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History Multiple Choice #4

Can you answer these multiple choice questions about world history?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 31, 2020
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First submittedFebruary 4, 2020
Times taken47,485
Average score53.3%
Rating4.40
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1. Did Buddha live before Jesus or after?
Before
After
2. Did the Mongols ever conquer China?
Yes
No
3. What supposed Medieval practice was known as "droit du seigneur" or "jus primae noctis"?
There is no documented example of this ever happening in reality
The ability to purchase admittance into heaven
The drowning of witches
The right of a lord to sleep with a newlywed maiden
The right to trial by combat
4. In what modern-day country was Stalin born?
Georgia
Germany
Russia
United States
5. Why is Phineas Gage known to history?
He invented the cotton gin
His personality changed when an iron rod was driven through his head
He standardized the dimensions of railway tracks
6. Croesus was the king of Lydia (in modern-day Turkey) during the 500s BC. What is he famous for?
Being old
Being rich
Being strong
7. What was the original worth of a British pound?
In 2020, a pound of silver is worth about £200
Pound of copper
Pound of gold
Pound of sheep's wool
Pound of silver
8. What was the Balfour Declaration?
A papal bull excommunicating Thomas Balfour
A statement of British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine
A statement of U.S. intent to expand to the Pacific Ocean
9. In 1457, the Scottish Parliament banned football and golf. Why?
The ban was repealed a couple decades later
Men were playing sports instead of practicing archery
Scotland had recently lost matches to England
Windows at the royal palace were broken by errant shots
Women had started to play
10. When did the Crimean War happen?
1700s
1800s
1900s
11. True or false. The Inca Empire lasted for thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish.
The Inca Empire had only been around for about 100 years when Pizarro showed up
True
False
12. True or false. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Hawaiian islands had high levels of social equality.
Ancient Hawaii had a strict caste system enforced by the death penalty
True
False
13. What royal house did Queen Elizabeth I come from?
Plantagenets
Stuarts
Tudors
Windsors
14. How did Napoleon die?
Guillotine, Paris, 1815
Old age, London, 1848
Stomach cancer (or maybe poisoning), St. Helena, 1821
Struck by gunshot, Waterloo, 1815
15. Who did John Hinckley shoot in 1981?
John Lennon
Golda Meir
Ronald Reagan
33 Comments
+14
Level 90
Feb 5, 2020
This was surprisingly difficult!
+6
Level 66
Feb 5, 2020
I'm very surprised by how many people didn't know that pounds were linked to silver.
+21
Level 76
Feb 6, 2020
Especially considering the formal name of the currency is pound sterling.
+7
Level 66
Mar 30, 2020
If I had thought of pound sterling, I probably would have gotten it.
+3
Level 80
Apr 3, 2020
Oh yes, of course. I actually also fell for the sheep answer. 😁
+3
Level 66
Mar 30, 2020
It's probably because most people think that it's connected to gold. I agree with the others who said that pound sterling should be a giveaway.
+1
Level 75
Apr 7, 2024
I've now taken this quiz twice and gotten this wrong both times. Paraphrasing what Talleyrand might have said (but probably didn't say) about the French nobility who returned to power after Napoleon's fall: "I have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing."
+1
Level 59
Apr 8, 2024
I didn't know this either, but it seemed to be the most likely answer.

1 pound of gold would result in a very impractical high value for a currency, 1 pound of sheep's wool would be very low and 1 pound of copper would be - let's say - somewhat odd...

Also: Pound Sterling Sterling silver

+5
Level 39
Mar 30, 2020
The Hawaiian question is a bit interesting how many people got it wrong
+10
Level ∞
Mar 31, 2020
People think that Hawaii was some idyllic paradise. It was anything but. Every person had a strict place in the social hierarchy. The lowest caste had it worst. They were subject to ritual killing and sacrifice.
+4
Level 64
Jan 19, 2021
I thought the question felt leading, and remembered that they had at least one successful queen before the end, which is why I got it wrong
+13
Level ∞
Mar 7, 2022
I think this misconception is part of a larger trend where, in Western societies, all Europeans are portrayed as "bad" while other societies are portrayed as "good".

I think it's bizarre and also xenophobic. This attitude infantilizes non-European societies, assuming that only Europeans can be judged for their moral failings, while the horrible things that happened in other places are "just their culture".

+3
Level 76
Mar 25, 2024
I would argue it's more complex. I'm relatively young and live in a very liberal state. I've found mainstream education and media usually portrays Europeans as "good" (or at least portrays Anglos as good), but most education and media which doesn't do that falls into the bizarre pattern you're describing. Likewise, many individual people overcorrect into this bizarre pattern. (It could also be related to or a continuation of the "noble savage" concept.)

