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"Second Best" History Edition

Can you name the things that place #2 in these historical categories?
Quiz by
HinesBrothers
Featured Quiz
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Last updated: January 24, 2025
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First submittedMay 20, 2020
Times taken62,579
Average score60.0%
Rating4.94
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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
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
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48 Comments
Dimby
+7
Level 83
Dec 15, 2021
First comment! Yay!
Malbaby
+17
Level 70
Jan 8, 2022
But you did not make a comment?
Glorfindel1
+2
Level 90
Dec 10, 2025
Neither did you.
acct4this
+1
Level 52
Feb 26, 2026
Yes they did, just wasn’t about the quiz
roleybob
+8
Level 73
Jan 9, 2022
Why do people do this?
BlackLab
+9
Level 66
Jan 11, 2022
Same reason mountain climbers climb mountains.
Pontiac
+1
Level 62
Feb 6, 2026
To see if they can survive?
GalGonso
+4
Level 66
Jan 23, 2022
It's based on the same impulse though
Dimby
+31
Level 83
Sep 13, 2022
I trained for hours preparing for this moment, waiting for the Hines bros to post a new quiz and get onto that thing before any other commenters. I had to train my fingers to work without sufficient oxygen because god knows I'd hold my breath while writing. I lost my friend Paul before I reached the comment section. He stubbed his toe rushing to his laptop when I told him a new featured quiz was out. It was all worth it in the end, even if I had to ride Paul like a toboggan to escape the avalanche of non-first comments that followed. No regrets.
bananawana
+2
Level 32
Mar 9, 2026
I’m sorry about Paul 😔😔😔🙏🙏
Dimby
+4
Level 83
Dec 15, 2021
Thanks for teaching me that the Saarland wasn't technically annexed! :D
LuigiDood227
+1
Level 72
Jan 8, 2022
It was, just after Sudetenland
LuigiDood227
+3
Level 72
May 5, 2022
Since I cant edit this Im wrong and should do research beforehand but technically it wasnt part of a foreign nation ev though it was before Rhineland and Anschluss
Inferno46
+3
Level 54
Jul 16, 2022
Saarland was independent
wielblad
+15
Level 66
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.
bozoclown
+2
Level 56
Jan 11, 2022
Agreed. I put General Electric. Lol.
Sifhraven
+2
Level 76
Jul 9, 2024
I wouldn't know what the most valuable cooperation was 65 years ago even for my own country!
Amilcar
+2
Level 73
Oct 3, 2024
I liked this question because I didn't know the answer straight off but had to think about the sort of industries that would have been booming in that era. It's a broader sort of test of general knowledge.
JonOfKent
+1
Level 61
Oct 3, 2024
Pff... I don't know, I've got a vague idea GM was the biggest company in America when I was a kiddie, back in the 1980s, so I got it straight away. I suppose I may just be lucky to have been wrong in the right way for this quiz!
blairjohnstone
+1
Level 33
Dec 16, 2021
amazing quiz. good idea
AlexThirkell
+3
Level 74
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.
iRDM
+1
Level 81
Sep 1, 2022
fixed! :D
habedibubu
+4
Level 94
Dec 20, 2021
Aren't the netherlands a monarchy?
bestanford
+10
Level 73
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.
bozoclown
+1
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.
MrToad
+2
Level 64
Jan 8, 2022
Poland (and Lithuania) can claim to have established a republic in 1569, before the Dutch Republic.
rustwat
+5
Level 62
Jan 8, 2022
Elective monarchy, it's in the name.
Szatan
+1
Level 61
Nov 10, 2024
In Poland we call it "First Republic" or "Republic of Both Nations" hence the confusion.
kalbahamut
+12
Level 79
Jan 8, 2022
This is the second best history quiz on the site.
thegoatisgoaty
+1
Level 75
Jan 8, 2022
Ah dang it I tried putting Ford and totally forgot about General Motors.
bozoclown
+3
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.
TjizzleDizzle
+1
Level 69
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*
KabouterPlop
+1
Level 71
Jan 27, 2022
I'm Dutch too and had no clue!
graeme68
+1
Level 39
Jun 16, 2022
Great Quiz, but I do need to make a correction...Joseph Stalin did not succeed Lenin as Premier of the Soviet Union. After Lenin's death in 1924, He was succeed by ALEXEI RYKOV, who in turn was succeeded by Molotov in 1930. Joseph Stalin was actually. the 4th Premier, succeeding Molotov on 6th May 1941
Quizmaster
+5
Level ∞
Sep 17, 2024
Nowhere does this quiz use the word "Premier", which was a largely ceremonial title.

The de-facto leader of the Soviet Union was the leader of the Communist Party as I'm sure you know.

iRDM
+3
Level 81
Sep 1, 2022
accidentally got netherlands while trying to answer the germany question, oops
Dimby
+6
Level 83
Sep 13, 2022
Here lies Paul. Good friend. Better toboggan.
Fianchetto
+4
Level 79
Oct 3, 2024
RIP Paul
dawsin
+1
Level 60
Oct 3, 2024
Netherlands is not the answer... Switzerland surely was established as republic way before in Middle Ages.
shrekcena
+2
Level 60
Oct 3, 2024
I don't think Swtzerland was Switzerland back then
DukeOfArrakis
+2
Level 41
Oct 6, 2024
Didn't China have the second highest number of deaths at twenty million in World War Two? They were invaded by the Japanese in 1934 and their campaigns against Japan are often overlooked.
DukeOfArrakis
+1
Level 41
Oct 6, 2024
I know officially World War Two was from 1939-1945 but recently more historians have been crediting China's involvement. I could be very wrong though
JackintheBox
+1
Level 82
Dec 14, 2024
This quiz only counts military deaths.
JackintheBox
+2
Level 82
Dec 14, 2024
The two oldest presidents to take office will switch places in January..
NEGeo
+1
Level 65
Jan 12, 2025
Wasn't the Saarland independent before Germany annexed it in 1935?
Axle36
+1
Level 67
Jan 24, 2025
You might want to change the President question to "Oldest U.S. president when *first* taking office", or change the answers. Donald Trump is the oldest if you count his second inauguration.
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Jan 24, 2025
Updated
oj11
+1
Level 20
Mar 23, 2026
Bruh I said General Electric that's almost the same as General Motors
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