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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 30 general entries.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 European
| 11th century: The Battle of Hastings, 1066. A foreign duke crowns himself King of England after having defeated which English King ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Harold II. This was the last time in history that the island was conquered by a foreign power. The man who did this feat was of course William the Conqueror, former Duke of Normandy.
The 3rd Crusade. This was staged from 1189 to 1192. It took Richard quite a while to return to England, though.
| 13th century: High Middle Ages. What was the name of the Roman Emperor and King of Germany and Sicily that got excommunicated twice by the pope ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Frederick II. His religious and worldly studies make him appear to modern judgement to have been far ahead of his time.
| 14th century: The century of the bubonic plague. About one third of Europe's population was swept away by the black death in just under five years between 1347 and 1352. But what was the absolute death toll of the plague ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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About 25 million people. The plague had entered Europe via Italian tradeships from China.
| 15th century: The century of the renaissance. Greek and Roman arts and philosophy experienced a resurrection, which lifted Europe from the dark ages and made it expand their sea trade to new worlds. Maybe more important than seamapping, however, was the invention of the printing press. Who was its inventor ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Johannes Gutenberg. The knowledge brought to a new affluent middle class was maybe a major factor for the dawning of the reformation (see next century).
| 16th century: The century of the reformation. With his revolutionary ideas, Martin Luther initiated the split-up of the christian church. Who was his counterpart, the regent of the Holy Roman Empire, who reigned over the largest European empire as of today ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Charles V. The empire comprised Spain, the Netherlands, modern-day Germany and Austria as well as parts of Italy and the Balkans.
| 17th century: While in France absolutism reached its peak with the reign of Louis XIV and England saw revolutionary times, the Holy Roman Empire was shaken by the 30 years' war during the first half of the century. What were the two main confronting parties in this first 'European War' ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Catholics and Protestants. This war however involved all major European powers. It was settled with the peace of Westphalia in 1648, which established a new European political order.
| 18th century: The century of enlightenment. What is the name of the French philosopher who voiced the idea of a 'volonte generale', which eventually would bring revolution to France ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Jean-Jaques Rousseau. The book about a social contract as foundation of the state sparked (among others) the flame that changed the western world.
| 19th century: Apart from witnessing the industrial revolution, this was also the century of European colonialism and imperialism. Which nations' empire was the largest at the end of the century ? | Millennium Quiz: 1000-2000 A.D.
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Great Britain. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, her empire covered 'one third of the globe' and was the largest formal empire that ever existed.
In order to overthrow the Provisional Government, which was based there. The notion that Lenin and the Bolshevists deposed Nicholas II is an urban legend. He'd been forced to abdicate after the February Revolution - at a time when Lenin wasn't even in Russia. That earlier Russian Revolution had been much more broadly based. At the time of the storming of the Winter Palace the Provisional Government was headed by Kerensky.
| In 1934, following the death of Hindenburg, all members of the German armed forces had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. There was something very odd about the oath. What was it? | European History - A Miscellany
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There was no reference to any successor. It is absolutely standard practice for an oath of loyalty to a head of state to contain a reference to his or her "lawful successors". This omission is not without irony!
There is no agreement on the date. Many members of the "High Church" party regard 597, the conversion of Kent by St. Augustine and the establishment of the diocese of Canterbury, as the date of foundation. On the whole other groups don't regard the date as a matter of very great importance.
Proudhon. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-65) published a book in 1840 entitled "What is property?" and concluded that it is theft. He called for the abolition of money and also of all government above the level of the local "community assembly". He clashed with the "authoritarian Left", especially with Marx, and many of his ideas appealed to anarchists rather than socialists.
Two. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April-May 1943 is widely known. The Warsaw Uprising of August-October 1944 by the Polish Home Army is generally acknowledged as the biggest single uprising against Nazi rule in occupied Europe in World War II. The Soviet Army was on the outskirts of the city during the latter part of the uprising and did nothing whatsoever to help. Indeed, when some members of the Polish Home Army established face-to-face contact with the Soviet Army on 10 September 1944 they were seized by the Soviet secret police and sent to Russia. It is clear that the Soviet leaders had their own plans for postwar Poland and were glad to see the slaughter of so many Polish patriots.
