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World History Questions
World History Questions
When did the french protestant Villegaignon establish a community in what would become Rio
de Janeiro?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Latin America
B. 1925 - 8% (124)
Which of these countries was not involved in cracking down on the Boxer Rebellion in China
over the turn of the 19th century?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
A. 1925 - 9% (163)
D. 1985 - 2% (43)
A. 1685 - 4% (68)
B. The fate of the Jewish resistance to the Roman Empire. - 24% (400)
D. Netherlands - 7% (495)
The Swahili culture is the result of a synthesis of the cultures of costal East Africa and
colonizers from:
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Black Africa
C. Indonesia - 6% (98)
Which of these nations had an army in excess of 1 million men in the 70s?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
A. Thailand - 5% (165)
D. Burma - 7% (225)
D. Guangzhou - 7% (234)
Who is Stamford Raffles?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
B. The botanist who brought the first rubber saplings to Malaya. - 17% (306)
D. The captain of the battleship Repulse, sunk by the Japanese during WW2 - 9% (166)
B. Korea - 6% (100)
D. Vietnam - 3% (55)
What is the latest state to join the United States, bringing the number to 50?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: United States
D. Guantanamo - 2% (115)
Brazil has had 3 capitals during its history. Which are they?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Latin America
Which South American country fought against the combined armies of Brazil, Argentina and
Uruguay from 1864 to1870?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Latin America
D. Naples - 7% (485)
C. Crassus - 7% (509)
D. Vercingetorix - 2% (159)
Between which countries was the Hundred Years war mainly fought?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
What was the name of Istanbul before its capture by the Turks?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
B. Byzance - 6% (408)
C. Adrienople - 3% (230)
D. Nicosia - 3% (188)
What is the name of the explorer who led the first (proven) expedition around the globe?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
C. Venice - 9% (513)
Of the following Napoleonic battles, which one was a defeat for Napoleonic France?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
C. Wagram - 9% (665)
D. 1815 - 6% (110)
Who wrote the first version of the Dutch constitution as used today?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Which book is said to have played an important role in the Hungary uprising against the
Soviet-Union?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Many scholars choose May 6, 1527, as an end point for the Renaissance. What event occurred
on that date?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
The 'quinquennium Neronis', probably the first 5 years of Nero's reign, was said to have been
a golden age. Who apparently said this?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
A. Nerva - 8% (95)
Which Theban leader is credited with the formation of the famous Sacred Band?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
In the 960s, having been defeated in war by Pandulf (the Duke of Capua) and with Berengarius
II (King of Italy) looking to take control of Rome, Pope John XII requested the help of which
ruler?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
The Khanates of Astrakhan and Kazan were conquered in the reign of which Muscovite ruler?
Author: Calgacus - Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Others
In the late 17th century, the Scots attempted to found a colony in modern day Panama. What
name is usually given to this ill-fated expedition?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Latin America
On the 16th April 1746, the last pitched land battle to have taken place in Britain took place, in
which the hopes of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' came to an end. What was the name of this battle?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
The ancient city of Antioch lay within the boundaries of what modern country?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
D. Egypt - 5% (277)
In what year did Constantine the Great hold the Council of Nicaea?
Author: Calgacus - Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
A. 278 - 8% (265)
Which modern author is famous for his historical novel about Julian the Apostate?
