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History General Knowledge #1

Can you answer these random history questions?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: February 14, 2017
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First submittedJanuary 8, 2015
Times taken84,673
Average score55.0%
Rating4.39
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Question
Answer
Who started the Protestant Reformation?
Martin Luther
Which British king suffered from dementia during the last 10 years of his 60 year reign?
King George III
Who was the first person to see the moons of Jupiter?
Galileo Galilei
In what country did the Fascist movement start in 1919?
Italy
What Viking group settled in France before conquering England, Sicily, and Malta?
The Normans
What group sacked Baghdad in 1258, ending the Islamic Golden Age?
The Mongols
Which city did Rome fight against in the Punic Wars?
Carthage
What chemical weapon used in WWI got its name from the yellow-brown appearance?
Mustard gas
Who famously said "I am not a crook" in a 1973 speech?
Richard Nixon
Who supposedly fiddled while Rome burned (but actually didn't)?
Nero
What father and son Prime Ministers are referred to as "The Elder" and "The Younger"?
William Pitt
What important 19th century fertilizer came from bird or bat droppings?
Guano
Who is the namesake of the country of Bolivia?
Simón Bolívar
What epic poem is thought to be the oldest in the English language?
Beowulf
What ancient empire was led by Xerxes, Cyrus, and Darius?
Persian Empire
What empire had its capital at Tenochtitlan?
Aztec Empire
What does the name "Stalin" mean in Russian?
Man of Steel
In what war was Washington D.C. burned?
War of 1812
Which member of the Ba'ath Party was executed in 2006?
Saddam Hussein
What country employed Molotov cocktails to resist Soviet invasion in 1939?
Finland
buck1017
+4
Level 77
Jan 9, 2015
Because of Ace Ventura, I guess I thought that guano was just from bats. Can you accept poop for those of us with poor vocabularies?
fuanacdc
+3
Level 84
Jan 13, 2015
+1, I also tried droppings
kalbahamut
+6
Level 82
Feb 21, 2015
There was also a reference to guano being bat droppings in the film Young Guns II.

Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh: I've been to gold towns, silver towns, I've even been to turquoise towns. But I have never been to a bat sh*t town. Can't wait to see the women!

bkemp2001
+2
Level 61
Sep 1, 2017
Yeah, that's what I thought as well.
catcat
+2
Level 59
Sep 1, 2017
There was a Colonel 'Bat' Guano in Dr. Strangelove, which came before all of this.
ander217
+2
Level 75
Sep 2, 2017
I always thought it was only from bats, but Wikipedia says not only does it come from seabirds, especially off the coast of Peru, but also seals. That's my new fact for the day, now I can veg out for the next 24 hours.
MyMindWentBlank
+3
Level 61
Apr 5, 2018
The importance of guano as a fertilizer also led to the passage of the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which states that U.S. citizens can claim previously unclaimed land as U.S. territory provided it has guano on it. This act is the basis for a number of U.S. territorial claims to this day.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 82
Mar 6, 2019
Talk about your sh*thole countries...
perrucci
+16
Level 56
Feb 21, 2015
I went with Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger....fair enough
DeusCaritasEst
+3
Level 55
Mar 24, 2015
Glad I wasn't the only one!
Duzza
+2
Level 32
May 5, 2015
Yes, the very well known Roman authors/admirals who lives 1600 years prior to the establishment of the office of primeminister...
blinky
+5
Level 58
Dec 29, 2016
And your point?
amangla
+2
Level 58
Sep 13, 2016
+1
samiamco
+14
Level 69
Dec 31, 2017
They weren't prime ministers! The obvious wrong answer is the Trudeaus :-)
IsleAuHaulte
+4
Level 89
Jul 17, 2018
I did the same thing as I read the clue then hit backspace to the P as "prime ministers" came into view.
eraare
+2
Level 70
Sep 16, 2023
After it wasn't Pliny, I thought for sure it would be Cato!
Rozzi
+4
Level 60
Feb 21, 2015
great quiz however I think the Norman clue is a bit misleading, the Normans were descended from a viking group but they weren't called Normans when they were vikings.

