280 Epic History Trivia Questions & Answers (2023)

Looking for history trivia questions? Are you and your friends obsessed with history? Have you been looking for history trivia to put your knowledge to the test? If so, these historical trivia questions are enough to challenge even the greatest history buff in the friend group.

That said, get all the history buffs in your life together and gear up for an intense night of trivia covering American, European, world history, and much more!

How to Play

Before getting started, it's essential everyone knows how to play.

First, ensure everybody playing has a pencil and a piece of paper to record their answers. After that, choose one player to be the "game head." The game head is in charge of asking all the questions and providing the group with the correct answers.

Also, the game head must keep track of each player's points. With that, each player receives one point for each correct answer they get.

If your friend group is unable to get together in person, you can also play via text message. Again, designate one player to be the game head and they will send each question via a group message. Naturally, each player will respond with their guess and receive a point if they get the question correct!

Now, get ready for some challenging historical trivia!

World War I History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: World War I started with the assassination of what Archduke of Austria?

Answer: Franz Ferdinand.

Trivia Question: When was Franz Ferdinand assassinated?

Answer: June 28, 1914.

Trivia Question: What was Germany's strategic plan at the beginning of World War I?

Answer: The Schlieffen Plan.

Trivia Question: What was Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder called during this war?

Answer: Shell shock.

Trivia Question: What was the nickname of the first all-African American regiment in this war?

Answer: The "Harlem Hellfighters."

Trivia Question: What country pulled out of the war on March 3, 1918?

Answer: Russia.

Trivia Question: In 1914, there was a temporary truce on which holiday?

Answer: Christmas Day.

Trivia Question: What German telegram intended to go to Mexico was intercepted by the British?

Answer: The Zimmerman Telegram.

Trivia Question: What weapon was introduced in the Battle of the Somme?

Answer: A tank.

Trivia Question: When was the Battle of the Somme?

Answer: September 15, 1916.

Trivia Question: Which country lost the most lives in World War I?

Answer: Germany.

Trivia Question: How many lives did the Germans lose?

Answer: 1.8 million.

Trivia Question: Which secret military society was responsible for the Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassination?

Answer: The Black Hand.

Trivia Question: What nickname did American soldiers have during World War I?

Answer: Doughboys.

Trivia Question: What was the deadliest chemical weapon utilized during the First World War?

Answer: Phosgene.

Trivia Question: Which stage performer was executed for being a spy during the First World War?

Answer: Mata Hari.

Trivia Question: During the First World War, what disease caused a third of total military deaths?

Answer: The Spanish flu.

Trivia Question: What were German submarines called during this war?

Answer: U-boats.

Trivia Question: Which Native American tribe created the military code Germans couldn't decipher?

Answer: Choctaw.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the first tank used during this war?

Answer: Little Willie.

World War II History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What two countries were involved in a military conflict before World War II started?

Answer: Japan and China.

Trivia Question: What was the first Axis Power to surrender?

Answer: Italy.

Trivia Question: What meeting is often said to mark the start of the Cold War?

Answer: The Yalta Conference.

Trivia Question: What Axis leader was imprisoned on July 24, 1943?

Answer: Benito Mussolini.

Trivia Question: How many Jews were killed during the Holocaust?

Answer: Six million.

Trivia Question: What was the last major German offensive campaign in the war?

Answer: The Battle of the Bulge.

Trivia Question: What event brought the United States into this war?

Answer: The attack on Pearl Harbor.

Trivia Question: "Willie Joe" was the name of what type of art popular during this time?

Answer: A highly successful comic strip.

Trivia Question: Who was the cartoonist for the highly successful comic strip "Willie Joe"?

Answer: William Henry "Bill" Mauldin.

Trivia Question: What was the longest battle during this war?

Answer: The Battle of the Atlantic.

Trivia Question: When did the attack on Pearl Harbor start?

Answer: December 7, 1941.

Trivia Question: What was the first Nazi concentration camp?

Answer: Dachau.

Trivia Question: What Japanese city was bombed on August 6, 1945?

Answer: Hiroshima.

Trivia Question: What type of bomb was dropped on the Japanese city Hiroshima?

Answer: An atomic bomb.

Trivia Question: What type of plane dropped the first atomic bomb?

Answer: An American B-29 bomber.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the research and development project that developed the first atomic bomb?

Answer: The Allied Manhattan Project.

Trivia Question: What was the code name for the Battle of Normandy?

Answer: Operation Overload.

