Q 01/05

Which unit of an Imperial Roman legion was typically double-strength and carried the eagle standard?

A) First Cohort

B) Tenth Cohort

C) Praetorian Cohort

D) Auxiliary Cohort

Answer · why

A) First Cohort

First Cohort troops were the legion's senior soldiers, and its eagle went into battle with them; losing one was the worst disgrace, and after three fe...

Q 02/05

Which Persian king led the invasion delayed at Thermopylae in 480 BC?

A) Darius I

B) Xerxes I

C) Cyrus the Great

D) Artaxerxes I

Answer · why

B) Xerxes I

Xerxes I led the army in person; after two days of failed assaults a local man, Ephialtes, showed the Persians a mountain path around the pass, and th...

Q 03/05

The earliest known crossbows were invented in which civilization?

A) Rome

B) Egypt

C) China

D) Persia

Answer · why

C) China

China had crossbows by the 6th century BC, with trigger mechanisms cast in bronze; massed crossbowmen could see off a cavalry charge, and the weapon i...

Q 04/05

What was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II?

A) Operation Barbarossa

B) Operation Sea Lion

C) Operation Torch

D) Operation Overlord

Answer · why

A) Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was named for Frederick Barbarossa, a crusading medieval German emperor; Hitler expected victory within weeks, but the advance st...

Q 05/05

Which US armed service comes under the Department of Homeland Security instead of the Pentagon in peacetime?

A) Marine Corps

B) National Guard

C) Coast Guard

D) Space Force

Answer · why

C) Coast Guard

The Coast Guard is one of the six armed services yet answers to Homeland Security, not the Pentagon; by law it operates as part of the Navy when Congr...