Sharpe's History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anti-Catholic protests

The 1778 Papists Act was designed to remove some of the legislation which discriminated against Roman Catholics, most specifically the requirement that Army recruits had to take a religious oath (which Catholics could not do). The Army was stretched at the time, with ongoing hostilities against France, Spain and those troublesome colonists across the Atlantic. The Gordon Riots, named after the President of the Protestant Association, were sparked by anti-Catholic feeling and fears of a return to absolute monarchy.

The other three answers all relate to disturbances in which soldiers killed civilians. In 1644, during the English Civil War, Royalist forces stormed the Parliamentarian town of Bolton and killed over 1500 people; in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, 15 were killed and hundreds wounded when cavalry charged a huge crowd gathered in Manchester to demand the reform of parliament; the Massacre of St George's Fields in London saw troops kill 7 people demanding the release from prison of the radical John Wilkes, who had been condemned in 1768 for writing an anti-Royalist article.

Answer: Arthur Wellesley

Arthur Wellesley was, of course, the future Duke of Wellington, with whom Sharpe was to have a continuing (fictional) relationship. Wellesley commanded the British East India Company's forces against the Maratha Confederacy, and in the book gave Sharpe an immediate battlefield commission for saving his life.

The other three are all famous British soldiers. John Churchill was to become the Duke of Marlborough, victor of Blenheim and many other battles around the turn of the 18th century; Brudenell was the 7th Earl of Cardigan, famous (or infamous) for his role in the Charge of the Light Brigade; and Somerset was the future Lord Raglan, who was the overall commander in the Crimean War and took some of the blame for Balaclava and the Charge. Earlier in his career he had lost an arm at Waterloo.

Answer: 95th Rifles

The 95th Rifles, raised in 1800, were the forerunners of a revolution in warfare. They used the Baker rifle, far more accurate and with a longer range than the old "Brown Bess" muskets used by other regiments; they wore unobtrusive green uniforms rather than the traditional redcoats; and, most importantly, they fought "light," as sharpshooters and skirmishers, trained to think for themselves, rather than in the tightly disciplined lines and squares of the traditional infantry. Fusiliers were originally named for the "fusil", or flintlock musket, they carried.

The weapon was soon obsolete, but the name has persisted in unit designations to the present day. The Royal Engineers or "Sappers" and Royal Artillery or "Gunners" were to have glorious futures but Richard Sharpe did not serve in either of them.

Answer: Redoutable

The Redoutable ("Fearsome") was seriously damaged in the engagement with HMS Victory, and sank in a storm the next day. Only 100 or so of her crew survived. The other three were all French ships of the line which fought at Trafalgar: the Formidable, flagship of the formidably-named Rear-Admiral Pierre-Etienne-René-Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley, escaped after Trafalgar only to be captured a month later; the Intrepide struck her colours with half her crew dead, and was deliberately blown up two days later to prevent her being recaptured; and the Indomptable, having rescued the crew of the sinking Bucentaure, ran aground in the storm after the battle, with the loss of over a thousand lives.

Answer: Copenhagen

The 1807 British naval assault on Copenhagen was the culmination of a mission designed to stop the French, who had lost most of their navy at Trafalgar, from seizing the considerable number of ships which made up the combined fleet of Denmark and Norway.

The bombardment killed 2,000 people and destroyed a third of the city, and the Danes capitulated after three days and surrendered their ships to the British. Stockholm and Amsterdam never experienced anything similar, although in 1755 Lisbon had been totally destroyed by another kind of assault from the sea: a massive earthquake followed by a tsunami which killed an estimated 100,000 people.

Answer: Forlorn Hope

The term "forlorn hope" comes from the Dutch "Verloren Hoop" or "lost hope," although "hoop" has come to mean a military formation as well. Forlorn Hopes were usually made up of volunteers and junior officers who, if successful, would win rewards and promotion. "Les Enfants Perdus" or Lost Children was the equivalent term in French. Suicide Squad is a common term for soldiers prepared to take on a highly risky mission, while Cannon Fodder is a universal description for soldiers sent into harm's way without much idea of what they're doing or why they're doing it.

Answer: Eagle

Every French infantry regiment carried a golden Eagle on a staff into battle, as potent a symbol of pride as "colours" (flags) were, and are, to British regiments. To lose one brought lasting shame; to win one, equally lasting renown. Several British regiments, such as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (whose predecessors the Scots Greys took an Eagle at Waterloo) wear Napoleonic Eagles on their cap badges to this day.

At the Battle of Vittoria the 14th King's Hussars captured a silver chamberpot belonging to Napoleon's brother, earning themselves the nickname of "The Emperor's Chambermaids."

Drums often carry battle honours; in the Napoleonic era military bands often went into battle with their regiments to encourage the troops with martial music.

Answer: Blucher and the Prussian Army

Early in the day Napoleon had detached Grouchy with a strong force to look for the Prussians, who had been beaten at Ligny two days earlier. Grouchy never made it back, but the Prussians did and tipped the balance.

As a last throw of the dice, Napoleon launched his reserve, the never-defeated Imperial Guard, in a direct assault on the British line. As they laboured up the hill in their usual dense columns, the Guard were dismayed to see over a thousand members of the British Brigade of Guards rise to their feet from where they had been lying down behind the crest of the hill. The British volleys shredded the columns, and the appalled French army heard a shout they'd never heard before: "La Garde recule!" ("The Guard is retreating!"). A rout followed.
The Brigade of Guards adopted the French bearskin headdress as a symbol of their victory; it is still part of their full-dress uniform.

Answer: Thomas Cochrane

Cochrane was a Scots nobleman (later the 10th Earl of Dundonald) who led a sensational life in which scandal, politics, and naval heroics all featured largely, and who played a leading role in the independence struggles of Chile, Brazil and Greece.

Captain Frederick Marryat served as a Midshipman under Cochrane, and later wrote a series of acclaimed naval novels, including "Mr. Midshipman Easy," based on his experiences.

Hornblower and Aubrey are both fictional naval officers, but their creators C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brien have both expressed admiration for Cochrane and acknowledged the debt they owe to his inspiration.

Answer: St. Helena

St. Helena, located in the South Atlantic more than 2000 km/1200 miles from the nearest major landmass, was as remote a place of exile as could be found for Napoleon, especially in the days of sail. Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are members of the same island group, still a British Overseas Territory (the new word for colony).

St. Helena was certainly a lot more secure than Elba, the island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy where Napoleon served his first period of exile, and from where he escaped to embark on the "Hundred Days" which led ultimately to Waterloo...and to St. Helena.