Sliding Rulers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was President of the French Republic from 1799 to 1804, and President of the Italian Republic between 1802 and 1805.

There is a caveat here in that the Italian Republic is not the modern country of Italy that we now know. Italy was a region of individual states with their own rulers until the Napoleonic wars, when France invaded and conquered the northern part. It became a client state of the French Republic.
The southern part was ruled by Napoleon's brother-in-law the King of Naples.

Answer: Willem III of the Netherlands

Willem was born in 1817 and was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 1890.

He was opposed to constitutional changes brought in by his father and several times as king contemplated abdicating, first in favour of his younger brother, and then in favour of his eldest son.

He was what might nowadays be described as "a ladies man". He had numerous affairs, though still found time to have four legitimate children by two wives.

By the time of his death, his three sons had predeceased him. That left Wilhelmina to be crowned Queen of the Netherlands and she ruled from 1890 to 1948. However the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg could only be ruled through the male line and the title went to Willem's 17th cousin, once removed.

Answer: Simón Bolívar

Bolívar was born in 1783 in what is now Venezuela and had Spanish ancestry.

He was educated in Europe at a time when Spain ruled large parts of South America, but became convinced of the need to free these territories from colonial rule.

From 1808 onwards, his campaigns ended Spanish rule.

Eventually he became President of the Second Republic of Venezuela; 1st President of Gran Colombia; 1st President of Bolivia and 6th President of Peru. He was the leader of the last three simultaneously at various times.

Answer: Marthinus Wessel Pretorius

That was a hefty clue in the question, so of course you got to the man who was President of the South African Republic from 1857 to 1860 and State President of the Orange Free State from 1860 until 1863.

Being head of two countries simultaneously did not go down too well with some, so he resigned from the South African job. He was reelected president of the South African Republic in 1864.

Answer: James Charles Stuart

James Charles Stuart became James VI of Scotland at the age of 13 months when his mother, Mary Queen of Scots abdicated (and subsequently lost her head.)

He had a number of older regents to do the ruling before he took over himself as king in 1588.

In 1603 his mother's cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland (who had caused James's mother to lose her head) died without any children.

Thus James Charles Stuart became James VI of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland, although he styled himself King of Great Britain and Ireland.

He survived wars and treasonous plots but did not have the best of health and died in 1625.

Answer: William of Orange

William of Orange was born in 1650 and was Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1672.

In 1677, when he was 27, he married his 15-year-old cousin Mary, daughter of James II of Great Britain and Ireland.

James was a Catholic and was far from popular with the largely Protestant aristocracy and people of his kingdom.

William was a Protestant and had proved himself a worthy foe of the Catholic king of In 1688, William and Mary were invited to take over as rulers of Great Britain and Ireland and he his army landed in England. They chased James to Ireland and defeated him at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

William and Mary were joint sovereigns until she died in 1694 and he was sole king until he died in1702.

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Sorry historians for the simplicity, perhaps even crudity, of the summary.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and wanted a union between Germany and Austria, with himself as leader. Initially his ally Mussolini stood up to this and forced Hitler to give up claims to Austria.

Mussolini subsequently changed his mind and Hitler was all set to become Chancellor of Germany and President of Austria until the Anschluss of 1938 reunited both countries.

Answer: Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan lived between 1162 and 1227. He united many nomadic Mongolian tribes and they swept out of central Asia and ultimately controlled some 12 million square miles.

To put that into perspective, that is an area about the size of Africa.

Genghis Khan was, for his time, a bit of a moderniser. He abolished inherited titles; forbade the selling and kidnapping of women; and banned the enslavement of any Mongol.

He also adopted a writing system; granted diplomatic immunity to foreign ambassadors; and allowed freedom of religion.

On the other hand, it is estimated that the waves of Mongol invasion killed some 40 million people: a tenth of the world's population at the time.

Answer: Princess Elizabeth

After her father became king (by accident), Elizabeth was heir apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and by extension head of state of many individual countries in the British Empire.

Things did change in the years after she succeeded her father. The British Empire became the British Commonwealth and later the Commonwealth of Nations.

Political changes also amended the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and the overseas territories.

While being monarch was largely a symbolic role, Elizabeth technically was head of state of 32 countries at one time or another. Apart from the UK, the largest countries of which she was monarch were Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Answer: Wallachia and Moldavia

In 1859, as one outcome of the Crimean War, the separate entities of Wallachia and Moldavia were scheduled to share in a loose union. They would still, though, have two governments and two leaders.

Then, on January 5 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected prince and leader of Moldavia.

Nineteen days later, the Assembly of Wallachia elected him as their prince and leader.

Three years later two became one when the separate governments decided to unite as singe nation called Romania.