General History Quiz – 10 Questions & Answers

Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BCE was one of the significant achievements of the Second Punic War. His army numbered 38 elephants, 38,000 infantry, and 8,000 cavalry, almost all of which would not survive the harsh conditions of the Alps.

Rodney King was an American construction worker who became nationally known after being beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991. Four officers were charged, and three were acquitted of all charges. The acquittals are generally considered to have triggered the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which 53 people were killed, and over 2,000 were injured.

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members.

In 2010, Julia Gillard became Australia's first female elected Prime Minister. She served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013.

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Captain James Cook was a British explorer and captain in the Royal Navy. He made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean. He recorded the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.

The British rule lasted until 1947 when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign dominion states (India and Pakistan).

The sarin attack was an act of domestic terrorism staged by members of Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995. Sarin is both colorless and odorless. It is used as a chemical weapon due to its extreme potency as a nerve agent.

Two revolutions took place in Russia in 1917. In March, there was a true Marxist revolution. In November, Vladimir Lenin led a second revolution that was not a true Marxist one.

The New Deal was a series of programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938. They included laws passed by Congress and presidential executive orders during the first term (1933-37) of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.