History — Quiz Night questions

1What year did the Berlin Wall fall?

• 1991
• 1989
• 1979
• 1985

2Which civilisation built the great pyramids?

• Ancient Greece
• Persia
• Ancient Egypt
• Rome

3In which century did the French Revolution happen?

• The 18th century
• The 16th century
• The 19th century
• The 17th century

4Which civilisation built the Colosseum?

• The Greeks
• The Romans
• The Persians
• The Egyptians

5Which continent was the Inca Empire on?

• South America
• Europe
• Asia
• Africa

6Which country held the first Olympic Games?

• China
• Egypt
• Italy
• Greece

7Which country did the samurai tradition begin in?

• Korea
• Japan
• Mongolia
• China

8What was the Great Wall of China built for?

• Defence
• Farming
• Transport
• Trade

9Which civilisation used cuneiform writing?

• The Vikings
• The Sumerians
• The Incas
• The Maya

10Which ancient city was buried in volcanic ash?

• Babylon
• Pompeii
• Troy
• Carthage

11Which region did the Vikings set out from?

• Scandinavia
• The Iberian Peninsula
• The Balkans
• The Caucasus

12Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

• Neil Armstrong
• Buzz Aldrin
• Yuri Gagarin
• Michael Collins

13Who was the first person in space?

• Valentina Tereshkova
• Neil Armstrong
• Alan Shepard
• Yuri Gagarin

14Who spread printing across Europe?

• Isaac Newton
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Galileo Galilei
• Leonardo da Vinci

15Which sailor reached the Americas in 1492?

• Vasco da Gama
• James Cook
• Christopher Columbus
• Magellan

16What year did the Titanic sink?

• 1905
• 1920
• 1898
• 1912

17Which two continents did the Silk Road connect?

• Asia and Africa
• Africa and Europe
• Asia and Europe
• America and Asia

18Which 15th-century invention sped the spread of knowledge?

• The radio
• The printing press
• The telegraph
• Your phone

19Who was the first Roman emperor?

• Augustus
• Constantine
• Julius Caesar
• Nero

20Alexander the Great was king of which country?

• Macedonia
• Egypt
• Persia
• Rome

21Which queen reigned over England for over 70 years?

• Elizabeth II
• Mary I
• Elizabeth I
• Victoria

22What year did the Second World War end?

• 1939
• 1918
• 1945
• 1950

23What year did the First World War begin?

• 1918
• 1939
• 1905
• 1914

24Which body was founded between the two world wars?

• The United Nations
• The League of Nations
• NATO
• The European Union

25What year did the USA declare independence?

• 1776
• 1865
• 1812
• 1789

26Which river did Julius Caesar cross to start a civil war in Rome?

• The Rubicon River
• The Tiber River
• The Nile River
• The Rhine River

27Cleopatra was queen of which country?

• Rome
• Greece
• Egypt
• Persia

28Genghis Khan was the founder of which empire?

• The Persian Empire
• The Roman Empire
• The Ottoman Empire
• The Mongol Empire

29Napoleon Bonaparte spent his final years in exile on which island?

• Elba
• Corsica
• Sicily
• Saint Helena

30Which queen ruled the British Empire in the 19th century?

• Elizabeth II
• Elizabeth I
• Mary I
• Victoria

31What is Isaac Newton best known for?

• The theory of relativity
• The law of gravity
• The theory of evolution
• Atomic theory

32What is Albert Einstein best known for?

• The law of gravity
• The theory of evolution
• The theory of relativity
• The Big Bang theory

33Who was the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences?

• Charles Darwin
• Isaac Newton
• Marie Curie
• Albert Einstein

34Which scientific theory did Charles Darwin develop?

• The theory of evolution
• The law of gravity
• The theory of relativity
• The Big Bang theory

35Which instrument did Galileo Galilei improve to observe the sky?

• The sextant
• The microscope
• The compass
• The telescope

36Marco Polo set out from Europe on a long journey to which continent?

• Australia
• Africa
• Asia
• South America

37Ibn Battuta, one of the great medieval travellers, was born in which country?

• Egypt
• Spain
• Saudi Arabia
• Morocco

38Admiral Zheng He, famed for his great sea voyages, was a mariner of which civilisation?