Like JWatson said, Polynesia in general and Hawaii especially has for over a century been portrayed as a tropical paradise— with plenty of extreme ahistorical depictions throughout that stretch of time. I would guess this was at first to encourage white settlement, and nowadays to boost tourism. While the trend you're describing exists, I think this particular question falls more into the Hawaii thing, and I think that you'd get fewer wrong answers if you asked about the Aztec Empire or even the Iroquois Federation, for example.

+5
Level 71
Oct 3, 2022
I agree with Quizmaster, but I also think Hawaii is a special case. I mean, it's not wrong to say Hawaii is an idyllic paradise today (or at least as close as you can get). I think people have a tendency to project their modern ideas of places and assume it's always been that way.
+1
Level 83
Mar 31, 2020
Question 13 - it's usually written as 'Stuart', rather than 'Stewart'.
+1
Level ∞
Mar 31, 2020
Fixed
+1
Level 32
Mar 31, 2020
The question about the Mongols conquering China is a little sketchy. Yes, they did invade and conquer MOST of China, but the Chinese never honored a surrender to the Mongols. Genghis Khan ended up leaving China with his army before the job was done. To make the question more clear, I would suggest changing to something along the lines of, "Did the Mongols ever conquer the Chinese capital?"
+12
Level ∞
Mar 31, 2020
The Mongols, under Kublai Khan, captured China and held it for nearly 100 years

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty

+7
Level 51
Oct 26, 2020
"(Or maybe poisoning)" gives away 14, I think.
+3
Level 92
Oct 27, 2020
Agree, but it emphasizes learning new stuff.
+3
Level 79
Apr 7, 2024
I think it'd be better if the controversy over the cause of death was explained as an additional piece of context once you've completed the quiz, as is typical in this multiple choice quizzes.
+8
Level 79
Nov 8, 2021
Croesus is best known for not being known by me.
+1
Level 75
Oct 3, 2022
Irving Berlin mentioned him in "I'd Rather Lead A Band": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eePsu1KE-1U.
+2
Level 46
Oct 4, 2022
About the Hawaii question - Sad to see so many people (74%) wrongly believe the false narrative of the big bad White Man invading peaceful societies and introducing their evil and oppressive ways into their culture. You couldn't have been more wrong in this case.
+1
Level 82
Feb 25, 2023
Or in a few others probably...
+5
Level 65
Aug 25, 2023
I had no idea what Hawaii was like before the Europeans arrived and so chose true just because it sounded like a leading question, I suspect the low percentage is because it was a double bluff. If instead the question was "prior to Europeans arriving Hawaii ritually sacrificed the lower classes" then I think a much higher percentage would have guessed right.
+3
Level 65
Aug 25, 2023
I had no idea what Hawaii was like before the Europeans arrived and so chose true just because it sounded like a leading question, I suspect the low percentage is because it was a double bluff. If instead the question was "prior to Europeans arriving Hawaii ritually sacrificed the lower classes" then I think a much higher percentage would have guessed right.
+2
Level 37
Feb 22, 2025
+MeddlingWizard you sound a bit too angered... Maybe you forgot it was sadly the case in many places, where indeed the "White Man" happened to be extremely cruel and portray back home his conquest as "civilisation". That doesn't mean it happened the same everywhere, nor that native society are necessarily idyllic (few are). But still.
+1
Level 55
Jul 30, 2023
Only knew Phineas Gate because of Sam O'Nella :)
+1
Level 74
Apr 7, 2024
12/15. Got Buddha wrong because even though I thought he was before Jesus I heard somewhere from some source or theory that he may have been after, don't remember the context where I read that, so that confused me. Also missed Croesus and pound, I put copper even though silver seemed valid. 3. is crazy 🤣🤣🤣 I remember learning about Phineas Gage in AP Psych. 9. was interesting, 11. I knew from a different quiz 12. I just guessed because it seemed plausible, most societies in history and modern times have had at least SOME degree of social inequality so I wasn't that surprised that this was the case for Hawaiian islands. For Elizabeth 1 I almost put Windsor by accident but I remembered that's the current one, and I remembered she was Henry 8's daughter and he was Tudor
+2
Level 48
Apr 9, 2024
I read Elizabeth II instead of I.
+1
Level 47
Jan 18, 2025
how do so many people not know who shot reagan, wow
+1
Level 37
Feb 22, 2025
I'm not from the USA, but most quizes are in english. Luckily enough we also have a lot of French but I always have the habit to take many quizes in english, and I often realize it's designed for USAmericans or often have a US-centered POV, though not all quizes are hopefully, especially specific ones. But those ones yes.