19th and 20th Century Europe Trivia Quiz

Answer: Holy Roman Empire

Established by Charlemagne in 800 C.E., by the late 1700s the Holy Roman Empire was not as powerful or influential as it was in previous centuries. The loss of territory and the rigidity of the system could not survive the wars with France that broke out after the French Revolution of 1789.

In 1806, after most of the Empire's German possessions formed the Confederation of the Rhine under Napoleon's protection, Emperor Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, though he remained Emperor of Austria.

Answer: Seven Weeks' War

A dispute between Austria and Prussia over their joint administration of the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, taken by the two powers from Denmark in 1864, led to the Seven Weeks' War of June-July, 1866. Prussia defeated Austria and its allied German states.

The German Confederation was dissolved and a new North German Confederation, dominated by Prussia, was set up. Austria was virtually excluded from German affairs, and Prussian chancellor Otto Von Bismarck was one step closer to uniting Germany under the Prussian crown.

Answer: Georges Clemenceau

Georges Clemenceau, nicknamed the "Tiger", was determined to get even with the Germans for making France pay huge reparations after the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871). The treaty required Germany to pay a crippling amount in reparations, as well as forcing the Germans to take full responsibility for the war. Most historians agree that the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles led directly to World War II.

Answer: Railroads

The first railways using steam locomotives were developed in Great Britain beginning in the 1830s and had spread across Western Europe by the beginning of the 1850s. Germany, France, and Belgium had extensive networks by the 1860s, while progress was slower in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Answer: Russian Empire

Japan had defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, but most of her territorial gains were negated under pressure from France, Germany, and Russia, the latter of which had their own ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. War broke out between Russia and Japan in 1904, and after the Russians were defeated on land and at sea, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a peace that favored Japan.

Answer: Belgium

Belgium's neutrality had been protected by a treaty since its independence in the 1830s. However, in order to carry out the Schlieffen Plan, the German General Staff's blueprint for defeating France before Russia could mobilize, the Germans invaded Belgium and Luxembourg in August, 1914. This violation led to the British declaration of war against Germany.

Answer: Treaty of Paris 1951

On April 18, 1951, representatives of six European countries, France, Belgium, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands, signed the Treaty of Paris, creating the European Coal and Steel Community. The representatives also issued the European Declaration, which stated that the Treaty was the first step in creating a united Europe.

The treaty came into effect in July, 1952, and officially expired in July, 2002.

Answer: Spain

After deposing King Alfonso XIII in 1931, Spain was controlled by a Popular Front government, whose reforms were unpopular with the Army, the Catholic Church, and right-wing and monarchist political leaders. The Civil War broke out in July, 1936, after an attempted coup d'tat by Nationalist army officers.

The Spanish government, or Republicans, were assisted by the Soviet Union while the Nationalists received aid from Germany and Italy. The Nationalists won in April, 1939, leading to forty years of Fascist rule.

Answer: St. Helena

After his first defeat in April, 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. He escaped and returned to France ten months later, raising another army. British, German and other Allied troops defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium on June 18, 1815.

He was then exiled to the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in March, 1821.

Answer: Warsaw Pact

In response to the NATO alliance between the United States, Canada, and most of the non-Communist Western European nations, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite states, signed a military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. Albania withdrew from the alliance in 1968, while the seven other constituent nations remained in the alliance until it was dissolved in 1991.