Also, I think you should require the III or 3 after George - there have been 6 King Georges and only one was notably mad - I don't think it's too much to expect people to know which one, especially given the excellent film a few years back (though I think that may have have been renamed in the US).

Baltimorean
+7
Level 67
Sep 4, 2015
The story is that when the producers brought the successful British movie "The Madness of George III," based on a play of the same name, to the U.S. they renamed it "The Madness of King George" so that moviegoers wouldn't wonder "How come I missed the first two installments in the series?"
Djilas
+4
Level 82
Apr 10, 2017
The Madness of George III is the play, teh title was changed already for the British audiences.
Cooldrive
+2
Level 63
Sep 1, 2017
/////Yo uu kniew what ithe question meant.
DKCtheSecond
+2
Level 50
Jan 14, 2020
"Norman" was a contraction of "North Men," so...
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot
+7
Level 57
Feb 21, 2015
William Pitt! Good thing I've been watching Blackadder =)
Malbaby
+4
Level 71
Sep 1, 2017
William Pitt, the younger, was a very thin man and his nickname at that time was "The bottomless Pitt".
IsleAuHaulte
+2
Level 89
Jul 17, 2018
Not bad, good nerd joke.
kogatora
+5
Level 93
Dec 7, 2018
pitt the glint in the milkman's eye
jmellor13
+4
Level 67
Dec 20, 2020
I got it from the Simpsons.
JesseFromThe6
+2
Level 69
Apr 28, 2023
Lord Palmerston!
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Feb 21, 2015
100% no guessing, but up until now I thought guano was only bat droppings, not seabirds. Learn something new every day.
ander217
+3
Level 75
Feb 21, 2015
Guano is still used for fertilizer and at one time was used in the production of gunpowder. That could make for some good one-liners.
samwisegamgee
+2
Level 37
Feb 21, 2015
Too easy to just allow George for the mad king. Plenty of not mad King Georges.
Malbaby
+4
Level 71
Sep 1, 2017
The arrival of Peruvian Guano alongside different Potato strains from Peru carried the Potato Virus that brought about the Irish Potato Famine.
fromaj
+2
Level 70
Sep 1, 2017
Thank you 300 for Xerxes.
gursh
+2
Level 56
Jan 13, 2020
big up Pitt the Younger
dunkinggandalf2
+2
Level 68
Oct 4, 2020
Tried all possible variations of "Anglo-American War", "British-American War", and so forth, before remembering what that war is actually called. What a stupid name, though. Informative, but stupid. /rant over
GrammarBeane1
+1
Level 82
May 8, 2021
Well to be fair this was the second war between the Americans and the British, the first being the American Revolutionary War
raneman11
+4
Level 66
Apr 28, 2023
Should have named it Revolutionary War 2: Electric Boogaloo
Xen0n
+1
Level 31
Apr 28, 2023
love that !!
sarielise
+1
Level 66
Feb 13, 2023
Lots of Iraqi history on here!
Amilcar
+1
Level 65
Apr 28, 2023
Mashallah!
TheDork
+1
Level 68
Apr 28, 2023
Bad droppings to bat droppings. Honestly, if the first lands on my windshield it’s a bad dropping!
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Apr 28, 2023
Fixed
RuthlessCosmo
+1
Level 72
Apr 28, 2023
Has anyone else noticed that the guano clue doesn't even refer to bat droppings?

Yeah--TheDork did--and posted just seconds before I did.

Xen0n
+1
Level 31
Apr 28, 2023
comon you wont let me have 1812?
awsomeguess
+1
Level 26
Feb 14, 2024
wait 65 percent of people missed the baath one? seriously?
CharlieBlue
+1
Level 23
Mar 1, 2024
80 percent is still a good score (4 wrong).
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