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History General Knowledge #8

Can you answer these random history questions?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: November 1, 2020
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First submittedJanuary 9, 2015
Times taken58,638
Average score55.0%
Rating4.17
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Question
Answer
What unflattering nickname was given to Queen Mary I of England?
Bloody Mary
Who was the main author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence?
Thomas Jefferson
In what Beijing square were democracy activists massacred in 1989?
Tiananmen
Who did Sirhan Sirhan assassinate in Los Angeles in 1968?
Robert Kennedy
What is the term for a woman of the 1920s who wore short skirts, had bobbed hair,
drank alcohol, and listened to jazz?
Flapper
Which country was divided near the 38th parallel in 1953?
Korea
What insignia did the Nazi SS wear on their caps?
Skull and Crossbones
Who said "the die is cast" as he crossed the Rubicon?
Julius Caesar
What disease killed over 3% of the world's population in 1918 and 1919?
Spanish Flu
What atoll gained notoriety after the United States tested nuclear weapons there?
Bikini Atoll
What were the 1890s known as?
The Gay Nineties
What design movement was exemplified by the Empire State and Chrysler buildings?
Art Deco
What area of the Near and Middle East is called the cradle of civilization?
Fertile Crescent
Who abdicated as King of England in 1936 in order to marry American
divorcée Wallis Simpson?
King Edward VIII
Which country was ruled by Idi Amin?
Uganda
In what language were the Hindu Vedas written?
Sanskrit
What duo did Sacagawea help on their famous journey to the Pacific?
Lewis and Clark
Where were Walter Raleigh, Anne Boleyn, and Guy Fawkes imprisoned?
Tower of London
What was once the most abundant bird in North America but was
driven to extinction in 1914?
Passenger Pigeon
Europeans brought many new diseases to the New World. What STD
did the New World (probably) give to Europe?
Syphilis
+18
Level 67
Jul 23, 2015
Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. That is staggering to think about. Ben Franklin was 70 when he signed, which I add only because I always thought of the Founding Fathers as a uniform group. It's interesting to think how far apart Jefferson and Franklin were in age, and how most people envision them in the same way.
+4
Level 75
Jul 23, 2015
Have you seen the play or movie, "1776"? That put it in perspective for me, quite well. John Adams speaking about Jefferson: "Good G**...you don't mean...they're not going to...? In the middle of the afternoon?" Franklin: "Not everyone's from Boston, John!"
+2
Level 46
Jul 25, 2015
Franklin: "What will they think we were, demigods?"
+2
Level 46
Jul 25, 2015
The most amazing thing about that movie/play is how much of it was taken directly from the writings of the people involved. The writers had to leave out Adams saying "if we don't deal with slavery now, we'll leave a bigger mess for our descendants to deal with a hundred years from now" because they figured no one would believe Adams actually said that.
+7
Level 36
Oct 23, 2017
Thomas Jefferson was an amazing person, an Enlightenment philosopher equal to any who was able to put his philosophies into practice, not shying away from writing a document that constituted treason, punishable by death. It's such a revolutionary document. He was considered a genius, was extremely well-read (amassing a huge library he sold to the govt after the Library of Congress was burned by the British), and was 6'2" tall, very handsome and imposing for the times--yet he'd talk to people as equals, quizzing them about their opinions, and only later would they discover who that friendly man was! It's hard to believe the quality of men who came together at that place and time in history to create this country.
+5
Level 63
Jan 10, 2018
Biggest hypocrite of the Founders. Railed against slavery, but felt it was good for Africans.
+12
Level 79
Mar 26, 2021
He was a slave owner who CONTINUED to own slaves even after he wrote that oh-so- eloquent document talking about how all men were entitled to freedom (read:white men, not women, who owned land). He raped his slaves (yes, it was absolutely rape considering he owned them and they could not have protested or said no) and fathered children with them. So no, I don't agree that he was an "amazing person".
+1
Level 61
Mar 29, 2021
to each their own opinion. jefferson had to start somewhere.
+6
Level 74
Apr 4, 2023
It's worth recognizing the rare accomplishments of such "great men" for the tremendous value of what they did AND acknowledging how awful they could be in other ways at the same time. Everyone who has ever lived has been only a single flawed human. No one deserves either uncritical praise or absolute condemnation. It doesn't matter what they've done, good or bad - if you can't find a counter example of something else they've done, you're not equipped to make an assessment.
+1
Level 63
Jan 10, 2018
And Franklin would be fun. Jefferson a load.
+4
Level 72
Jul 23, 2015
Spanish Influenza should be accepted.... (not sure why it isn't!)
+2
Level 75
Jul 23, 2015
Agree.
+3
Level ∞
Feb 16, 2017
Fixed
+1
Level 55
Jan 10, 2018
Interesting to see the question about syphilis going the "other direction" for a change. It's worth noting whenever critics rag on about what sickness(-es) came from Europe to the New World; it was a two-way street.
+3
Level 37
Nov 25, 2018
SgtMac: It's called Karma.
+18
Level ∞
Nov 1, 2020
It wasn't really a two-way street. Europeans got syphilis. Americans got smallpox, measles, and many other illnesses, which killed a large percentage of the population.
+1
Level 74
Apr 4, 2023
This is such a silly thing to be critical about from any perspective. The populations of the two separate continental landmasses were eventually going to meet. And when they did these various contagions were bound to find new, undefended hosts. The conquest on the part of Europeans is worth criticizing. Acting as an unwitting disease vector is not. It's incredibly sad and tragic that it happened, but it was sort of inevitable, evolutionarily speaking.
+11
Level 82
Jan 10, 2018
I find it amusing that "Clark and Lewis" is not an acceptable answer. Lewis must get first billing!
+2
Level 80
Jan 30, 2021
I had the same problem. I assumed I'd misspelled one if the names.
+2
Level 65
Mar 28, 2021
I tried it, too, just to see if it would be accepted. Poor ol' Clark.
+1
Level 55
Sep 22, 2023
Never heard of them.
+2
Level 75
Sep 22, 2023
yes... can 'clark and lewis', or 'clark lewis' be accepted please?
+7
Level 44
Jan 15, 2018
The 1890s where known as "the..... Eighteen.... ninetys?
+1
Level 44
Jan 24, 2018
This quiz is a little dark isn't it? Blood, massacres, assassinations, Nazi symbols, STDs,...
+14
Level 73
Mar 5, 2018
That's history!
+1
Level 46
Mar 6, 2018
Only got skull and crossbones because Owen Benjamin was on Steven Crowder and they talked about it. That's a dub
+3
Level 72
Jun 7, 2018
Tough quiz. A good few American questions that are a lot tougher for us non-Americans.
+3
Level 82
Jun 20, 2018
I just watched a documentary on YouTube a few days about about how syphilis may have been in Europe prior to Columbus.
+3
Level ∞
Nov 1, 2020
It seems unlikely to me. The first outbreaks were recorded shortly after Columbus.
+1
Level 65
Jan 7, 2019
Wth is meant with 38th parralel?

