Questionable Motives Trivia Quiz

Answer: Omar al-Bashir

Omar al-Bashir of Sudan became the first sitting President of any country to have charges filed against him, based on his actions during the war in Darfur, a region in western Sudan. In July 2008, he was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with ten counts of war crimes, including three counts of genocide and five counts of crimes against humanity.

However, Sudan refused to comply with the ICC's request to hand over its President, and he continued to serve. It is believed that roughly 3 million persons were displaced during the war in Darfur and at least 300,000 were killed.

Many others suffered and died though lack of food, nutrition, and disease.

Answer: Idi Amin

Between 1971 and 1979, Idi Amin served as President of Uganda. During his reign, it is believed that anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed. In particular, various ethnic and political groups were persecuted. In July 1972, Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred and it is believed that over 5000 of them were either missing or killed.

By 1979, Amin's followers continued to massacre religious leaders, other politicians, lawyers, judges, women, and children based on ethnic, financial, and political factors. During his reign, Amin survived eight coups against him due to political unrest and corruption. In January 1979, troops loyal to the vice president Mustafa Adrisi mutinied against him for what they believed was a suspicious car accident to kill the vice president. Amin was exiled to Saudi Arabia where he remained until his death in 2003.

Answer: Than Shwe

During his time in office from 1992 to 2011, Burmese leader Than Shwe kept a very low profile and at one point even fired various cabinet ministers in his government for corruption. Unfortunately, much of his reign was surrounded by a cloud of corruption of his own.

While in office, he suppressed the free press in Burma. In a country with a high poverty rate he provided his daughter with an expensive wedding that included diamonds and expensive champagne. Amnesty International has estimated that over a million Burmese persons had disappeared to slave or work camps and free speech was non-existent while he was in office. Buddhist monks that chose to protest were often beaten, killed, and dumped into the jungles of Burma by security forces.

In 1998, Shwe ordered the execution of 59 civilians living on Christie Island and within a few weeks another 22 fisherman in the region were also shot and killed.

Answer: Pol Pot

Pol Pot was president of Cambodia between 1976 and 1979, during which time he instilled large amounts of fear and political unrest in the nation. Prior to his role as president, he was a well known developer of the communist system in Cambodia and participated in plotting rebellion.

He helped organize the Khmer Rouge a far-left political group and army. Pot used the Khmer Rouge army to invade the Cambodian countryside and arrest and execute anyone that were supposed "enemies" of the group. These people included opposition politicians, educated persons such as artists, musicians, and filmmakers, ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, or Thai persons, and persons he deemed to be "economic saboteurs".

These people were then disposed of in what have been called the "Khmer Rouge Killing Fields" in an event that is now known as the "Cambodian Genocide".

These fields were "mass graves" and it is estimated that up to 3 million Cambodians were executed or killed while another 2.5 million were starved to death.

Answer: Nero

It is believed that during Nero's reign as the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he brought Italy into in severe debt and many of the provinces in ruins. In 59 A.D. Nero had is mother Agrippina the Younger executed for reasons that remain unknown today. Most historians believe that there was a rift between Nero and his mother due to an affair that Nero had with Poppaea Sabina (a Roman Empress who became his second wife).

After the death of his mother his reign had gone into decline. The later years of his reign include the "Great Fire of Rome" which many consider to have been a plot to redeem himself as he organized a relief effort and even allowed citizens into the palaces to provide shelter.

Others believe it was just an accidental fire.

In the end, Nero was declared a public enemy of the state and was to commit suicide but instead refused to do so. He had his private secretary Epaphroditos complete the task for him.

Answer: Cleisthenes of Sicyon

Between 600 and 560 BCE, Cleisthenes was the tyrant of Sicyon and is believed to have waged two wars. One of these wars was against the city of Kirrha while the other was against the Dorian ethnic group which he had anti-sentiment for. The war against Kirrha or "First Sacred War" destroyed much of the city and much of its citizens were forced to flee due to being poisoned (by use of poison through a discovered water pipe). For his efforts, Cleisthenes was given a generous reward and even organized the first Pythian Games to celebrate the end of the fighting. He often emphasized the destruction of Dorian culture through various epithets which described them in a negative way including "swine-men" and "pig-men".

He was known to have attacked Dorian Argos and even suppressed Homer's rhapsodists.

In one final act that described his overall personality, Cleisthenes of Sicyon once offered his daughter Agariste as a prize. Ultimately, Alcmaeonid Megacles was chosen to marry his daughter.

Answer: Vladimir Lenin

During his reign, the Soviet Union became a one-party communist state. During his time in office, Lenin initiated various social, legal, and economic reforms of which many were positive such as education and literacy reforms, equality of the sexes, and removal of restrictions regarding marriage and divorce.

