FunTrivia History Mix: Vol 28 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nicolae Ceausescu

Following the collapse of many Eastern European communist regimes in the late 1980s, Ceausescu's Romanian dictatorship remained the only such government within the Warsaw Pact. After a public speech in which he attempted to cling on to support, he was widely booed as the Romanian people began to revolt in the streets, forcing Ceausescu and his family to go into hiding.

His special forces killed thousands of rioters and protestors before he was eventually found, arrested, and handed over to the army, where he and his wife were tried and executed on December 25, 1989.

Question by player dim_dude

Answer: Blondi

Blondi was Hitler's favorite dog, but he was reportedly the cause of her death. In 1945 Hitler feared that he and his wife would be captured. Hitler was not sure that the cyanide capsules would be enough to kill him. So he had them tested on his beloved dog.

Question by player SuperJoany

Answer: Hyperinflation

Germany was in an awful financial state following World War I and it hit the population hard. There are stories of people heading out to the shops with cash in their pocket, but by the time they'd reached the store, the value of their money had halved. Wages were negotiated on a daily basis and workers had to carry their earnings home in suitcases.

There is one story of a man who left his wage-suitcase unattended after a day at work. The money was so worthless that when he returned, the case had been stolen and the cash had been left behind.

Question by player AcrylicInk

Answer: 1968, in Africa

Biafra existed only from 1967 to 1970. It was formed as a result of the Nigerian Civil War. Even though it lasted for only three years, Biafra still made its own coins and banknotes. Before 1967 and after 1970, Biafra was part of Nigeria.

Question by player hotdogPi

Answer: Van Diemen's Land

Renamed Tasmania in 1855 after approval by Queen Victoria and the Privy Council, Van Diemen's Land was the second colony created. Prior to that time, New South Wales encompassed all of the Australian mainland, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, and Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands.

This second colony was named in honour of Dutch East Indies Governor-General, Anthony Van Diemen, who was the driving force behind Abel Tasman's exploratory voyages in the 1640s. The Colony of New Zealand became a self-governing entity in 1852, after proclaiming sovereignty from New South Wales in 1840.

Question by player MikeMaster99

Answer: Denazification

Based in Berlin, the Allied Control Council was governed by the Soviet Union, United States, United Kingdom and France. Denazification involved removing Nazi party leaders from positions of power and taking down signage representative of the party. The Allied Control Council was designed to act only by agreement of all four members and thus it struggled to gain consensus on actions to take and it essentially ended with the Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948.

Question by player Triviaballer

Answer: Dr. Samuel Mudd

Booth broke his leg by jumping from the balcony after assassinating Lincoln.

Question by player WIUSIG

Answer: La Marseillaise

To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions
Let's march, let's march
That their impure blood
Shall water our fields.! - Rouget de Lisle, 1792

"La Marseillaise" (originally 'The War Song of the Armies of the Rhine) was a runaway hit in revolutionary France and was adopted as the national anthem by the parliament of the French Revolution in 1795. But in 1804, after he declared himself emperor, Napoleon had it banned. Although the "impure blood" in the song was supposed to be Austrian, he felt it was a little too revolutionary, and, it was rumoured, he hated the composer because de Lisle had been hitting on his wife. This sentiment was shared by future rulers of 19th-century France and was only reinstated as national anthem in 1879. He had it replaced by "Le Chant du départ" (The Song of Departure), another anthemic march with a lot less dangerous lyrics. Composed in 1794 by Étienne Méhul (music) and Marie-Joseph Chénier (lyrics) , it became the official anthem of the First Empire. It is still the presidential anthem of France and an anthem in French Guiana. Nobody knows exactly who wrote the "Chanson de l'Oignon" (The Onion Song), but it appeared around 1800 and became the unofficial marching song of the Grenadier Guard. "Partant pour la Syrie" was written at some time during the First Empire to celebrate the French going to Egypt. It became national anthem under Napoleon III. Not a big surprise, because it had been written by his mom, Hortense de Beauharnais; Josephine's daughter and both Napoleon's stepdaughter and sister-in-law.






Question by player Sidd2

Answer: Women

The gynaecum was the area set aside for the women of the house. This area was usually up on a second floor as far away from visitors and males as possible. A woman was expected to marry a man chosen by her father; until then, she slept in the gynaecum. Here the women gathered during the day and looked after the children and spent time spinning wool.

Question by player stephgm67

Answer: The Battle of Thermopylae

The 300 men were the Spartan royal guard, known as the 'Hippeis', the force that defended the pass at Thermopylae ('The Hot Gates') including the royal guard, actually consisted of somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 men according to the writings of ancient historians like Herodotus.

After being betrayed to the Persian forces as to the location of a small path through which the Persian forces could flank the Pan-Hellenic army, King Leonidas I, with an army consisting of just over 1,000 men - including the famous 300 Spartans - organised a rearguard to protect the retreating Greek contingent. Fighting to the last, the stout and unyielding defence against the invading Persians is highly romanticised: in reality, the result was a Greek defeat ending in the total loss of the territory of Boetia.

Question by player HopelessFlight