History's Strangest Turns

History · 20 questions

The episodes that sound invented but are stubbornly documented.

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1. The Anglo-Zanzibar War, the shortest on record, lasted roughly how long?

   1. About 40 minutes
   2. About 3 days
   3. About 2 hours
   4. About a week
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   A) About 40 minutes

2. When teaching began at Oxford, which empire had not yet been founded?

   1. The Roman Empire
   2. The Aztec Empire
   3. The Persian Empire
   4. The Byzantine Empire
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   B) The Aztec Empire

3. Cleopatra's lifetime sits closer in time to which of these?

   1. The building of the pyramids
   2. The Trojan War
   3. The Moon landing
   4. The reign of Hammurabi
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   C) The Moon landing

4. By the time the last mammoths died, what was true of Egypt's great pyramids?

   1. They had not been started
   2. They were built that same year
   3. The two are unrelated
   4. They had already been built
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   D) They had already been built

5. What was the bizarre mass event recorded in Strasbourg in 1518?

   1. People danced for days without stopping
   2. Everyone fell asleep at once
   3. The town lost the power of speech
   4. The whole city wept together
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   A) People danced for days without stopping

6. Tulip mania, often called the first great financial bubble, took place where?

   1. The Papal States
   2. The Swiss Cantons
   3. Venetian Republic
   4. The Netherlands
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   D) The Netherlands

7. In Australia's so-called Emu War of 1932, the army was sent against what?

   1. Rabbits
   2. Locusts
   3. Birds
   4. Snakes
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   C) Birds

8. Which drink was the target of bans in both Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the 1600s?

   1. Tea
   2. Coffee
   3. Wine
   4. Cider
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   B) Coffee

9. What unusual substance did ancient Romans use for cleaning teeth and laundry?

   1. Urine
   2. Olive oil
   3. Fine sand
   4. Soured wine
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   A) Urine

10. What does archaeological evidence indicate about who built the Egyptian pyramids?

    1. Chained foreign slaves
    2. Prisoners taken in war
    3. Housed and compensated workers
    4. Conscripted soldiers
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    C) Housed and compensated workers

11. What did most damage to Napoleon's army during the Russian campaign?

    1. A single decisive battle
    2. Cold, hunger and disease
    3. A naval blockade
    4. A revolt by his generals
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    B) Cold, hunger and disease

12. What shortcoming drew the most criticism after the Titanic sank?

    1. No wireless set on board
    2. No captain on the bridge
    3. Running out of fuel
    4. Too few lifeboats on board
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    D) Too few lifeboats on board

13. What unexpectedly triggered the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989?

    1. A sudden referendum
    2. A spokesman's misread announcement
    3. A military coup
    4. A major natural disaster
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    B) A spokesman's misread announcement

14. What makes the Rosetta Stone so valuable to scholars?

    1. It is made of solid gold
    2. It was found in a royal tomb
    3. It carries detailed maps
    4. The same text appears in three scripts
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    D) The same text appears in three scripts

15. Cats were sacred in ancient Egypt and killing one was severely punished.

    1. True
    2. False
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    A) True

16. For part of its history the capital of the Roman Empire was Constantinople, not Rome.

    1. True
    2. False
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    A) True

17. Vikings reached the Americas centuries before Columbus.

    1. True
    2. False
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    A) True

18. The Hundred Years' War lasted exactly one hundred years.

    1. True
    2. False
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    B) False

19. The remark that it was 'neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire' was aimed at the Holy Roman Empire.

    1. True
    2. False
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    A) True

20. A short average life expectancy in the Middle Ages means hardly anyone reached old age.

    1. True
    2. False
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    B) False