World Military History

Question 1

1812, Russia
Napoleon’s pyrrhic victory at this village led to his taking of (abandoned) Moscow; with no supplies, his army had to retreat
Referenced in “1812 Overture” (Tchaikovsky, 1880)

Answer 1

BATTLE OF BORODINO

Question 2

1314, Scotland
1st War of Scottish Independence
ROBERT THE BRUCE defeats Edward II’s army

Answer 2

BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN

Question 3

1297, Scotland
1st War of Scottish Independence
WILLIAM WALLACE defeats English
Portrayed in “Braveheart” (1995)

Answer 3

BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE

Question 4

1415, France
Battle that ended the Hundred Years’ War
England’s HENRY V defeats France’s CHARLES VI despite superior French forces, in part due to English longbows
Occurred on St. Crispin’s Day (Oct. 25)
Site of Shakespeare’s “Band of brothers” speech

Answer 4

BATTLE OF AGINCOURT

Question 5

1485, England near Leicester
Ended the Wars of the Roses
Richard III, the last York king, is unhorsed (“My kingdom for a horse…”) & dies in a bog
Henry VII Tudor, victorious, takes the throne

Answer 5

BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD

Question 6

1862, Tennessee
Named for a church
Also called Battle of Pittsburgh Landing (for the nearby river)
Grant is taken by surprise, sustains heavy losses, but ultimately a Confedereate retreat/loss

Answer 6

BATTLE OF SHILOH

Question 7

31 B.C.E., near a Greek promontory
Octavian (Augustus) defeats the fleets of (Mark) Antony & Cleopatra
One setting in Shakespeare’s “Antony & Cleopatra”

Answer 7

BATTLE OF ACTIUM

Question 8

1713-15, Netherlands
Ended War of Spanish Succession
Signed by Spain, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Savoy, Dutch Republic
Great Britain gained Gibraltar from Spain, & parts of Canada from France
Named for a Dutch university city

Answer 8

TREATY OF UTRECHT

Question 9

1494 (2 years after Columbus sailed)
Spain & Portugal divide the New World between themselves
Named for Spanish city

Answer 9

TREATY OF TORDESILLAS

Question 10

1918, a town in what is now Belarus
USSR & Germany sign
USSR cedes the 3 Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Ukraine, & Belarus

Answer 10

TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK

Question 11

1973 war
Egypt & Syria attack Israel
Lasts almost 3 weeks

Answer 11

YOM KIPPUR WAR
or
RAMADAN WAR

Question 12

Chicago, 1886
McCormick Reaper workers rally for 8 hour day
Results in a riot between unions & cops
Leads to International Workers’ Day, aka May Day

Answer 12

HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT

Question 13

Since 2016, Myanmar/Burma’s military has been committing genocide against and displicing this muslim population

Answer 13

ROHINGYA

Question 14

1746 battle in Scotland
Loss for Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobites

Answer 14

BATTLE OF CULLODEN MOOR

Question 15

May 5, 1862 battle
Mexico defeats France
Celebrated on Cinco de Mayo

Answer 15

BATLE OF PUEBLA

Question 16

1800 battle in Piedmont, Italy
Napoleon defeats Habsburg Austria
Napoleon later named a horse for it

Answer 16

BATTLE OF MARENGO

Question 17

1389 battle
Ottomans defeat Serbs

Answer 17

BATTLE OF KOSOVO

Question 18

1598 edict by Henry IV of France
Gave Huguenots (French protestants) freedoms
Named for a city on the Loire

Answer 18

EDICT OF NANTES

Question 19

1572 massacre
Thousands of Huguenots (French protestants) killed by Catholics
Named for a religious observance

Answer 19

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S DAY MASSACRE

Question 20

French military award given since 1915
Primarily given for serving in WWI & WWII

Answer 20

CROIX DE GUERRE

Question 21

Series of wars between Rome & Carthage
~250-150 BCE
1st - Rome captures Sicily
2nd - Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama
3rd - Rome sacks Carthage
Name refers to the Phoenicians, who settled Carthage

Answer 21

PUNIC WARS

Question 22

General in the 1st Punic War
Supposedly founded Barcelona
Father of Hannibal

Answer 22

HAMILCAR BARCA

Question 23

Carthaginian general (247-183 BCE)
Fought 2nd Punic War
Brought 37 elephants over the Alps to attack Rome
Victories at Trebia & Trasimene
Ultimately lost to Scipio at Zama & was later exiled

Answer 23

HANNIBAL

Question 24

General of Alexander the Great, 3rd century BCE
After Alexander’s death, founded a dynasty in Egypt that built the library at Alexandria & lighthouse

Answer 24

PTOLEMY I

Question 25

Gained his epithet for defeating Hannibal at Zama to end the 2nd Punic War
Subject of a Petrarch poem
Helmet mentioned in Italy’s anthem

Answer 25

SCIPIO “AFRICANUS”

Question 26

Led Octavian’s fleet to victory at Actium
Honoured with a pedestal on the Acropolis

Answer 26

MARCUS AGRIPPA

Question 27

2nd of the French & Indian Wars
Fought 1702-1713 in North America
Named for a monarch

Answer 27

QUEEN ANNE’S WAR

Question 28

Signed at Panmunjom in 1953 in what is now DMZ

Answer 28

KOREAN ARMISTICE

Question 29

1862 battle where U.S. Grant got his nickname “Unconditional Surrender”
Located on the Cumberland River in Tennessee

Answer 29

FORT DONELSON

Question 30

Day & year of the Armistice of Compiegne
2 days after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated
Known as Armistice Day in the U.S. until 1953, then Veterans Day

Answer 30

1918
NOVEMBER 11

Question 31

Also called an “arbalest”
Fires bolts
Condemned by Lateran Council
Used by the Ancient Mariner to kill albatross
Used by Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead

Answer 31

CROSSBOW

Question 32

“Colourful” term for Nazi “Stormtroopers” (“Sturmabteilung”, S.A.)
Formed 1921 in Munich

Answer 32

BROWNSHIRTS
BRAUNHEMDEN