• Mongolia
• India
• China
• Japan

39Captain James Cook is known for mapping islands in which ocean?

• The Pacific Ocean
• The Arctic Ocean
• The Atlantic Ocean
• The Indian Ocean

40Which ancient Greek philosopher is known for a teaching method based on asking probing questions?

• Aristotle
• Socrates
• Confucius
• Plato

41Which famous work was written by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato?

• The Nicomachean Ethics
• The Odyssey
• The Iliad
• The Republic

42Aristotle was the private tutor of which famous ruler?

• Julius Caesar
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Genghis Khan
• Alexander the Great

43Confucius was a thinker of which civilisation?

• Japan
• China
• India
• Greece

44What is James Watt best known for?

• The telegraph
• The steam engine
• Dynamite
• The electric motor

45What is Alfred Nobel best known for?

• The steam engine
• Dynamite
• The lightning rod
• The light bulb

46What is Nikola Tesla best known for?

• Radioactivity
• Dynamite
• The steam engine
• Alternating current

47What is Benjamin Franklin best known for?

• Dynamite
• The steam engine
• The telegraph
• The lightning rod

48In which century did Europe's Age of Discovery begin?

• The 10th century
• The 12th century
• The 18th century
• The 15th century

49Which country did Vasco da Gama reach by sailing around Africa?

• India
• Japan
• Indonesia
• China

50Which explorer led the first expedition to sail around the world?

• Vasco da Gama
• James Cook
• Christopher Columbus
• Magellan

51Which explorer gave the Americas their name?

• Magellan
• Amerigo Vespucci
• Christopher Columbus
• Vasco da Gama

52What was the first major book printed with movable type?

• Aesop's Fables
• The Mainz Psalter
• The Gutenberg Bible
• The Nuremberg Chronicle

53What did the spread of printing in Europe mainly replace?

• Hand-copied manuscripts
• Stone tablets
• Oral storytelling traditions
• Papyrus scrolls

54Who invented the telephone?

• Thomas Edison
• Nikola Tesla
• Guglielmo Marconi
• Alexander Graham Bell

55Which country was the first telephone call made in?

• Germany
• Canada
• The USA
• England

56Which inventor made the light bulb practical and long-lasting?

• Alexander Graham Bell
• James Watt
• Nikola Tesla
• Thomas Edison

57In which century did light bulbs start lighting homes worldwide?

• The 19th century
• The 18th century
• The 21st century
• The 20th century

58Which brothers achieved the first powered flight?

• The Montgolfier brothers
• The Wright brothers
• The Voisin brothers
• The Lumière brothers

59What year did the Wright brothers make their first flight?

• 1899
• 1912
• 1903
• 1908

60Which disease was the first vaccine developed against?

• The plague
• Smallpox
• Rabies
• Measles

61Which scientist developed the first vaccine?

• Alexander Fleming
• Louis Pasteur
• Edward Jenner
• Robert Koch

62The 20th-century space race was between which two countries?

• The USA and China
• The USA and the USSR
• France and the USA
• England and the USSR

63What was the name of the first artificial satellite?

• Vostok
• Sputnik
• Explorer
• Apollo

64Who was the first woman in space?

• Valentina Tereshkova
• Mae Jemison
• Svetlana Savitskaya
• Sally Ride

65Laika, one of the first living creatures sent to space, was what kind of animal?

• A cat
• A monkey
• A dog
• A mouse

66What is the age when stone tools were used called?

• Stone Age
• Iron Age
• Ice Age
• Bronze Age

67What is the age after the Bronze Age called?

• Steam Age
• Stone Age
• Iron Age
• Copper Age

68What is the land-for-service system of medieval Europe called?

• Mercantilism
• Capitalism
• Feudalism
• Socialism

69In which country did the Industrial Revolution first begin?

• Germany
• France
• The USA
• England

70Which ancient Greek city-state is known for its culture of philosophy, theatre and democracy?

• Sparta
• Athens
• Thebes
• Corinth

71In which country is Petra, the ancient city carved into rock, located?

• Jordan
• Syria
• Lebanon
• Egypt

72Which pre-Columbian Central American civilisation is known for its calendar systems?

