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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 taken58,124
Average score55.0%
Rating4.39
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Question
Answer
Which English king was "mad"?
King George III
Who started the Protestant Reformation?
Martin Luther
Who was the first person to see the moons of Jupiter?
Galileo
What is another name for a "Brownshirt"?
A Fascist
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
Against what city did Rome fight the Punic Wars?
Carthage
What yellow gas was famously used in WWI?
Mustard Gas
Who famously said "I am not a crook"?
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 bird or bat product was an important fertilizer in the 19th century?
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 country used Molotov cocktails in their war with the Soviets?
Finland
What ancient empire was led by Xerxes, Cyrus, and Darius?
Persia
What empire had its capital at Tenochtitlan?
Aztec Empire
In what war was Washington D.C. burned?
War of 1812
What does the name "Stalin" mean in Russian?
Man of Steel
Who was the most notorious member of the Ba'ath Party?
Saddam Hussein
buck1017
+3
Level 76
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 79
Jan 13, 2015
+1, I also tried droppings
kalbahamut
+5
Level 83
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 60
Sep 1, 2017
Yeah, that's what I thought as well.
catcat
+2
Level 57
Sep 1, 2017
There was a Colonel 'Bat' Guano in Dr. Strangelove, which came before all of this.
ander217
+2
Level 77
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 59
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 83
Mar 6, 2019
Talk about your sh*thole countries...
MBatistussi
+6
Level 66
Feb 21, 2015
Tried "maroonshirt" for the brownshirt question. Apparently I'm wrong.
perrucci
+8
Level 58
Feb 21, 2015
I went with Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger....fair enough
DeusCaritasEst
+3
Level 58
Mar 24, 2015
Glad I wasn't the only one!
Duzza
+2
Level 35
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
+2
Level 60
Dec 29, 2016
And your point?
amangla
+2
Level 58
Sep 13, 2016
+1
samiamco
+6
Level 71
Dec 31, 2017
They weren't prime ministers! The obvious wrong answer is the Trudeaus :-)
IsleAuHaulte
+2
Level 87
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.
Rozzi
+3
Level 59
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
+5
Level 71
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
+2
Level 80
Apr 10, 2017
The Madness of George III is the play, teh title was changed already for the British audiences.
Cooldrive
+2
Level 61
Sep 1, 2017
/////Yo uu kniew what ithe question meant.
DKCtheSecond
+2
Level 52
Jan 14, 2020
"Norman" was a contraction of "North Men," so...
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot
+5
Level 59
Feb 21, 2015
William Pitt! Good thing I've been watching Blackadder =)
Malbaby
+3
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 87
Jul 17, 2018
Not bad, good nerd joke.
kogatora
+3
Level 89
Dec 7, 2018
pitt the glint in the milkman's eye
jmellor13
+2
Level 67
Dec 20, 2020
I got it from the Simpsons.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 83
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 77
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 45
Feb 21, 2015
Too easy to just allow George for the mad king. Plenty of not mad King Georges.
selah13
+5
Level 43
Feb 22, 2015
of course I tried to get too technical with the 'brownshirt' question (after I finally managed to get off the Firefly theme), with sturmabteilung (the SA). Never thought of fascist :P
Pimbard6
+2
Level 74
Feb 23, 2015
I was thinking "stormtrooper." Thanks, Quizmaster, for counting "Nazi" as well.
Djilas
+1
Level 80
Apr 10, 2017
I hurried through the quiz and only now discovered that the answer is actually fascist, not nazi. But fascists had black uniforms, not brown ...
YantheMan
+5
Level 66
Apr 24, 2015
The brownshirts were specifically Hitler's SA. Please make that work.
Froststar101
+4
Level 73
Apr 4, 2018
I agree, I tried SA member, member of the SA, etc. This is what "brownshirt" specifically is referring to.
jmellor13
+2
Level 67
Dec 20, 2020
I tried Gestapo. Are they distinct from the SA? I get all my Nazi militants confused.
FolgoreCZ
+1
Level 61
Oct 25, 2021
Yes, they are very, very different. SA was Hitler's paramilitary organisation before his coming to power, Gestapo was a secret police established after he became the chancellor. From a fashion point of view, Gestapo is well known for a black long leather coats, brown shirts are distinctly the SA's thing.
brandybuck96
+4
Level 81
Aug 23, 2015
King Henry VI was also mad - so mad that England went to war over who should take his throne. Please accept Henry VI as well as the more famous George III.
