100 Fun Facts About Historical Figures

Cleopatra was the last active ruler of which dynasty, founded by a general of Alexander the Great?

Her first language was Greek, and she was the only ruler of her line known to have bothered learning Egyptian.

Which river did Julius Caesar cross with a single legion in January 49 BC, starting a civil war?

He was assassinated five years later on the Ides of March by senators led by Brutus and Cassius.

Which philosopher tutored the young Alexander the Great until he was 16?

Alexander died undefeated in battle at Babylon in 323 BC, the city he intended to make his capital.

What was Genghis Khan's birth name?

His father, a Borjigin chieftain, died when he was eight and the family was abandoned by its tribe.

How old was Joan of Arc when she was burned at the stake in 1431?

She was canonised in 1920, almost five centuries later, and made a patron saint of France in 1922.

Under which Florentine painter and sculptor was Leonardo da Vinci trained?

Leonardo was born out of wedlock to a notary and a lower-class woman in or near the town of Vinci.

On which island was Napoleon Bonaparte born?

He was born to a family of Italian origin and only moved to mainland France in 1779.

How many men did Napoleon take with him when he escaped exile on Elba and marched on Paris?

He had crowned himself Emperor of the French in December 1804 rather than let the Pope do it.

Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840. What was their family relationship?

After Albert died in 1861 she withdrew into mourning for years, though her reign ran to 63 years and 216 days.

In which state was Abraham Lincoln born, in a one-room log cabin?

He was shot at Ford's Theatre five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Gandhi moved to which country in 1893 to represent a merchant in a lawsuit, staying for 21 years?

The honorific 'Mahatma' was first applied to him there in 1914, before he returned to India.

How long was the 1930 Salt March that Gandhi led to the sea at Dandi?

It was a protest against the British salt tax, and became the template for his mass civil disobedience.

Winston Churchill won a Nobel Prize in 1953. In which category?

He also painted seriously, exhibiting in Paris under a pseudonym.

Albert Einstein's 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded chiefly for his work on what?

He had already agreed in his divorce settlement to hand the prize money to his ex-wife Mileva Marić if he ever won.

Marie Curie remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in which two different sciences?

Born in Warsaw, she studied at the clandestine Flying University before Paris, and in 1906 became the first woman professor at the University of Paris.

How many years did Nelson Mandela spend in prison before his release?

His Xhosa forename Rolihlahla colloquially means 'troublemaker'; he later went by his clan name, Madiba.

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, was born a princess in which kingdom?

She was born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst in Stettin, now Szczecin in Poland.

The sayings of Confucius were compiled after his death in which collection?

He was born around 551 BCE in Zou, in what is now Qufu in Shandong province.

Hammurabi, famous for his law code, was king of which city?

He was the sixth Amorite king there and brought almost all of Mesopotamia under its rule.

Which pope crowned Charlemagne emperor in Rome in the year 800?

He was buried in 814 in his capital, Aachen, in the chapel that is now part of its cathedral.

Elizabeth I of England was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and which wife?

Her 44 years on the throne followed the short reigns of her half-siblings and are famous for Shakespeare, Drake and the Armada.

In which year was Newton's Principia first published?

He shares credit for calculus with Leibniz, though he had developed it years earlier.

Galileo was tried by the Inquisition and found 'vehemently suspect of' what?

He was forced to recant, having observed Jupiter's four largest moons and the phases of Venus with his own telescope.

Which navigator brought Magellan's fleet home to Spain in 1522, completing the first circumnavigation?

Magellan himself was killed in battle in the Philippines in 1521, having made the first European crossing of the Pacific.

During which war did Florence Nightingale earn the nickname 'The Lady with the Lamp'?

She organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople and later professionalised nursing as a career for women.

Roughly how many enslaved people did Harriet Tubman personally guide to freedom over about 13 missions?

Separately, her guidance of the Combahee Ferry raid freed more than 700, making her the first woman to lead a US armed operation.

Ada Lovelace, often called the first computer programmer, was the daughter of which poet?

She was the first to see that Babbage's Analytical Engine could do more than crunch numbers.

Nikola Tesla is best known for his contributions to which kind of electricity supply system?

The Serbian-American inventor first got practical experience working for Continental Edison in the early 1880s.

Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific in 1937 trying to be the first woman to do what?

Her navigator Fred Noonan was with her; the leg to tiny Howland Island was always the hardest part of the plan.

Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in 1955 in which city?

She had been secretary of the city's NAACP chapter since 1943, and her arrest sparked the year-long bus boycott.

In which German city was Anne Frank born in 1929?

Her family moved to Amsterdam in 1934, and she kept her diary in the secret annex there from 1942 to 1944.

Simón Bolívar, 'El Libertador', was born in which city?

He led what are now Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela to independence from Spain.

Mansa Musa, often called the richest man in history, ruled which West African empire?

His wealth came from taxing the salt trade and the gold panned in Bambuk and Bure to the south.

Hatshepsut's famous mortuary temple stands at which site on the Nile's west bank?

She was Egypt's second confirmed woman to rule in her own right, after Sobekneferu of the Twelfth Dynasty.

