250+ History Trivia Questions and Answers

Put your wits to the test with these world history trivia questions to see how much you really know about the world around you. (Printable PDF Included)

By Katee Fletcher

Updated 3 years ago, October 28, 2021

So you think you know world history? I guess it’s time to find out! Put your wits to the test with these world history trivia questions to see how much you really know about the world around you. Have fun, and you may even learn something new!

History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What was the shortest war in human history?
Answer: The war between England and Zanzibar

Trivia Question: How long did the war between England and Zanzibar last?
Answer: Between 38 & 45 minutes

Trivia Question: How many years did the 100 years war last?
Answer: 116 years

Trivia Question: What was the name of the research ship Charles Darwin traveled with?
Answer: The Beagle

Trivia Question: In which year did Hitler commit suicide?
Answer: 1945

Trivia Question: In which year was John F. Kennedy assassinated?
Answer: 1963

Trivia Question: One of the ancient world wonders, the “Hanging Gardens,” was found in which city?
Answer: Babylon

Trivia Question: Greenland was a colony of which country until 1981?
Answer: Denmark

Trivia Question: Which organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917?
Answer: The Red Cross

Trivia Question: How many days in a week were there in ancient Roman times?
Answer: 8

Trivia Question: How many days was William Harrison President of the United States?
Answer: 32

Trivia Question: In 1927, who became the first man to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic?
Answer: Charles Lindbergh

Trivia Question: What was the family name of the Russian rulers from the 17th century until the 1917 revolution?
Answer: Romanov

Trivia Question: Which bridge was the first to be built across the River Thames in London?
Answer: London Bridge

Trivia Question: Which U.S. president had a home called The Hermitage?
Answer: Andrew Jackson

Trivia Question: Which famous battle took place on Sunday, June 18th, 1815?
Answer: The Battle of Waterloo

Trivia Question: How many U.S. presidents have been assassinated?
Answer: Four

Trivia Question: What are the names of the U.S. presidents who have been assassinated?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, John F. Kennedy

Trivia Question: Which King of England was executed in 1649 during the English Civil War?
Answer: Charles I.

Trivia Question: Which world leader is famous for his “Little Red Book”?
Answer: Mao Zedong, or Mao Tse-tung

Trivia Question: When did Mao Zedong come to power?
Answer: 1949

Trivia Question: In which country did the Easter Rising take place in 1916?
Answer: Ireland

Trivia Question: Which seven U.S. states seceded and formed the original Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War?
Answer: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas

Trivia Question: What name is given to Britain’s policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws on early American colonies?
Answer: Salutary neglect

Trivia Question: What was the name of the first Space Shuttle to go into space?
Answer: Space Shuttle Columbia

Trivia Question: When did the first Space Shuttle go into space?
Answer: April 12th, 1981

Trivia Question: The ancient Egyptians worshiped dung beetle?
Answer: The scarab

Trivia Question: Who was shot outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington on March 30th, 1981?
Answer: President Ronald Reagan

Trivia Question: Which mountaineer and his Sherpa became the first men to conquer Mount Everest?
Answer: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

Trivia Question: How did Alexander the Great solve the puzzle of the Gordion knot?
Answer: He cut it with a sword

Trivia Question: Who was the first man to walk on the moon, and in which year?
Answer: Neil Armstrong, 1969

Trivia Question: Which Greek historian is known as the “Father of History”?
Answer: Herodotus

Trivia Question: Which Russian astronaut was the first man to conduct a spacewalk?
Answer: Alexey Leonov

Trivia Question: In which Libyan city was the American diplomatic compound attacked in September 2012?
Answer: Benghazi

Trivia Question: In 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Where did this take place?
Answer: Appomattox

Trivia Question: Which infamous prison was stormed on July 14th, 1789?
Answer: The Bastille in Paris

Trivia Question: Where were the first modern Olympics held?
Answer: Athens, Greece 1896

