History for grades 11–12: questions with answers

The History questions for grades 11–12 from the game, with the correct answers and an explanation for each.

  1. Which Persian king did Alexander the Great defeat at Gaugamela in 331 BC?

    • Cyrus the Great
    • Darius I
    • Xerxes
    • Darius III

    Correct answer: Darius III — Darius III fled the field at Gaugamela and was murdered by his own satrap the next year.

  2. Which caliphate fell when the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258?

    • Umayyad
    • Abbasid
    • Fatimid
    • Ottoman

    Correct answer: Abbasid — Hulagu's Mongols killed the caliph and destroyed the city's libraries; the Abbasids had ruled from Baghdad since 762.

  3. Who became the world's first female prime minister in 1960?

    • Sirimavo Bandaranaike
    • Indira Gandhi
    • Golda Meir
    • Margaret Thatcher

    Correct answer: Sirimavo Bandaranaike — Bandaranaike became prime minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1960 after her husband's assassination.

  4. In which city did European powers meet in 1884–85 to divide Africa?

    • Vienna
    • Paris
    • London
    • Berlin

    Correct answer: Berlin — Bismarck hosted the conference; European powers set the rules for carving up Africa without a single African present.

  5. Which war of 1899–1902 was fought between Britain and the Afrikaner republics?

    • the Opium War
    • the Crimean War
    • the Zulu War
    • the Boer War

    Correct answer: the Boer War — Britain defeated the Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State; the war became notorious for concentration camps in which tens of thousands of civilians died.

  6. Who was emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974?

    • Tewodros II
    • Menelik II
    • Haile Selassie
    • Idi Amin

    Correct answer: Haile Selassie — Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974 by a military junta; Rastafarians regard him as divine.

  7. Which battle of 732 halted the Muslim advance into France?

    • Tours
    • Hastings
    • Lepanto
    • Vienna

    Correct answer: Tours — Charles Martel's Frankish army defeated the Umayyad forces near Tours (Poitiers) in 732.

  8. Who was the first emperor of a unified China, in 221 BC?

    • Qin Shi Huang
    • Han Wudi
    • Kublai Khan
    • Sun Yat-sen

    Correct answer: Qin Shi Huang — He unified the warring states in 221 BC, standardised writing and weights and was buried with the Terracotta Army.

  9. The Ottoman fleet was defeated at Lepanto in 1571 by which alliance?

    • the Delian League
    • the Hanseatic League
    • the Holy League
    • the Holy Roman Empire

    Correct answer: the Holy League — Spain, Venice and the Papal States crushed the Ottoman fleet in 1571 — the last great battle of oared galleys.

  10. After which emperor's death in 395 was the Roman Empire permanently divided?

    • Diocletian
    • Constantine
    • Theodosius I
    • Justinian

    Correct answer: Theodosius I — After Theodosius died in 395 the empire was split between his sons; the West fell in 476, the East lasted until 1453.

  11. Which Byzantine emperor codified Roman law in the 6th century?

    • Constantine
    • Justinian
    • Heraclius
    • Basil II

    Correct answer: Justinian — Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis became the basis of civil law in much of Europe; he also built Hagia Sophia.

  12. Which country's Velvet Revolution of 1989 ended communist rule peacefully?

    • Poland
    • Hungary
    • Czechoslovakia
    • Romania

    Correct answer: Czechoslovakia — Mass protests in November 1989 ended communist rule; the dissident Václav Havel became president within weeks.

  13. Which Roman general defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC?

    • Fabius Maximus
    • Scipio Africanus
    • Marius
    • Sulla

    Correct answer: Scipio Africanus — Scipio's victory at Zama ended the Second Punic War; Carthage was finally destroyed in 146 BC.

  14. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 ended which war?

    • the Thirty Years' War
    • the War of the Spanish Succession
    • the War of the Austrian Succession
    • the Seven Years' War

    Correct answer: the War of the Spanish Succession — The war over the Spanish throne pitted France and Spain against Britain, Austria and the Dutch; Britain gained Gibraltar.