Who led the excavation that discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922?

His patron was Lord Carnarvon, and the tomb held more than 5,000 artefacts for a king who reigned only about nine years.

Marco Polo's travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295 brought him to the court of which ruler?

He learned the trade from his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo, who had already made the journey once.

Roughly how far did Ibn Battuta travel in the 14th century, more than any pre-modern explorer?

That is nearly five times Marco Polo's distance; he dictated the account known as the Rihla near the end of his life.

By what age was Mozart already competent on keyboard and violin and composing?

He was born in Salzburg and trained by his father Leopold, who toured him before Europe's royalty.

Which Beethoven symphony premiered in 1824, by which time he was almost completely deaf?

He was born in Bonn, the grandson of a musician from Mechelen in what is now Belgium.

Vlad the Impaler, the model for Dracula, ruled which principality?

He was voivode three separate times and died in battle in 1476 or 1477 trying to hold the throne.

Rasputin won the Romanovs' trust as a faith healer for the tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from what?

The Siberian peasant was illiterate well into adulthood, like most people from his village of Pokrovskoye.

Which fearsome nickname was given to Attila, ruler of the Huns from 434 to 453?

His empire took in Ostrogoths, Alans and Gepids as well as Huns across Central and Eastern Europe.

Suleiman the Magnificent's advance into Europe was halted by his failed 1529 siege of which city?

In the Ottoman world he was 'the Lawgiver' for his overhaul of the legal system.

Frederick Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 from which state?

His 1845 Narrative became a bestseller, the first of three autobiographies.

Socrates was put on trial in Athens in 399 BC on charges of impiety and what else?

He was sentenced to death and drank hemlock; his student Xenophon's Memorabilia is one long defence of him.

Boudica led her uprising against Rome as queen of which British tribe?

Her forces destroyed Camulodunum, modern Colchester, then a colony for retired Roman soldiers.

At which 1187 battle did Saladin crush the Crusaders, opening the way to Jerusalem?

The Kurdish commander had been sent to Egypt in 1164 with his uncle Shirkuh on the orders of Nur ad-Din.

Louis XIV, who reigned 72 years, styled himself what?

His court at Versailles defined the French Baroque and made him the symbol of European absolutism.

Marie Antoinette was born at the Hofburg palace as the youngest daughter of which empress?

She was the fifteenth child, betrothed to the future Louis XVI in 1769 to shore up the Franco-Austrian alliance.

What did Otto von Bismarck create in the 1880s partly to undermine his socialist opponents?

Sickness, accident and old-age insurance were meant to make ordinary Germans loyal to the throne rather than to the Social Democrats.

The famous painted bust of Queen Nefertiti is displayed in a museum in which city?

She was the great royal wife of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, and the bust is among the most copied works of Egyptian art.

Ashoka the Great, patron of Buddhism, was the third ruler of which Indian dynasty?

His empire stretched from modern Afghanistan to Bangladesh, with its capital at Pataliputra.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the third of Japan's three 'Great Unifiers', after Oda Nobunaga and whom?

Ieyasu founded the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

Shaka, who reorganised the Zulu military into a formidable force, ruled the Zulu Kingdom during which years?

Born around 1787, he was spurned as an illegitimate son of King Senzangakhona.

With which half-brother did Peter the Great reign jointly as Tsar until 1696?

Peter became Russia's first Emperor in 1721 after victory in the Great Northern War.

How many treasure voyages did the Ming admiral Zheng He command between 1405 and 1433?

Born Ma He to a Muslim family, he received the surname Zheng from the Yongle Emperor.

Which regent helped the young Mughal emperor Akbar expand and consolidate his domains?

Akbar, the third Mughal emperor, succeeded his father Humayun and reigned from 1556 to 1605.

Cyrus the Great brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by first defeating which people?

He went on to conquer Lydia and Babylon, and is honoured in Judaism for freeing the Jews.

Which quaestor did Justinian I appoint to oversee the rewriting of Roman law?

The first Codex Justinianeus was issued on 7 April 529; the whole body of work is the Corpus juris civilis.

Charles Darwin neglected his medical studies at which university before moving to Cambridge?

There he helped Robert Edmond Grant investigate marine invertebrates instead.

Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to a church door in which town?

The story comes from his collaborator Philip Melanchthon, who was probably not even there on 31 October 1517.

Christopher Columbus was born in which Italian maritime republic?

He made four transatlantic voyages for the Spanish crown, never for his home city.

Which pope commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

The ceiling took about four years, 1508 to 1512, and both men had hot tempers and argued constantly.

Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum, guarded by the Terracotta Army, lies near which modern city?

The historian Sima Qian wrote that 700,000 men built the tomb, yet never mentioned the clay soldiers.

At which battle in 216 BC did Hannibal inflict a crushing defeat on Rome?

Afterwards the Romans refused pitched battle and wore him down by attrition instead.

Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was born with what name?

He was born on the Palatine Hill in 63 BC and was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius.

Constantine built his new imperial capital on the site of which Greek city?

It was officially renamed New Rome, dedicated on 11 May 330, and stayed the capital for more than a millennium.