Author: Calgacus - Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Which of the following 19th century American figures was NOT nominated for the US
Presidency by the Whig Party?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: United States
Which of the following US Presidential elections had the closest electoral vote?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: United States
A. 2000 (Bush vs Gore) - 36% (619)
Out of the following unsucessful US Presidential candidates, who won the most electoral
votes?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: United States
Many US states, most famously Texas and Hawaii, were once independent countries. Which of
the following states was also independent at one time?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: United States
B. Nevada - 9% (299)
Which of the following groups were not given official recognition under the Ottoman empire?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
How many women do most experts agree Jack the Ripper killed?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: World
A. 2 - 3% (84)
B. 5 - 27% (865)
C. 9 - 30% (966)
D. 14 - 19% (593)
Approximately what percentage of Hohenzollern Kings of Prussia or Germany were named
'Frederick', 'Wilhelm', or the combination 'Frederick Wilhelm'?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
A. 25% - 6% (182)
Only five US Presidents have had full beards. What did they all have in common?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: United States
All three times Mexico has been invaded from the sea (by the Spanish, by the Americans, and
by the French), the invaders have landed at virtually the same location. Which modern
Mexican city does that location correspond with?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Latin America
A. Matamoros - 5% (149)
B. Tampico - 9% (291)
Who conquered the last of the Khwarazmian Empire, crossed and conquered the Caucasus
and marched north into Russia defeating an army more than 12 times larger in only a few
months?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Others
Where did Charles the Bold, last reigning Duke of Burgundy, die?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Which Hellenistic monarch was killed at the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Arab World and Israel
Which US political party was the first to use national conventions to nominate presidential
candidates?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: United States
Who lost the Battle of Tannenburg (or Grunwald) against Poland-Lithuania in 1410?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
D. 1911-1912 - 9% (485)
C. Denmark - 9% (301)
D. France - 8% (261)
D. Cayuga - 3% (40)
The St Marco Campanile standing in Venice today is a copy. How and when was the original
destroyed?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
B. It was destroyed on orders of Napoleon to punish Venetian resistance in 1799 - 19% (254)
C. It burnt down in 1756 in a fire which destroyed part of central Venice - 24% (309)
After being released from prison in 1953, to which country was Fidel Castro exiled?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Latin America
D. Spain - 9% (277)
What was the last Republican city to fall to the Nationalist in the Spanish Civil War?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
B. Murcia - 8% (136)
C. Malta - 9% (159)
A. The name of the 'High Road' which stretched from Assyria through Media to Parthia - 19% (236)
B. The name of the tomb of Darius the Great of Persia - 14% (171)
C. The name of the main hall of the Palace in Persepolis - 27% (334)
D. The name of the tomb of Cyrus the Great of Persia - 11% (140)
What was the capital of the NorthWest Territory in the modern day USA?
Author: Joe Gosnell - Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: United States
Friedrich Barbarossa died in 1190, to the great relief of Saladin, while travelling through Asia
Minor on crusade. On which Crusade was this?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
During the American Civil War, who was President of the Confederate States of America?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: United States
On July 2, 1881, lawyer and itinerant preacher Charles Guiteau fatally shot recently-elected US
President James Garfield. Why?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: United States
A. Guiteau had asked to become ambassador to France and had been rejected - 21% (330)
B. Guiteau was a Democrat and thus disliked the Republican Garfield - 6% (101)
C. Guiteau believed his wife had cheated on him with Garfield several years earlier - 11% (182)
In 1901, US President William McKinley was fatally shot by Leon Czolgosz. What kind of
political extremist was Czolgosz?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: United States
C. An opponent of the Spanish-American war (which had occured under McKinley's first term) - 13%
(419)
Which Middle Eastern empire created its own language for government use?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Arab World and Israel
A. 13 - 15% (197)
B. 14 - 30% (405)
C. 15 - 17% (230)
D. 16 - 12% (155)
D. Bapedi - 6% (101)
Bolivia lost its access to the ocean in the Pacific War. Which country defeated Bolivia in that
war?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Latin America
Only one South American country had a Monarchy. Which was it?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Latin America
D. Uruguay - 9% (518)
What was the league established by the Macedonian King Philip II to gain hegemony over
Greece?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Which of the following is NOT considered an American objective in the War of 1812?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: United States
B. Aiding Napoleon in Europe by creating another front for the British - 40% (1290)
Which sultan extended the Ottoman Empire to within 90 miles of Vienna, which he
unsucessfully beseiged?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Who became Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1945, replacing Winston Churchill?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
During the Iranian revolution, a group of Americans was taken hostage at the US embassy by
radicals, leading to a serious international incident. For how long were these hostages held?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
D. Elba - 7% (500)
Which European royal family, often the butt of inbreeding jokes, once ruled Austria?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Which city served as a co-capital of the ancient Persian empire and was the scene of a bizare
mass wedding between hundreds of Alexander the Great's soldiers and native women?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
D. Ctesiphon - 7% (118)
A. Libya - 8% (137)
In the 1st Century BC, Crassus (reportedly the richest man of Rome) led a disastrous and
embarrassing campaign against who?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
How many U.S. Presidents were assassinated during their terms in office, and who were they?