Trivia Question: What is the modern name for Van Diemen’s Land?
Answer: Tasmania

Trivia Question: Who was the first woman in space?
Answer: Soviet Cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova

Trivia Question: Roald Amundsen led a successful expedition to what location in 1911?
Answer: The South Pole

Trivia Question: The Ptolemy dynasty ruled which ancient kingdom?
Answer: Egypt

Trivia Question: Who invented the cotton gin?
Answer: Eli Whitney

Trivia Question: What year did the War of 1812 end?
Answer: 1815

Trivia Question: Who became President of the United States after John F. Kennedy was assassinated?
Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson

Trivia Question: The ancient city of Rome was built on how many hills?
Answer: Seven

Trivia Question: Octavian defeated Mark Anthony in which famous naval battle of 31 B.C.?
Answer: The Battle of Actium

Trivia Question: Who was the first man to swim the English Channel?
Answer: Matthew Webb

Trivia Question: The Peloponnesian War was fought between Athens and which other ancient Greek state?
Answer: Sparta

Trivia Question: Who built the first car in America?
Answer: Henry Ford

Trivia Question: What is the name of the first car ever made?
Answer: The Motorwagon

Trivia Question: Which English queen reigned for just nine days?
Answer: Lady Jane Grey

Trivia Question: Which war took place between 1950 and 1953?
Answer: The Korean War

Trivia Question: What is the name of the first human civilization?
Answer: Mesopotamia

Trivia Question: What does “The Magna Carta” mean?
Answer: “The Great Charter”

Trivia Question: In which year was the first Super Bowl played?
Answer: 1967

Trivia Question: Which team won the first Super Bowl?
Answer: GreenBay Packers

Trivia Question: The Maya of Mesoamerica are best known for their achievements in which subjects?
Answer: Math & Astronomy

Trivia Question: Who is known for running through the streets crying Eureka?
Answer: Archimedes

Trivia Question: What is the name of the first female Hispanic astronaut?
Answer: Ellen Ochoa

Trivia Question: How did Joan of Arc die?
Answer: She was burned at the stake

Trivia Question: How many times has the Mona Lisa been stolen?
Answer: One

Trivia Question: What is the breed of Snoopy in the highly successful comic strip?
Answer: Beagle

Trivia Question: Who was the emperor of Rome from A.D. 54 – A.D. 68?
Answer: Nero

Trivia Question: Which century did the French Revolution take place in?
Answer: The 18th Century

Trivia Question: In which year was the Berlin Wall torn down?
Answer: 1989

Trivia Question: In which year was Mahatma Gandhi killed?
Answer: 1948

Trivia Question: What is the name of The Beatles’ debut album?
Answer: Please Please Me

Trivia Question: Who led the USSR from 1917-1922?
Answer: Vladimir Lenin

Trivia Question: The “Whitechapel Murderer” is the nickname given to which serial killer?
Answer: Jack the Ripper

Trivia Question: The construction of the Berlin Wall begin in what year?
Answer: 1961

Trivia Question: The Incan Empire is located in which modern-day country?
Answer: Peru

Trivia Question: The Great Fire of London happened in which year?
Answer: 1666

Trivia Question: In which war did the Battle of the Bulge take place?
Answer: World War II

Trivia Question: Who invented the telephone?
Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

Trivia Question: Who crossed the Rubicon?
Answer: Julius Caeser

Trivia Question: Who was the first female to be elected into the U.S. Congress?
Answer: Janet Rankin

Trivia Question: Who was the first black Senator in the United States?
Answer: Carol Moseley Brown

Trivia Question: Before independence, what was Bangladesh called?
Answer: East Pakistan

Trivia Question: What was the Great Western Schism?
Answer: When more than one pope claimed authority over the Roman Catholic church.

