Weekly History Quiz No.231

The two key assassins, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus commanded large armies. Against them was a triumvirate of Caesar’s right-hand man, Mark Antony; his named heir and great-nephew, Octavian; and General Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. The assassins were both defeated in battle and took their own lives.

Returning to Britain after circumnavigating Australia in 1803, during the Napoleonic wars, Flinders was detained by the French Governor of Mauritius as a suspected spy.

Elena Cornaro Piscopia received her PhD from the University of Padua in 1678. She also became president of the Venetian society Accademia dei Pacifici.

In November 1914 Ottoman Emperor Mehmed V, in his role as the Caliph of Islam, formally called for a jihad against Britain, France and Russia.

Modern day lacrosse descends from games played by various Native American communities, including Oee, Mohawk, Ojibwe and Choctaw.

1492 was a pivotal year for the newly joined Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. It saw the capture of Granada and the expulsion of the Muslim Moors from Spain, as well as Columbus claiming huge territories in the Americas.

The Front de Libération du Québec’s campaign escalated in the late 1960s, with bombings, kidnapping and the murder of Quebec’s deputy premier, Pierre Laporte. Prime minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act to suspend civil liberties and grant the authorities sweeping powers.

Originally known as Buckingham House when it was built in 1703, it was purchased by George III in 1761, and was known as Buckingham Palace from 1791.

The Taj Mahal was completed in 1648. Reims Cathedral was completed in 1275. Machu Picchu was completed around 1460.

In the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion / First Indian War of Independence of 1857, under the provisions of the Government of India Act 1858, the British government nationalised the East India Company (EIC). The Crown took over its Indian possessions, its administrative powers and machinery, and its armed forces. The EIC was officially dissolved in 1858 and the rebellion also led the British to reorganise the army, the financial system, and the administration in India. The country was thereafter directly governed by the Crown as the new British Raj.

Murdoch was a journalist embedded with Australian troops in Gallipoli and France. Post war he invested in and acquired newspapers, becoming Australia's largest media mogul at the time of his death in 1952. This was inherited by his son, Rupert.