Hi and hello, dear history buffs! We know how much you love to dig deeper into that (in)glorious past of ours and share your immense knowledge with those around you. You might even have this idea of throwing a little history buffs get-together, with its crown jewel being a history trivia championship! However, we also understand that sometimes it is a bit hard to compartmentalize the information in your brain in the form of actual questions, but worry no more! Here’s our list of the best history trivia questions that would make any soiree the best ever. P.S.: These cool questions might also be helpful if you’re so unlucky as to be preparing to take your SATs anytime soon.
Anyhoo, these interesting history questions aren’t your regular questions - some of them might be a little bit tricky, but the essence of them is the exact knowledge of facts and events. So, better dust off your brain’s library before taking on this quest! Yet, at the same time, these trivia questions shouldn’t be too hard to answer if you haven’t spent your time in history lessons picking your nose or gazing out the window.
So, are you ready to enter the world of cool trivia? We, for one, are just anxious to begin with these babies! So, scroll on down below, check out our awesome history trivia questions and vote for the ones you’d definitely ask your friends.
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How many years did the 100 years war last?
Answer: 116 years.
Who became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize at age 17 in 2014?
Answer: Malala Yousafzai.
How long did it take Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, to orbit Earth?
Answer: 89 minutes.
How old was Queen Elizabeth II when she was crowned the Queen of England?
Answer: 27.
What are the seven wonders of the ancient world?
Answer: The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Good for you Julia, glad you learned every single thing on this list in primary. We're just tryin to have fun here tho...
Which U.S. President was inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln.
Fill in the blank: The 19th Amendment guarantees ____ the right to vote.
Answer: Women.
Give it time... if MAGAts have their way, that will be done away with, unfortunately. And you can downvote this all you want. These people are scary!
Which Greek goddess was the Parthenon dedicated to?
Answer: Athena.
What year did the Internet become available to the public?
Answer: 1993.
What was the name of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant that was the site of a nuclear disaster in April 1986?
Answer: Chernobyl.
The ancient city of Rome was built on how many hills?
Answer: Seven.
Where did Albert Einstein live before moving to the United States?
Answer: Germany.
Who painted the mural of “The Last Supper”?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci.
What do the stripes on the American flag represent?
Answer: The 13 original colonies.
How long did the war between England and Zanzibar last?
Answer: Between 38 & 45 minutes.
Along with Hiroshima, Japan, which Japanese city was hit by an atomic bomb in 1945?
Answer: Nagasaki.
When did the construction of the Great Wall of China begin?
Answer: 221 B.C.
In 1996, a sheep became the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. What was the name of that sheep?
Answer: Dolly.
But WHY was she called Dolly? Because she was cloned from a mammary cell and named after Dolly Parton.
How many days in a week were there in ancient Roman times?
Answer: 8.
How did Joan of Arc die?
Answer: She was burned at the stake.
The United States bought Alaska from which country?
Answer: Russia.
Who is the king of the Olympian gods in Greek mythology?
Answer: Zeus.
What is the world’s oldest recorded civilization?
Answer: Sumer.
How did Alexander the Great solve the puzzle of the Gordion knot?
Answer: He cut it with a sword.
How many Celtic languages are still spoken today?
Answer: Six.
Hmm...Welsh, Cornish, Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Breton...what's the sixth? Genuinely curious.
What was the name of the ancient trade route that connected the East with the West?
Answer: The Silk Road.
Amy Tan wrote a great novel about an ill-fated attempt by modern tourists to follow the Silk Road after their guide passed away. It's called Saving Fish from Drowning. Good read!
Which Greek historian is known as the “Father of History”?
Answer: Herodotus.
He was also wrong about many, many things... but let's be honest, that just makes history more interesting.
Which movie star married the Prince of Monaco on April 18th, 1956?
Answer: Grace Kelly.
What was the previous name for New York?
Answer: New Amsterdam.
🎶 Even old New York was once New Amsterdam, Why they changed I can't say it, People just liked it better that way 🎶
Finish the line: President Franklin D. Roosevelt said during his speech addressing the attack on Pearl Harbor: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941…”
Answer: “A date which will live in infamy.”
What is considered the largest empire in history?
Answer: British Empire.
The British empire was bigger, the Mongolian empire was the largest LAND empire
How old was King Tutankhamun when he died?
Answer: 19.
Which infamous prison was stormed on July 14th, 1789?
Answer: The Bastille in Paris.
Which Argentinian became a notable figure in the Cuban Revolution?
Answer: Che Guevara.
What was the name of the landmark Supreme Court case that ruled the racial segregation of schools unconstitutional?
Answer: Brown v. Board of Education.
During which war was a Christmas Truce called?
Answer: World War I.
There is a beautiful song about this called "Christmas In The Trenches" by John McCutcheon based on this event.
Which planet was downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006?
Answer: Pluto.
What year was Nelson Mandela freed from prison?
Answer: 1990.
What was the name of the research ship Charles Darwin traveled with?
Answer: The Beagle.
Who was the first woman to make a million dollars in the United States?
Answer: Madam C.J. Walker.
Who was the first American to win a Noble Peace Prize?
Answer: Theodore Roosevelt.
Who was the first person in the world to land on the moon?
Answer: Neil Armstrong.
I mean technically, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon at the same time, but Armstrong was the first one to get out and walk around.
Which four presidents are on Mount Rushmore?
Answer: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt.
None. They’re all dead. (Good dad pun.) Their likenesses are depicted there.
The Byzantine Empire was a continuation of which powerful ancient empire?
