History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 18th May 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
|
|
|
|
| 1. | In what decade did Alcock and Brown achieve the first non-stop transatlantic flight? |
|
The 1910s (Jun 14th - Jun 15th 1919) | |
| 2. | What ancient city was home to the Hanging Gardens? |
|
Babylon | |
| 3. | Lasting 6 years, 8 months, 4 weeks and 1 day between 1756 and 1763, what name is given to the war in which Great Britain gained territories in North America from France and Spain? |
|
Seven Years' War | |
| 4. | In the United States from 1950 to 1975, what manufacturer made the Bel Air car? |
|
Chevrolet | |
| 5. | What company bought YouTube for US$1.65 billion in 2006? |
|
| |
| 6. | Who was the last Tudor monarch of England? |
|
Elizabeth I | |
| 7. | Since the Second World War, who is the only U.S. President NOT to be Time magazine's 'Person of the Year'? |
|
Gerald Ford | |
| 8. | What deadly disease was deliberately introduced to decimate the rabbit population of Australia in 1950? |
|
Myxomatosis | |
| 9. | In 1733, who made a key contribution to the Industrial Revolution by inventing the flying shuttle? |
|
John Kay | |
| 10. | Still in use today, for what household item was Swedish inventor Gustaf Erik Pasch granted a patent in 1844? |
|
Safety match | |
| 11. | What was the surname of the General whose death in November 1975 saw the return of the monarchy in Spain? |
|
Franco (Francisco Franco) | |
| 12. | What was the native language of Pope John Paul II? |
|
Polish (born Karol Józef Wojtyła) | |
| 13. | Which two countries have been in dispute since the end of World War II over sovereignty of the South Kuril Islands? |
|
Japan and Russia | |
| 14. | What 19th century statesman was nicknamed the "Iron Chancellor"? |
|
Otto von Bismarck | |
| 15. | The Battle of Moscow was fought during the coldest European winter of the 20th Century, having begun in October of what year? |
|
1941 | |
| 16. | Active between 1925 and 1992, what four letter acronym described the infamous Soviet news agency? |
|
TASS / TACC (Tyelyegrafnoye agyentstvo Sovyetskogo Soyuza - Телеграфное агентство Советского Союза) | |
| 17. | At the end of the 11th century, teenager Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar led a Spanish force against the Moors and drove them out of Spain. By what name is he better known? |
|
El Cid | |
| 18. | What name is given to the period in Ireland between 1845 and 1852 during which approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated? |
|
Great Famine / Irish Potato Famine | |
| 19. | Who became King of England on 25th December 1066? |
|
William I / William the Conqueror / William the Bastard | |
| 20. | Between 1958 and 1961, the United Arab Republic was a short-lived political union between what two countries? |
|
Egypt and Syria | |
| 21. | In what century was Scottish knight Sir William Wallace born? |
|
13th (3rd April 1270) | |
| 22. | What pivotal battle took place east of Inverness, Scotland on 16th April 1746? |
|
Battle of Culloden | |
| 23. | In what country did Charles Lindbergh land after completing the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927? |
|
France (Le Bourget Airport near Paris) | |
| 24. | Between 1949 and 1990, what was the capital of West Germany? |
|
Bonn | |
| 25. | What King of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I to also become King of England and Ireland in 1603? |
|
James VI (VI of Scots, I of England and Ireland) | |
| 26. | Which anti-nausea drug, later found to have devastating side effects, was launched in 1957 to help pregnant women with the effects of morning sickness? |
|
Thalidomide | |
| 27. | A boxing injury left what 20th century U.S. president blind in one eye? |
|
Theodore Roosevelt | |
| 28. | Prosecutor Ken Starr filed the Starr Report that helped impeach which American president? |
|
Bill Clinton (1998) | |
| 29. | Aged 41, Alan Turing died on 7th June 1954 after supposedly eating a poisoned what? |
|
Apple (although the half-eaten apple, found next to his body, was not tested for cyanide, it was speculated that this was the means by which he had consumed a fatal dose) | |
| 30. | In pre-war Nazi Germany, what city was given the title "City of Party Rallies"? |
|
Nuremberg (Nürnberg) | |
| 31. | Also known as Custer's Last Stand, at what battle did General George Armstrong Custer die in 1876? |
|
Battle of the Little Bighorn (Battle of the Greasy Grass) | |
| 32. | Operation Granby was the name given to British military operations during which conflict? |
|
Gulf War (1991) | |
| 33. | In what country is the site of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo? |
|
Belgium | |
| 34. | During which war did Florence Nightingale receive high recognition for her work? |
|
Crimean War | |
| 35. | The first book on meteorology was written around 350 BC by which Greek philosopher? |
|
Aristotle | |
| 36. | By what name is the 18th century Scottish outlaw Robert MacGregor better known? |
|
Rob Roy / Red MacGregor (Gaelic: Raibeart Ruadh "Robert the Red-Haired") | |
| 37. | Who was Reichsführer-SS of Nazi Germany between 1929 and 1945? |
|
Heinrich Himmler | |
| 38. | In modern American history, by what names were Parker and Barrow better known? |
|
Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow) | |
| 39. | In what year was the Twenty-first Amendment ratified, officially ending prohibition in the United States? |
|
1933 (5th December) | |
| 40. | From what capital city was the Al Jazeera TV network launched in 1996? |
|
Doha (Qatar) | |
| 41. | What was the surname of the Cuban dictator overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959? |
|
Batista (Fulgencio Batista) | |
| 42. | Born in Poland in 1886, he emigrated to Palestine in 1906 and later became the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel. What was his name? |
|
David Ben-Gurion | |
| 43. | SALT were two rounds of bilateral conferences between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1970s. What does SALT stand for? |
|
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaties | |
| 44. | What started with the First Battle of St Albans in 1455 and ended with the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487? |
|
Wars of the Roses | |
| 45. | What leader of the Scottish resistance was brutally executed in London on 23rd August 1305? |
|
Sir William Wallace | |
| 46. | What number Amendment to the United States Constitution ended prohibition? |
|
Twenty-first | |
| 47. | First shown in French theatres, what film company invented the newsreel in 1908? |
|
Pathé | |
| 48. | The first to sign the United States Declaration of Independence, whose name has become synonymous with the word signature? |
|
John Hancock | |
| 49. | Signed on 6th November 1903, what major construction was made possible by the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty? |
|
Panama Canal | |
| 50. | What nationality is Professor Ernő Rubik, inventor of the Rubik's Cube in 1974? |
|
Hungarian | |
|
Back to Top Hide Answers Back to Category Index Back to Quiz Index |
|