Changing World Quiz | History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the major changes in the course of history was the French Revolution. With what event is it considered to have started?

Answer: storming of a Parisian prison

The prison that was stormed on 14th of July 1789 was the Bastille. There were hardly more than seven prisoners in it. People who mostly were well treated, but had been detained via the secret procedure of a lettre de cachet. - The Palace of Versailles was at no moment stormed by the revolutionaries.The only palace that was stormed was the Tuileries near the Louvre, Aug. 10, 1792. - There did happen such a thing as a 'flight of the King' nl. during the night of June 20-21, {1791;} the royal couple were arrested at Varennes and brought back to Paris where they were locked up until in Jan 1793 Louis XVI was executed. Marie Antoinette's turn for the guillotine came in 1794.

2. The Netherlands were not always what they are now. After the defeat of Napoleon a state was created that contained more than just present-day 'Holland'. What did the Netherlands comprehend as well from 1815 till 1830?

Answer: Belgium

The Vienna Congress created the so-called Kingdom of the Netherlands with William V of Orange becoming King William the First. The territory comprehended Belgium too and there was a personal union with Luxemburg. When the Belgians rebelled in 1830, the Luxemburgers joined them.

After the defeat of the Dutch troops, the Luxemburgers wanted to have one state with the Belgians but the Great Powers disagreed. The major part of Luxemburg became what is now the Belgian province of Luxemburg. A minor part became an independent Grand-Duchy.

3. The decolonisation of Africa was one of the major examples of change in the 20th century. When Belgian Congo became an independent state soon the names of the major towns were made more indigenous. What had been the old Belgian name of present-day Kinshasa?

Answer: Leopoldville

Elisabethville is now Lubumbashi. Stanleyville has become Kisangani and Coquilhatville is now Mbandaku.

4. Few countries saw their borders change so frequently in the course of history as Poland. Quite a few of its present-day major towns were considered by the Nazis as 'German territory'. Which of these was considered to be German too, but is now actually in a Russian exclave?

Answer: Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad was German Koenigsberg and was the residence of Immanuel Kant. Poznan was called Posen by the Germans, just as they called Wroclaw Breslau and Gdansk Danzig.

5. After the Second World War the ex-Italian province of Istria went to Tito's Yugoslavian Federation. Some parts were returned by Tito e.g. Trst became Trieste again. After the falling apart of the Yugoslavian Federation, Istria again was a bone of contention. The non-Italian part was re-distributed in 2001. Between which two new countries?

Answer: Croatia and Slovenia

Neither Serbia nor Montenegro has any common borders with Istria. Dalmatia is not a country, but part of Croatia.

6. As Virgil Gheorghiu described in the' 25th Hour', in 20 th century, Bessarabia kept being traded between various countries. Which country was it part of from 1918 till 1940?

Answer: Romania

Romania had been formed from the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1862. In 1866 the monarchy was created. In 1918 Transsylvania, Bessarabia and Bucovina were united with Romania. In 1940 the Soviets laid hands on Bessarabia as part of the secret clauses of the Molotov - von Ribbentrop pact.

When Germany broke with the U.S.S.R., the Romanians were allowed by the Germans to get Bessarabia back. In 1944 Romania changed sides and became "friends with the Soviet-Union". Part of the price it had to pay for this new friendship was : being stripped of Bessarabia.

In this way the Romanians were punished for their previous leanings to Nazi Germany. The Soviets kept Bessarabia within their 'Union' till their system completely disintegrated. Now Bessarabia has become part of Moldavia.

7. No nation that did so much to enlarge its territory with peaceful means as Holland. Large parts of its territory were literally wrung from the grip of the sea. Which of these water surfaces simply does not exist anymore?

Answer: Zuiderzee (Southsea)

The Southsea was locked off from the Northsea by means of a dam. The new waterarea was called the Ijssel Lake. Part of that since then has been laid dry and is now a new province called Flevoland.

8. Nothing so changeable as political regimes. Which of these rulers is the one that was ousted by a cigar-smoking bearded fellow of the name of Fidel?

Answer: Fulgencio Batista

Batista twice ruled Cuba: from 1933-1944, and from 1952-1959. - Jorge Rafael Videla was a career military officer who became president of Argentina in 1976 and stayed in power till 1981. - Noriega was the actual power behind the civilian president of Panama. Because of his involvement with drug trafficking he got 'picked up ' by U.S troops and had to appear in a USA Court. - Somoza became president of Nicaragua on January 1 , 1937.

It was rumoured that the elections had been rigged and later the Sandinista Revolution managed to oust him.

9. It's not just political systems that are changeable. Also royal marriages are not always equally stable. Which of these married a member of the British royal family, and divorced 20 years later?

Answer: Capt. Mark Phillips

Mark Phillips married Queen Elizabeth's daughter Princess Anne in 1972. They divorced in 1992.

Tony Armstrong-Jones, a photographer , married Princess Margaret. This marriage too broke down. But that may be more understandable if one takes into account that Princess Margaret had had to renounce Capt. Townshend, a British Royal Air Force group captain, because the Church of England did not want to sanction an earlier divorce. They were married in 1960 and divorced in 1978.

Prince Andrew was signalled as having an affair with Koo Stark but there never was talked of a marriage. As is generally known after the rumours about the Koo Stark affair there was Prince Andrew's marriage to Sarah Ferguson, but that one has broken up too. As to Camilla Parker Bowles. Well, guess we all have heard about Camilla.

10. Some changes may not have happened yet. Just an example: when Communism imploded in Russia, statues of Lenin and other Soviet heroes came down. But what do you do with geographical realities such as 'Lenin Peak' and 'Peak Kommunizma'. In what republic of the Old Soviet Union did they have a couple of such 'giants'?

Answer: Tadzhikistan

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Changing World Trivia Quiz

History is fundamentally about 'changes'. Major changes, minor changes. After all we tell stories only when 'things happen', not when everything remains as it was.

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