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French History A-Z

Can you guess these people, places, and things from French history starting with each letter of the alphabet?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 7, 2018
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First submittedDecember 5, 2018
Times taken10,729
Average score61.5%
Rating4.13
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Hint
Answer
A
City home to the papacy in the 1300s
Avignon
B
This prison was stormed in 1789, but only seven prisoners were still inside
The Bastille
C
Cultural group that was dominant in ancient Gaul prior to the Roman conquest
Celts
D
Title that referred to the heir to the French crown
Dauphin
E
Period of history also known as the "Age of Reason"
The Enlightenment
F
King who bested England's Henry VIII in a wrestling bout
Francis I
G
Group of people that founded Marseille in 600 B.C.
Greeks
H
Montgolfier brothers invention first demonstrated in 1783
Hot Air Balloon
I
School of art practiced by Monet and Manet
Impressionism
J
Woman who led French troops against the English and was burned at the stake
Joan of Arc
K
Unit of mass invented by the French in 1795
Kilogram
L
France annexed this Flemish city, known for textiles, in 1668
Lille
M
Wife of one king and mother to three others, she came from a famous Italian family
Catherine de' Medici
N
This Viking group settled in northern France
Normans
O
Southern French language that was suppressed in the 19th and 20th centuries
Occitan
P
This building was converted from a church to a mausoleum in 1791, and is the
final resting place of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie
The Panthéon
Q
This city was founded by explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1608
Quebec City
R
Marie and Pierre Curie discovered this radioactive element in 1898
Radium
S
According to one story, Napoleon's soldiers chopped the nose off this statue.
In reality, it lost its nose long before
The Sphinx
T
Bloodiest period of the French Revolution
Reign of Terror
U
Caliphate that tried to conquer Gaul but was turned back by Charles Martel
at the Battle of Tours in 732
Umayyad Caliphate
V
Often associated with France, the croissant originally came from this city
Vienna
W
Napoleon's last battle
Waterloo
X
Roman numerals that follow the name of the king who ruled from 1643-1715
XIV
Y
During WWI, five battles were fought near this Belgian city
Ypres
Z
Term for a French solider of Berber extraction known for wearing baggy red trousers
Zouave
+4
Level 73
Dec 6, 2018
for answer U the battle was not in Tours but in Poitiers
+3
Level 86
Dec 6, 2018
Well in English it's called battle of Tours. The fact is, that it's not known where that (rather anecdotic) battle really took place.
+4
Level 77
Dec 6, 2018
Isn't it just "Celts". Celtics is that sports team?
+1
Level ∞
Dec 6, 2018
Yes, fixed
+2
Level 69
Dec 6, 2018
Kilogram is a unit of mass, not weight. Also, you shouldn't accept just "kilo", because "kilo" isn't a unit of measurement. "Kilogram" is.
+2
Level 74
Dec 6, 2018
It's okay to accept kilo. If I buy a kilo of apples at the store it weighs exactly a kilogram :)
+2
Level ∞
Dec 6, 2018
Changed weight to mass but kilo will still be accepted.
+2
Level 40
Feb 22, 2019
I hate to be pedantic, but the person who started this entire kilo fight is correct. As someone who's had to go through Physical Quantities and Measurement in my Physics textbook for three years, I must say that kilo is more of a quantifier or whatever you call it. It means 1000 times the SI unit.
+3
Level 74
Dec 6, 2018
Fun fact: the man pictured on Zig-Zag rolling papers is a Z---- solider (until today I thought he was a coeur-de-bois; whoops). From WP: "The choice of a member of this French North African regiment as a Zig-Zag icon originates from a folk story about an incident in the battle of Sevastopol. When the soldier's clay pipe was destroyed by a bullet, he attempted to roll his tobacco using a piece of paper torn from a musket cartridge." The Battle of Sevastopol finished the same year ZigZag was founded, 1855.
+7
Level 74
Dec 6, 2018
I don't get the V clue. Literally, it has nothing to do with France. And, there are FAR better options available (Versailles and Vichy).
+5
Level ∞
Dec 6, 2018
I rejected Vichy and Versailles because they appear on many, many other quizzes. Don't you think it's kind of neat to learn that croissants don't actually come from France?
+1
Level 70
Dec 7, 2018
But it is also not known where and when the croissant has been invented.
+5
Level 82
Dec 8, 2018
It's an interesting but still a rather irrelevant answer for this quiz. Vaudeville? Vercingetorix?
+2
Level 70
Feb 20, 2019
As a French, I never undertood why American people associate France with croissants so much. Not only the origin of croissants is well-known here, but I think it's the same all over Europe including in English speaking countries. And I'm not sure we eat croissants so much.
+1
Level 83
Mar 6, 2024
As a British person, I would say that: if you get served breakfast in a hotel in France, croissants will be on the menu. If you stay in a holiday house, the owners might deliver you croissants in the morning. If you go to a bakery, they'll have croissants. They might not be the most French thing but they're considerably more prominent than in other countries I've visited - at least from the tourist's point of view, since I never had them on my year abroad.
+1
Level 74
Feb 17, 2022
How about Verdun then?
+2
Level 72
Dec 20, 2018
Yeah the V clue and the Q clue threw me as I was thinking of places actually in France. Good to know I'm not the only one who was confused by it.
+1
Level 56
Aug 17, 2020
And Y, which unlike V and Q actually has nothing particularly to do with France at all, surely...
+1
Level 74
Feb 20, 2019
May you consider accepting the german Ypern for Ypres? It may have some relevance in this language due to it's role in WWI.
+2
Level 59
Feb 20, 2019
As people seem incapable of accepting that English names will be the answers in quizzes set in English, can I join in and request that the Maori name for the place be accepted too? I suppose there were British soldiers who came from New Zealand who fought there, so why the hell not?
+1
Level 81
Feb 20, 2019
I put Grecians for the G answer, and then couldn't think of the right answer. Face palm.
+1
Level 84
Feb 20, 2019
Z - solider? I'm assuming it's obvious they weren't liquid or gaseous ;)
+1
Level 80
Feb 22, 2019
I've been to Ieper and had no idea it was also potentially Ypres
+1
Level 77
Aug 25, 2019
Foolishly, I nearly didn't get the balloon answer. Tried Hydrogen and Helium before it dawned on me.
+1
Level 53
Sep 28, 2019
Great quiz!

Not accepting Parthenon without "the" is pretty annoying, though :)

+1
Level ∞
Sep 29, 2019
The correct answer is Panthéon, not Parthenon. We accept it with or without "the".
+2
Level 75
Jan 4, 2021
lol croissants actually being from Vienna is part of French history ... how?
+1
Level 74
Feb 17, 2022
The S answer isn't really related to French history, either. Personally, I prefer that themed quizzes actually stick to the theme. Hard questions on a quiz focused around one topic where you don't know all the answers and learn something are great, and these tenuously-connected questions don't add much to the experience, in my opinion.