Answer: The Roman Empire.
Which two royal family members were divorced in 1996?
Answer: Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
In which year was John F. Kennedy assassinated?
Answer: 1963.
Which African nation successfully resisted colonialism in the late 19th century?
Answer: Ethiopia.
Which two Native American leaders led Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors in the fight against Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s troops in the Battle of Little Bighorn?
Answer: Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
What was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage?
Answer: Massachusetts.
Who was the first Black Supreme Court justice in the United States?
Answer: Thurgood Marshall.
Which organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917?
Answer: The Red Cross.
How many days was William Harrison President of the United States?
Answer: 32.
Going out in the rain with or without clothing does not cause pneumonia. Pneumonia is caused by a virus or bacterium, neither of which is weather related,.
In 1927, who became the first man to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic?
Answer: Charles Lindbergh.
In which country did the Easter Rising take place in 1916?
Answer: Ireland.
What was the name of the first Space Shuttle to go into space?
Answer: Space Shuttle Columbia.
Who was shot outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington on March 30th, 1981?
Answer: President Ronald Reagan.
Who was the first woman in space?
Answer: Valentina Tereshkova.
I don't know much about her at all. I don't think we did learn this in school come to think of it. But she should have been in the curriculum just like Niel Armstrong
Who is known for running through the streets crying Eureka?
Answer: Archimedes.
In 1939, the UK declared war on Germany after what event?
Answer: Poland was invaded.
Who was the first Western explorer to reach China?
Answer: Marco Polo.
Who was the first female prime minister of Britain?
Answer: Margaret Thatcher.
Which era marked a switch from agricultural practices to industrial practices?
Answer: The Industrial Revolution.
In what year did child labor laws start in the United States?
Answer: 1938.
Exceptions were made for child actors. It was called the Shirley Temple bill.
What was the capital city of the Inca Empire?
Answer: Cusco.
And now I've got the Emperor's New Groove stuck in my head 😂 🎵 Kuzco! 🎶
What was the name of the international group formed to maintain world peace after World War I?
Answer: The League of Nations.
Which two city-states fought in the Peloponnesian War?
Answer: Athens and Sparta.
THIS IS SPARTA!.. Sorry had to, also scared the s**t out of my dog..
Which ancient figure is often considered the founder of Western philosophy?
Answer: Socrates.
Queen Nefertiti ruled alongside which pharaoh?
Answer: Pharaoh Akhenaten.
They do believe they found her , the announcement was made yesterday that Dr. Hawass is giving a press conference on it at the end of the month I believe, I will find the article and post a link if i can
Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced the concept of demokratia in 507 BC. What does demokratia translate to?
Answer: Democracy.
What year was the first iPhone released?
Answer: 2007.
What was the name of the Category 5 hurricane that hit New Orleans and its surrounding areas in 2005?
Answer: Hurricane Katrina.
Which King of England was executed in 1649 during the English Civil War?
Answer: Charles I.
And he wore an extra shirt so that people wouldn't see him shivering and think he was afraid. Someone said, Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it.
Where were the first modern Olympics held?
Answer: Athens, Greece 1896.
The “Whitechapel Murderer” is the nickname given to which serial killer?
Answer: Jack the Ripper.
When I visited my sister and her husband, I got the opportunity to take the Whitechapel tour, which was very informative and educational, though there is still today debates on who Jack the Ripper was.
In the 5,000 years of human history, what is the one disease that has been completely eradicated?
Answer: Small Pox.
What famous 5th century A.D. conqueror was known as “The Scourge of God”?
Answer: Attila the Hun.
In what year did humans put the first satellite into orbit?
Answer: 1957.
What scandal forced U.S. President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974?
Answer: Watergate.
What was the name of the series of programs and projects President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted during The Great Depression?
Answer: The New Deal.
Thai rings a bell, I remember learning this but I don't actually remember anything the teacher said 🤦🏼♀️
Who is commonly referred to as the person who created the first printing press?
Answer: Johannes Gutenberg.
During World War II, Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy. Which country is Normandy in?
Answer: France.
Who fought in the Hundred Years’ War?
Answer: Britain and France.
Who was the first Emperor of Rome?
Answer: Augustus.
That would be Augustus Caesar. He renamed Sextillia to August after himself and adjusted the month to 31 days like July which was named after is great uncle and adoptive father Julius Caesar because Augusts refused to allowing anything be seen about himself as less than equal to Julius.
Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and devastated which two Roman cities?
Answer: Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The Great Pyramid was built as a tomb for which pharaoh?
Answer: Khufu.
Debatable, considering that the archeologist that discovered it most likely wrote Khufu's name on the wall himself.
When was Julius Caesar assassinated?
Answer: Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC).
I always wondered why we don't say "taxes are due on the ides of April."
What year did the Berlin Wall fall?
Answer: 1989.
David Hasselhoff still feels he didn't get the credit he deserved for this one.
The U.S. hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994. Which country won the championship?
Answer: Brazil.
Which U.S. city hosted the Summer Olympics in 1996?
Answer: Atlanta.
Still remember the name Richard Jewel even though he had nothing to do with the bombing.
What is the name of the whistleblower who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013?
Answer: Edward Snowden.
One of the ancient world wonders, the “Hanging Gardens,” was found in which city?
Answer: Babylon.
Which bridge was the first to be built across the River Thames in London?
Answer: London Bridge.
Which world leader is famous for his “Little Red Book”?
Answer: Mao Zedong, or Mao Tse-tung.
The ancient Egyptians worshiped dung beetle?
Answer: The scarab.
