History 120501

History 120501 is a selection of 10 questions. History 120501 is the filename to differentiate it from other History quizzes. Feel free to use any of these questions and answers for your own quizzes. Just keep in mind that you cannot republish them in any format.

1   In which London Street did the Great Fire of 1666 start?
A   Pudding Lane, in a bakery owned by Thomas Farriner.

2   Who succeeded Queen Victoria after she died in 1901?
A   Edward VII (christened Albert Edward)

3   What colour were Britain’s pillar-boxes before red was adopted in 1874?
A   Green.

4   What was the name of Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar?
A   HMS Victory (Battle of Trafalgar, 21st October 1805).

5   In 1603, who became the first combined monarch of both England and Scotland?
A   James [I of England and Ireland, James VI of Scotland]

6   Who was the first leader of Communist Russia?
A   (Vladimir Ilyich) Lenin (Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union)

7   Which two Royal Houses fought for the English throne during The Wars of the Roses?
A   Lancaster and York (Edward IV of York defeated Henry VI of Lancaster)

8   Who was the king during the U.S. War of Independence?
A   King George III (he was the one who went ‘mad’)

9   Whom did the Cavaliers support in the English Civil War?
A   Charles I (they were called Cavaliers from the French ‘chevalier’ meaning ‘horse’, as many of them fought on horseback)

10   What was the Nazi’s codeword for their wartime plan to invade Britain?
A   Operation Sea Lion (German: Unternehmen Seelöwe) (With the German defeat in the Battle of Britain, Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely on 17th September 1940)