History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 20th October 2025 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
|
|
|
|
| 1. | What Icelandic explorer is considered by some to be the first European to land in mainland North America, 500 years before Christopher Columbus? |
|
Leif Erikson | |
| 2. | Ratified on 27th February 1951, what amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits the president to two elected terms? |
|
22nd | |
| 3. | Who was responsible for the Barings Bank collapse in 1995? |
|
Nick Leeson | |
| 4. | What was the name of the charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchill on 14th August 1941? |
|
Atlantic Charter | |
| 5. | Archaeologists confirmed in 2013 that a skeleton found under a Leicester car park was that of what King of England? |
|
Richard III | |
| 6. | Formed in 1933, how was the Geheime Staatspolizei better known? |
|
Gestapo | |
| 7. | Who did Jack McCall shoot in the back of the head at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, Dakota on 2nd August 1876? |
|
Wild Bill Hickok | |
| 8. | Name the Republican candidate defeated by Barack Obama in the 2008 United States presidential election. |
|
John McCain | |
| 9. | Launched by American media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner in 1980, what is the name of the world's first 24 hour news channel? |
|
CNN (Cable News Network) | |
| 10. | Which four modern day countries, in part or whole, formed the historic colony of French Indochina? |
|
Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China | |
| 11. | Who was born on 21st April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London? |
|
Queen Elizabeth II | |
| 12. | Which two countries fought the Hundred Years' War between 1337 and 1453? |
|
England and France | |
| 13. | Unbeaten to this day, what was the name of the steam locomotive that set the world speed record of 126 mph on 3rd July 1938? |
|
Mallard (LNER Class A4 4468) | |
| 14. | Benjamin Franklin first thought of it in 1784, but it wasn't until 1916 in Europe that it was first adopted. It is still in use around the world today. What is it? |
|
Daylight Saving Time | |
| 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. | What Portuguese explorer became the first to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497? |
|
Vasco da Gama | |
| 17. | From what city did American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 take off from on 11th September 2001? |
|
Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) | |
| 18. | Nicknamed the "May King", Umberto II reigned for 34 days, from 9th May 1946 to 12th June 1946, as the last king of what European country? |
|
Italy | |
| 19. | In what U.S. state did Abraham Lincoln deliver his famous "Gettysburg Address" in 1863? |
|
Pennsylvania | |
| 20. | The most shallow of the Great Lakes, what was the site of a September 1813 U.S. naval victory during the War of 1812? |
|
Lake Erie (Battle of Lake Erie) | |
| 21. | An epidemic beginning in Brazil and spreading across the Americas from April 2015 to November 2016, with over 3,500 cases of infant microcephaly, was caused by what mosquito-borne virus? |
|
Zika | |
| 22. | Suleiman the Magnificent was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of what empire? |
|
Ottoman (1520-1566) | |
| 23. | What 1862 U.S. Civil War battle was the bloodiest single day of fighting in American history? |
|
Antietam / Sharpsburg (22,717 dead, wounded, or missing) | |
| 24. | For what territory did the United States pay France fifty million francs ($11,250,000) in 1803? |
|
Louisiana (Louisiana Purchase) | |
| 25. | What institution was founded by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant in 1863? |
|
Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross) | |
| 26. | Which American bank robber was shot dead by FBI Agents outside a Chicago cinema in July 1934? |
|
John Dillinger | |
| 27. | In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt famously wrote "Speak softly and carry a big..." what? |
|
Stick | |
| 28. | Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was located in Olympia, Greece? |
|
Statue of Zeus | |
| 29. | Who became the first sitting member of the U.S. Congress to fly in space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as a Payload Specialist in 1985? |
|
Jake Garn | |
| 30. | What was the surname of French brothers Auguste and Louis, the first ever filmmakers and the first in the world to open a cinema in 1895? |
|
Lumière | |
| 31. | What island in the southern Pacific Ocean was populated in 1790 by nine Bounty mutineers and the eighteen Tahitians who accompanied them? |
|
Pitcairn Island | |
| 32. | What U.K. government-owned company moved from Tower Hill, London to Llantrisant, Glamorgan in 1967? |
|
The Royal Mint | |
| 33. | What is the name of the shipbuilding company in Belfast, Northern Ireland that built RMS Titanic, RMS Olympic and RMS Britannic, and the Royal Navy's HMS Belfast? |
|
Harland and Wolff | |
| 34. | Previously called "Shangri-La", Dwight D. Eisenhower renamed it in 1953 after both his father and only grandson. By what name has it been known ever since? |
|
Camp David | |
| 35. | What was the profession of Wyatt Earp's sidekick Doc Holiday? |
|
Dentist | |
| 36. | In which year did Amelia Earhart go missing during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe? |
|
1937 | |
| 37. | During World War II, the "soft underbelly of Europe" was a famous Churchill expression, conveying his idea of attacking Germany through what country? |
|
Italy | |
| 38. | Who was Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland from December 1653 to September 1658? |
|
Oliver Cromwell | |
| 39. | Known as the "mother" of social work, name this pioneer American activist and reformer who helped sway a movement for women's suffrage at the turn of the 20th century. |
|
Jane Addams | |
| 40. | What began with the coded message, "Climb Mount Niitaka"? |
|
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (Japanese: ニイタカヤマノボレ Niitakayama Nobore) | |
| 41. | In 1993, Eritrea gained independence from what country? |
|
Ethiopia | |
| 42. | In English folklore, who rode a horse called Black Bess? |
|
Dick Turpin | |
| 43. | Signed in 1997, in effect since 1999, what does the Ottawa Treaty ban? |
|
Landmines (specifically anti-personnel) | |
| 44. | In what modern-day country was Karl Marx born in 1818? |
|
Germany (Trier) | |
| 45. | What island was collectively awarded the George Cross for gallantry during World War II? |
|
Malta | |
| 46. | Ceding Florida to the U.S. in 1819, the Adams-Onis Treaty was an agreement made between the United States and what country? |
|
Spain (also defining the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain) | |
| 47. | Who became Britain's first black female Member of Parliament in 1987? |
|
Diane Abbott | |
| 48. | Of the 56 delegates who signed the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, how many went on to become President of the United States? |
|
2 (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams) | |
| 49. | What took place on 28th March 1979 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, making news headlines worldwide? |
|
Three Mile Island Accident (Core meltdown) | |
| 50. | Formed in the United States during World War II, the OSS was a predecessor of the CIA. What did OSS stand for? |
|
Office of Strategic Services | |
|
Back to Top Hide Answers Back to Category Index Back to Quiz Index |
|