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History by Letter - W

Name these historical people, places, and things beginning with the letter W.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 17, 2019
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First submittedJuly 31, 2014
Times taken69,169
Average score65.0%
Rating4.33
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Hint
Answer
Once known as "The Great War"
World War I
U.S. President during the above
Woodrow Wilson
German Kaiser during that same war
Wilhelm II
British commander at Waterloo
Duke of Wellington
German composer of "The Ring"
Richard Wagner
Bury my heart at this place where
Native Americans were massacred
Wounded Knee
City burned by British troops in 1814
Washington D.C.
Place where English monarchs are
crowned, married, and buried
Westminster Abbey
City whose Jewish ghetto
was razed in 1943
Warsaw
L.A. neighborhood struck by
race riots in 1965
Watts
Hint
Answer
Norman conqueror of England
William I
Airplane inventors
Wright Brothers
Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII
Cardinal Wolsey
Name of the British royal
family, since 1917
House of Windsor
Country conquered by
Edward Longshanks in 1282
Wales
Irish writer persecuted for being gay
Oscar Wilde
Germany, 1919-1933
Weimar Republic
Nixon political scandal
Watergate
Scottish patriot drawn and
quartered in 1305
William Wallace
Former liberal political party of
the U.S. and Great Britain
Whig
+3
Level 41
Sep 10, 2014
Isn't it a usual practice to convert names of foreign monarchs to English (e. g. Catherine the Great of Russia or Good King Wenceslas?) Shouldn't you accept William II as a name for the German Emperor, then? Also, only two English monarchs got married in the Westminster Abbey - Henry I in 1100 and Richard II in 1382 (sic Wikipedia), whereas in more recent times, principal members of the Royal family usually wedded in chapels of various royal palaces (for example, Queen Victoria in St George's Chapel in Windsor). It has been only in the 20th century when Westminster Abbey became a popular wedding venue for some (British, not English) Royals - no king or queen, though. Otherwise, a very nice quiz!
+20
Level 82
Nov 11, 2014
It's not a usual practice it's just an arbitrary quirk of popular custom. Tsars Nikolai, Yketerina, Aleksandr and Piotr are almost always changed to Nicholas, Catherine, Alexander and Peter. Willem of Orange is changed to William. Salah ad-Din is bastardized into "Saladin," etc.

but on the other hand, Charlemagne is never called Charles the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent is not Solomon, Francisco Franco is not called Francis, Louis does not become Lewis, and Kaiser Wilhelm is not Cesar/Emperor William.

There's no rule about this it's just convention.