Trivia Question: Who painted the mural of “The Last Supper”?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

Trivia Question: What First Lady became the first wife of a sitting president to appear under subpoena before a grand jury?
Answer: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Trivia Question: Whose assassination resulted in the Lorraine Motel becoming the National Civil Rights Museum?
Answer: The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Trivia Question: Which U.S. President was inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Trivia Question: What nation separated from the United Kingdom in 1921?
Answer: Ireland

Trivia Question: In which country was the largest known T-Rex skeleton found?
Answer: Canada

Trivia Question: What was the first toy to be advertised on television?
Answer: Mr. Potato Head

Trivia Question: In which year did WWI begin?
Answer: 1914

Trivia Question: Where was Adolf Hitler born?
Answer: Austria

Trivia Question: The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was fought in which country?
Answer: England

Trivia Question: When was Pearl Harbor bombed?
Answer: December 7th, 1941

Trivia Question: Who created the first successful printing press?
Answer: Johannes Gutenberg

Trivia Question: What is the name of the disease that ravaged and killed a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century?
Answer: The Bubonic Plague

Trivia Question: In which city and state was John F. Kennedy assassinated?
Answer: Dallas, Texas

Trivia Question: The Hundred Years War was fought between what two countries?
Answer: France and England

Trivia Question: Which Roman Emperor built a massive wall across Northern Britain in 122 A.D.?
Answer: Hadrian

Trivia Question: In the 5,000 years of human history, what is the one disease that has been completely eradicated?
Answer: Small Pox

Trivia Question: What is the longest war in U.S. history?
Answer: Afghan War

Trivia Question: The Aztec people sacrificed about how many people per year?
Answer: 250,000

Trivia Question: Who wrote the document known as the 95 Theses?
Answer: Martin Luther

Trivia Question: Who painted the Sistine Chapel?
Answer: Michelangelo

Trivia Question: The ancient Mayan civilization existed in which modern-day country?
Answer: Guatemala

Trivia Question: In 1594, William Shakespeare joined the company of which London theatre?
Answer: The Globe

Trivia Question: What group of people discovered Greenland?
Answer: The Vikings

Trivia Question: What is the name of the first successful colony in Virginia?
Answer: Jamestown

Trivia Question: The Khmer Rouge was a regime ruling which nation in the 20th century?
Answer: Cambodia

Trivia Question: The 1707 Acts of Union was an event that combined what?
Answer: England and Scotland

Trivia Question: What famous 5th century A.D. conqueror was known as “The Scourge of God”?
Answer: Attila the Hun

Trivia Question: When did WWI officially end?
Answer: November 11th, 1918

Trivia Question: In 1939, the UK declared war on Germany after what event?
Answer: Poland was invaded

Trivia Question: In what year did humans put the first satellite into orbit?
Answer: 1957

Trivia Question: Who orchestrated a terrorist attack against the United States on September 11th, 2001?
Answer: Al Qaeda

Trivia Question: Who was the first Western explorer to reach China?
Answer: Marco Polo

Trivia Question: When was the television invented?
Answer: 1927

Trivia Question: Who was the inventor of the television?
Answer: Philo Taylor Farnsworth

Trivia Question: How old was Philo Farnsworth when he invented the television?
Answer: 21

Trivia Question: What scandal forced U.S. President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974?
Answer: Watergate

Trivia Question: The Cuban Revolution led to the rise of what dictator?
Answer: Fidel Castro

Trivia Question: There have been four eons since the Earth’s beginning. What is the name of the eon we are living in?
Answer: Phanerozoic Eon

Trivia Question: Along with Hiroshima, Japan, which Japanese city was hit by an atomic bomb in 1945?
Answer: Nagasaki

Trivia Question: Which series of wars saw European Christians invading the middle east to take the Holy Land?
Answer: The Crusades

Trivia Question: Which human ancestor was the first to discover fire?
Answer: Homo Erectus

Trivia Question: Who was the first female prime minister of Britain?
Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Trivia Question: Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?
Answer: John Wilkes Booth

