History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 9th November 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | During the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, who became the third man to walk on the Moon? |
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Pete Conrad (Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr.) | |
| 2. | Who was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815? |
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Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) | |
| 3. | What was the name of the oceanographic research ship operated by Jacques-Yves Cousteau from 1950 to 1997? |
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RV Calypso | |
| 4. | The most requested photograph from the U.S. National Archives is a black and white image of Richard Nixon at the White House on this day, 21st December 1970, shaking hands with who? |
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Elvis Presley | |
| 5. | 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? |
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The Treaty of Versailles | |
| 6. | In what modern-day country was double Nobel-prize winner Marie Curie born? |
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Poland (Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland - then part of Russian Empire) | |
| 7. | What mode of transport was invented by Baron Karl von Drais in Germany in 1817? |
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Bicycle (Drais' own terminology was "Laufmaschine", German for "running machine". Also called the Dandy horse.) | |
| 8. | What is the common western name for the Chinese rebellion that took place from 1899 to 1901 against foreign influence during the final years of the Manchu rule? |
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Boxer Rebellion (Boxer Uprising / Yihetuan Movement) | |
| 9. | In what century is it estimated the Black Death killed some 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia? |
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14th (peaking in Europe between 1346 and 1353) | |
| 10. | What war was ended by the Treaty of Ghent in 1814? |
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War of 1812 (between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) | |
| 11. | Founded in 660 BC, what country has the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world? |
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Japan | |
| 12. | Name the three ships of the English Virginia Company that set sail from London for the New World in December 1606. |
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Discovery, Godspeed, Susan Constant | |
| 13. | What well known historical figure had a mistress called Emma Hamilton? |
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Horatio Nelson (Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté) | |
| 14. | From what European country did Rwanda gain independence on 1st July 1962? |
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Belgium | |
| 15. | What two words were used as a collective nickname for the lawyers that represented O.J. Simpson in his trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman? |
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Dream Team | |
| 16. | What name is given to the Boeing B-29 heavy bomber used during World War II and the Korean War? |
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Superfortress | |
| 17. | Who sailed around the world in 1967 on a ketch called Gipsy Moth IV? |
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Sir Francis Chichester | |
| 18. | How many children did Queen Victoria have? |
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9 | |
| 19. | Between 1953 and 1961, who was Vice President of the United States under President Dwight D. Eisenhower? |
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Richard Nixon (Richard Milhous Nixon ) | |
| 20. | Who invented the bouncing bombs used in the RAF "Dambusters" raid during World War II? |
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Barnes Wallis | |
| 21. | On what holiday was Abraham Lincoln assassinated? |
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Good Friday (14th April 1865) | |
| 22. | After which war was the League of Nations formed? |
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First World War | |
| 23. | Who discovered the moons of Jupiter in 1610 after constructing the first astronomical telescope? |
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Galileo Galilei | |
| 24. | The Anschluß was the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in what year? |
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1938 | |
| 25. | How many funnels did the RMS Titanic have? |
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Four | |
| 26. | Making world headlines in November 1974, by what name was Richard John Bingham better known? |
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Lord Lucan | |
| 27. | In 1913, Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin were all living in which city? |
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Vienna | |
| 28. | From the 13th century until the 16th-century Spanish conquest, what city was the capital of the Inca Empire? |
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Cusco / Cuzco (Peru) | |
| 29. | After escaping enslavement, who made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people using a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad? |
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Harriet Tubman | |
| 30. | What make and model aircraft shot down the most enemy planes during World War II? |
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Hawker Hurricane (it shot down the majority of the planes claimed by the RAF - 1,593 out of 2,739 in total) | |
| 31. | Who became Queen consort of the United Kingdom in 1901? |
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Alexandra (Alexandra of Denmark - as the wife of Edward VII) | |
| 32. | What name is given to the armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland in April 1916? |
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Easter Rising / Easter Rebellion | |
| 33. | In November 2017, Twitter officially doubled its character limit for tweets to how many characters? |
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280 | |
| 34. | What is the name of the 1783 treaty that formally ended the American Revolutionary War? |
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Treaty of Paris | |
| 35. | Founded in 1975 as G6 (Group of Six), what two countries joined in 1976 and 1997 respectively to form G7 and G8? |
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Canada and Russia | |
| 36. | Executed in 2001, what was the name of the Oklahoma City bomber? |
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Timothy McVeigh | |
| 37. | A false flag operation known as the Gleiwitz incident marked the eve of what major 20th century conflict? |
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World War II (On 31st August 1939, Nazi forces dressed in Polish uniforms attacked a radio station in Germany. The German invasion of Poland began the next day.) | |
| 38. | What former U.S. president became the first to ride in an aeroplane on 11th October 1910? |
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Theodore Roosevelt | |
| 39. | Which U.S. president was in office during the Wall Street Crash of 1929? |
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Herbert Hoover | |
| 40. | Which of the five operational Space Shuttles launched and landed 39 times, gathering more space flights than any other spacecraft to date? |
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Discovery | |
| 41. | Born in England on 25th July 1978, what is the name of the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF, commonly known as the first "test tube baby"? |
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Louise Brown | |
| 42. | What religious movement was founded in 1954 by American author L. Ron Hubbard? |
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Scientology | |
| 43. | On 12th June 1979, what did the Gossamer Albatross successfully cross to win a Kremer prize for human-powered flight? |
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English Channel | |
| 44. | 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? |
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Great Famine / Irish Potato Famine | |
| 45. | There were two major battles at El Alamein during World War II. In what country is it? |
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Egypt | |
| 46. | What battle of 1746 in Scotland ended the Jacobite rising? |
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Battle of Culloden | |
| 47. | What was the name of the ship used by Roald Amundsen in his South Pole expedition from 1910 to 1912? |
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Fram | |
| 48. | Which historical first did Tenzing Norgay achieve in 1953? |
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Reached the summit of Mount Everest (with Edmund Hillary) | |
| 49. | By what nickname was George VI known by family and close friends? |
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Bertie (born Albert Frederick Arthur George) | |
| 50. | In what country did the peaceful "Velvet Revolution" overthrow its communist government in 1989? |
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Czechoslovakia (Československá socialistická republika) | |
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