Consider yourself a bit of a history buff or want to test your knowledge and see how much you really know about the past. Then you’ve come to the right place as we have gathered a wide range of history trivia questions that are sure to give your brain a good workout.
History trivia questions offer a captivating and engaging way to explore the fascinating narratives of the past. These thought-provoking queries allow us to test our knowledge and uncover lesser-known facts about significant events, influential figures, and cultural phenomena that have shaped our world.
From ancient civilizations to modern revolutions, historical trivia questions challenge us to delve into the depths of human history, encouraging us to learn, discover, and appreciate the rich tapestry of our collective heritage. With each question, we embark on a journey through time, unraveling the complexities and surprises that lie within the annals of the past.
To help make things a little easier, we’ve split the questions into different sections, dealing with American history, European history, world history, ancient history, and modern history.
So, let’s embark on this intellectual adventure and uncover the secrets of history through the lens of trivia.
143 History Trivia Questions To Test Your Knowledge
American History Trivia Questions
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1. When was the Declaration of Independence signed?
August 2, 1776.
2. What was the bloodiest single-day battle during the American Civil War?
The Battle of Antietam.
3. In what year did the North American Video Game Crash occur?
1983.
4. Who was the first President of the United States of America?
George Washington.
5. The United States bought Alaska from which country?
Russia.
6. When and where was John F Kennedy assassinated?
Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963.
7. In what year did New Mexico become a state?
1912.
8. Which era marked a switch from agricultural practices to industrial practices?
The Industrial Revolution.
9. The Fallingwater House, located in Pennsylvania, was designed by which architect?
10. Which US president had a home called the Hermitage?
Andrew Jackson.
11. How long did the Empire State Building in New York City take to build?
One year and 45 days.
12. What was the original name of New York City?
New Amsterdam.
13. In 1961, an American B-52 aircraft crashed and nearly detonated two 4mt nuclear bombs over which US city?
Goldsboro, North Carolina.
14. What do the stripes on the American flag represent?
The 13 original colonies.
15. In 1927, who became the first man to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic?
Charles Lindbergh.
16. What were the names of the two Native American leaders who led Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors in the fight against Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s troops in the Battle of Little Bighorn?
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
17. What date was America founded?
July 4, 1776.
18. Where was civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. born?
Atlanta, Georgia.
19. In what year did Texas secede from Mexico?
1836.
20. Which four presidents are on Mount Rushmore?
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt.
21. Finish the line President Franklin D. Roosevelt said during his speech addressing the attack on Pearl Harbor: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941…”
“A date which will live in infamy.”
22. Which was the first state to secede from the Union?
South Carolina.
23. Who are the earliest ancestors of Native Americans?
Paleo- Indians.
24. When did the American Revolution take place?
1775-1783.
25. What group of immigrants from England settled in the United States following their decision to break away from the Church of England?
Puritans.
26. Who was the first man to walk on the moon?
Neil Armstrong.
27. What was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage?
Massachusetts.
28. Which state is the Liberty Bell located in?
Pennsylvania.
29. Who was the first American to win a Nobel Peace Prize?
Theodore D Roosevelt.
30. What was the route across the US continent that many Americans used to travel to the West Coast during the 19th century?
The Oregon Trail.
31. Who served as president of the Confederacy?
Jefferson Davids.
32. In what year did child labor laws start in the United States?
1938.
33. What famous music festival took place in New York from August 15-18, 1969?
34. How many American Presidents have been assassinated and what are their names?
Four: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy.
35. When did Christopher Columbus discover America?
October 12, 1492.
36. What was the name of the battle in the Pacific fought between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy in June 1942?
Battle of Midway.
37. When was the first Super Bowl played?
January 15, 1967.
38. What year did the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) go into effect?
1994.
39. Who designed and built the White House?
James Hoban.
40. What name was Bill Clinton born with?
William Jefferson Blythe IV.
41. How many people were killed in the Boston Massacre?
Five.
42. What is the name of Barrack Obama’s Vice President who went on to become President of the United States?
Joe Biden.
43. How many original British colonies existed in America?
13.
44. What tribe was Pocahontas from?
The Powhatan tribal nation.
45. Who was the first president to declare war?
James Madison who declared war against the British in 1812.
46. When was the first US dollar printed?
1862.
47. Who was the first president to be impeached?
President Andrew Johnson in 1868.
48. What was gangster Al Capone sentenced for?
Tax evasion.
49. When did Henry Ford’s Model T hit the market?
1908.
50. What was the date of the Black Tuesday stock market crash?
October 24, 1929.
European History Trivia Questions
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51. What year did World War I start?
1910.
52. How many years did the 100 years war last?
116 years.
53. What is considered the largest empire in history?
The Mongol Empire.
54. In which year did Hitler commit suicide?
1945.
55. What is the birthplace of Napoleon?
Corsica.
56. Who developed the idea of the communist party in Imperial Russia?
Vladimir Lenin.
57. What is the name of the first bridge to be built across the River Thames in London?
London Bridge.
58. Algeria gained its independence from what country in 1962?
France.
59. Who was the first Chancellor of a united Germany in 1871?
Otto Von Bismark.
60. What prison did revolutionaries taking part in the French Revolution storm in 1789?
The Bastille.
61. How long did the Siege of Leningrad last until being broken in 1944?
872 days.
62. Which European city was Julias Ceaser born in?
Rome.
63. What was the family name of the Russian rulers from the 17th century until the 1917 revolution?
Romanov.
64. Which famous battle took place on Sunday, June 18th, 1815?
The Battle of Waterloo.
65. What year did the French Revolution start?
1789.
66. How many wives did Henry VIII have?
Six.
