History Guild General History Quiz 203
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The stories behind the questions
1. How long was the Inca Empire in existence?
95 years – The Inca Empire utilized a complex road system with about 25,000 miles of roads that relayed messages and goods throughout the society. The Empire gained control of a significant area by 1438, which it ruled until weakened by Civil War and the defeated by the Spanish in 1533.
2. How many US pilots defected to Germany during WW2?
1 – 2nd Lieutenant Martin Monti trained as a pilot, then stole a plane and flew across the German lines and claimed that he wanted ‘to fight the Bolsheviks, not the Germans,’ volunteering to fly against Soviet forces.
3. Which organisation/s supported the 1973 coup that saw General Augusto Pinochet take power in Chile?
All of the above – The U.S. feared the example of a ‘well-functioning socialist experiment’ in the region and exerted diplomatic, economic, and covert pressure upon Chile’s elected socialist government. ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) set up a surveillance unit in Santiago as part of the wider CIA campaign to discredit the Allende government. The IRD (UK Information Research Department) gathered information designed to damage Allende and lend legitimacy to his political opponents, and distributed material to influential figures within Chilean society.
4. When was the London Metropolitan police force established?
1829 – Established by Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, the force began the transition to the centralised law enforcement we have today. Prior to this there were a wide range of ways that law was enforced in Britain.
5. Who wrote The Three Musketeers in 1844?
Alexandre Dumas – This and The Count of Monte Cristo were his best known works, and they were produced within 12 months of each other.
6. What was the outcome of the 1857 Dred Scott decision in the US Supreme Court?
That people of black African descent could not enjoy the rights and privileges of the US Constitution – In a 7-2 decision the court held that ‘persons of African descent cannot be and were never intended to be citizens under the U.S. Constitution.’
7. How many popes came from the De Medici family?0
4 – The Medici produced four popes of the Catholic Church—Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), Pope Pius IV (1559–1565) and Pope Leo XI (1605)—and two queens of France—Catherine de’ Medici (1547–1559) and Marie de’ Medici (1600–1610).
8. When was the first successful invasion of Ireland by the English?
1169 – King Henry II of England sanctioned an invasion in 1169 to support Diarmait mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurragh), the deposed King of Leinster. This expanded into a larger military campaign over the following years, leading to English domination of Ireland by 1177.
9. Which three countries created the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement?
France, UK, Russia – The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret 1916 agreement between Great Britain and France, with Russia assenting, that defined their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in Southwestern Asia, under control of the declining Ottoman Empire. The agreement allocated to Britain control of areas between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, Jordan, and southern Iraq; France got control of southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon; and Russia received Istanbul, the Turkish Straits, and Armenia.
10. When did the Berlin airlift begin?
1948 – The Berlin Blockade and the subsequent airlift became the first major episode of the Cold War and although it lasted just under one year, (June 1948 to May 1949), set the stage for the kind of indirect confrontation that would characterize the Cold War period.
