60 Fun Facts About Hard History

The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas drew its meridian how many leagues west of the Cape Verde islands?

The line was later shifted at Portugal's request, which is one reason Brazil speaks Portuguese while the rest of South America speaks Spanish.

Who was the last reigning Byzantine emperor, killed when Constantinople fell in 1453?

He shared a name with the city's founder, so the empire began and ended with a Constantine.

Which Ethiopian emperor commanded the army that crushed an Italian colonial force at Adwa in 1896?

Much of his army carried modern rifles imported from France and Russia, which is one reason the result shocked Europe.

Mansa Musa's gift-giving on his 1324 pilgrimage reportedly sank gold's value in which city?

Chroniclers also claimed he built a mosque every Friday along the route.

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague helped trigger which war?

It was the third famous defenestration in Prague's history; the first, in 1419, helped start the Hussite Wars.

Which US state was NOT on the list of territory the 1917 Zimmermann Telegram offered Mexico?

British codebreakers intercepted the message and its publication helped push the United States into the First World War.

At the Battle of Talas in 751, a Tang Chinese army was defeated by the army of which Muslim dynasty?

Chinese prisoners taken at Talas are traditionally credited with introducing papermaking to West Asia, though the story is disputed.

The Catholic coalition that defeated the Ottoman fleet at Lepanto in 1571 was known by what name?

Pope Pius V arranged the coalition, and its fleet was led by the navies of Spain and Venice.

Which Austrian statesman chaired the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15?

It was the first time national representatives from across a continent gathered in one city to negotiate treaties together.

The 1648 Peace of Westphalia was signed in two cities: Osnabrück and which other?

The two treaties closed a conflict that killed somewhere between 4.5 and 8 million people.

Which Holy Roman Emperor presided over the 1521 Diet of Worms that condemned Martin Luther?

The resulting Edict of Worms branded Luther a notorious heretic and banned the spread of his ideas across the empire.

After Toussaint Louverture's capture, which lieutenant led Haiti to final victory over France?

Yellow fever did much of the work, ravaging the French army as it tried to hold the colony.

The 'Year Without a Summer' in 1816 is blamed mainly on the eruption of which volcano?

The eruption dropped average global land temperatures by about one degree Celsius, enough to wreck harvests across Europe and North America.

Which pope called the Council of Clermont in 1095, launching the First Crusade?

The council met for eleven days in November in Auvergne, then part of the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Before the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Robert Clive bribed which commander of the Nawab of Bengal's army?

In return he was promised the throne of Bengal, and his inaction on the day decided the battle.

Otto von Bismarck organised the 1884-85 Berlin Conference on Africa at the request of which monarch?

Fourteen countries attended, and not one African state was represented.

Which Roman emperor issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380, making Nicene Christianity the state church?

He had been baptised in Thessalonica after a severe illness shortly before issuing it.

Which Byzantine emperor was captured by the Seljuks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071?

It was the only time a Byzantine emperor became the prisoner of a Muslim commander.

Which Mongol prince led the army that sacked Baghdad in 1258?

He later estimated the death toll at around 200,000, and the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad ended with the city.

Which force halted the Mongol advance into the Middle East at Ain Jalut in 1260?

The general Baibars used a feigned retreat, a Mongol trick, against the Mongols themselves.

The 1555 Peace of Augsburg established 'cuius regio, eius religio'. What does the phrase mean?

Princes could choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for their lands, but Calvinism was not yet an option.

The War of Jenkins' Ear, which began in 1739, was fought between Great Britain and which country?

Captain Robert Jenkins claimed his ear was partly cut off by a coastguard searching his brig for smuggled sugar.

The 'Miracle of the House of Brandenburg' saved Frederick the Great in 1762 when which ruler died?

Her nephew and successor Peter admired Frederick and promptly signed a peace with Prussia.

The Chakri dynasty, founded in 1782 by Rama I, still reigns in which country?

Its founding coincided with the move of the capital to Bangkok.

The decree carved on the Rosetta Stone was issued in 196 BC on behalf of which king?

A French officer found the stone in July 1799 during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt.

In what year did Saladin destroy the Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin?

Jerusalem fell to him within months, triggering the Third Crusade.

Which numbered Crusade ended with the sack of Constantinople in April 1204?

The crusaders never reached the Holy Land; they carved up the Byzantine Empire to settle debts to Venice instead.

Who captained the ship Victoria on the final leg of the first circumnavigation of the Earth?

Of five ships and roughly 240 men that left Spain, one ship and 18 European survivors returned.

Hannibal's victory at Cannae in 216 BC is the classic example of which tactic?

Roughly 86,000 Romans and allies took the field, and most were trapped and slaughtered.