Trivia Question: Which country lost the most lives during this war?

Answer: Soviet Union.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the famous battle commonly referred to as the Ardennes Offensive?

Answer: Battle of the Bulge.

Trivia Question: What war, also the most destructive battle in history, was considered the turning point in this war?

Answer: The Battle of Stalingrad.

Trivia Question: What is the title of the book Adolf Hitler wrote while in prison for high treason?

Answer: "Mein Kampf."

Trivia Question: When was Adolf Hitler appointed the chancellor and president of Germany?

Answer: August 1934.

Trivia Question: What year was Adolf Hitler nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

Answer: 1939.

American Civil War History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What was considered the turning point in the Civil War?

Answer: The Battle of Gettysburg.

Trivia Question: Which two states formed during the Civil War?

Answer: West Virginia.

Trivia Question: When was the bloodiest single-day battle during the Civil War?

Answer: September 17, 1862.

Trivia Question: What is the name of the bloodiest single-day battle in this war?

Answer: The Battle of Antietam.

Trivia Question: During the Civil War, what was the name of Robert E. Lee's horse?

Answer: Traveller.

Trivia Question: What was the first state to secede from the Union?

Answer: South Carolina.

Trivia Question: What phrase first appeared on a U.S. coin during the American Civil War?

Answer: "In God We Trust."

Trivia Question: Who were the two presidents during the Civil War?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.

U.S. History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: When did the Revolutionary war end?

Answer: September 3, 1783.

Trivia Question: The stripes on the American flag represent what?

Answer: The original 13 Colonies.

Trivia Question: The stars on the American flag represent what?

Answer: The 50 states of the Union.

Trivia Question: How did the Revolutionary War end?

Answer: General Cornwallis was forced to surrender the British position at Yorktown, Virginia.

Trivia Question: When did Congress adopt the Stars and Stripes as the country's official flag?

Answer: June 14, 1777.

Trivia Question: Who made the first flag for the U.S.?

Answer: Betsy Ross.

Trivia Question: When was the Declaration of Independence signed?

Answer: August 2, 1776.

Trivia Question: The Declaration of Independence signed in 1776 included how many people?

Answer: 56.

Trivia Question: Which Founding Father founded the "New York Post"?

Answer: Alexander Hamilton.

Trivia Question: Which Founding Father thought the Constitution should be rewritten every 19 years?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson.

Trivia Question: What year did the Supreme Court legalize same-sex marriage?

Answer: 2015.

Trivia Question: When were the National civil rights protests most prominent?

Answer: In the 1950s and 1960s.

Trivia Question: What were the most popular herbicides and defoliants used during the Vietnam War?

Answer: Agent Blue, Agent Green, and Agent Orange.

Trivia Question: Which country won the Vietnam War?

Answer: The United States.

Trivia Question: How long did the American Revolution last?

Answer: 19 years (1765-1784).

More American History Trivia

Trivia Question: What was the name of the famous boycott Martin Luther King Jr. orchestrated?

Answer: The Montgomery bus boycott.

Trivia Question: Where did Martin Luther King deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech?

Answer: Washington D.C.

Trivia Question: Who was the first female Hispanic astronaut in American history?

Answer: Ellen Ochoa.

Trivia Question: When did Ellen Ochoa become the first female Hispanic astronaut?

Answer: 1993.

Trivia Question: Who was the first person in American history to walk on the moon?

Answer: Neil Armstrong.

Trivia Question: On what day did Neil Armstrong walk on the moon?

Answer: July 21, 1969.

Trivia Question: Why was Rosa Parks arrested?

Answer: She, an African American woman, did not give up her bus seat to a white man.

Trivia Question: What was the name of the famous music festival in American history that began on August 15, 1969?

Answer: The Woodstock Music Festival.

Trivia Question: Who was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court?

Answer: Sandra Day O'Connor.

Trivia Question: What country gifted the United States the Statue of Liberty?

Answer: France.

Trivia Question: Where is the Liberty Bell currently located?

Answer: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Trivia Question: What was the first capital of the United States?

Answer: New York City.

U.S. Presidents History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What political party was George Washington?

Answer: Federalist.

Trivia Question: Who was the ninth President of the United States?

Answer: William Henry Harrison.

Trivia Question: Who was the first President to appear on TV?

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Trivia Question: What president was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1906?

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt.

Trivia Question: At the time of his death, how many slaves did George Washington own?

Answer: 123 people.

Trivia Question: Who was the first President of the United States to have a beard?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln.