Malbaby
+3
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.
Xenopsylla
+2
Level 67
Sep 1, 2017
Thank you 300 for Xerxes.
dogla305
+4
Level 57
Sep 1, 2017
King Aerys II Targaryen is not accepted for which king was mad?
bkemp2001
+4
Level 60
Sep 1, 2017
That is definitely the first King I think of whenever someone asks about a "mad" king.
WelshWizard
+3
Level 78
Sep 1, 2017
I tried "SA" for brown shirts. Should be acceptable/the question changed.
idontkn1
+3
Level 87
Sep 1, 2017
I hate the wording of the Molotov cocktail question. I know the historical context but as worded just about any country that the Soviet Union set foot in would be correct. Maybe reword it to "What country begot the Molotov cocktail after a Soviet invasion?" I've seen plenty of footage of from the late 40s to late 50s of Hungarians and Czechs lofting them at Soviet tanks.
MikesBrain
+5
Level 71
Sep 1, 2017
Another name for Brownshirt - I put in SA, Sturmabteilung, SS, Hitler youth - please accept some of these too. Thanks
DiscoBayGolfer
+5
Level 78
Sep 1, 2017
HA, as soon as I read the Brownshirt question the UPS guy showed up. Totally threw me off
kalbahamut
+5
Level 83
Sep 1, 2017
Did you chase him off your property screaming "fascist!!"?
Kenny123
+2
Level 40
Sep 1, 2017
I was guessing SA or Stormtrooper for Brownshirt. Never knew it was a name for a fascist.
sulfuratus
+4
Level 65
Sep 2, 2017
Galileo and Galilei are absolutely fine as type-ins, but the actual name of the Astronomer was Galileo Galilei. Any chance you could make that the answer that shows up?
LancasterII
+2
Level 71
Sep 2, 2017
For "Brownshirt," storm trooper or SA trooper (or along those lines) should be accepted. Not all Fascists wore brown shirted uniforms.
Rangifer
+2
Level 59
Sep 2, 2017
I'm going with Pierre Elliot and Justin Trudeau for the last question.
Aluminum
+5
Level 57
Oct 2, 2017
How do we quantify the "most" notorious member of the Ba'ath?

Bashar al-Assad is at least as famous as Saddam Hussein (arguably more famous today, because of the civil war), and, judging by the civil war in Syria, not less evil, so the hint seems as if it can equally apply to him.

torny81
+2
Level 69
Dec 11, 2017
Fascist are known as "camicie nere", blackshirt not brown! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackshirts
Android1632
+2
Level 52
May 14, 2018
Everyone seems to be thrown off by the "mad king" or "brownshirt" questions, but I should point that mustard gas wasn't yellow, it was colorless and odorless: that's what made it terrifying. Chlorine was the actual yellow-brown gas.
dunkinggandalf2
+3
Level 66
Oct 4, 2020
As a sidenote: a soldier who has survived both pepper spray and mustard gas is what they call a seasoned veteran.
gursh
+2
Level 55
Jan 13, 2020
big up Pitt the Younger
dunkinggandalf2
+2
Level 66
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 74
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
Dewot423
+2
Level 60
Dec 18, 2020
Can we get chlorine gas as an alternate type in to mustard? They're both yellow and I'd argue they're equally famous for their usage in WW1.
FuegoStage
+2
Level 50
Jan 2, 2021
Hungary also used Molotov cocktails when they rebelled against the Soviet regim in 1956.
Koult45
+2
Level 55
Jan 29, 2021
You should really clarify that it was Finland who FIRST used Molotov cocktails.
Badeghut
+2
Level 67
Feb 23, 2021
I feel like mentions of the SA should be acceptable for the "brownshirts" questions considering that the primary nickname of the SA was the "brownshirts."
JohnnyYeet
+1
Level 54
Apr 23, 2021
Also, couldn't you argue that Assad is the most notorious Ba'ath Party member? I mean, the Syrian Civil War killed 400,000 people and displaced 5.6 million
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