40 history quiz questions and answers

Four rounds of ten history questions, travelling from the ancient world to the twentieth century. Tap Show answer to check each one.

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Round 1: The ancient world

Which volcano erupted in AD 79, burying several Roman towns?
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Vesuvius
In which country are the Pyramids of Giza?
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Egypt
Mohenjo-daro was a great city of which Bronze Age civilisation?
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Indus Valley Civilisation
What was the name of Alexander the Great's famous horse?
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Bucephalus
In which English county was the bog body known as Lindow Man found in 1984?
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Cheshire
What name was given to the huge hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver found by a metal detectorist in 2009?
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Staffordshire Hoard
Which ancient Greek geared device, recovered from a shipwreck in 1901, is often described as an early analogue computer?
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Antikythera mechanism
What is the name of the national assembly of Iceland, founded by Norse settlers in 930?
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Althing
Which Persian king sent the army that was defeated by the Athenians at Marathon?
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Darius I
For which pharaoh was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara built?
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Djoser

Round 2: The Middle Ages

In which year did Constantinople fall to the Ottoman Turks?
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1453
Which animal did the Incas use as their main pack animal?
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Llama
The Great Mosque begun in the 780s in which Spanish city was later converted into a cathedral?
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Cordoba
At which naval battle in 1571 was the Ottoman fleet defeated by the Holy League?
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Battle of Lepanto
Which Italian navigator, sailing for England, reached North America in 1497?
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John Cabot
What name was given to the Mongol khanate that dominated the Russian principalities from the 13th century?
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Golden Horde
Which Aztec god was depicted as a feathered serpent?
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Quetzalcoatl
Which Dutch navigator was the first European to reach New Zealand, in 1642?
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Abel Tasman
Which city in present-day Mongolia was the capital of the Mongol Empire under Ogedei Khan?
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Karakorum
Which Ming admiral led great treasure fleets across the Indian Ocean in the early 15th century?
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Zheng He

Round 3: British history

Over which South Atlantic islands did Britain fight a war with Argentina in 1982?
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The Falkland Islands
Which fuel, mined in places such as South Wales and Northumberland, powered the steam engines of the Industrial Revolution?
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Coal
Which Tudor monarch's burning of nearly 300 Protestants earned her a 'bloody' nickname?
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Mary I
What nickname was given to the supporters of Parliament during the English Civil War?
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Roundheads
Which Lord Chancellor and author of 'Utopia' was executed in 1535 for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the Church?
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Thomas More
Which wife of Henry VIII married him in 1543 and was his last?
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Catherine Parr
Which English city was known to the Romans as Verulamium?
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St Albans
Which Anglo-Saxon rebel led resistance to the Normans from the Isle of Ely in around 1070–71?
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Hereward the Wake
At which battle in 878 did Alfred the Great defeat the Danish leader Guthrum?
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Edington
Which Irish Home Rule leader was nicknamed 'the uncrowned king of Ireland' in the 1880s?
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Charles Stewart Parnell

Round 4: The modern world

In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?
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1989
From which country did Mexico win its independence in 1821?
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Spain
What name is given to the failed CIA-backed invasion of Cuba in April 1961?
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Bay of Pigs
By what popular name is Germany's Ardennes offensive of December 1944 better known?
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Battle of the Bulge
Which country, formerly the British colony of the Gold Coast, gained independence in 1957?
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Ghana
Which intercepted 1917 telegram proposed a German alliance with Mexico against the USA?
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Zimmermann Telegram
Which 1884–85 conference set the rules for European colonisation of Africa?
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Berlin Conference
Which former slave led the Haitian Revolution until his capture by the French in 1802?
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Toussaint Louverture
Which Israeli Prime Minister was assassinated in Tel Aviv in 1995?
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Yitzhak Rabin
What was the codename for Germany's planned invasion of Britain in 1940?
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Operation Sea Lion

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