History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 27th April 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
|
|
|
|
| 1. | In what year did the Titanic sink? |
|
1912 (15th April) | |
| 2. | One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, what type of structure once stood in Alexandria, Egypt? |
|
Lighthouse | |
| 3. | Which Russian nuclear physicist and anti-Soviet dissident won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 and, since 1988, has had a European human rights award named in his honour? |
|
Andrei Sakharov (The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought) | |
| 4. | In the UK and Ireland, what was the name of the pre-decimal coin worth the equivalent of 12½p in today's money? |
|
Half crown (2s 6d / one-eighth of a pound) | |
| 5. | What was the name of the Empire that constructed the city of Machu Picchu in Peru during the 15th century? |
|
Inca | |
| 6. | Who was King of England during the American Revolutionary War? |
|
George III | |
| 7. | Before becoming President, Bill Clinton was Governor of what U.S. state? |
|
Arkansas | |
| 8. | What was the largest internet company in the world in 2000; turned down an offer to purchase Google in 2002; turned down a $44.6 billion takeover bid from Microsoft in 2007; and was eventually sold to Verizon in 2017 for $4.48 billion? |
|
Yahoo! | |
| 9. | Beginning in June 1941, what 'B' was the codename used for the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II? |
|
Barbarossa | |
| 10. | In which year did a cease-fire armistice effectively end the Korean War? |
|
1953 (27th July) | |
| 11. | During the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, who became the third man to walk on the Moon? |
|
Pete Conrad (Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr.) | |
| 12. | What future U.S. president played a significant role as a military leader in the War of 1812? |
|
Andrew Jackson | |
| 13. | What canal took 10 years to build and opened in November 1869? |
|
The Suez Canal | |
| 14. | What was the surname of French brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, whose hot-air balloon made the first ever manned flight in 1783? |
|
Montgolfier | |
| 15. | A gift as a puppy from Martin Bormann in 1941, what was the name of Adolf Hitler's German Shepherd? |
|
Blondi | |
| 16. | What two countries fought the War of 1812? |
|
United States & United Kingdom | |
| 17. | In what year did Harrison Schmitt become the twelfth and last man to date to set foot on the moon? |
|
1972 (December) | |
| 18. | 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 | |
| 19. | Signed on 28th June 1919, what was the name of the peace treaty that finally ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers after the armistice of World War I? |
|
The Treaty of Versailles | |
| 20. | What name was given to the secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century, where a radical faction destroyed textile machinery as a form of protest? |
|
Luddites | |
| 21. | In which country was the revolutionary Che Guevara born? |
|
Argentina (Rosario, Santa Fe) | |
| 22. | Named after the mother of the pilot, what was the name of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? |
|
Enola Gay (after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of Colonel Paul Tibbets) | |
| 23. | Which American president was married to Mary Todd? |
|
Abraham Lincoln | |
| 24. | Who was Sandra Rivett's well-known employer at the time of her murder in Belgravia, London in November 1974? |
|
Lord Lucan (Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan) | |
| 25. | In what country did Charles Lindbergh land after completing the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927? |
|
France (Le Bourget Airport near Paris) | |
| 26. | What disputed territory declared independence from Serbia in February 2008? |
|
Kosovo | |
| 27. | Who was Reichspräsident of Germany between 1925 and his death in 1934? |
|
Hindenburg (General Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg) | |
| 28. | What Portuguese explorer became the first to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497? |
|
Vasco da Gama | |
| 29. | Between 1953 and 1961, who was Vice President of the United States under President Dwight D. Eisenhower? |
|
Richard Nixon (Richard Milhous Nixon ) | |
| 30. | What Australian city was all but destroyed by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve of 1974? |
|
Darwin | |
| 31. | What war took place in Europe between October 1853 and February 1856? |
|
Crimean War | |
| 32. | On 24th April 1967, Vladimir Komarov became the first human to do what on a space mission? |
|
Die | |
| 33. | Name the English scientist, engineer and inventor best known for inventing the bouncing bomb in 1943. |
|
Sir Barnes Wallace | |
| 34. | In what modern-day U.S. state did the Battle of the Little Bighorn take place in 1876? |
|
Montana (the Territory of Montana up until 1889) | |
| 35. | Which major European conflict was fought between 1936 and 1939? |
|
Spanish Civil War | |
| 36. | What was the name of the supertanker that ran aground off the coast of Cornwall in 1967, causing the worst oil spill in British history? |
|
SS Torrey Canyon | |
| 37. | Who was the only Catholic ever to be U.S. President? |
|
John F. Kennedy | |
| 38. | What name is given to the group of 750,000 year old human fossils first discovered during excavations at Zhoukoudian near Beijing in 1923? |
|
Peking Man (Homo erectus pekinensis) | |
| 39. | Julius Caesar was assassinated in which year? A. 44 BC B. 24 BC C. 4 BC |
|
A. 44 BC | |
| 40. | During World War II, what was the government in unoccupied France called? |
|
Vichy | |
| 41. | What was the number of the last spaceflight in the Apollo program to go to the moon, in December 1972? |
|
17 | |
| 42. | In what century did the Spanish Inquisition begin? |
|
15th (1st November 1478) | |
| 43. | From 1901, what was the de facto Capital of Australia and home to its federal parliament until moved to Canberra in 1927? |
|
Melbourne | |
| 44. | What was the name of the Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship that rescued most of the survivors of RMS Titanic after it struck an iceberg and sank on 15th April 1912? |
|
RMS Carpathia | |
| 45. | Frequently depicted on ancient Roman coins, documents, monuments, and military standards, what four-letter abbreviation represented a Latin phrase meaning "The Roman Senate and People"? |
|
SPQR (Senātus Populusque Rōmānus) | |
| 46. | Nicknamed "Le Tigre" (The Tiger), who was French Prime Minister from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920? |
|
Georges Clemenceau | |
| 47. | In 1913, Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin were all living in which city? |
|
Vienna | |
| 48. | Complete this famous quote from June 1963: ... and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ...
|
|
"Ich bin ein Berliner!" (John F. Kennedy) | |
| 49. | In what year did U.S. President Richard Nixon resign from office? |
|
1974 | |
| 50. | The daughter of a Pakistani Prime Minister, her husband became President shortly after her assassination in 2007. Name her. |
|
Benazir Bhutto | |
|
Back to Top Hide Answers Back to Category Index Back to Quiz Index |
|