• The Maya
• The Inca
• The Olmec
• The Aztec

73Which ancient civilisation used the writing system called hieroglyphics?

• The Phoenicians
• The Egyptians
• The Persians
• The Sumerians

74Which empire's fall in the West marks the start of the Middle Ages?

• The Persian Empire
• The Roman Empire
• The Byzantine Empire
• The Macedonian Empire

75What is the fast type of ship used by the Vikings in war and trade called?

• Galleon
• Longship
• Frigate
• Galley

76The Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known written law codes in history, belongs to which ancient civilisation?

• The Hittites
• The Sumerians
• The Babylonians
• The Assyrians

77What are the giant stone statues on Easter Island called?

• Totem pole
• Moai
• Obelisk
• Menhir

78Which dynasty first unified China under a single empire?

• The Qin Dynasty
• The Han Dynasty
• The Tang Dynasty
• The Ming Dynasty

79In the legend of the Trojan War, which giant animal was used to hide soldiers inside and capture the city?

• Wooden bull
• Wooden eagle
• Wooden horse
• Wooden lion

80Which ancient battle is famous for the stand of 300 Spartans against the Persians?

• The Battle of Salamis
• The Battle of Marathon
• The Battle of Thermopylae
• The Battle of Plataea

81Which battle, won by the Athenians against the Persians, gave its name to the "marathon" race?

• The Battle of Thermopylae
• The Battle of Salamis
• The Battle of Marathon
• The Battle of Issus

82What is the common name for the long rivalry between Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece?

• The Trojan War
• The Median Wars
• The Punic Wars
• The Peloponnesian War

83What is the common name for the three wars fought between Rome and Carthage?

• The Gallic Wars
• The Peloponnesian War
• The Punic Wars
• The Macedonian Wars

84Which animals did the Carthaginian general Hannibal use to cross the Alps to attack Rome?

• Elephants
• Camels
• Horses
• Bulls

85In the Battle of Kadesh, subject of history's earliest known written peace treaty, who were the Hittites' rivals?

• The Egyptians
• The Assyrians
• The Persians
• The Babylonians

86What is the name of the series of wars, fought on and off for about a hundred years between England and France in the Middle Ages?

• The Hundred Years' War
• The Wars of the Roses
• The War of the Spanish Succession
• The Scottish War of Independence

87Which battle resulted in the Norman conquest of England in 1066?

• The Battle of Waterloo
• The Battle of Hastings
• The Battle of Agincourt
• The Battle of Trafalgar

88Which power ended the Byzantine Empire by conquering Constantinople in 1453?

• The Venetians
• The Ottomans
• The Mongols
• The Persians

89What is the name of the powerful fleet that Spain lost against England in 1588?

• The Mediterranean Fleet
• The Atlantic Fleet
• The Spanish Armada
• The Holy League Fleet

90Simón Bolívar led many South American countries to independence from the colonial rule of which country?

• France
• Spain
• England
• Portugal

91The American War of Independence was fought by the thirteen colonies against which country?

• Spain
• England
• France
• The Netherlands

92In which decade did the American Civil War take place?

• 1860s
• 1940s
• 1900s
• 1770s

93Who was the Austro-Hungarian heir who fell victim to the assassination that triggered the First World War?

• Nicholas II
• Franz Joseph I
• Franz Ferdinand
• Wilhelm II

94In which year was the armistice signed that ended the First World War?

• 1918
• 1917
• 1919
• 1920

95Which peace treaty, signed after the First World War, imposed heavy obligations on Germany?

• The Treaty of Paris
• The Treaty of Vienna
• The Treaty of Utrecht
• The Treaty of Versailles

96The Second World War effectively began in Europe when Germany invaded which country?

• Belgium
• Austria
• Poland
• France

97In the Second World War, where did the Allied forces carry out their major 1944 landing to liberate France?

• Provence
• Crete
• Sicily
• Normandy

98What is the period of tension between the USA and the Soviet Union after the Second World War called?

• The Hot War
• The Shadow War
• The Cold War
• The Silent War

99In the Second World War, the attack that led the USA to enter the war was carried out on which base?

• Okinawa
• Pearl Harbor
• Midway
• Guam

100In which century was the Age of Enlightenment?

• 14th century
• 16th century
• 20th century
• 18th century