"Second Best" History Edition

Can you name the things that place #2 in these historical categories?

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Last updated: December 15, 2021

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First submitted	May 20, 2020
Times taken	12,296
Rating	4.92

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Category	First	Second
Country with the most military deaths in World War II	Soviet Union	Germany
Most populous city in 1800 AD	Beijing	London
First person to walk on the moon	Neil Armstrong	Buzz Aldrin
First U.S. president	George Washington	John Adams
Most common name of French kings	Louis	Charles
Largest empire in 1800 by total area within Europe	Russian Empire	Ottoman Empire
Largest empire ever by land area	British Empire	Mongol Empire
Most guessed Shakespearean play on this quiz	Romeo and Juliet	Hamlet
First human according to the Bible	Adam	Eve
Longest-reigning British monarch	Elizabeth II	Victoria
First host city of the modern Olympics	Athens	Paris
First paramount Soviet leader	Vladimir Lenin	Joseph Stalin
Most influential person in history, according to this quiz	Jesus	Muhammad
Oldest U.S. president when taking office	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
First area annexed by Germany leading up to WWII	Austria	Sudetenland
Most valuable U.S. corporation in 1960 by market cap	AT&T	General Motors
First imperial Chinese dynasty	Qin	Western Han
First Roman emperor	Augustus	Tiberius
Oldest university in England	Oxford	Cambridge
First country to establish a Republican government (among countries that currently exist)	San Marino	Netherlands

Level 66

Dec 15, 2021

First comment! Yay!

Level 71

Jan 8, 2022

But you did not make a comment?

Level 75

Jan 9, 2022

Why do people do this?

Level 60

Jan 11, 2022

Same reason mountain climbers climb mountains.

Level 72

Jan 21, 2022

Except that's an actual achievement, derived from notable effort and skill.

Unlike commenting "first comment" in first comments.

Level 44

Jan 23, 2022

It's based on the same impulse though

Level 66

Dec 15, 2021

Thanks for teaching me that the Saarland wasn't technically annexed! :D

Level 55

Jan 8, 2022

It was, just after Sudetenland

Level 65

Dec 16, 2021

Wow, the US company question is a hard one, especially for non Americans. I'd be struggling and guessing to tell you now, let alone historically.

Level 56

Jan 11, 2022

Agreed. I put General Electric. Lol.

Level 32

Dec 16, 2021

amazing quiz. good idea

Level 70

Dec 18, 2021

I do love these second best quizzes, but I wonder if the first should be already given - I think it would be more interesting if it appeared after you successfully get the correct second place answer.

Level 28

Dec 20, 2021

Aren't the netherlands a monarchy?

Level 64

Jan 8, 2022

It's somewhat confusing language, but the Dutch did not naturally have a monarchy, they established a republic after getting independence from Spain. The monarchy was basically created by the Congress powers after Napoleon's defeat.

Level 56

Jan 11, 2022

I don't know, but when I date girls from the Netherlands, we always split the meal and go Dutch.

Level 63

Jan 8, 2022

Poland (and Lithuania) can claim to have established a republic in 1569, before the Dutch Republic.

Level 60

Jan 8, 2022

Elective monarchy, it's in the name.

Level 83

Jan 8, 2022

This is the second best history quiz on the site.

Level 64

Jan 8, 2022

Ah dang it I tried putting Ford and totally forgot about General Motors.

Level 56

Jan 11, 2022

The Ottoman Empire question ruined my time. I guess Turkey was ruling Eastern Europe at the time, but it threw me way off. I kept typing in all the other empires with actual European overlord ruling nations. Ottomans/Turkey didn't even cross my mind, as they aren't really European, but conquered the Balkans area.

Level 65

Jan 17, 2022

usually i know the least guessed answer....this time i didn't....while the answer is the very country i'm from (Netherlands). *facepalm*