In which year did the Normans invade England at the Battle of Hastings?
1066 1016 1215 1453
1066 William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II on 14 October 1066.
Who was the first Emperor of Rome?
Julius Caesar Augustus Nero Caligula
Augustus Augustus (Octavian), Caesar's adopted heir, became Emperor in 27 BC. Caesar was dictator, never emperor.
In which year was US President John F. Kennedy assassinated?
1961 1963 1968 1972
1963 Shot in Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Who led the Soviet Union during most of the Second World War?
Vladimir Lenin Leon Trotsky Nikita Khrushchev Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin Stalin led the USSR from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953.
Who co-wrote "The Communist Manifesto" in 1848?
Karl Marx Vladimir Lenin Leon Trotsky Joseph Stalin
Karl Marx Marx wrote it with Friedrich Engels; it became one of the most influential political texts ever published.
The French Revolution effectively ended with the rise of which leader?
Napoleon Bonaparte Robespierre Louis XVI Louis XVIII
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon's coup of 18 Brumaire (November 1799) ended the revolutionary period.
Which Roman emperor famously "fiddled while Rome burned" in AD 64?
Nero Caligula Claudius Tiberius
Nero The Great Fire of Rome devastated much of the city; the fiddling image is largely legend.
Who is generally credited with inventing the telephone in 1876?
Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison Nikola Tesla Guglielmo Marconi
Alexander Graham Bell Bell's patent was granted on 7 March 1876; his famous first call was to assistant Thomas Watson.
In what year was the American Declaration of Independence signed?
1763 1770 1776 1783
1776 Signed on 4 July 1776 in Philadelphia. The war continued until the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
In which year did the United States purchase Alaska from Russia?
1803 1867 1898 1912
1867 Bought for US$7.2 million — about 2 cents an acre. Dubbed "Seward's Folly" at the time.
Who is traditionally considered the first Emperor of a unified China?
Confucius Kublai Khan Mao Zedong Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang He unified China in 221 BC and began construction of the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army.
Who was Queen Victoria's husband?
Prince Albert King Edward Lord Melbourne The Duke of Wellington
Prince Albert Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Victoria in 1840; they had nine children.
The Battle of Waterloo (1815) brought to an end which major conflict?
The Hundred Years' War The War of the Roses The Napoleonic Wars The Seven Years' War
The Napoleonic Wars The Duke of Wellington, with Prussian support, defeated Napoleon in present-day Belgium on 18 June 1815.
Under which English monarch was the Spanish Armada defeated in 1588?
Henry VIII Elizabeth I James I Charles I
Elizabeth I A mix of English gunnery, fireships and storms scattered Philip II's invasion fleet.
In which year did the Russian (October) Revolution take place?
1905 1912 1921 1917
1917 Lenin's Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd in October (November by the new calendar) 1917.
Which ancient civilisation built the city of Machu Picchu in the Andes?
The Inca The Maya The Aztec The Olmec
The Inca Built c. 1450 during the reign of Pachacuti; abandoned about 100 years later.
Who was US President during most of the American Civil War?
George Washington Ulysses S. Grant Abraham Lincoln Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln Lincoln (1861-1865) led the Union through the war; he was assassinated just days after it ended.
Who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe?
Vasco da Gama Ferdinand Magellan Francis Drake Christopher Columbus
Ferdinand Magellan Magellan's expedition departed in 1519. Magellan himself died in the Philippines in 1521; Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the voyage.
The Hundred Years' War was fought mainly between which two countries?
Spain and Portugal England and France Germany and Russia Italy and Austria
England and France Fought 1337-1453 over claims to the French throne; ended with French victory.
Apollo 11's lunar module was named what?
Freedom Liberty Columbia Eagle
Eagle The command module was "Columbia"; "The Eagle has landed" was the famous radio call from the Moon.