Trivia Question: What acquisition of territory by the United States from France occurred in 1803?
Answer: Louisiana Purchase

Trivia Question: Who was known as the “Virgin Queen”?
Answer: Queen Elizabeth I

Trivia Question: Where was Cleopatra’s birthplace?
Answer: Greece

Trivia Question: The Cold War was between the United States and what other world power?
Answer: Soviet Union

Trivia Question: The Reign of Terror was a period during which major social and political event?
Answer: French Revolution

Trivia Question: What category was Hurricane Katrina when it made landfall in 2005?
Answer: Category 3

Trivia Question: What is the full title of the first Harry Potter movie released on November 16th, 2001?
Answer: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Trivia Question: How long did it take Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, to orbit Earth?
Answer: 89 minutes

Trivia Question: In which year did The Challenger disaster take place?
Answer: 1986

Trivia Question: The Protestant Reformation was started by whom?
Answer: Martin Luther

Trivia Question: What famous music festival took place in 1969?
Answer: Woodstock

Trivia Question: What was the name of the movie that Elvis Presley made his film debut in?
Answer: Love Me Tender

Trivia Question: Eva Peron was the first lady of what country?
Answer: Argentina

Trivia Question: Who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1964?
Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Trivia Question: Who was not a member of the Allied Powers during World War II?
Answer: Italy

Trivia Question: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is a well-known phrase from what collection of 282 laws?
Answer: The Code of Hammurabi

Trivia Question: Who was responsible for liberating much of South Africa?
Answer: Simon Bolivar

Trivia Question: What was the name given to the laws aimed at enforcing segregation in public places in the United States?
Answer: Jim Crow Laws

Trivia Question: Which Roman Emperor’s Edit of Milan made Christianity legal?
Answer: Constantine

Trivia Question: What was the name of the first computer?
Answer: ENIAC

Trivia Question: Which African nation successfully resisted colonialism in the late 19th century?
Answer: Ethiopia

Trivia Question: Which civilization was centered around the city of Tenochtitlan?
Answer: Aztec

Trivia Question: Who was the victor in the French and Indian War?
Answer: The British

Trivia Question: Who wrote “The Communist Manifesto”?
Answer: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels

Trivia Question: What was the first dynasty of Imperial China?
Answer: Qin dynasty

Trivia Question: Which Chinese destination was the site of protests in 1989?
Answer: Tiananmen Square

Trivia Question: Who invented Penicillin?
Answer: Alexander Fleming

Trivia Question: What was Marie Curie known for?
Answer: The discovery of the elements polonium and radium

Trivia Question: Whose assassination led to World War I?
Answer: Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Trivia Question: Which Argentinian became a notable figure in the Cuban Revolution?
Answer: Che Guevara

Trivia Question: Which international organization formed after World War I and was headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland?
Answer: League of Nations

Trivia Question: During which years were the Spanish Civil War?
Answer: 1936-1939

Trivia Question: How long was Francisco Franco in power in Spain?
Answer: 36 Years

Trivia Question: Which country did England send convicts to between 1788 and 1868?
Answer: Australia

Trivia Question: Who ran the USSR during World War II?
Answer: Joseph Stalin

Trivia Question: Which movie star married the Prince of Monaco on April 18th, 1956?
Answer: Grace Kelly

Trivia Question: Which union has 28 member countries, many of which use the euro as their currency?
Answer: European Union

Trivia Question: What are the Bill of Rights?
Answer: The first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution

Trivia Question: Which conflict ended with the Good Friday Agreement?
Answer: The Troubles

Trivia Question: What was the previous name for New York?
Answer: New Amsterdam

Trivia Question: Which British ocean liner did a German U-boat torpedo on May 7th, 1915?
Answer: Lusitania

Trivia Question: Who did the United States acquire Alaska from?
Answer: Russia

Trivia Question: Which empire did Charlemagne rule?
Answer: Holy Roman Empire

Trivia Question: What is the name of the island Napoleon was exiled to?
Answer: Elba