Category: Global History
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: United States
A. Two: Abraham Lincoln and John Fitzgerald Kennedy - 21% (1152)
B. Three: Abraham Lincoln, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and James Garfield - 15% (810)
C. Four: Abraham Lincoln, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, William Mckinley, and James Garfield -
36% (1915)
D. Four: Abraham Lincoln, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Gerald Ford, and John Adams - 4% (219)
A. Eritrea - 6% (404)
The anciant Nok civilization of Africa flourished in what modern day country?
Author: Joe Gosnell - Category: Global History
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Black Africa
Who did King Leopold II of Belgium hire to explore and found colonies in Zaire?
- Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Black Africa
From which Macedonian general was Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, descended?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Arab World and Israel
A. Seleucus - 8% (433)
C. Antipater - 5% (240)
Ronald Reagan made his first political appearence in 1964, giving a speech for which
conservative Republican presidential candidate?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: United States
Who was Premier of the Soviet Union in the Cuban Missle Crisis?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Others
A. Krushchev - 53% (2912)
C. Brezhnev - 8% (452)
D. Kosygin - 2% (117)
Which famous poet and scientist was employed by the Seljuqs to reform the Islamic calendar?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Arab World and Israel
B. Al-Tusi - 9% (106)
A. Aztec - 7% (470)
A. Ashur - 8% (269)
D. No one knows - his tomb has never been found - 27% (339)
By what disaster was St. Pierre, the old capital of Martinique, destroyed?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Latin America
After the emperor of China, Pu Yi , was captured by the communist, what occupation did he
take?
Category: First World War and onward
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
B. Politician - 8% (255)
Between which European Powers was the Crimean War mainly fought?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 2/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
A. The Russians, British, and French against the Ottomans - 16% (839)
From what country did Britain begin to recruit Gurkha soldiers in 1816?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Asia (except Middle-East)
C. Birmany - 4% (123)
How many million immigrants came to the United States between 1880 and 1900?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: United States
A. 5 millions - 8% (93)
What country shipped out the first ever shipment of frozen meat in 1877, and to which
country?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Latin America
A. The United States, to France - 16% (199)
C. France - 9% (108)
What was the first continental European state to complete its rail network, in the 1840s?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
D. Piedmont - 4% (142)
What did Britain trade the island of Helgoland with Germany for?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
C. A treaty in which Germany recognised the independence of Belgium and the Netherlands - 20%
(632)
What country saw native religion fused with Christianity in 1865's 'Hau Hau' movement?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Others
A. Mexico - 7% (88)
What entity did Napoleon replace the Holy Roman Empire with in 1806?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Of what Near Eastern kingdom was the ancient city of Petra, in modern day Jordan, the
capital?
Category: Prehistory and Antiquity
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Arab World and Israel
Which Spanish conquistador destroyed the Aztec (or Mexica) empire in what is now Mexico?
Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Latin America
Who was defeated at the Battle of Tours (or of Poitiers) by the Franks led by Charles Martel?
Category: Middle-Ages
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
By the end of the 19th century, which country was the biggest colonial power?
Category: 19th Century
Difficulty: 1/5 - Zone: World
A. France - 7% (515)
C. Spain - 7% (509)
D. Germany - 4% (301)
Julian - 4% (220)
Humbert - 7% (348)
Zimbabwe - 9% (467)
In 1848, during the waves of revolts sweeping though Europe - 12% (864)
Thucydides - 8% (95)
Xenophon - 4% (43)
Tribalism - 4% (297)
Theocentrism - 3% (193)
Because it was used for initation rites for Icelandic Vikings - 7% (368)
Ormouz - 2% (176)
Persia - 70% (4972)
Arabia - 6% (422)
Cicero - 9% (658)
Heliogabal - 6% (71)
Diocletian - 5% (57)
It destroyed itself when several ships fired at each others during the night by mistake. - 14% (216)
It was sabotaged in Antwerp harbour by English spies to prevent it from reinforcing the French
navy after Napoleon gave the Dutch crown to one of his brother - 34% (539)
He is widely believed to have practised cannibalism, though it was never proven - 15% (179)
Born a catholic, he converted to Islam after a meeting with Qadaffi - before converting back a few
month later - 23% (273)
He believed himself to be descended from Ramses II, Salomon and Saladdin - 20% (235)
Leon - 8% (90)
Navarro - 6% (72)
Pisae - 5% (146)
Naples - 15% (463)
900 AD - 8% (231)
Eire - 3% (232)
Stalin - 8% (93)
Fatimid-Ottoman-Umayyad-Mamluk - 6% (71)
Luanda - 8% (80)
No answer picked: 29% (313)
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Question 494: Under which sultan did the Ottomans capture Constantinople from the
Byzantines in 1453?