67. What did the abbreviation RMS stand for in the RMS Titanic in 1912?
Royal Mail Ship.
68. In which country did the Easter Rising take place in 1916?
Ireland.
69. What is the date the European Union was founded?
November 1, 1993.
70. Who was the last Tsar of Russia?
Nicholas II.
71. What year did the Berlin Wall fall?
1989.
72. Which country was Josef Stalin born in?
Georgia.
73. What was the deadly virus known as Yersinia Pestis most commonly called?
The Black Death (the Plague).
74. How old was Queen Elizabeth II when she was crowned the Queen of England?
27.
75. What was the name of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant that was the site of a nuclear disaster in April 1986?
76. How many Celtic languages are still spoken today?
Six.
World History Trivia Questions
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77. What was the shortest war in human history?
The war between England and Zanzibar.
78. Which is the last dynasty in China?
Qing dynasty.
79. What was the name of the first Space Shuttle to go into space?
Space Shuttle Columbia
80. Who is called Napoleon of Iran?
Nader Shah.
81. What was the name of the research ship Charles Darwin traveled with?
The Beagle.
82. Which country has the oldest dynasty that is still ruling?
Japan.
83. What was the name of the international group formed to maintain world peace after World War I?
The League of Nations.
84. When did the RMS Titanic sink?
April 14, 1912.
85. Who invented the light bulb?
Thomas Edison.
86. During which war did Korea get split into two different countries?
World War II.
87. When did the Mexican Revolution start?
November 20, 1910.
88. Cuzco, Machu Pichu is a famous place located in which country?
Peru.
89. Which world leader is famous for his “Little Red Book”?
Mao Zedong, or Mao Tse-tung.
90. In what year did Libya gain independence from Italy?
1951.
91. Where was the first newspaper created?
Germany.
92. Which mountaineer and his Sherpa became the first men to conquer Mount Everest?
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
93. What year did the Vietnam War end?
1975.
94. Who are the Indigenous People of Aotearoa (New Zealand)?
The Māori.
95. When was the People’s Republic of China founded?
1872.
96. Who was the Korean War fought between?
North Korea and South Korea.
97. Which country did Albert Einstein live in before moving to the United States?
Germany.
98. When did Canada leave the confederation to become its own nation?
July 1st, 1867.
99. Which country was the first to give women the right to vote, in 1893?
New Zealand.
100. What was the name of the military government that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868?
Tokugawa period, also known as the Edo period.
101. When did Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro land in Peru?
1532.
102. What is the only country that wasn’t colonized by Europeans in Southeast Asia?
Thailand.
103. Which Russian astronaut was the first man to conduct a spacewalk?
Alexey Leonov.
104. What is the modern name for Van Diemen’s Land?
Tasmania.
Ancient History Questions
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105. Which is the oldest civilization in the world?
Mesopotamia.
106. The Aztec civilization originated from which country?
Mexico.
107. Who was the first ruler of the Mongol Empire?
Genghis Khan.
108. When did Alexander the Great conquer Egypt?
332 BC.
109. What was the name commonly given to the ancient trade routes that connected the East and West of Eurasia?
110. Which dynasty was considered The Golden Age in Chinese history?
The Tang dynasty.
111. When did the construction of the Great Wall of China begin?
7th century BC.
112. What Italian city was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius?
113. Who ruled during the period known as the Golden Age of Rome?
Augustus Caesar.
114. One of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient Worlds, the “Hanging Gardens,” was found in which city?
Babylon.
115. Which ancient figure is often considered the founder of Western philosophy?
Socrates.
116. Modern-day Istanbul, Turkey, used to be called what when it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire?
Constantinople.
117. Where was the first Summer Olympics held?
Athens, Greece 1896.
118. What is another name for the Great Pyramid in Egypt?
Giza, Khufu.
119. When Christopher Columbus sailed to America, what was the first region he arrived in?
The Bahamas Archipelago.
120. Which Athenian leader introduced the concept of democracy?
Cleisthenes.
121. Who is known as “the Father of History?”
Herodotus.
122. Which Greek goddess was the Parthenon dedicated to?
Athena.
123. How old was King Tutankhamun when he died?
19.
124. Which fabric was invented in Ancient China?
Silk.
125. What are the seven wonders of the ancient world?
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.
Modern History Trivia Questions
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126. In which year did the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack occur?
1995.
127. What was the first sport to be played on the moon?
Golf.
128. Between what years did Australia’s “Stolen Generations” occur?
1905-1970.
129. What year did the Cuban Missile Crisis occur?
1962.
130. Who is the first woman to go to space?
Valentina Tereshkova.
131. What year was the Euro currency adopted by the European Union?
2002.
132. When was the supersonic jet Concorde retired from all commercial flights?
October 24, 2003.
133. What year did scientists complete a map of the human genome?
2000.
134. Who won the 2022 FIFA World Cup on penalties?
Argentina.
135. What incident in 1962 nearly led to a nuclear confrontation between the US and Russia?
The Cuban Missle Crisis.
136. Which city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics?
Beijing.
137. What body of water was contaminated when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010?
The Gulf of Mexico.
138. In 2013, two bombs exploded near the finish line of what famous race?
The Boston Marathon.
139. What pseudonym was given to the secret informant who provided key details about US President Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal?
Deep Throat.
140. Who was arrested in 2008 for the greatest-ever Ponzi Scheme fraud?
Bernard Madoff.
141. What famous painting was stolen from a Norwegian museum in 2004?
The Scream by Edvard Munch.
142. What was the name of the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Isola de Giglio, Italy in 2012?
Costa Concordia.
143. In which country did Nelson Mandela become President in the 1990s?
South Africa.
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