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Easy History Trivia Questions
The easy questions from our history set, 34 of them, each with the answer and an explanation below the game.
Keys 1-4 pick an answer, Enter moves on. Nothing is saved to an account.
These are the history questions most players already know: the end of the Second World War, the first person on the Moon, the country that built the pyramids, the city Vesuvius buried. A safe opening round for any group, and a good way to warm a table up before the dates get harder.
34 easy history trivia questions with answers
In which year did the Second World War end?
Answer: 1945 Germany surrendered in May 1945 and Japan followed that September.Why?
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in which country?
Answer: Egypt It was raised as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.
Which wall divided a European city until 1989?
Answer: The Berlin Wall It stood for 28 years, sealing East Berlin off from the West.Why?
Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Answer: Neil Armstrong He stepped off the Apollo 11 lander in July 1969.Why?
The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in which year?
Answer: 1912 It struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic while sailing to New York.
Which Roman city was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79?
Answer: Pompeii Falling ash sealed its streets and buildings for centuries.Why?
The Great Wall was built to defend which country?
Answer: China It is a chain of walls raised and rebuilt across many dynasties.
Which French emperor was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo?
Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte The 1815 defeat ended his brief return to power.Why?
Christopher Columbus sailed west in 1492 under the flag of which country?
Answer: Spain He was Genoese, but Ferdinand and Isabella paid for the voyage.
Julius Caesar was a leader of which ancient civilisation?
Answer: Rome He was assassinated by fellow senators in 44 BC.
The ancient Olympic Games were held in which country?
Answer: Greece They ran at Olympia from roughly 776 BC for over a thousand years.
The Black Death that swept Europe in the 1340s was mainly which disease?
Answer: Plague It killed a large share of Europe's population within a few years.
Which country was ruled by tsars until 1917?
Answer: Russia Nicholas II was the last to hold the title.Why?
The Second World War began in 1939 when Germany invaded which country?
Answer: Poland Britain and France declared war two days after the invasion.
The Parthenon in Athens was built by which ancient people?
Answer: The Greeks It was completed in the fifth century BC as a temple to the goddess Athena.
Who led Nazi Germany during the Second World War?
Answer: Adolf Hitler He took power in 1933 and died in Berlin in the last days of the war in Europe.
In which year did the First World War begin?
Answer: 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia that July and the alliances pulled in the rest of Europe within weeks.
Which invention is Alexander Graham Bell credited with patenting in 1876?
Answer: The telephone His first call is said to have summoned his assistant with the words 'Mr Watson, come here'.
The Renaissance began in which country?
Answer: Italy Florence, Venice and Rome led the revival of classical art and learning from the fourteenth century.
Who painted the Mona Lisa?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci He worked on it for years and it was still with him when he died in France in 1519.
Knights, castles and the feudal system belong to which period of European history?
Answer: The Middle Ages The period runs roughly from the fall of Rome in the fifth century to the fifteenth century.
In which decade did the Soviet Union break up?
Answer: The 1990s It formally dissolved in December 1991, leaving fifteen independent states.
Who was Britain's prime minister for most of the Second World War?
Answer: Winston Churchill He took office in May 1940 and lost the general election two months after the war in Europe ended.
In August 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and which other Japanese city?
Answer: Nagasaki Kyoto had been on the target list but was removed, and Nagasaki was bombed three days after Hiroshima.
Alexander the Great was king of which ancient kingdom?
Answer: Macedon He conquered the Persian Empire and reached India before dying at Babylon aged 32.
The Cold War was mainly a rivalry between the United States and which other power?
Answer: The Soviet Union It ran from the late 1940s until the Soviet collapse in 1991 without the two ever fighting directly.
Who developed the theory of general relativity?
Answer: Albert Einstein He published it in 1915, a decade after his special theory.
The Vikings originally came from which region?
Answer: Scandinavia From the late eighth century they raided, traded and settled from Newfoundland to the Black Sea.
The Industrial Revolution began in which country?
Answer: Britain Steam power, coal and cotton mills transformed its economy from the late eighteenth century.
Whose tomb, packed with gold treasures, was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922?
Answer: Tutankhamun Howard Carter found it almost intact, which is why the boy king is so famous today.
The Aztec Empire was centred in what is now which country?
Answer: Mexico Its capital, Tenochtitlan, stood where Mexico City is today.
The D-Day landings of June 1944 took place on the coast of which country?
Answer: France Allied troops landed on five Normandy beaches to open the western front.
Who was the first human to travel into space?
Answer: Yuri Gagarin His single orbit of the Earth in April 1961 lasted about 108 minutes.
In Greek legend, the Trojan War was fought over which city?
Answer: Troy Its ruins are usually identified with a site at Hisarlik in north-west Turkey.
Answer key
- 1945
- Egypt
- The Berlin Wall
- Neil Armstrong
- 1912
- Pompeii
- China
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Spain
- Rome
- Greece
- Plague
- Russia
- Poland
- The Greeks
- Adolf Hitler
- 1914
- The telephone
- Italy
- Leonardo da Vinci
- The Middle Ages
- The 1990s
- Winston Churchill
- Nagasaki
- Macedon
- The Soviet Union
- Albert Einstein
- Scandinavia
- Britain
- Tutankhamun
- Mexico
- France
- Yuri Gagarin
- Troy
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full history list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
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