Historical Figures Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 1307
Which historical figure may have been poisoned by arsenic in his wallpaper while on St. Helena?
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napoleon
Which future first lady served as a White House hostess for President Jefferson?
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dolley madison
Who became the Vice President of the United States on December 19, 1974, after a period from August 9, 1974, when the position was vacant?
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nelson rockefeller
Who was the director of the FBI that wrote "Masters of Deceit" and "A Study of Communism"?
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j. edgar hoover
What Chinese leader's teachings are primarily known through a book called the 'Analects'?
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confucius
Who is the subject of Ishbel Ross's biography titled 'Angel of the Battlefield'?
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clara barton
What name was Ras Tafari crowned under as the Ethiopian 'King of Kings' in 1930, a leader revered by Rastafarians?
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haile selassie
Who was crowned in 800 A.D., an event many consider the end of the Dark Ages?
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charlemagne
Count Bernadotte, a diplomat who was assassinated in 1948, was the nephew of King Gustav V of which country?
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sweden
Which Confederate commander, who is buried at the college he headed after the war, led the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War?
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robert e. lee
Whose words served as a powerful tool for patriotism during the American Revolution?
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thomas paine
Which U.S. President was known as 'Lyss' during his childhood?
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ulysses s. grant
Who was a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and co-founded Methodism with his brother Charles?
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john wesley
Which U.S. president participated in seances to contact his deceased son Willie?
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abraham lincoln
Which 1960s Yippie leader made his comedy debut at a New York club?
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abbie hoffman
Which woman founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950?
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mother teresa
Who was the first Secretary of the Treasury nicknamed 'The King of the Feds'?
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alexander hamilton
What service did 11-year-old Charlie Miller, the youngest rider in 1861, participate in, and later lived to be 105?
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pony express
Which grandson of Genghis Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty?
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kublai khan
Who met co-conspirator David Herold in Maryland on the night of April 14, 1865?
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john wilkes booth
Who coined the term 'utopia' in 1516 from the Greek words for 'not' and 'place'?
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thomas more
Which world leader, who became president, was imprisoned for 27 years in South Africa?
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nelson mandela
Which famous individual's residence at San Simeon featured a zoo, an airstrip, and a private theater?
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william randolph hearst
Which statesman, who established an Oxford scholarship, also had a country named after him for a time?
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cecil rhodes
Which famous diarist and her family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933?
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anne frank
Who was born in 1731 and married a future U.S. President?
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martha washington
Which First Lady reportedly said in 1972 that being the First Lady is the hardest unpaid job in the world?
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pat nixon
Who is the hatchet-wielding saloon smasher who no one dared call 'Old Hatchet-Face' whether she was drunk or sober?
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carrie nation
In 1964, the world's youngest monarch King Constantine of which country was married in September?
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greece
Which founder of the famous Literary Club, who was also painted by fellow founder Joshua Reynolds, could this be?
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samuel johnson
Who was the only incumbent Republican governor to be reelected in 1934 and ran for president two years later?
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alf landon
Who married Evita in 1945 and Isabel in 1961?
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juan perón
Which famous American aviator left for Europe on May 20, 1927, with 5 sandwiches and a quart of water?
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charles lindbergh
Which suffragist famously stated that women must be taught to protect themselves rather than depend on men for protection?
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susan b. anthony
Who was the heroine of the Crimean War and the founder of modern nursing?
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florence nightingale
Which lord protector, who studied at Sidney Sussex College, has his head buried there?
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oliver cromwell
Which leader of the Reformation authored the famous hymn 'A Mighty Fortress is Our God'?
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martin luther
In which sport did Abe Lincoln earn the respect of the Clary's Grove Boys while working in New Salem?
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wrestling
Who was the wife of our 4th president, known for wearing a cologne that is still being marketed today?
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dolley madison
Which 14th century explorer is credited with bringing back a recipe for a type of ice cream from China?
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marco polo
Who was the Muslim warrior and Sultan of Egypt for whom the medieval Rabbi Moses Maimonides served as court doctor?
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saladin
Who was the last surviving signer of The Mayflower Compact and a friend of Myles Standish, but was not a Puritan?
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john alden
Which famous American, after losing reelection to Congress in 1835, told the public they were going to Texas?
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davy crockett
Who was the French educator that taught at the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris from 1826 until his death?
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louis braille
Who is the Scottish engineer known for inventing the flyball governor to control the speed of his steam engine?
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james watt
Who was the West German chancellor that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to ease East-West tensions?
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willy brandt
Who was the woman whose birth control books were banned in New York in the 1910s and whose husband was arrested for distributing one?
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margaret sanger
Which governor surrendered New Netherland to an English naval force without a shot being fired on September 7, 1664?
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peter stuyvesant
In which country was White House architect James Hoban born around 1762?
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ireland
Who did the New York World refer to on November 14, 1889, when calling her trip 'The Longest Journey Known to Mankind'?
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nellie bly
Who took over Alger Hiss' state department duties in 1947 and later became JFK's Secretary of State?
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dean rusk
Who was the New Deal Democrat that moved from the New York governor's mansion to the White House in 1932?
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franklin d. roosevelt
Which crusader ceased using her hatchet after being beaten up by a woman bar owner in Montana?
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carrie nation
Which future railroad magnate was nicknamed 'The Commodore' while working as a ferry operator?
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cornelius vanderbilt
For a year after her death in 1952, which Argentine personality had her picture on all newly issued stamps?
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eva perón
Who is the former surgeon general who interned at the University of Minnesota Hospital?
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joycelyn elders
Which reformer, despite suffering from gout, nailed his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg?
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martin luther
Who returned to Amsterdam after WWII to collect the papers of his deceased daughter Anne?
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otto frank
Who is the woman whose name became synonymous with pantaloons despite her stopping wearing them in 1859?
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amelia bloomer
In January 1990, the son of which World War II German Field Marshal, who was nicknamed the 'Desert Fox', was made a Commander of the British Empire?
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erwin rommel