Random Mode Keyboard shortcut: Command/Ctrl + Shift + R
thumbnail

History by Letter - B

Can you name these historical people, places, and things beginning with the letter B?
Quiz by Geoguy
Rate:
Last updated: December 10, 2019
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedMay 19, 2014
Times taken127,232
Average score70.8%
Rating4.54
5:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 24 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Hint
Answer
Deaf German composer
Ludwig van
Beethoven
Ancient city that supposedly had
Hanging Gardens
Babylon
Modern-day capital near the
site of the above
Baghdad
City that had a "Tea Party" in 1773
Boston
"Liberator" of South and Central America
Simón Bolívar
City separated by a wall until 1989
Berlin
English scientist and statesman who
shares his name with a type of meat
Francis Bacon
Prison stormed in the French Revolution
Bastille
The Eastern Roman Empire
Byzantine
Empire
Napoleon's last name
Bonaparte
Russian faction that came to power
in the October Revolution
Bolsheviks
Often credited with
inventing the telephone
Alexander
Graham Bell
Hint
Answer
Pandemic caused by
the Yersinia Pestis bacterium
Black Death
Descendants of the
Dutch settlers of South Africa
Boers
Another name for
Siddhārtha Gautama
Buddha
City where the Titanic was built
Belfast
Literary family of
Anne, Emily, and Charlotte
Brontë
Germany's bombing of the
UK during WWII
The Blitz
What came before the Iron Age
Bronze Age
Nickname for pirate Edward Teach
Blackbeard
Celtic queen who led a revolt
against the Romans
Boudica
Beheaded wife of Henry VIII
Anne Boleyn
Former name of Mumbai
Bombay
Abraham Lincoln's assassin
John Wilkes
Booth
+12
Level 66
May 21, 2014
come on, Bolein should be right to!
+14
Level 36
Sep 9, 2014
Learn to spell, or don't take the quiz.
+26
Level 72
Nov 15, 2019
I completely disagree, he knows the answer. this is not a spelling test
+15
Level 72
Feb 16, 2020
What's more spelling was never consistent in her lifetime, eg sometimes spelt "Bullen".
+16
Level 47
Jul 14, 2020
It's not fair for non English speaking test takers. We usually have yet another (correct) way of spelling the answer.
+6
Level 79
Aug 21, 2021
You're on an English language site. I'll never understand why people want to be catered to instead of LEARNING the correct answer with the correct spelling in the language that the quiz is written in. Spelling is a part of the knowledge. You are only cheating yourself if you refuse to learn the correct spelling and keep spelling things the wrong way. There are SO many languages in this world, how can you expect every quiz to accept every possible spelling and variation? Again, you are on an English language site. Look at it as a great way to broaden your English skills instead of looking to be babied and constantly annoying the quizmakers with these complaints.
+23
Level 77
Sep 8, 2021
I mean... Anne Boleyn signed her own name Boullan on occasion. Don't see the point of getting stuffy about LEARNING MY CORRECT LANGUAGE when she didn't even always spell it "correctly." Plus I think that people can best broaden their knowledge by celebrating new information, not rote memorization of spelling people's last names. Wouldn't it be OK if the quiz allowed multiple spellings for a name like Nietzsche? No one ever seems to get defensive when a commenter asks for non-English name type-ins.
+14
Level 48
May 22, 2014
I'm glad we had the B hint, because he beheaded more than one wife.
+19
Level 77
May 22, 2014
"divorce is for wusses" - King Henry VIII
+2
Level 37
Aug 14, 2014
He had two divorces, and two were beheaded.
+12
Level 66
Dec 2, 2016
Divorce beheaded died, divorced beheaded survived!
+2
Level 28
Oct 11, 2017
@WolfCam "Don't Stay in School" - Boy in a Band.
+1
Level 72
Nov 15, 2019
he literally invented divorce
+4
Level 55
Mar 27, 2020
He literally didn't - both marriages ended with anullments, not divorces.
+1
Level 69
Jul 5, 2021
Divorce existed for millennia before Henry VIII. It's mentioned in the Bible, and older Greek texts.
+2
Level 86
May 24, 2014
Oh come on, he beheaded only two, and Boleyn is the most famous ^^.
+15
Level 82
Jun 10, 2014
Great pick-up lines in history: c'mon baby, I've only had two of my ex-wives brutally murdered.
+3
Level 60
Dec 15, 2014
Divorced, beheaded and died.

Divorced, beheaded, survived.

The fate of Henry VIII's wives.

Only one of them kept their lives.

