General History Quiz – 10 Questions & Answers

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, 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, ending only when the military was called in.

Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps in 218 BCE was one of the major 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.

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

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

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.

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

There were two revolutions that took place in Russia during 1917. In March there was a true Marxist revolution. In November, Vladimir Lenin, led a second revolution that was not a true Marxist revolution.

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

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

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.