Trivia Question: On what day was Abraham Lincoln assassinated?

Answer: April 15, 1865.

Trivia Question: Who was the first African American President of the United States?

Answer: Barack Obama.

Trivia Question: Barack Obama was what number President of the United States?

Answer: 44th.

Trivia Question: When was George W. Bush elected president?

Answer: 2000.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president to resign?

Answer: Richard Nixon.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president to live in the White House?

Answer: John Adams.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president to be impeached twice?

Answer: Donald Trump.

Trivia Question: Who was the first president to be impeached?

Answer: Andrew Jackson.

Europe History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: Who was the first democratically elected president of Poland?

Answer: Lech Wałęsa.

Trivia Question: Who was the first woman to serve as the Prime Minister of France?

Answer: Édith Cresson.

Trivia Question: Who was known as the "Iron Chancellor"?

Answer: Otto von Bismarck.

Trivia Question: Lady Godiva rode through which country?

Answer: England.

Trivia Question: What was the original name of Constantinople?

Answer: Byzantium.

Trivia Question: What country was Vasco da Gama from?

Answer: Portugal.

Trivia Question: What caused the Windscale fire incident?

Answer: A nuclear accident.

Trivia Question: Which Roman emperor built the Segovia aqueduct?

Answer: Trajan.

Trivia Question: Who was the first European to land in North America?

Answer: Leif Erikson.

Trivia Question: Napoleon's Milan Decree was designed to create a trade blockade for which country?

Answer: Great Britain.

Trivia Question: When did the Chornobyl disaster take place?

Answer: 1986.

Trivia Question: Who was a British art historian and also a Soviet spy?

Answer: Anthony Blunt.

Trivia Question: What is English admiral Sir Francis Drake famous for?

Answer: Circumnavigation of the globe.

Trivia Question: What year did the Great Smog of London occur?

Answer: 1952.

Trivia Question: The Industrial Revolution began in what European country?

Answer: Great Britain.

Trivia Question: When was the Council of Europe founded?

Answer: 1949.

Trivia Question: Who was the French king who ruled during the French Revolution?

Answer: King Louis XVI.

Trivia Question: The French Revolution started when France declared war on what country?

Answer: Austria.

Trivia Question: At the end of the French Revolution, who became the new leader of France?

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte.

Trivia Question: Which two countries were involved in the Hundred Years' War?

Answer: England and France.

Trivia Question: What year did the Hundred Years' War start?

Answer: 1337.

Trivia Question: When was the Good Friday Agreement signed?

Answer: April 10, 1998.

Trivia Question: What was another name for the Good Friday Agreement?

Answer: The Belfast Agreement.

Trivia Question: What was the first European country to abolish slavery?

Answer: Denmark-Norway in 1803.

Trivia Question: What year was the European Union formed?

Answer: 1993.

Trivia Question: What treaty created the European Union?

Answer: The Maastricht Treaty.

Trivia Question: When was the Berlin Wall built?

Answer: 1961.

Trivia Question: When did the Berlin wall fall?

Answer: November 9, 1989.

Trivia Question: How many wives did Henry VIII have?

Answer: Six.

Trivia Question: In which European country was William Shakespeare born?

Answer: The United Kingdom.

Trivia Question: London happened to be the largest city (with 15,000 people) in Europe north of the Alps in what year?

Answer: 1085.

World History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: What country was the first to invent paper money?

Answer: China.

Trivia Question: What well-known monument did Shah Jahān build to immortalize his wife?

Answer: Taj Mahal.

Trivia Question: Which country won the Battle of Midway?

Answer: The United States.

Trivia Question: How long did it take to build the Titanic?

Answer: Three years.

Trivia Question: How many lifeboats did the Titanic have?

Answer: 20.

Trivia Question: What Treaty ended the War of 1812?

Answer: Treaty of Ghent.

Trivia Question: How long did it take for the bow of the Titanic to reach the bottom of the ocean?

Answer: Six minutes.

Trivia Question: Who restored democratic rule to the Philippines after the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos?

Answer: Corazon Aquino.

Trivia Question: When did the Great Irish Famine begin?

Answer: 1845.

Trivia Question: Who was Franz Ferdinand's assassin?

Answer: Gavrilo Princip.

Trivia Question: Who was the architect who rebuilt London after the Great Fire of 1666?

Answer: Christopher Wren.

Trivia Question: When did Switzerland gain its independence?

Answer: 1648.