Trivia Question: Who was the founder of the Mongol Empire?
Answer: Genghis Khan

Trivia Question: What modern-day city was known as Bombay?
Answer: Mumbai

Trivia Question: Who was the first African American Supreme Court Justice?
Answer: Thurgood Marshall

Trivia Question: Which country was not part of the Triple Entente?
Answer: Germany

Trivia Question: What is the name of the strip of land that divides the Korean Peninsula?
Answer: Korean Demilitarized Zone

Trivia Question: Who won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, infuriating Adolf Hitler?
Answer: Jessie Owens

Trivia Question: Who was the first and, thus far, only female prime minister of Israel?
Answer: Golda Meir

Trivia Question: What documents were responsible for establishing the 17th Parallel as the line that separated Vietnam during the Vietnam War?
Answer: Geneva Accords

Trivia Question: In which country did Buddhism originate?
Answer: Nepal

Trivia Question: Who was the President of the United States during the Iran Hostage Crisis?
Answer: Jimmy Carter

Trivia Question: Which city served as the capital of the Ottoman Empire?
Answer: Constantinople

Trivia Question: What were warriors in Japan known as?
Answer: Samarais

Trivia Question: What city was formerly known as Saigon?
Answer: Ho Chi Minh City

Trivia Question: Which country did the United Kingdom fight against in the Falklands War?
Answer: Argentina

Trivia Question: Which organization has 193 member countries?
Answer: United Nations

Trivia Question: Who was the king of France during the French Revolution?
Answer: Louis XVI

Trivia Question: Which famous novel is based on the French Revolution?
Answer: The Tale of Two Cities

Trivia Question: Which book was written by Hitler while in prison in the 1920s?
Answer: Mein Kampf

Trivia Question: During World War I, the territory known as South West Africa was a colony of which country?
Answer: Germany

Trivia Question: Which 19th-century scientist is known for creating the first vaccine?
Answer: Louis Pasteur

Trivia Question: In which year did the Emancipation Proclamation become law?
Answer: 1863

Trivia Question: In 1981, MTV showed its first music video. What was it?
Answer: “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles

Trivia Question: Who invented the steam engine?
Answer: George Stephenson

Trivia Question: In 1773, tea from the British East India Company was famously thrown into which body of water in protest by American colonists?
Answer: Boston Harbor

Trivia Question: From what city did the Titanic set sail?
Answer: South Hampton

Trivia Question: Who was the airline pilot that successfully landed his stricken plane in the Hudson River in 2009?
Answer: Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger

Trivia Question: Who invented the vaccine for Polio?
Answer: Jonas Salk

Trivia Question: In what year did Nelson Mandela get released from prison?
Answer: 1990

Trivia Question: Rome was founded in which year?
Answer: 753, B.C.

Trivia Question: The Statue of Liberty was a gift from which country?
Answer: France

Trivia Question: Which former Primer Minister of India was assassinated in 1991?
Answer: Rajiv Gandhi

Trivia Question: What is the date that The Allies invaded Europe at Normandy?
Answer: June 6th, 1944

Trivia Question: Who was the second President of the United States?
Answer: John Adams

Trivia Question: What kind of animal did Cleopatra use to kill herself?
Answer: A snake

Trivia Question: Which U.S. mail service started in 1860?
Answer: Pony Express

Trivia Question: What is the smallest country in the world?
Answer: Vatican City

Trivia Question: Who was the Hollywood star who became the governor of California in 2003?
Answer: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Trivia Question: Who is the Greek goddess of victory?
Answer: Nike

Trivia Question: Which great wonder of the Ancient World still stands today?
Answer: Giza Pyramid

Trivia Question: Which country was the first to allow women to vote?
Answer: New Zealand

Trivia Question: What year was India given independence from Great Britain?
Answer: 1947

Trivia Question: What was the first capital of the United States?
Answer: New York, New York