1990. There was an exceptionally long interval between the end of the fighting and the signining of a peace treaty. The Cold War and the division of Germany to made it imposible to reach the necessary agreement. The treaty signed on 12 Septmeber 1990, which gave the green light for German reunification, was also a peace treaty. Among other things, reunited Germany undertook never to question its borders.
| Long after England had ceased to have any territory in France, the titles of the monarchs of England (and later Great Britain) included that of "King [or Queen] of France". When was this dropped? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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1802 (Peace of Amiens). In 1802 the Peace of Amiens temporarily ended the war between Britain and France. The following year, however, disagreement over Malta led to a resumption of the war.
| When was that greatly admired, much feared and widely imitated military planning machine - the Prussian General Staff (later known as the "Grosse Generalstab") founded? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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1808. Its function was the rational, systematic planning of war. It was established in aftermath of Prussia's defeat by Napoleon, and the first Chief of the General Staff was Gerhardt von Scharnhorst. With the appointment of Helmut von Moltke, Senior (1800-91) as Chief of Staff in 1857 it became an immensely effective military planning apparatus. Its detailed war games, including the thorough study of the rail networks and timetables of possible future enemies, and its ability to predict probable troop movements partly on the basis of these, became almost legendary.
| In Paris it's the name of a square not far from the Arc de Triomphe and also a Metro station, in Britain it's sometimes used as the name of cinemas - but in fact Trocadero first became well known as the name of a battle. In which country was the battle fought? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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Spain. In 1820 Spain erupted into civil war as troops stationed at Cadiz and Madrid mutined and forced the absolute monarch, Ferdinard VII, to restore the constitution of 1812, which provided for a limited monarchy. Austria, Prussia and Russia were alarmed and in 1822 requested France to restore Ferninand VII (by then a prisoner) to the throne. The rebels were finally defeated in 1823 at Trocadero, near Cadiz. Ferdinand then ruthlessly hounded his adversaries, despite the fact that he had granted the rebels an amnesty. Incidentally, this civil war did much to weaken yet further Spain's already wobbly hold over its remaining colonies in the Americas and prompted the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine. Britain, keen to prevent the revival of an empire comparable in size to its own, supported the Monroe Doctrine.
| In 1825 work began on a very ambitious engineering project - the construction of a railway, about 100 km (60 miles) long, linking two cities of some importance. What were the two cities? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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Linz and Ceske Budejovice (Budweis). The original scheme was for a canal linking the Danube with the Vltava, but as the route crosses very hilly terrain, it would have required 310 locks and have been uneconomical. The railway, completed in 1832, used horses for some considerable time before going over to steam traction. As is well known, the great majority of very early railways were in Britain.
| After the Napoleonic Wars Britain became the international political "top dog". However, for most of the rest of the 19th century, it saw another great power as a potential threat to its interests. Which was it? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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Russia. Successive British governments feared possible Russian expansion towards British India. They were also concerned about what appeared to be repeated Russian pushes in the Balkans - towards the Bosphorous and the Dardenelles and into the Eastern Mediterranean. It was for this reason that for much of the 19th century Britain propped up the Ottoman Empire (the "Sick Man of Europe"). Towards the very end of the century Anglo-Russian rivalry also extended to the Persian Gulf.
| In the last third of the 19th century there occurred what is sometimes described as a "silent revolution". Gradually, secondary schools (up to age 18+) for girls were founded and women were allowed to study at university. Which was the first European university to admit women students on an ongoing basis? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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Zurich. At the University of Zurich women were first admitted on an experimental basis in 1864. In 1868 this was made permanent and there was a steady intake every year. In Europe, universities were (and for the most part still are) subject to direct or indirect state regulation, which made the whole issue politically charged. Europe lacked anything comparable to Oberlin College or Mount Holyoke College in the United States. Before the regular admission of women to university, Bologna and a handful of the German universities had very occasionally awarded degrees to women, but they had had to study privately. Moreover, the number was extremely small.
| After 1815, at the latest, one might have assumed that the days when kings and emperors were actually present with their armies on battlefields was a thing of the past. However, the unpredictable Napoleon III was not only present on the battlefield in person in the Franco-Prussian War, he was also taken prisoner. Where? | European History - A Miscellany: II
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Sedan. This happened within a mere six weeks of the start of the Franco-Prussian war. At Sédan, the French lost about 100,000 men and the emperor. The already fragile Second Empire shattered at once and two days later France was declared a republic. The hastily improvised government had the immensely difficult task of continuing the war. Fifteen days after Sédan the Prussians laid siege to Paris, which held out for four months.
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