Historical Figures Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 273
Which French premier in 1919 played a significant role in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles?
georges clemenceau
Who is the famed nurse that the little girl who fell off a swing called her new hero after being released from the hospital today?
florence nightingale
Who dictated a detailed account of their Asian travels while imprisoned in Genoa in 1298?
marco polo
As a dedicated abolitionist, Thoreau served as a 'conductor' on what historical network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom?
underground railroad
Who had 17 acres surrounding her cottage transferred to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1938?
anne hathaway
Who was the wife of TV's Starsky who dedicated her last six years to combating pediatric AIDS?
elizabeth glaser
Who was briefly an actor in the West Indies before becoming a naval hero in the Revolutionary War, as mentioned in 'Captains Courageous'?
john paul jones
Who is the South African president known to be the son of a Tembu tribal chief?
nelson mandela
Who won the California GOP gubernatorial primary over ex-San Francisco mayor George Christopher on June 7, 1966?
ronald reagan
In December 1964, with whom did Martin Luther King confer, who was also spying on him, about the FBI's role in civil rights?
j. edgar hoover
Who served as professor of jurisprudence and political economy at Princeton from 1890 to 1902 before becoming a U.S. President?
woodrow wilson
Which 19th-century bird artist is honored by a 45-ton statue of a bull named Albert in an Iowa town?
john james audubon
Which emperor divorced his first wife in December 1809 and married Archduchess Marie-Louise four months later?
napoleon
Who was jailed in Paris for debt in December 1855, known for inventing vulcanized rubber?
charles goodyear
In 1791, who published the first part of 'The Rights of Man' in England and was later charged with treason?
thomas paine
Who was born Elijah Poole in 1897 and later became the leader of the Nation of Islam, also known as Black Muslims?
elijah muhammad
Who gave Ethiopia its first written constitution after becoming emperor in 1930?
haile selassie
Which historically known king of the Huns is described as a small man with a big head and a flat nose, and is considered to be unattractive?
attila
Which Austrian president was barred from entering the U.S. in 1987 due to possible involvement in Nazi war crimes?
kurt waldheim
Which battlefield nurse did Lincoln assign the task of identifying missing soldiers at the end of the Civil War?
clara barton
Which ancient empire did Vitellius, known for indulging in flamingo tongues and peacock brains, serve as emperor?
rome
Who returned to the Philippines in November 1991 after almost six years in exile?
imelda marcos
Who was commemorated on a U.S. coin in 1909 on the centennial of his birth?
abraham lincoln
Whose London tombstone features a giant bust of his head and the epitaph 'Workers of All Lands Unite'?
karl marx
At the age of 16 in 1837, which British nurse heard a divine message about her life's mission?
florence nightingale
Which French queen was blamed for the country's bankruptcy and nicknamed 'Madame Deficit'?
marie antoinette
Which historical figure lost her vision and hearing before the age of 2 and was later helped by Anne Sullivan, starting 5 years afterward?
helen keller
Which country's King Leopold II established the Congo Free State in 1885?
belgium
Which Attorney General, buried near his brother in 1968, has a simple white cross marking his grave at Arlington National Cemetery?
robert f. kennedy
Who was wounded at night by fellow Confederates at Chancellorsville and died 8 days later?
stonewall jackson
Who was the famous Kentucky frontiersman captured by the Shawnee in 1778, but managed to escape?
daniel boone
Which famous outlaw joined his older brother Frank in Quantrill's Raiders when he was about 15 years old?
jesse james
Who was the inspirational revolutionary-general that was an uneducated Mexican peasant of Indian descent?
emiliano zapata
Which historical figure's landing site on St. Croix was designated as a national landmark over 450 years later?
christopher columbus
Who was born in 1557 in Temple Grafton, England, married a Stratford boy in 1582, and died in 1623?
anne hathaway
Which famous First Lady was the half-sister of the widow of Confederate General D.H. Helm, who was offered amnesty?
mary todd lincoln
Who is the legendary figure said to have been commissioned by King Olav I to bring Christianity to Norse colonists around the year 1000?
leif erikson
Who was confirmed by the Senate in 1993 as the first black Secretary of Agriculture?
mike espy
Who is the only American woman whose husband and son were both elected President?
abigail adams
Who assisted Hitler in writing 'Mein Kampf' and later became a member of his cabinet?
rudolf hess
Who was expelled from Harvard in 1885 for insulting his professors and later became the publisher of the USA's largest newspaper chain?
william randolph hearst
Who was the Venetian that arrived at the Chinese court in 1275 with his father and uncle?
marco polo
Which Mongol ruler of China did Marco Polo serve as an aide?
kublai khan
Which wrestler married Babe Didrikson in 1938?
george zaharias
In which country was Winston Churchill's mother Jennie Jerome born?
united states
Which famous individual started his career doing sports on radio station WHO Des Moines, then became an actor, and later pursued a career in politics?
ronald reagan
Which botanist turned down an offer in 1931 from the Soviet Union to manage its cotton plantations?
george washington carver
Which country had King Gustav VI, known for his expertise in archaeology and Chinese ceramics?
sweden
In which present-day country did Vlad the Impaler, considered the original Dracula, serve as a prince in the 15th century?
romania
Which clarinetist and big band leader married A.H. Duckworth, a great-great-granddaughter of C. Vanderbilt?
benny goodman
Who purchased the McDonald brothers' burger business in 1961 for $2.7 million?
ray kroc
Which close associate and collaborator of Karl Marx remained friends with Eduard Bernstein despite Bernstein's revisions of Marx's ideas?
friedrich engels
Which Supreme Court justice and author of 'Other People's Money' had a university in Waltham, Mass. named after him?
louis brandeis
In 1990, who was the Labor Secretary that received a Frontrunner Award from the Sara Lee Corporation?
elizabeth dole
Which infamous frontier dentist, who later gained notoriety in the Old West, was originally from Georgia and first practiced in Atlanta?
doc holliday
Who was described in 1939 as a philosopher who employed scientific methods for therapeutic purposes?
sigmund freud
Who was in her '80s when she organized the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in 1904?
susan b. anthony
Which woman from the 18th century made several attempts to meet Marat before successfully assassinating him?
charlotte corday
Who was the abolitionist and publisher of 'The North Star' who operated a station of the Underground Railroad in Rochester?
frederick douglass
Who was the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher known for discovering the intervals in an octave and likely played a mean triangle?
pythagoras