History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 8th September 2025 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | Who was leader of the Soviet Union between 13th February 1984 and his death on 10th March 1985? |
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Konstantin Chernenko | |
| 2. | Venezualan Ilich Ramírez Sánchez gained notoriety in the 1970s for a large number of terrorist killings. By what name is he better known? |
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Carlos the Jackal | |
| 3. | General Jaruzelski declared martial law in which country in 1981? |
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Poland | |
| 4. | Name the General, and President of Argentina, who led the junta in the 1982 seizure of the Falkland Islands. |
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Leopoldo Galtieri | |
| 5. | What U.S. President is credited with founding the Interstate Highway System? |
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Dwight D. Eisenhower (Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956) | |
| 6. | What 19th century statesman was nicknamed the "Iron Chancellor"? |
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Otto von Bismarck | |
| 7. | The Anschluß was the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in what year? |
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1938 | |
| 8. | Part of the Manhattan Project, what 'T' was the code name given to the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on 16th July 1945? |
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Trinity | |
| 9. | In what year did the Titanic sink? |
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1912 | |
| 10. | What name is given to the series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC? |
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Punic Wars | |
| 11. | Who was the last German emperor (Kaiser) and king of Prussia from 15th June 1888 until his abdication on 9th November 1918? |
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Wilhelm II (William II) | |
| 12. | What American human rights activist was assassinated on 21st February 1965? |
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Malcolm X | |
| 13. | According to legend, the Greek carpenter Epeios built what famous object? |
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Trojan Horse | |
| 14. | To what was the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially renamed in 1929? |
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Yugoslavia | |
| 15. | In what year did Sony introduce the Betamovie BMC-100P, the world's first consumer camcorder? |
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1983 | |
| 16. | Who was U.S. President from March 1929 to March 1933? |
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Herbert Hoover | |
| 17. | On 24th April 1967, Vladimir Komarov became the first human to do what on a space mission? |
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Die | |
| 18. | In November 2017, Twitter officially doubled its character limit for tweets to how many characters? |
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280 | |
| 19. | What war interrupted construction of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.? |
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American Civil War (officially dedicated in 1885 and opened to the public in 1888) | |
| 20. | Prior to becoming the separate 'Colony of New Zealand' on 1st July 1841, which Australian colony was New Zealand part of? |
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New South Wales | |
| 21. | Which historical first did Tenzing Norgay achieve in 1953? |
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Reached the summit of Mount Everest (with Edmund Hillary) | |
| 22. | Acadia was a 17th and early 18th century North American colonisation by what European country? |
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France (French: Acadie - up until the British conquest of 1713) | |
| 23. | In medieval times, the English referred to it as Cambria. By what name do we know it today? |
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Wales | |
| 24. | By what name was 1960s American serial killer Albert DeSalvo better known? |
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Boston Strangler | |
| 25. | What name was given to the long series of military interventions by the United States in Central America and the Caribbean between 1898 and 1934? |
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The Banana Wars | |
| 26. | Poisoned, shot, and dumped in a river; what was Rasputin's first name? |
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Grigori | |
| 27. | What royal palace in the U.K. was severely damaged by fire in March 1986? |
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Hampton Court Palace | |
| 28. | What manufacturer produced Knuckleheads, Panheads, and Shovelheads between 1936 and 1984? |
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Harley-Davidson (motorcycle engines) | |
| 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? |
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Jake Garn | |
| 30. | What institution was founded by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant in 1863? |
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Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross) | |
| 31. | Who was the first British Prime Minister in office to have been born in the 20th century? |
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Sir Alec Douglas-Home | |
| 32. | Suleiman the Magnificent was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of what empire? |
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Ottoman (1520-1566) | |
| 33. | Complete this extract from Winston Churchill’s 1942 speech following the second Battle of El Alamein: "Now this is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, …"
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"... the end of the beginning." | |
| 34. | The Bloody Sunday massacre in St Petersburg, Russia occurred in 1905 when unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by soldiers as they approached what palace? |
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Winter Palace | |
| 35. | What was the name of the prison in Paris stormed by a crowd on 14th July 1789? |
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Bastille (French Revolution) | |
| 36. | In what U.S. State was King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, born? |
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Massachusetts (Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge) | |
| 37. | In one of the most controversial actions by Allied forces during World War II, what historic city in the German state of Saxony was heavily bombed in four raids between 13th and 15th February 1945? |
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Dresden | |
| 38. | How old was Mahatma Gandhi when he was shot dead in January 1948? |
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78 (2nd October 1869 - 30th January 1948) | |
| 39. | 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? |
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Thalidomide | |
| 40. | What is the name of the war that included the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876? |
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Great Sioux War / Black Hills War | |
| 41. | Name the Israeli Prime Minister assassinated by Yigal Amir in Tel Aviv on 4th November 1995. |
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Yitzhak Rabin | |
| 42. | In what year did Princess Anne marry Captain Mark Phillips? |
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1973 | |
| 43. | Sukarno became the first President of what newly-created Republic in 1945? |
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Indonesia | |
| 44. | What former British Prime Minister graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Chemistry in 1947? |
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Margaret Thatcher | |
| 45. | Last minted in 1856, how many pennies were there in an English groat? |
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4 | |
| 46. | Who did Mikhail Gorbachev succeed as leader of the Soviet Union in 1985? |
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Konstantin Chernenko | |
| 47. | Launched in 1958, what automotive failure was named after Henry Ford's only child? |
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Edsel (Edsel B. Ford) | |
| 48. | Named after the mother of the pilot, what was the name of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? |
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Enola Gay (after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of Colonel Paul Tibbets) | |
| 49. | What Portuguese explorer became the first to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497? |
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Vasco da Gama | |
| 50. | What nationality was early modern scientist Galileo Galilei? |
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Italian | |
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