Weekly History Quiz No.290

Bismarck's first engagement was at the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941. The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood fought the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to attack Allied merchant shipping.

Less than 10 minutes after the British opened fire, a shell from Bismarck struck Hood near her aft ammunition magazines. Soon afterwards, Hood exploded and sank within three minutes, with the loss of all but three of her crew. Prince of Wales continued to exchange fire with Bismarck but suffered serious malfunctions in her main armament. The British battleship had only been completed in late March 1941, and used new quadruple gun turrets that were unreliable. Prince of Wales soon broke off the engagement.

Bismarck was pursued and sunk three days later.

Painted in Paris on Gauguin's return from his first period of living and working in Tahiti, it depicts a central carved idol of the goddess Hina. Gauguin has been recognized for his experimental use of color and the Synthetist style that is distinct from Impressionism.

In 1773, James Cook and his crew crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time; however, although they discovered nearby islands, they did not catch sight of Antarctica itself. It is believed he was as close as 240 km (150 mi) from the mainland.

Prohibitionists first attempted to end the trade in alcoholic drinks during the 19th century. Led by pietistic Protestants, they aimed to heal what they saw as an ill society beset by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism, family violence and saloon-based political corruption. This was achieved nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Following the ban, criminal gangs gained control of the beer and liquor supply in many cities. There was widespread non-compliance, with an estimated 32,000 “speakeasies” in New York City alone. By the late 1920s, a new opposition to prohibition emerged nationwide. Critics attacked the policy as causing crime, lowering local revenues, and imposing “rural” Protestant religious values on “urban” America. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933, though prohibition continued in some states.

Xenophon is recognized as one of the greatest writers of antiquity, his works span multiple genres. A contemporary of Plato, Xenophon associated with Socrates and wrote about them both.

Opposed to US foreign policy in Central America, Montes become a Cuban spy for ideological reasons. She worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency, revealing secrets for 17 years before she was exposed.
Charged with conspiracy to commit espionage for the government of Cuba, Montes plead guilty to spying was sentenced to a 25-year prison term.

The territory of Louisiana was originally claimed for the Kingdom of France in 1682, including the Mississippi River basin. The Mississippi company was founded in 1717 by Scottish economist and financier John Law. It was granted all of Louisiana, was empowered to have its own military force and to make treaties with native Americans.
Investment in the company became very popular, and the share price surged by 2,000% in a year, before crashing back to issue price.

Known as Frederick the Great, he ruled from 1740 to 1786. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule.

The siege of Tenochtitlan led directly to the downfall of the Aztec civilization and marked the end of the first phase of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. The Aztec population had been devastated by high mortality due to a smallpox epidemic, which killed much of its leadership.

Principia Mathematica is a work expounding Newton’s laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation, written in Latin, first published in 1687. The Principia is considered one of the most important works in the history of science.