Trivia Question: How many astronauts have walked on the moon as of 2020?
Answer: 12

Trivia Question: Which river did George Washington famously cross in 1776?
Answer: Delaware

Trivia Question: Who was the first African American woman to be crowned Miss America?
Answer: Vanessa Williams

Trivia Question: Which U.S. President created the interstate highway system?
Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Trivia Question: How many U.S. Presidents died in office (including assassination)?
Answer: Eight

Trivia Question: What was the longest battle in WWII?
Answer: Battle of the Atlantic

Trivia Question: What was the first Nazi concentration camp?
Answer: Dachau

Trivia Question: What was the name of the B-29 Bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima?
Answer: Enola Gay

Trivia Question: Who was the first democratically elected president of Russia?
Answer: Boris Yeltsin

Trivia Question: What new economic program did China’s Mao Zedong announce in 1958?
Answer: “The Great Leap Forward”

Trivia Question: Which country held its first democratic elections on January 30th, 2005?
Answer: Iraq

Trivia Question: What was the first city to reach a population of 1 million?
Answer: Ancient Rome

Trivia Question: What year was the first internet domain registered?
Answer: 1985

Trivia Question: To whom was the first internet domain registered?
Answer: Symbolics.com

Trivia Question: The name “Australia” was formally adopted in which year?
Answer: 1824, A.D.

Trivia Question: What is the oldest operating airline in the world?
Answer: QANTAS

Trivia Question: Which political party was banned in Italy after WWII?
Answer: Fascist

Trivia Question: What language was the name “Australia” derived from?
Answer: Latin

Trivia Question: What year was the United Nations established?
Answer: 1945

Trivia Question: What was the Eureka Stockade?
Answer: A gold miner’s revolt in 1854 near Ballarat, Victoria

Trivia Question: What country won the first World Cup?
Answer: Uruguay

Trivia Question: In which year was the White Australia Policy formally abolished?
Answer: 1972 by Gough Whitlam

Trivia Question: What is the best selling novel of all time?
Answer: Don Quixote

Trivia Question: Ulysses S. Grant appears on the front on which denomination of U.S. currency?
Answer: The $50 bill

Trivia Question: Whose crew was the first to sail completely around the world?
Answer: Ferdinand Magellan

Trivia Question: Who overthrew the leader Salvador Allende in Chile in a coup d’etat?
Answer: Augusto Pinochet

Trivia Question: What was the term for the official policy of racial segregation in South Africa until 1994?
Answer: Apartheid

Trivia Question: In which year did the Titanic sink?
Answer: 1912

Trivia Question: What is the name of the economic program that was created to help Puerto Rico?
Answer: Operation Bootstrap

Trivia Question: How many heads of executive departments make up the U.S. President’s cabinet?
Answer: 15

Trivia Question: Who captured and murdered the Inca Emperor Atahualpa?
Answer: Francisco Pizarro

Trivia Question: Which South American country has a famous canal running through it?
Answer: Panama

Trivia Question: Which country was the first to legalize same-sex marriage?
Answer: The Netherlands

Trivia Question: Who was the first African American to be elected President of the United States?
Answer: Barrack Obama

Trivia Question: What is the name of the first pyramid ever built?
Answer: The pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid

Trivia Question: The Great Pyramids of Giza consist of how many pyramids?
Answer: Three

Trivia Question: What was Shakespeare’s first printed work?
Answer: Two poems: “Venus and Adonis” & “The Rape of Lucrece.”

Trivia Question: Where was the first Disney park built?
Answer: Anaheim, California

Trivia Question: What was the first cash crop in America?
Answer: Tobacco

Trivia Question: Which Treaty forced Britain to recognize The United States as an independent nation?
Answer: The Treaty of Paris of 1783

Trivia Question: Who was the first U.S. President to appear on television?
Answer: Franklin Roosevelt

250+ History Trivia Questions and Answers

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