History's Foibles Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Greek War for Independence

Greece, especially Athens, was regarded as the center of Western Civilization. It had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1453. The Greeks were treated like second class citizens by the Turks. Finally, in 1821 the Greeks revolted. It took 9 long years, but Greece finally won its independence in 1830.

During a battle in Athens the Turks found themselves under siege and low on ammunition on the Acropolis. They began to break down the columns of the Parthenon to melt the lead into bullets. When the Greeks realized what the Turks were doing they provided them with ammo in order to stop the destruction of an important symbol of Western Civilization.

Answer: Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein's army was formed from the militias of the two territories that formed the principality of Liechtenstein. The army was mainly used to defend alpine passes and rarely, if ever, saw action. The German Confederation was dissolved in1866, and Liechtenstein disbanded its army two years later.

The country managed to stay neutral through two World Wars. On its last deployment in 1866 the army not only suffered no casualties, but increased its size from 80 to 81.

Answer: rabbit

Napoleon had three thousand caged domesticated rabbits for the hunt. When the rabbits were uncaged, instead of running away they attacked Napoleon and his men, biting them ferociously. The rabbits had not been fed and mistook Napoleon and his men as their feeders. Napoleon fled to his coach, but his men were left to fend off the rabbits as best they could.

Answer: Boston

In January 1919 it was unseasonably warm in Boston's North End. A fifty-foot-tall steel holding tank owned by the Purity Distilling Co. burst. Although relatively new, the tank had a history of leaks. A combination of too thin steel walls, intense pressure, a new delivery of molasses, and the outside warmth caused the walls to rupture.

The result was over two million gallons of molasses that moved up to 35 mph down Boston streets, doing considerable damage along the way and claiming 21 lives. Cleanup took considerable effort. It was discovered that saltwater helped break down the molasses. The civil suits that followed found the company's shoddy construction of the tank was to blame. The result was tighter regulations.

Answer: solar eclipse

Today a solar eclipse is celebrated as an amazing event. But back in the day, it was terrifying. So terrifying that the battle was named the Battle of the Eclipse. It was fought between the Medes and the Lydians. The conflict between these two dynasties had been ongoing for six years. At this particular battle, a solar eclipse occurred that was seen as a divine event. Both sides agreed to a peace treaty and a royal marriage followed between the daughter of the Lydian king and the son of the Medes ruler.

The Battle of the Solar Eclipse was a seminal event in world history. The battle took place on May 28, 585 BC in modern day Turkey. The solar eclipse that occurred that day had been predicted by the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus. It changed the way people looked at the sky. The inherent fear changed to observation and discovery.

Answer: Jean Lafitte

Jean Lafitte and his brother Pierre ran a highly successful smuggling operation in New Orleans. During the War of 1812 Lafitte and other privateers helped General Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans by keeping the British from gaining access to the Mississippi River.

Jean Lafitte returned to his pirate ways after the War of 1812. Historians are at a loss to explain his death. It remains a mystery. William C.C. Clairborne was the first governor of Louisiana and may have been the youngest member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Constitution requires members of the House to be at least 25 years old. Clairborne may have been only 23 or 24, however, there remains some dispute about his date of birth. Clairborne died while in his early forties of liver disease. Neither man's reward was collected.

Answer: Holland

Well, it wasn't quite a surrender or a battle. The Battle of Texel took place during the War of the First Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars. At the time the French and Dutch were at war. It seems that during the Battle of Texel the Dutch fleet took shelter from a storm, when the storm passed the fleet found that it was iced in. Upon seeing the French troops, the Commander of the Dutch fleet was prepared to surrender.

Meanwhile, the French had received orders not to attack the fleet. Five days later, the Dutch admiral received word that Holland was now aligned with France.
The Battle of Texel was an example of how quickly allegiances changed in Europe during the Revolutionary Wars.

Answer: True

True. Oxford University was established in 1096 as a center for the study of law and theology. The Aztec Empire emerged around 1325 with the founding of Tenochtitlan in modern day Mexico. Oxford, therefore, is almost 230 years older.

Answer: France

The French built a fake Paris in an attempt to deceive German bombers and save their capitol from destruction and save lives. The French actually built replicas of the Eiffel Tower and the Gare du Nord. They even painted streets to look like wide boulevards from the air. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the war ended before the fake Paris was completed.

The fake city was being constructed just outside the city limits. After the war it was demolished.

Answer: Andrew Jackson

In 1835 Andrew Jackson became the first sitting U.S. president to survive an assassination attempt. An individual, who was later declared insane, thought Jackson was keeping him from becoming the King of England. He attempted to fire once only to have a misfire. He then brandished a second gun which also misfired. The odds of two misfires in a row from two different guns are astronomically high. The would-be assassin was tried, convicted and spent the rest of his life in various mental institutions.

During the period between the arrest and trial, Washington DC was awash with conspiracy theories. Jackson claimed that the Whigs, led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, had hired the assassin. The Whigs claimed that Jackson staged the affair to gain public sympathy.