Who commanded the Umayyad army defeated by the Franks at Tours in 732?

In Arabic sources the fight is remembered as the Battle of the Highway of the Martyrs.

Which king commanded the relief army that broke the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683?

The city had been under siege for two months when his forces attacked from the Kahlenberg.

Which Swedish king was decisively defeated by Russia at Poltava in 1709?

The coldest winter in recorded European history, the Great Frost of 1708-09, had already halved his army.

The publication of the Ems Dispatch in July 1870 provoked France into starting which war?

The row began over a Hohenzollern prince's candidacy for the vacant Spanish throne.

The 1917 Balfour Declaration took the form of a letter addressed to whom?

The letter was to be passed on to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

King Afonso I, who built a Catholic church in his realm from 1509, ruled which African realm?

A Portuguese royal chaplain sent to help admitted Afonso knew more of the church's tenets than he did.

Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping Rebellion, proclaimed himself to be what?

He died in 1864 during the siege of his capital, reportedly after eating weeds from the palace grounds.

Which Mauryan emperor fought the Kalinga War, his only major war after taking the throne?

The carnage is traditionally said to have driven his turn towards Buddhism.

In 1857, rumours spread among Indian sepoys that new rifle cartridges were greased with what?

Soldiers tore the cartridges with their teeth, so the grease offended Hindus and Muslims alike.

The 1854 Convention of Kanagawa opened two Japanese ports to American ships: Shimoda and which other?

Perry had arrived at Uraga with four warships the previous July, and the Dutch had warned Japan he was coming.

The stone city of Great Zimbabwe was built by the ancestors of which people?

The name comes from a Shona phrase for large houses of stone.

The Cyrus Cylinder was discovered in 1879 in the ruins of which ancient city?

It was a foundation deposit laid after the Persian conquest of the city in 539 BC.

In what year did the Meiji Restoration return political power to the Japanese emperor?

Emperor Meiji was a teenager, having taken the throne the year before.

What object served as the sole unifying symbol of the Asante kingdom founded by Osei Tutu?

A British demand to sit on it sparked a war in 1900.

Sonni Ali made which city the capital of the Songhai Empire?

A Songhai state had existed around the city since the 11th century, and Mali ruled it for a spell.

Which African kingdom began minting its own coins under King Endybis around AD 270?

Its coins have turned up as far away as Caesarea and southern India.

Which British prime minister repealed the Corn Laws in 1846, splitting his own party?

He carried the vote with Whig support against most of his fellow Conservatives.

Wu Zetian, China's only undisputed female sovereign, proclaimed which dynasty in 690?

She ruled for fifteen years before a coup restored the Tang.

The oldest surviving peace treaty was signed between Egypt and the Hittites after which battle?

It is the only ancient Near Eastern treaty for which both parties' versions survive.

At Isandlwana in January 1879, a British column was overwhelmed by the army of which kingdom?

The attackers used their 'horns and chest of the buffalo' formation to envelop the camp.

The 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki forced China to cede which island to Japan?

Local resistance meant Japan could not actually take over the island until October that year.

The Nika riots of 532, which nearly toppled an emperor, took place in Constantinople against whom?

Rival chariot-racing factions, the Blues and Greens, united under the cry 'Nika', meaning victory.

Which Ming emperor commissioned Zheng He's first treasure voyages in 1405?

Zheng He commanded seven voyages across Asia between 1405 and 1433.

What was the official name of the Marshall Plan enacted in 1948?

American suppliers were paid in dollars credited against each country's programme funds.

Which modern country was NOT part of Gran Colombia when it broke apart?

Panama was part of it too, and stayed with Colombia until 1903.

The Library of Ashurbanipal, with more than 30,000 clay tablets, was found at which ancient capital?

A fire when the palace burned in 612 BC partly baked the tablets, which helped preserve them.

The first recorded plague pandemic, first reported at Pelusium in Egypt, began in which year?

Procopius reported it first, and it lingered in northern Europe and Arabia until 549.

On which feast day was the Battle of Agincourt fought in 1415?

Henry V's outnumbered army won on 25 October 1415, Saint Crispin's Day, with archers making up nearly 80 percent of his force.

Roughly what share of Henry V's army at Agincourt was made up of English and Welsh archers?

The battle is famous for the longbow; Charles VI did not command the French because of his mental illness.

How long did the Boxers besiege Beijing's foreign legations before the Eight-Nation Alliance arrived?

About 20,000 allied troops defeated the Imperial Army at Tianjin and lifted the 55-day siege on 14 August 1900.

Which Roman emperor was killed by Fritigern's Goths at the Battle of Adrianople in 378?

Valens's death and the Gothic victory are often seen as the start of the events leading to the fall of the Western Empire.