History Guild General History Quiz 204
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The stories behind the questions
1. Who is known as the father of English history?
The Venerable Bede – An English monk, author and scholar, one of the greatest teachers and writers of the Early Middle Ages. His most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, was published in about 731.
2. Which treaty formed the European Union in 1993?
Maastricht Treaty – Officially the Treaty on European Union, the 11 members as at 1993 has now expanded to 27 members.
3. When was the leap year first introduced?
46 BCE – Julius Caesar reformed the historic Roman calendar to make it a consistent solar calendar. The rule he introduced for leap years was to add a leap day every four years. This was used until the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582.
4. How many space shuttles have been lost?
2 – The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28th, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The explosion was caused by the failure of o-ring seals used in a joint that were not designed to handle the unusually cold conditions that existed at this launch. The seals’ failure caused a breach in the Solid Rocket Booster joint, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the external fuel tank.
On February 1st 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. Damage to the left wing that led to the in-flight breakup is considered the most likely cause of the accident.
5. Which of these WW2 battles occurred first?
Battle of Narvik – April-June 1940
Battle of the Coral Sea – 4th-8th May 1942
Battle of Midway – 4th–7th June 1942
Operation Bagration – June-August 1944
6. In which city was the Hagia Sophia Church was built in 537?
Constantinople – It was the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and a principal setting for Byzantine imperial ceremonies, such as coronations. Built in 537, it was the largest Christian church of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) and the Eastern Orthodox Church. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque. In 1935, the secular Turkish Republic established it as a museum. In 2020, it re-opened as a mosque.
7. How many countries sent troops to support South Korea during the Korean War?
16 – United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, France, New Zealand, Philippines, Turkey, Thailand, South Africa, Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ethiopia and Colombia provided combat troops for South Korea under the auspices of the United Nations Forces.
8. Who collaborated with Charles Darwin to formulate the theory of evolution?
Alfred Russel Wallace – Darwin did much of his fieldwork for this text during his expeditions to the Galápagos Islands on board HMS Beagle 1831-1836. Wallace also did extensive fieldwork, in the Amazon River basin and then the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now termed the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western portion in which the animals are largely of Asian origin, and an eastern portion where the fauna reflect Australasia.
9. When did Sun Tzu write The Art of War?
512 BCE – A Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period, which saw weak central government in China and extensive warfare.
10. Which of these countries have had the most Presidents?
Brazil – With 39 Presidents since the first one was elected in 1891 in the wake of the end of the Brazilian monarchy. France has had 25 Presidents since 1848, Spain has a monarch as a head of state and Portugal has had 20 Presidents since 1911.