Not that it matter much still did horrible on this one, I only got two right. On most knowledge quizes I only get two wrong.

+4
Level 48
Aug 2, 2021
The 38th parallel north is a geographical line of latitude which divided North and South Korea, and is now used as a colloquial term for their border, which still roughly follows the line.
+2
Level 54
Nov 9, 2019
"In what Beijing square were democracy activists massacred in 1989?"

There was no one "massacred" inside the square.

https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_myth_of_tiananmen.php

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8555142/Wikileaks-no-bloodshed-inside-Tiananmen-Square-cables-claim.html

+19
Level ∞
Nov 10, 2019
Protestors were protesting in Tiananmen Square. Later they were massacred. Did the massacre happen inside the square or just outside of it? Who knows. Also, people within the CCP have tried to use this language to confuse people into thinking the massacre didn't happen. It did.
+9
Level 58
Mar 26, 2021
"Have you noticed that our caps actually have little pictures of skulls on them? Hans....are we the baddies?"
+3
Level 88
Mar 26, 2021
I feel like the type in on the 3rd-to-last question is overly generous.
+4
Level 73
Mar 26, 2021
Nitpick: Edward VIII was not King of England, just like Elizabeth II is not titled "Queen of England"; there has been no King/Queen of England since the Act of Union in 1707; he was King of the United Kingdom of GB and Northern Ireland etc...as I said, nitpick lol.
+1
Level 69
Mar 29, 2021
you're telling me i typed out "totemkompf" only for the answer to be "skull and crossbones"?
+5
Level 56
Mar 30, 2021
Not to be that guy, but it's spelled Totenkopf, so that's why it probably didn't register
+1
Level 80
Mar 24, 2023
This. I typed "totenkopf" and it was accepted.
+3
Level 74
Aug 30, 2021
Maybe the SS question should clarify because I tried both eagle and swastika which are correct but I understand why they're not the "right answer" because they are not unique to SS caps.
+1
Level 66
Aug 16, 2023
Yeah I did "eagle" too, and looking at images of their uniform, the eagle is the main thing on the caps!
+1
Level 56
Sep 22, 2023
Always find it interesting how much better the users of this site are on average with geography than history
+1
Level 67
Sep 22, 2023
Can “sanskirt” be accepted?
+1
Level 58
Sep 22, 2023
What would that be? A holy piece of clothing?
+2
Level 66
Sep 22, 2023
Art Deco was a great school of design. We should bring it back, it's been a hundred years already.