Trivia Question: What era followed the Civil War?

Answer: Reconstruction.

Trivia Question: Which Siberian peasant had the ability to heal the son of Emperor Nicholas II?

Answer: Grigori Rasputin.

Trivia Question: Who was the wartime nurse known as the "Lady with the Lamp"?

Answer: Florence Nightingale.

Trivia Question: Where did the Battle of Waterloo take place?

Answer: Belgium.

Trivia Question: What leader was overthrown by the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003?

Answer: Saddam Hussein.

Trivia Question: What two Asian countries are divided by the 38th parallel?

Answer: North Korea and South Korea.

Trivia Question: Who is known as the "Father of Medicine"?

Answer: Hippocrates.

Trivia Question: In which modern-day country was Karl Marx born?

Answer: Germany.

Trivia Question: Which two countries were involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer: The United States and the Soviet Union.

Trivia Question: When did the Cuban Missile Crisis take place?

Answer: October 16 - 28, 1962.

Sports History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: When was the first World Cup held?

Answer: 1930.

Trivia Question: What was the first country from the Middle East to win a match in the World Cup?

Answer: Tunisia.

Trivia Question: What city hosted the 2016 Olympic Games?

Answer: Rio de Janeiro.

Trivia Question: What city hosted the first-ever Olympic Games?

Answer: Athens.

Trivia Question: What Chicago Bears running back was known as "The Galloping Ghost"?

Answer: Harold Grange.

Trivia Question: What was the biggest margin of victory ever in a Triple Crown race?

Answer: 31 lengths.

Trivia Question: What horse won the 1973 Belmont Stakes race?

Answer: Secretariat.

Trivia Question: Who is the only person in NBA history to be named Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year?

Answer: Larry Bird.

Trivia Question: What year did China win its first Olympic medal?

Answer: 1984.

Trivia Question: Who holds the most Olympic medals?

Answer: Michael Phelps.

Trivia Question: What is the record for most red cards given during a single soccer game?

Answer: 36.

Trivia Question: Which tennis player won 470 straight matches?

Answer: Esther Vergeer.

Trivia Question: What country has won all its Olympic medals during the Winter Olympics?

Answer: Liechtenstein.

Trivia Question: How many buttons, knobs, and switches does a Formula One steering wheel have?

Answer: 35 or more.

Trivia Question: Who was the last NFL player to play a game without a helmet?

Answer: Dick Plasman.

Trivia Question: What manager led the Boston Red Sox to their first championship in 86 years?

Answer: Terry Francona.

Trivia Question: What was the name of Chicago's NBA team from 1946-1950?

Answer: The Chicago Stags.

Trivia Question: Who was the first NHL goalie to score a goal?

Answer: Billy Smith.

Trivia Question: What was the original name of the Philadelphia 76ers?

Answer: The Syracuse Nationals.

Ancient World History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: In world history, when did the first civilizations appear?

Answer: 2500 BCE.

Trivia Question: Where did the first human civilization appear?

Answer: Mesopotamia.

Trivia Question: When in human history did Homo sapiens have the capacity for language?

Answer: 50,000 years ago.

Mexico History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: Which Mexican priest is considered "The Father of the Nation"?

Answer: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

Trivia Question: When does Mexico celebrate its Independence Day?

Answer: September 16.

Trivia Question: May 5th is the anniversary of what battle?

Answer: The Battle of Puebla.

Trivia Question: Who was Mexico's first Emperor following the country's independence from Spain?

Answer: Agustín de Iturbide.

Trivia Question: Mexican president Miguel Fernández Félix changed his name to what?

Answer: Guadalupe Victoria.

Trivia Question: What two Mexican generals were shot alongside Maximilian of Habsburg in June 1867?

Answer: Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía.

Greek Mythology History Trivia Questions

Trivia Question: Which Greek goddess had hair made of snakes?

Answer: Medusa.

Trivia Question: What creature was half-man and half-bull?

Answer: A Minotaur.

Trivia Question: Who fell in love with the statue he had carved?

Answer: Pygmalion.

Trivia Question: Who did the Greek goddess Aphrodite love?

Answer: Adonis.

Trivia Question: Who fired the arrow that hit Achilles in the heel?

Answer: Paris.

Trivia Question: Who was the Greek goddess of the rainbow?

Answer: Iris.

Trivia Question: Who is the Greek God of the sea?

Answer: Poseidon.

Trivia Question: What was the food of the gods?

Answer: Ambrosia.

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