History50 randomly selected History questions for quizmasters. New random selection made weekly. Next update: Monday 5th October 2026 (Please note: Questions are taken from our database of previous quizzes. Some questions and answers may be outdated.) |
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| 1. | In what country were outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid killed in 1908 after a gunfight with local soldiers? |
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Bolivia | |
| 2. | What was the name of the research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons? |
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Manhattan Project | |
| 3. | What pioneering cosmetician completed development of his "Color Harmony" range of face powder in 1918? |
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Max Factor | |
| 4. | In what battle was Pickett's Charge? |
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Battle of Gettysburg (1863) | |
| 5. | What French President founded the Fifth Republic in 1958? |
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Charles de Gaulle | |
| 6. | Nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", which World War II de Havilland aircraft had a frame of wood, a skin of plywood, and was glued and screwed together in Britain, Australia and Canada? |
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Mosquito (DH.98 Mosquito) | |
| 7. | On 24th April 1967, Vladimir Komarov became the first human to do what on a space mission? |
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Die | |
| 8. | General Jaruzelski declared martial law in which country in 1981? |
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Poland | |
| 9. | What is the name of the treaty first signed on 6th February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand? |
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Treaty of Waitangi | |
| 10. | What started to go up on 13th August 1961 and started to come down on 9th November 1989? |
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The Berlin Wall | |
| 11. | In what century did the Hundred Years' War between England and France begin? |
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14th (1337 to 1453 - 116 years) | |
| 12. | What international organisation was founded in London by Catherine and William Booth in 1865? |
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The Salvation Army | |
| 13. | Between 1808 and 1867, what Alaskan city served as the capital of Russian America? |
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Sitka | |
| 14. | In what year was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated? |
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1968 (April 4th) | |
| 15. | On 12th June 1979, what did the Gossamer Albatross successfully cross to win a Kremer prize for human-powered flight? |
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English Channel | |
| 16. | The purge in summer 1934 in which Hitler had members of his own party murdered by the SS was called "The Night of the ..." what? |
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Long Knives (Operation Hummingbird / Nacht der langen Messer) | |
| 17. | What was the name of the Nazi war criminal nicknamed "The Butcher of Lyon"? |
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Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie | |
| 18. | In which decade did Colonel Harland Sanders begin selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky? |
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The 1930s (1930. The first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Utah in 1952.) | |
| 19. | What King of England signed the Magna Carta on 15th June 1215? |
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King John | |
| 20. | Who was President of the United States when Donald Trump was born? |
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Harry S. Truman (14th June 1946) | |
| 21. | Who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD? |
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Charlemagne (Charles I, the Great) | |
| 22. | Who led the first expedition to traverse the Northwest Passage by sea, from 1903 to 1906, and the first expedition to the South Pole in 1911? |
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Roald Amundsen | |
| 23. | Who was dictator of Spain between 1936 and 1975? |
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General Franco (Generalísimo Francisco Franco) | |
| 24. | What was the name of the unsuccessful British spacecraft which crashed on Mars in 2003? |
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Beagle 2 | |
| 25. | What island was collectively awarded the George Cross for gallantry during World War II? |
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Malta | |
| 26. | How did the dog Laika become famous in 1957? |
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The first animal to orbit the Earth | |
| 27. | What first did Russian Valentina Tereshkova achieve on 16th June 1963? |
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First woman in space (Vostok 6) | |
| 28. | What former U.S. president died on 26th December 2006? |
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Gerald Ford | |
| 29. | In which sea did the ferry MS Estonia sink in September 1994 with the loss of 852 people? |
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Baltic Sea | |
| 30. | The 1993 Brady Act in the USA imposed some control over what? |
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Gun ownership (The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act) | |
| 31. | Who was Governor of California from 1967 to 1975? |
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Ronald Reagan | |
| 32. | In what country was the world's tallest artificial structure until it collapsed during renovation on 8th August 1991? |
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Poland (Warsaw Radio Mast) | |
| 33. | Who is credited as the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence? |
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Thomas Jefferson | |
| 34. | An expansion of the United States via a $15 million acquisition of land from France, in what year was the Louisiana Purchase established? |
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1803 | |
| 35. | In what century did the Spanish Inquisition begin? |
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15th (1st November 1478) | |
| 36. | Born in 1847, what American inventor started going deaf at the age of 12? |
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Thomas Edison | |
| 37. | On which foot did Neil Armstrong first step on the moon? |
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Left | |
| 38. | What were the surnames of the two body snatchers who killed 16 people in Edinburgh in 1868 and sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures? |
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Burke and Hare | |
| 39. | What 20th century world event was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria? |
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World War I | |
| 40. | Following the execution of Charles I, who declared England a republic in 1649? |
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Oliver Cromwell | |
| 41. | In March 1912, whose last words were, "I am just going outside and may be some time"? |
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Captain Lawrence Oates (Captain Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates) | |
| 42. | Henri Désiré Landru killed 11 women in France in the early 20th century. What was his nickname? |
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Bluebeard | |
| 43. | Following mission commander Neil Armstrong, who was the second man to walk on the moon? |
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Buzz Aldrin (Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.) | |
| 44. | Who was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, best known for being the official who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus? |
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Pontius Pilate | |
| 45. | How was the Volstead Act of 1919 better known in the United States? |
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Prohibition | |
| 46. | Ernest Shackleton's ship was crushed by pack ice and sank off Antarctica in 1915. What was its name? |
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Endurance | |
| 47. | What Venetian navigator and explorer made a British claim to land in Canada, mistaking it for Asia, during his 1497 voyage on the ship Matthew? |
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John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) | |
| 48. | Why did Louis Washkansky make headlines around the world after 3rd December 1967? |
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World's first human heart transplant patient (Cape Town, South Africa - survived 18 days) | |
| 49. | Who succeeded the throne of the United Kingdom upon the death of King William IV? |
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Queen Victoria | |
| 50. | What country became the first in the world to institute a nationwide comprehensive smoke-free workplaces law on 29th March 2004? |
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Ireland | |
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