Unfortunately, while many of his ideals may have been positive, there was an underlying darkside to Lenin's regime. Following the First World War, many parts of Russia were facing a severe famine. Lenin blamed this on wealthier peasants that were known as "kulaks". As a result, he initiated violent campaigns against the kulaks that included many public hangings.

During these years, a system of repression known as "Red Terror" was organized to eliminate the bourgeoisie in Russia. It has been estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 were killed during this campaign.
In 1919, Lenin created an administrative group known as the "Gulag". This group were in charge of various concentration or "forced labor" camps throughout Soviet Russia. By 1920, it has been estimated that there were over 80 labor camps across the nation. A staunch atheist, Lenin established many of these camps to eliminate many priests that opposed the Bolshevik government. It is estimated that between 15,000 to 20,000 deaths were a direct result of the camps and severely affected various religious groups across Russia including the Russian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Jewish synagogues, and Islamic mosques.

Answer: Benito Mussolini

Although his involvement with Adolf Hitler was strong during the Second World War, Benito Mussolini initially rejected ideals of antisemitism and biological racism. Following the assassination of Engelbert Dollfuss, the fascist dictator of Austria (and personal friend of Mussolini) in 1934, Mussolini held little regard for Hitler and the Nazis. By 1938, however, Hitler had an immense influence on Mussolini and so began a major downward spiral.
In January 1939 following a meeting with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Mussolini grew quite interested in an alliance with Germany once he realized that Britain would not sever their ties with France. Just prior to the start of the Second World War, Mussolini order the invasion of Albania on April 7, 1939. The battle lasted five days in which over 400 Italian soldiers were killed an estimated 200 Albanians. The results however, proved to be devastating for Albania. They were forced to follow Italy into the Second World War, Albania officially was declared part of the Italian Empire, and wealth from Albanian resources went directly into Italian hands.
His support for Hitler and the Nazi regime did not go unnoticed during the war and Italy found itself at war with the United States, France, Britain, and Canada directly related to other Italian invasions during the war including Greece and Yugoslavia as well as various North African nations including Ethiopia, Egypt, and Tunisia. During the Italian Campaign set forth to stop Mussolini and the Italian military from continuing their terror, it is believed that over 200 000 casualties resulted from the battles.
The disdain for Mussolini by the Italian population became evident following his capture and execution in 1945. Mussolini, along with his mistress Clara Petacci and other members of the Italian Social Republic were shot in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra following their capture after attempting to escape to Spain. Following the execution, the bodies were moved to Milan and dumped onto the ground. Italians kicked and spat on the bodies demonstrating their hatred for their former leaders. The bodies were then hung upside down at a service station for public display where civilians continued to thrown stones at the bodies.

Answer: Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe served as the Prime Minister and President of Zimbabwe from 1980-2017. Many historians and political scientists have noted that he arose to power through his use of fear tactics and deception. During his reign he was responsible for the invasions, beatings, rape, and killings of thousands of white-owned farms and their farmers around the country. The objective was to allow black families to resettle on these farms. As a result of these farming invasions, the country's economy declined severely. In many parts of the country people were starving due to lack of food production.

By the mid-1990s, life expectancy in Zimbabwe had reduced, unemployment had risen to nearly 50%, and average wages around the nation had been reduced. Mugabe blamed the Western world for the decline citing that "white control" of agriculture, mining, and manufacturing was the real issue.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, Mugabe suppressed any government opposition and began using hateful rhetoric towards groups that he believed were "un-African" such as homosexuals. By the late 1990s, coup plots were attempted but to no avail. Journalists were often arrested and tortured. By 2008, Zimbabwe had been subject to a cholera outbreak due to poor sewage, poaching of endangered species grew rampant, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled throughout the nation.

In November 2017, a coup d'etat was brought forth by the Zimbabwe National Army following Mugabe's firing of the vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa. Following his arrest, he officially resigned as the President of Zimbabwe. It is believed that he was both directly and indirectly responsible for over 3 million casualties during his time in office.

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime are believed to have been responsible for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews and other victims that were deemed to be sub-human. "Kristallnacht" or the "Night of Broken Glass" was an event that took place in November 1938 a year prior to the start of the Second World War. Over 90 Jewish people were murdered and various buildings, synagogues, schools, hospitals, and home were destroyed and ransacked throughout Nazi Germany.

The name Kristallnacht derives from the fact that broken glass littered the streets in the aftermath. Over 30,000 Jews were also arrested and detained at concentration camps as a result of this event.