+3
Level 66
Sep 16, 2016
I think if it's written in a language with English characters, we don't Anglicize it. German and French use the English/Latin alphabet, Russian and Arabic don't. I just figured that out myself.
+2
Level 43
Nov 13, 2016
@YantheMan Then how come William of Orange is referred to as such? I believe that was modern-day Netherlands area, which probably used the Latin alphabet, which is what many nations use, especially in Europe and the Americas.
+2
Level 74
Nov 26, 2017
Also, by the same token, William the Conqueror would be Guillaume
+11
Level 57
Nov 26, 2017
Or as we knew him in school, Billy the Conk.
+3
Level 60
Nov 27, 2017
William the Conqueror and William of Orange are both most famous as kings of England, even if their origins aren't English.
+1
Level 70
Nov 27, 2017
@Corrode that depends on which William of Orange you mean, as this name doesn't only refer to William III of England, but also to William the Silent. In the Netherlands, 'Willem van Oranje' almost always refers to the latter.
+8
Level 70
May 14, 2018
There are only two things I can't stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.
+1
Level 72
Nov 26, 2022
Are you Austin Powers’ father?
+1
Level 69
Jul 1, 2017
Yes, but all of them were crowned there since 1066 except Edwards V and VIII, the two shortest reigning kings, neither of whom lasted a year. Never call a prince Edward
+6
Level 38
Nov 27, 2017
the wright brothers didn't invent the plane
+10
Level 56
Jul 25, 2018
Possibly not, but theirs were the first heavier-than-air, man-carrying aircraft to take off, do maneuvers and land. Their places in aviation history far surpass those of other early aviation pioneers such as Langley and Santos-Dumont.
+7
Level ∞
Sep 17, 2019
In the years after the Wright Brothers invented their plane, there were a lot of doubts especially from Europeans. Other inventors such as Santos-Dumont had flown planes that were less than impressive. For example, Santos-Dumont's 1906 flight was the first to be certified by the Aéro-Club de France. It flew for a few seconds at a whopping 5 meters above the ground. Then Orville Wright showed up in 1908 and flew figure eights around the field. Not only did the Wright Brothers invent the first heavier-than-air powered aircraft in 1903, but they made rapid improvements that quickly culminated in planes that were able to climb and bank. As @texdave said, their achievements far surpassed any of their contemporaries.
+2
Level 72
Nov 26, 2022
If it stays a few metres in the air for a few seconds, I’d say that’s less of a plane, more a car that drove off a cliff.
+6
Level 66
Nov 27, 2017
Got Cardinal Wolsey by accident because I was trying to be a smartass and type Wellington's real name (Wellesley), but I horribly misspelled it as Woolsey.
+1
Level 89
Mar 31, 2019
So why do people call him Wellington if that was just some podunk town he had probably never been to? Was he ashamed if his family name?
+3
Level 55
Aug 28, 2020
His family name was Wellesley but his title was the Duke of Wellington
+4
Level 67
Aug 28, 2020
I did the opposite! Was trying to type "Cardinal Wellesly" and I got the Duke of Wellington instead.
+2
Level 61
Aug 28, 2020
I typed Cornelius mcGillicuddy and got credit for more than half the answers.
+4
Level 79
Jun 28, 2019
hardly needed my right hand at all for this quiz. Typed almost all of it with my left
+1
Level 59
Aug 22, 2020
If you use mobile, you probably only need one hand. But this quiz still requires one hand even if you’re on a computer.
+2
Level 89
Aug 28, 2020
Struggled with Wagner question because I was thinking of the film version of The Ring. Doesn't help that the composer is Hans Zimmer, who is also German.
+1
Level 60
Aug 28, 2020
Should accept Walsey
+1
Level 75
Aug 28, 2020
I spelled it something ridiculous like 'Woolesley' - accepted :)
+1
Level 66
May 2, 2022
I tried Wollesley or Wallesley and didn't get it :(

Wolsey just doesn't look English to me

+2
Level 75
Aug 28, 2020
We took an extensive trip of the western US a few years ago, and by far Wounded Knee was the saddest and bleakest place we visited. A woman in a car next to us was openly weeping as we left.
+5
Level 71
Aug 28, 2020
Note to self: Braveheart doesn't start with W LOL
+1
Level 78
Nov 23, 2022
Can you accept "Wollsey"?
+3
Level 69
Nov 23, 2022
British/german/USA history by letter w
+1
Level 67
Apr 19, 2023
I know Watts from rap and Menace II Society
+1
Level 68
Oct 10, 2023
15 questions are UK/US history... So here are some questions about the rest of the world, answers start with W:

- City that was briefly the capital of China in 1927

- Historical and geographical region in Romania

- European term for the Caribbean archipelagos "discovered" by Columbus

- Valley in southern Jordan where several prehistoric civilizations left their marks

- Islamic reform movement from the 18th century still practiced today

+1
Level 68
Oct 10, 2023
- Indian part of the Bengal region and fourth most populous Indian state

- Landmark or area protected by UNESCO

- Of the original seven, only the pyramids of Giza are left

+1
Level 60
Oct 31, 2023
I don't think any of these besides capital of China (given recent events) and the last one are viable.
+1
Level 76
Oct 28, 2023
Did you mean that Oscar Wilde was 'prosecuted', rather than 'persecuted'?
+1
Level 68
Dec 21, 2023
Never heard of the Watergate scandal, probably because I am not from the US or any English-speaking country. I also forgot Windsor…
+1
Level 79
Jan 31, 2024
i know little of history, but according to a quick google search, the whig party was more conservative than liberal