75 History Trivia Questions to Test Your Knowledge

It’s been said that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. While you may not be repeating the great mistakes of the past any time soon, these history trivia questions are still a great refresher.

We’ve split them into multiple categories so you can jump to the ones you find the most interesting. Use them to pass the time, quiz your audience, or show off at gatherings. It’s your call. Just make sure you have fun.

You can view more trivia questions here.

Ancient History Trivia Questions:

1. A Series of wars were fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 BC. What were those wars called?
2. What was Paris known as by the Romans?
3. Archaeologist Hiram Bingham discovered which lost city in 1911?
4. Bucephalus was a wild horse owned by which ancient king?
5. In ancient Greek literature, which two epic poems were written by Homer?
6. Harappa was the capital of which ancient civilization?
7. Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of which mountain?
8. Which scripture was revealed to Moses?
9. Hieroglyphics are picture symbols that were used as writing by which ancient civilization?
10. Who founded the Achaemenid Empire- the first Persian Empire?
11. The Greek historian Herodotus is known as what?
12. Which Chinese ruler build the Great Wall of China?
13. Who is described as the father of Tragedy and the author of Greek tragedy?
14. Octavian became the head of the Roman Empire after the assassination of which leader?
15. Queen of Sumer, who was the first female ruler?

Answers

1. Punic Wars
2. Lutetia
3. Machu Picchu
4. Alexander The Great
5. Iliad and the Odyssey
6. The Indus Valley Civilisation
7. Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
8. The Torah
9. The Egyptians
10. Cyrus the Great
11. Father of History
12. Qin Shi Huang
13. Aeschylus
14. Julius Caesar
15. Kubaba around 2,400 BC

Medieval History questions:

1. The medieval period began with the fall of which city?
2. Who was the dominant power in 5^th century Europe?
3. Thought to have been brought by ships from Asia in 1346–53., name the plague which killed approx. 100 million people?
4. Which English King signed the Magna Carter?
5. Where did the Vikings come from?
6. In which battle did Charles Martel lead Frankish forces against Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi and the Umayyad Caliphate?
7. Who wrote The Canterbury Tales?
8. The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton was finally reached with the agreement that King Edward II’s daughter would marry the son of which Scottish King?
9. Who was married to King Louis VII of France and King Henry II of England?
10. What was King William I of England known as?
11. The Battle of Manzikert was fought between which empires?
12. What is the name of series of conflicts fought between England and France over succession to the French throne?
13. How many wives did Henry III have?
14. Which English King was known as Hammer of the Scots?
15. The first library founded in 1452, The Library of Malatesta Novello can be found in which country?

Answers:

1. Rome
2. The Catholic Church
3. Black Death
4. King John
5. Scandinavia
6. Battle of Tours
7. Geoffrey Chaucer
8. Robert the Bruce
9. Eleanor of Aquitaine
10. The Conqueror
11. Byzantine Empire and Seljuk Empire
12. 100-year war
13. Six
14. Edward I
15. Italy

Renaissance history questions:

1. Which book played a large role in the Protestant Revolution during the Renaissance period?
2. Who is known as the father of observational astronomy?
3. Who painted The Last Supper?
4. Lisa del Giocondo is depicted in which famous painting?
5. What famously stands at Piazza Della Signoria in Florence?
6. Who proposed the heliocentric system?
7. Birth of Venus was painted by which Italian artist?
8. Italian poet and scholar Petrarch is famously known as what?
9. Who created the Florence Cathedral’s dome?
10. Who wrote The Prince and Discourses of Livy?
11. What did Johannes Gutenburg invent?
12. Which cultural movement began during the 14^th century in Italy?
13. Regarded as the father of Modern Philosophy, who said ‘I think; therefore I am’?
14. In the 16^th century, Martin Luther led what?
15. What was established by the Church which made movements like Humanism punishable by death?

Answers:

1. The King James Bible
2. Galileo Galilei
3. Leonardo De Vinci
4. Mona Lisa
5. Michelangelo’s Statue of David
6. Nicolaus Copernicus
7. Sandro Botticelli
8. Father of Renaissance
9. Filippo Brunelleschi
10. Niccolò Machiavelli
11. Moveable type for printing books
12. The Humanism movement, which argued that man was center of his own universe.
13. Rene Descartes
14. Protestant Reformation
15. Roman Inquisition

The Civil Rights Era history questions:

1. Whose work inspired Martin Luther King to lead a nonviolent protest?
2. Which President used Federal troops to desegrated the University of Mississippi?
3. Which court ruling made segregation of public facilities unconstitutional?
4. Regarded as the largest civil rights demonstration against segregation, which boycott event took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956?
5. In which year did the Voting Rights Act pass?
6. Executive Order 9981 did what?
7. Which act outlawed racial discrimination in public places?
8. Which law, in 1955, did Rosa Parks protest against?
9. Who was the first African American supreme court justice?
10. Which organization did Martin Luther King create?
11. Which protest saw young African-American students stage a sit-in at a segregated counter?
12. Who was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress?
13. What is the name of the Chicago movement which protested against segregated housing and education based on race?
14. Which Civil and Women’s Rights activist was the first Black woman to graduate from Yale with a Doctorate?
15. Malcolm X was a vocal spokesperson for which organization?

Answers

1. Mohandas Gandhi
2. Kennedy
3. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
4. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
5. 1965
6. Desegregate the military
7. Civil Rights Act of 1964
8. The Jim Crow Law
9. Thurgood Marshall
10. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
11. Greensboro sit-in
12. Shirley Chisholm
13. Chicago Open Housing Movement
14. Pauli Murray
15. Nation of Islam

World General History questions:

1. In which year did India gain independence from Britain?
2. Which cities were hit by the atomic bomb in 1945?
3. In 1962, from which country did Algeria gain independence?
4. Which British Prime Minister was assassinated?
5. In which year did Apollo 11 land on the moon?
6. Which year did the Rwandan Genocide occur?
7. The Russian revolution involving the collapse of the Tzar empire is known as what?
8. In 1928, which antibiotic did Alexander Fleming discover?
9. In 1893, New Zealand granted what rights to all adult women?
10. In which year was the United Nations formed?
11. Suez Crisis involved the invasion of which country?
12. Which year did the Berlin Wall fall?
13. Who attacked Pearl Harbour?
14. Which treaty brought World War I to an end?
15. Who did Bangladesh gain its independence from in 1971?

Answers

1. 1947
2. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
3. France
4. Spencer Perceval
5. 1969
6. 1994
7. The Bolshevik Revolution
8. Penicillin
9. Voting Rights
10. 1945
11. Egypt
12. 1989
13. Japanese
14. Treaty of Versailles
15. West Pakistan

Conclusion

I’m 98% sure that at least one of the history trivia questions on this list stumped you. It’s allowed. Not even historians will have gotten everything right. As long as you had fun, our work here is complete.

Leave a comment below if you have any other interesting historical facts and we’ll add them to the collection.