  15. Ashoka the Great ruled which Indian empire?

    • Maurya
    • Gupta
    • Chola
    • Mughal

    Correct answer: Maurya — Ashoka ruled most of India in the 3rd century BC and embraced Buddhism after the bloody conquest of Kalinga.

  16. Which ruler of Mali made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324?

    • Sundiata Keita
    • Mansa Musa
    • Askia Muhammad
    • Shaka

    Correct answer: Mansa Musa — Mansa Musa's caravan carried so much gold that its spending reportedly depressed prices in Cairo for years.

  17. Which country's parliament, the Althing, was founded in 930?

    • England
    • Norway
    • Switzerland
    • Iceland

    Correct answer: Iceland — The Althing met at Thingvellir from 930; it still sits in Reykjavík as Iceland's parliament.

  18. Which pope called the First Crusade in 1095?

    • Leo IX
    • Gregory VII
    • Urban II
    • Innocent III

    Correct answer: Urban II — Urban II's call at Clermont launched the First Crusade, which took Jerusalem in 1099.

  19. In which year was the Battle of Hastings fought?

    • 1066
    • 1096
    • 1215
    • 1245

    Correct answer: 1066 — William of Normandy defeated King Harold at Hastings on 14 October 1066 and was crowned at Christmas.

  20. Who led the 1911 revolution that ended imperial rule in China?

    • Sun Yat-sen
    • Yuan Shikai
    • Chiang Kai-shek
    • Mao Zedong

    Correct answer: Sun Yat-sen — Sun Yat-sen became provisional president of the Republic of China in 1912; he is honoured by both Beijing and Taipei.

  21. Which dynasty did Kublai Khan found in China?

    • Yuan
    • Ming
    • Tang
    • Song

    Correct answer: Yuan — The Mongols ruled all of China from 1271; Marco Polo claims to have served at Kublai's court.

  22. Great Zimbabwe was the capital of a kingdom of which people?

    • The Zulu
    • The Ashanti
    • The Yoruba
    • The Shona

    Correct answer: The Shona — Its dry-stone walls were built without mortar between the 11th and 15th centuries; the modern country took its name.

  23. Which West African empire rose after Mali, ruling from Gao?

    • Songhai
    • Benin
    • Kanem-Bornu
    • Ashanti

    Correct answer: Songhai — At its height in the 1500s it controlled Timbuktu and the Saharan trade, until a Moroccan army with guns broke it in 1591.

  24. Which period of Japanese history ended with the Meiji Restoration?

    • Heian
    • Nara
    • Kamakura
    • Edo

    Correct answer: Edo — For over 250 years the Tokugawa shoguns ruled from Edo, today's Tokyo, and kept the country almost closed to foreigners.

  25. Which dynasty ruled Korea for more than five centuries?

    • Joseon
    • Goryeo
    • Silla
    • Baekje

    Correct answer: Joseon — Founded in 1392, it gave Korea its alphabet, hangul, and lasted until Japan took over the peninsula.

  26. Which treaty ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905?

    • The Treaty of Shimonoseki
    • The Treaty of Nanking
    • The Treaty of Versailles
    • The Treaty of Portsmouth

    Correct answer: The Treaty of Portsmouth — It was signed in the United States, and President Theodore Roosevelt won a Nobel Peace Prize for brokering it.

  27. Which congress redrew the map of Europe after Napoleon's defeat?

    • The Congress of Vienna
    • The Congress of Berlin
    • The Congress of Paris
    • The Congress of Verona

    Correct answer: The Congress of Vienna — The powers met in 1814-15 to restore old borders and monarchs, and the arrangement held off a general European war for decades.

  28. The Safavid dynasty ruled which country?

    • Egypt
    • Afghanistan
    • Persia
    • India

    Correct answer: Persia — From 1501 it made Shia Islam the state religion, which still sets Iran apart from its mostly Sunni neighbors.

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