In which year did William the Conqueror order the Domesday Book survey?

It listed every landholding in England with its pre-Conquest and current holder, and the king himself was by far the largest landowner.

How old was Mehmed II when he conquered Constantinople in 1453?

The conquest effectively ended the Byzantine Empire and earned him the epithet 'the Conqueror'.

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

She was removed in the Shenlong Coup of 705, which restored the Tang, and died a few months later.

King Sejong, creator of Hangul, was the fourth monarch of which Korean state?

He was born Yi To in 1397 in what is now Seoul, just five years after the state was founded.

In which year was Ivan IV crowned the first Tsar of all Russia?

He was 16, and two weeks later married Anastasia Romanovna, the first Russian tsaritsa.

Which instrument did Frederick the Great play and write more than 100 sonatas for?

His tutor Johann Joachim Quantz joined the court in 1741 as composer and instrument maker.

At which failed 1797 attack did Horatio Nelson lose his right arm?

He had hoped to seize a treasure ship's silver; instead he went home to recuperate and returned to win the Nile a year later.

In July 1793 Robespierre was appointed to which body that came to run the Terror?

A year later he was arrested and, with around 90 others, executed without trial.

Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand landed in 1860 on which island?

His red-shirted volunteers sailed from Quarto in two ships and came ashore at Marsala on 11 May.

Toussaint Louverture rose to lead the revolution in which French colony?

His 1801 constitution named him Governor-General for Life, a direct challenge to Bonaparte; he died in a French mountain fortress in 1803.

Who challenged Alexander Hamilton to the 1804 pistol duel that killed him?

Hamilton had twice torpedoed his rival's ambitions, first for the presidency in 1800 and then for governor of New York.

Teenage Sacagawea helped which expedition explore the Louisiana Territory?

She had been taken captive by Hidatsa raiders at about 12, and travelled with the party carrying her newborn son.

In 1885 Sitting Bull left the reservation to tour with whose Wild West show?

He made a small fortune selling autographs and photographs, then gave much of it away to beggars.

In which year was Susan B. Anthony arrested for voting in Rochester, New York?

Nearly fifty Rochester women had registered to vote that November; a bronze locked ballot box now marks the spot where she cast hers.

Theodore Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for helping end which war?

He was the first non-European to win any Nobel Prize, though he had privately hoped Japan would win.

The surname 'Atatürk', granted by parliament in 1934, is usually translated as what?

Once it was on his ID he appeared simply as Kemal Atatürk, and the given name Mustafa disappeared.

What was Lenin's family surname at birth?

His birthplace, Simbirsk, was renamed Ulyanovsk in his honour and still carries the name today.

Where was Leon Trotsky assassinated in 1940?

He had lodged for two years at Frida Kahlo's Blue House; the killer, Ramón Mercader, used an ice axe.

In which country was Che Guevara born?

A 3.5-metre bronze statue was unveiled in 2008 in Rosario, the city of his birth.

Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in which city, then part of the Ottoman Empire?

Her Kosovar Albanian family stayed there until 1934; the city marked her 2016 canonisation with a week-long celebration.

Haile Selassie's regnal name roughly translates from Ge'ez as what?

He was born Tafari Makonnen and adopted his baptismal name as his legal name after the 1930 coronation.

Golda Meir was born in 1898 in which city of the Russian Empire?

Her family emigrated to the United States in 1906, and she grew up in Milwaukee before moving to Palestine.

In World War II, Alan Turing broke German ciphers at which British codebreaking centre?

He reported there on 4 September 1939, the day after Britain declared war, and worked in Hut 8.

In which year did Alexander Fleming discover penicillin?

He had just returned from a family holiday in Suffolk when he noticed the mould on a neglected culture plate.

Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine used material from which milder disease?

The word 'vaccine' comes from his Latin term Variolae vaccinae, 'pustules of the cow'.

Gregor Mendel was a friar at St Thomas's Abbey in which Moravian city?

His 1866 paper on pea hybrids was cited only about three times in the next thirty-five years.

In which year did Mendeleev present his periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society?

He arranged the elements by atomic weight and valence, leaving gaps for elements not yet discovered.

In which year was Copernicus's De revolutionibus published, the year he died?

Its immediate reception was only mild controversy; real evidence for heliocentrism waited half a century for Kepler and Galileo.

Helen Keller earned her bachelor's degree in 1904 from which college?

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa at 24, the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts.

Richard III's skeleton was found in 2012 beneath a car park in which English city?

The grave lay under the lost Grey Friars church; he was reburied in the city's cathedral in 2015.

Queen Nzinga ruled Ndongo and Matamba, kingdoms in which present-day country?

The country's very name comes from 'ngola', the Ndongo title for its ruler.

Diocletian's retirement palace forms the historic core of which modern Croatian city?

Asked to return to power, he replied that anyone who saw the cabbages he had planted with his own hands would never ask.

Amundsen sailed from Norway in 1910 for his South Pole expedition aboard which ship?

He only told his crew at Madeira that they were bound for Antarctica, then cabled Scott: 'Beg to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic.'