Father of Fiji."

Answer: Pakistan

India and Pakistan gained their independence from Britain in 1947. By 1940, Jinnah realized that India and Pakistan needed to each gain their own independence, and he split with the Indian National Congress while still leading the All-India Muslim League from 1913 to 1947. With independence, the former colony of India was split into two states, the Hindu-dominated India and the Muslim-dominated Pakistan. Jinnah was Pakistan's first Governor-General.

Answer: Kwame Nkrumah

In 1951 Nkrumah was summoned from jail by the British governor of what was then called the Gold Coast, and asked to from a government. He led Ghana from that time and from Ghana's independence in 1957 until his term as president ended in 1966. Nkrumah was one of the founders of the Organization of African Unity. Jagan was the President of Guyana from 1992 to 1997. Sihanouk was twice King of Cambodia, and, without the title of king, headed the Cambodian government from 1953 to 1970. Rugova was the first president of Kosovo and served in that position for twelve years in two terms between 1992 and 2006.

Answer: Guinea

Like Nkrumah, Toure was an admirer of Lenin. In the late 60s the two African leaders helped form a political and revolutionary party called the All-African People's Revolutionary Party to help movements in African areas still under colonial control by European states.

However, Toure also looked on President Kennedy as an ally and was greatly disturbed when the latter was assassinated. After falling ill in Saudi Arabia in March of 1984, Toure was flown to Cleveland, Ohio, where he died undergoing treatment.