+3
Level 65
Oct 21, 2015
3 of them kept their lives, actually. Wife # 4, Anna of Cleves, and Wife # 6 Catherine Parr both outlived him, while Wife # 1, Catherine of Aragon lived several years after the annulment of her marriage.
+9
Level 78
Jul 31, 2020
Incorrect. None of them kept their lives. They're all dead.
+2
Level 79
Apr 18, 2017
He didn't divorce at all. Two of his marriages were annulled.
+2
Level 33
Mar 2, 2023
When knowing all the lyrics to Ex-Wives gives you the answer...
+4
Level 69
Jun 10, 2014
Very surprised that Boudica scored so low :/
+5
Level 85
Jun 11, 2020
Kept trying to spell it Boeadica for some reason.
+1
Level 89
Sep 22, 2022
Because most people remember Boadicea from the poem. It's the most well known version of her name.
+1
Level 44
Jun 14, 2014
forgot boudica :-(
+1
Level 32
Sep 23, 2014
Great quiz loved it
+17
Level 41
Oct 8, 2014
Who else thought of "bubonic plague" before Black Death? (: Thank you, Quizmaster, for allowing this as a correct answer! (:
+1
Level 53
Sep 13, 2016
I sure did. And when I saw it I was like, oh, Black starts with B.
+1
Level 68
Sep 12, 2021
Yep, but I tried Great Plague for some reason and it failed. It should be added.
+4
Level 81
Dec 8, 2021
Bgreat plague?
+5
Level 83
Sep 8, 2015
Buonaparte or Buonoparte for Bonaparte? I have been reading a book that spells it like that all the way through and was annoyed when it didn't accept it.
+5
Level 49
Jul 7, 2017
Yes, I agree. Buonaparte is his real Corsican name.
+1
Level 69
Nov 2, 2015
There is proof that Shakespeare spelt his own name 17 different ways so what chance have we got
+1
Level 52
Jul 17, 2021
Shakespeare isn't in this quiz
+1
Level 60
Mar 26, 2024
Punewolf is making a point about the complaints on the type-ins for names in this quiz.
+3
Level 46
Nov 25, 2015
I knew Bolsheviks, I just couldn't spell it >:(
+2
Level 72
Nov 8, 2019
Yeah, tried it with a C at first... Maybe that should be accepted?
+1
Level 60
Mar 26, 2024
Colsheviks doesn't start with B.
+1
Level 79
Mar 6, 2016
Too easy for someone educated in 1970's UK. Finished with 2:15 to spare.
+1
Level 75
Nov 21, 2019
1970s USA - 3:38 to spare. Listening to the Beatles made us both well-educated. :)
+1
Level 60
Sep 12, 2016
Bell did invent the Telephone, so why does the clue say often credited with inventing the Telephone, when it's an established fact he did it.
+4
Level 61
Sep 12, 2016
Antonio Meucci invented the telephone, he couldn't afford the patents. Bell stole his idea, Meucci sued but died before the end of the trial.
+1
Level 37
Oct 24, 2018
^ Yes. That "often credited with..." threw me off completely,and made me think of Menucci, which doesn't start with a "B".
+7
Level ∞
Jun 19, 2019
There were lots of people who invented the telephone. Bell was one of them.
+1
Level 23
Jul 7, 2017
omg i would have got 100% if i spelt Byzantine right LOL
+1
Level 28
Oct 11, 2017
If only I had been able to spell Bolsheviks correctly... stupid Ben... its not "Bolshoviks"... ;( smh
+1
Level 65
Nov 8, 2019
When watching One Piece anime gets you History quizz answers... :D
+6
Level 76
Nov 8, 2019
What? None of you have heard of the renowned scientist The Earl of Brisket?!
+4
Level 75
Nov 21, 2019
Was he friends with the Earl of Sandwich?
+1
Level 67
May 22, 2020
20/24, I'm actually quite impressed with my performance
+1
Level 60
Jun 29, 2020
What's with the "supposedly" in the Hanging Gardens clue? I noticed it at some other quizes as well. When I was younger, the existence of the Gardens was an undiputed fact, did some "scientist" tried to become relevant lately by saying they didn't exist?

How would that even work? When Filon and others made their lists of the wonders, instead of using one from the dozens of other great buildings, they just made one up? And nobody noticed or complained? Acient greeks regularly traded with Babylon, wouldn't they have said something? Or when Alexander the Great and his army of 50000 soldiers conquered Babylon, wouldn't at least one of them noticed that the most famous building that is supposed to be there is missing?

+1
Level 67
Feb 2, 2024
Do you watch The History Channel?
+4
Level 70
Aug 15, 2020
No archaeological evidence of the Hanging Gardens has ever been found, and they are not mentioned in any contemporary Babylonian source. The surviving Greek texts that describe the Hanging Gardens were all written some 400-600 years after their supposed construction (although some of these texts claim to base their descriptions on earlier sources). Our oldest surviving Greek descriptions and the oldest lists of the Seven Ancient Wonders were also all written several hundred years after Alexander the Great's conquest of Babylon.
+1
Level 59
Nov 24, 2020
24/24
+1
Level 60
Nov 3, 2021
got Boudica after taking 4 years of Latin!
+1
Level 55
Mar 26, 2024
AI slop
+1
Level 50
Mar 26, 2024
I only got Boudica because I played Ryse: Son of Rome like 10 years ago
+1
Level 63
Mar 27, 2024
What's with the AI art? Could you not find a good picture of Beethoven online?