A Century of Warfare Trivia Quiz

Answer: 33

This shocking statistic, coupled with the reports on poverty by Booth and Rowntree, forced the government to act to improve the lives of its citizens. The Boer War served as a wake up call to the British government on the poor state of army. Despite the British Army's vastly greater numbers and resources than the Boers, the British found the war very bloody and difficult.

The war lasted from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902. In response to the guerrilla war waged by the Boers, the British herded Afrikaner civilians into concentration camps in order to deprive the guerrillas of support. An estimated 20% of the inmates died, which left a legacy of bitterness.

Answer: Turkey

The term was coined for Turkey or 'the Ottoman empire'. This had once been a vast, great empire but a succession of weak sultans, poor decisions and revolts combined with a lack of industrialisation had left it a shadow of its former self. A series of wars in the Balkans also saw its size significantly reduced.

Despite these very significant disadvantages Turkey fought very hard during world war one and lasted till 30th October 1918 when it finally surrendered with the country nearing complete military and economic destruction.

Answer: Bulgaria

Often a forgotten member of the Central powers, Bulgaria joined the war on their side in October 1915; however on the 27th September 1918 Bulgaria surrendered. Bulgaria was initially neutral in the conflict but Central power military success against Russia as well as bribes of money and territory persuaded it to join the central powers.

Despite initial success in the Balkans the war quickly proved unpopular with its people. The terrible economic strain of fighting a 'total war' as well as military defeats forced Bulgaria to surrender. Bulgaria was not nearly as big or as powerful as the other fighting nations and was unable to continue.

Answer: The Maginot Line

The Maginot line was a defensive line made up of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences. Remembering the success of defence lines in world war one, France hoped this defensive line would slow the German army down and give the French army time to mobilise.

However, this plan failed when Germany cut through Belgium allowing the German army to advancing quickly through France, taking the nation in just over a month. The French government signed an armistice on the 22nd June 1940.

Answer: Gold

Taking place on the June 6th 1944, D-Day involved over 160,000 Allied troops and is the largest amphibious invasion of all time. The amphibious attack was preceded by American, British and Canadian airborne troops landing inside France. Gold beach was a British offensive and resulted in approximately 400 British casualties.

The D-Day invasions resulted in an Allied bridgehead and allowed the Allies to advance to Germany from the West. Combined with the Allied advance through Italy and the Russian advance through Eastern Europe Nazi Germany was surrounded helping speed its defeat.

Answer: 1953

This war began when Capitalist South Korea and Communist North Korea both wished to unite Korea under their respective governments. This led to conflicts along the border of these nations, known as the 38th parallel, this escalated when North Korea invaded the South on June 25th 1950.

This led to the United States and other UN nations sending troops to help the South. After initial advances they were slowed when China intervened on the side of the North and led to an armistice being signed on July 27th 1953.

This basically restored the original borders which are still in place. Figures vary widely but it is estimated that about 2.8 million people died from both sides.

Answer: Operation Mongoose

One of the stranger plans involved trying to kill Castro with an exploding cigar. The CIA worked with the mafia, who had their own reasons for hating Castro and attempting to kill Castro and bring back Batista, the previous leader. The Cold War lasted from 1945 till the early 1990s, ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it dominated world politics with the capitalist West on one side and the communist East on the other.

Although no war took place between the Soviet Union and the West several smaller conflicts such as Korea and Vietnam did erupt into full blown wars.

Answer: 58,000

This high level of casualties is made all the worse given America's withdrawal in 1973 having gained little, if anything, from the conflict. In April 1975 Saigon was captured by North Vietnam ending the conflict and unifying the nation. After it became clear America was involved in an un-winnable conflict, with escalating casualties, anti-war feeling got so strong in America that it eventually withdrew completely from Vietnam.

The Vietnam conflict is also estimated have cost the lives of 3 to 4 million Vietnamese and at least 1.5 million Laotians and Cambodians. Vietnam is one of, if not the, biggest foreign policy disaster in American history.

Answer: Las Malvinas

This conflict began when the ruling military Junta in Argentina saw its popularity plummet and decided an invasion of the Falklands, which Argentineans have always seen as theirs, as a way of restoring popularity. So on 2nd April 1982 Argentina invaded, and quickly captured, the Falklands.

The resulting conflict lasted until June 14th, 1982 ending with Argentina's surrender. The war cost 255 British lives and 649 Argentinean. Despite a geographical advantage, Argentina was no match militarily to the United Kingdom.

The conflict resulted in the military Junta being overthrown and helped secure Margaret Thatcher's re-election in 1983.

Answer: False

A common misconception, it was in fact Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia paid $40 billion of the roughly $60 billion war costs. On the 2nd August 1990 Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. This resulted in economic sanctions from the UN Security Council, and coalition forces, most notably America, began preparing for war.

The coalition forces began re-taking Kuwait in January 1991; they quickly gained control of the small oil-rich nation and pushed on into Iraq, leading to Iraq's surrender on 28th February 1991. With the coalition's massive economic and technological advantage Iraq stood little chance of victory.

The Gulf war was the first major conflict after the end of the Cold War.