Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Let us start at an eventful time and place. It is 1797 and Toulon is under siege. Though the French Revolution of 1789 is over, a civil war is raging in France. The British are trying to hold Toulon, which recently surrendered to them in an attempt to escape the radical French. A brave Corsican named Napoleon Buonaparte has risen to prominence in this campaign and is about to strike a key blow which will turn the siege in France's favour. What was Napoleon commanding?
2. Napoleon needed money early in the 19th century in order to finance what was a very expensive war. Taxing peasants had got Louis XVI into trouble and taxing the nobles and the church was not raising the sums needed to maintain his enormous army. Napoleon needed to sell something for a lot of money so he could continue with the war against England, a war which he was losing at sea. As luck would have it, Thomas Jefferson was looking to buy something, namely a very large area of land to the west of the newly formed United States of America. In what year did this "Louisiana Purchase" take place?
3. Speaking of America, the settlers who arrived from England on the Mayflower were of course not the first humans to inhabit the New World. The American Indians, the Aztecs, the Mayans and countless other peoples all lived in America long before the white man set foot there. They were surprisingly advanced too, developing superior mathematics and other scientific advancements. But what simple invention did most if not all peoples of South America *not* use for of transportation?
4. The Americas were discovered long before Europeans turned up. However, Christopher Columbus decided to set sail in 1492 and 'discovered' it for Europe, hitting the West Indies with his three ships - Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Ironically, this is one of history's greatest "errors", because in fact Columbus had set out to do something different. What was it?
5. So the New World is settled and we all live happily ever after! Well, apart from those peoples that were displaced and mistreated by the new settlers. But as throughout history, rulers and peoples had a zest for expansion and for taking territory by force. The European powers were particularly fond of it, and fought many wars including the shortest war in history, which lasted for all of half an hour! This occurred in 1896 and was between Britain and which other country or nation?
6. Talking of Africa, it was a great place if you were a European power because the people there didn't have guns to make the fighting fair! The technological advances of the Europeans set them in good stead to divide Africa and most of the world between them. France got large portions of Africa, Britain seized some, the Portuguese, the Italians, the Germans and the Belgians, too ... The division was not as easy as you would think at first though. Up until the middle of the 19th century, even though the Europeans had rifles they could be overpowered when attacked by vastly greater numbers. However, one invention changed all that and altered history forever. What was it?
7. Talking of massacres, isn't it strange how we sometimes celebrate great massacres and defeats? We hold them up as examples of "romantic" heroism, when in reality, they represent the epitome of stupidness, folly, bad luck and poor planning. The ANZAC landings at Gallipoli are celebrated religiously in Australia and New Zealand, where the bulk of each countries armed forces were slaughtered to no good effect. But most famously, thanks to Tennyson, the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War is the height of celebrated failure. It is a good example of how an order can be misinterpreted and the chaos that ensues! "It is magnificent, but it is not war!" as a French general said at the time. But which of these Lords was at the Battle of Balaclava and played a key part in the events of that day?
8. The days of the cavalry charge were numbered anyway! After all, trench warfare and the machine gun has the un-sportsman like effect of meaning that horses no longer stood chance when charging at lines of enemy men. It's sad, since the cavalry have been part of warfare for so long! In America during the Civil War and afterwards, the cavalry remained one of the most important branches of the Army. Custer was a cavalry man, and the Wild West needed men on horses to control it. What colour was given to the trim on the uniform of a Union cavalry man?
9. Speaking of General Custer and the Wild West, we all know that Custer made his last stand at the battle of Little Bighorn. Whether he was the last man standing or not is a matter of debate, but one thing is for sure, no man of his cavalry regiment lived to tell the tale! It all started when two Indian tribes left their Reservations in 1875 in protest and outrage at continued incursions into the sacred Black Hills. It ended in 1876 when Custer decided not to wait for reinforcements. A mistake you only make once! Here's the question, there were two tribes allied with each other, one was the Sioux, what was the other?
10. So the world moves on, time advances and old things get thrown out and upgraded. Revolutions have rocked the world for over two centuries. The American Revolution kicked it off in modern times, but the most famous, and probably the most bloody, was the French Revolution. Speaking of which, we're back at the start again with the man who rose to symbolise that era of turmoil and bloodshed - Napoleon. If he'd attacked Russia at a different time of the year Europe might have been very different. Napoleon was a great attacking general, but not so good when in retreat. In any case, he was beaten at Waterloo in 1815 by a great defensive general. Here's a toughy for you to end with. The Duke of Wellington was Napoleon's foe, but before he became a lord, what was his name?
Source: Author
JWJHope
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bloomsby before going online.
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