Author: OHgamer - Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 3/5 - Zone: Europe (Minus Russia)
Abdulhamid II - 8% (237)
Breaking up large estates and redistributing land to the peasantry - 24% (370)
Replacing Islamic law with Western legal codes as the basis for family law - 11% (166)
Adoption of the Latin script for writing the Turkish language - 13% (194)
Mexico - 9% (95)
Muscat - 9% (91)
Kerala - 6% (73)
Assam - 6% (74)
Hyderabad - 7% (78)
Assam - 6% (377)
Kerala - 2% (127)
Provence - 9% (585)
Aquitaine - 6% (413)
The replacement of Persian with English as the official legal language in British East India
Company territories - 7% (108)
The decision to adopt Enfield Rifles with cartridges greased in pig and cow tallow that
soldiers had to rip open with their teeth -41% (629)
Britain's establishment of the Hindu Dogra Rajputs as rulers of predominantly Muslim Kashmir -
13% (199)
The priestly elite that dominated Mayan city-states at the height of Mayan civilization - 13% (148)
Small figurines representing ancestors that were the focus of local religious life in Andean cultures
- 17% (190)
The name given by peoples in the Valley of Mexico to barbarian invaders from the desert regions
of Northern Mexico - 11% (125)
Archangel - 6% (177)
Odessa - 9% (274)
Celebes - 5% (83)
Brandenburg - 8% (85)
They had to go to a temple on a countryside and dress themselves like bears - 7% (82)
They had to kill three helots without getting caught and cut off a hand of the deads to prove it -
27% (308)
Rhodes - 6% (168)
Boedicea - 5% (56)
Isolde - 3% (33)
Jordaens - 3% (41)
Pylos - 9% (146)
Victoria - 9% (99)
Tang - 7% (113)
France - 8% (125)
Dravidia - 5% (157)
Mercia - 9% (252)
Bolland - 7% (76)
Spanish - 5% (72)
The Greek island of Rhodos, place of birth of the first Rhodesian Governor - 14% (421)
Paris - 8% (122)
Pepi I - 5% (156)
Hakor - 8% (91)
Tiye - 4% (49)
German - 4% (47)
Ambrose - 6% (72)
The military leader who conquered Dehli for the Mughals - 10% (106)
Riots in Welsh mines in 1910, crushed by the British army - 33% (491)
A Pieterman - 5% (68)
Siam - 8% (218)
Kazan - 3% (172)
Odessa - 4% (206)
Holland - 7% (103)
Romania - 7% (111)
Japan - 7% (104)
1933 - 7% (364)
1930 - 6% (293)
january - 4% (64)
july - 7% (112)
Augustus - 9% (240)
Monks who took care of St. Paul's Cathedral in Rome - 13% (139)
Saqqara - 8% (463)
Dahshour - 5% (290)
No answer picked: 21% (1151)
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Question 756: In which modern African country did Courland have a fort?
Author: Archeolooginspe - Category: Renaissance to French Revolution
Difficulty: 5/5 - Zone: Black Africa
Guinee Bissau - 9% (74)
Paris - 7% (67)
Poland - 7% (174)
Russia - 4% (90)
Yasovarman I - 9% (75)
Switzerland - 5% (67)
Basoalto - 5% (44)
Boeing-29 - 6% (53)
Coste?ti - 7% (56)
Taira - 5% (64)
Achetaton - 3% (119)
2 - 17% (920)
1 - 31% (1695)
0 - 4% (200)
A dyke protecting the Viking burial mound Offa from the sea - 19% (230)
Trieste - 6% (284)
Bari - 2% (104)
Rome - 6% (21)
China - 4% (7)
Bangladesh - 6% (11)
sharjahan - 0% (0)
noorjahan - 0% (0)
197 BC - 0% (0)
168 BC - 0% (0)
148 BC - 0% (0)