When Was That? (2) Trivia Quiz

Answer: March 6, 1836

For 13 days, Mexican troops besieged the Alamo Mission near what is now the city of San Antonio, Texas. On March 6, the Mexicans attack, killing all of the Texan defenders inside (more than 200), including Jim Bowie, William B Travis and Davy Crockett.

The Texans get their revenge just a few weeks later, on April 21 at the Battle of San Jacinto. Here the Texans defeat the Mexican Army, ending the revolution.

Answer: December 20, 1860

With Abraham Lincoln set to become the next U.S. President, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. Less than four months later, on April 21, 1861, the shelling of fort Sumter in Charleston Harbour begins the American Civil War.

Answer: August 26, 1346

In one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years War, the combined armies of England and the Holy Roman Empire defeated a French army roughly three times their size at the Battle of Crecy. Led by Edward the Black Prince and Kind Edward III of England, this was the first in three important English victories: it was followed by the Battle of Poitiers (September 19, 1356) and the Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415).

Answer: August 24, 79

Located on the Gulf of Naples about six miles east of city itself, Mount Vesuvius exploded at about 1pm on August 24, 79 A.D., creating a 20-mile high cloud of volcanic gas, stones and ash and shooting molten rock out at 1.5 million tons per second. Although the death toll remains unknown, more than 1,500 people in the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried, and their fossilized remains can still be seen today.

Answer: March 15, 44 B.C.

Led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, numerous Roman senators conspired to stab the dictator Julius Caesar outside the Theatre of Pompey in Rome. Ultimately, the result of the assassination was the end of the Roman Republic. Written in 1599, "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" dramatized the events and became one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.

Answer: January 23, 1368

Established in Nanjing in the heartland of the lower Yangtze River region of eastern China, the Empire of the Great Ming succeeded the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Lasting for 276 years, the Ming was the last of the imperial Chinese dynasties ruled by the ethnic Han Chinese.

In 1420, the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing, where it remains to this day. The beginning of the end for the Ming dynasty was the fall of Beijing in 1644, which eventually led to the fall of the Southern Ming and the rise to power of the Qing dynasty in 1683.

Answer: March 24, 1603

The death of Elizabeth I of England on March 24, 1603, led to the ascension of James VI of Scotland as James I of England and the unification of the two crowns. James, who was born in June 1566, had become King of Scotland on the death of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, when he was just 13 months old. He would reign over the combined kingdoms for 22 years, until his death in 1625.

Answer: December 13, 1642

Dutch seafarer, explorer and merchant Abel Janszoon Tasman made two historic voyages on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. During the first of these, in 1642, he became the first European to sight the island to the south of the Australian continent, which he named Van Diemen's land (since renamed in his honour as Tasmania) and, a month later, in December, the north-west coast of the South Island of what is now New Zealand. On his return voyage, Tasman discovered the Tongan archipelago and the island group that is now the Republic of Fiji.

Answer: October 4, 1957

The launch of Sputnik I into an elliptical low-Earth orbit on October 4, 1957 sparked the Space Race between the world's two great superpowers of the time that culminated in the American's landing the first men on the moon less than 12 years later. Remarkably, the satellite itself was a mere 23 inches in diameter, a polished metal sphere with four radio antennae protruding from it.

Answer: January 30, 1965

Prior to the funeral, Churchill became the first commoner in the 20th century to "lie in state" -- since former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone had done so during the reign of Queen Victoria, in 1898.

The largest state funeral in world history honoured Britain's WWII leader. China was the only major nation not to attend -- representatives from 112 nations did. A television audience of 350 million watched as it was broadcast in every European country except Ireland. The funeral itself was held at Saint Paul's Cathedral.