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150 World History Trivia Questions and Answers

Reviewed by Aleesha Rubinstein, Editor·Updated Oct 2026·19 min read

150 world history trivia questions and answers on empires, dynasties, wars, treaties and world leaders — from Sumer and Rome to Ming China, the Mughals, both world wars and the Cold War.

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Here are 150 world history trivia questions and answers, built for players who already know their Washington from their Lincoln and want to range further. The rounds run from the first cities of Mesopotamia through Greece, Rome and Byzantium, China's dynasties, India and the Islamic world, medieval Europe and Africa, the age of empires, the revolutions of the 19th century, two world wars and the postwar world.

Each question is tagged easy, medium or hard. Easy is Genghis Khan and the Berlin Wall; hard is the founder of the Tang dynasty or the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War. Answers are in the key at the bottom, so you can host without spoilers.

  1. 1Which ancient civilization developed cuneiform, one of the earliest known writing systems?

  2. 2Which Babylonian king's law code is famous for the principle of 'an eye for an eye'?

  3. 3Which legendary king of Uruk is the hero of one of the oldest surviving works of literature?

  4. 4The city of Nineveh was the capital of which ancient empire at its height?

  5. 5Which Bronze Age civilization built the planned cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa?

  6. 6Which pharaoh reigned for 66 years and built the temples at Abu Simbel?

  7. 7Which female pharaoh ruled Egypt in the 15th century BC and was often shown wearing a false beard?

  8. 8Which seafaring people from the coast of present-day Lebanon founded the city of Carthage?

  9. 9Who is traditionally credited with composing the epic poems 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey'?

  10. 10The Greek city-state of Sparta was best known for what?

  11. 11Which Athenian statesman led the city during its golden age and backed the building of the Parthenon?

  12. 12Which Greek philosopher was a student of Plato and tutor to Alexander the Great?

  13. 13In what year did the Athenians defeat the Persians at the Battle of Marathon?

  14. 14In what year did 300 Spartans and their allies make their stand at Thermopylae?

  15. 15Which Athenian general's strategy won the naval Battle of Salamis against Persia?

  16. 16The Peloponnesian War of 431-404 BC was fought between Athens and which rival city-state?

  17. 17The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and which North African city-state?

  18. 18Which Carthaginian general crossed the Alps with war elephants during the Second Punic War?

  19. 19Which Egyptian queen allied with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony?

  20. 20At the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Octavian defeated Cleopatra and which Roman general?

  21. 21The eruption of which volcano buried the Roman city of Pompeii in AD 79?

  22. 22What was the standard silver coin of the Roman Empire for much of its history?

  23. 23Which language of ancient Rome is the ancestor of Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese?

  24. 24Which Roman emperor legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313?

  25. 25Which Roman emperor made Christianity the official state religion of the empire in 380?

  26. 26Which leader of the Huns was known as the 'Scourge of God'?

  27. 27Which Germanic chieftain deposed Romulus Augustulus in 476, ending the Western Roman Empire?

  28. 28After the 7th century, what was the main language of the Byzantine Empire?

  29. 29The fall of which city to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 is often cited as the end of the Middle Ages?

  30. 30Which philosopher's sayings, collected in the 'Analects,' shaped Chinese society for over 2,000 years?

  31. 31Which king founded China's Zhou dynasty after defeating the Shang?

  32. 32Who founded China's Han dynasty in 202 BC?

  33. 33Which emperor reunified China in 589 as founder of the Sui dynasty?

  34. 34Who founded China's Tang dynasty in 618?

  35. 35Who founded China's Song dynasty in 960?

  36. 36Which Mongol ruler, a grandson of Genghis Khan, founded China's Yuan dynasty?

  37. 37Which former peasant and monk founded China's Ming dynasty in 1368?

  38. 38Which Ming admiral led seven great 'treasure fleet' voyages across the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433?

  39. 39What was China's last imperial dynasty?

  40. 40The 19th-century Opium Wars were fought mainly between Great Britain and which country?

  41. 41Which 1899-1901 uprising in northern China targeted foreigners and Chinese Christians?

  42. 42Who became the first provisional president of the Republic of China in 1912?

  43. 43What was the 1934-35 retreat of China's Red Army, covering thousands of miles, called?

  44. 44Which leader proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949?

  45. 45What was the name of Mao's 1966-76 campaign that purged 'bourgeois' elements and closed schools?

  46. 46Who founded India's Maurya Empire around 321 BC?

  47. 47Which Maurya emperor turned to Buddhism after the bloody Kalinga War?

  48. 48Which 7th-century Indian mathematician wrote the earliest known rules for calculating with zero?

  49. 49Who founded the Mughal Empire after winning the First Battle of Panipat in 1526?

  50. 50Which Mughal emperor was known for religious tolerance and ruled from 1556 to 1605?

  51. 51Which British trading company ruled much of India until the Crown took direct control in 1858?

  52. 52Which 1930 protest saw Gandhi walk about 240 miles to the sea?

  53. 53Who led India's nonviolent movement for independence from British rule?

  54. 54Who became independent India's first prime minister in 1947?

  55. 55Who became India's first president when the country became a republic in 1950?

  56. 56Which country was created alongside India when British India was partitioned in 1947?

  57. 57The Hijra, which marks year one of the Islamic calendar, was whose migration from Mecca to Medina in 622?

  58. 58Which caliphate built Baghdad as its new capital in 762?

  59. 59The word 'algebra' comes from the title of a book by which 9th-century Persian mathematician?

  60. 60Which Muslim sultan recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187?

  61. 61Which Ottoman sultan, called 'the Magnificent,' ruled the empire at its height from 1520 to 1566?

  62. 62Which failed 1683 siege marked the end of the Ottoman advance into Central Europe?

  63. 63Who founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and became its first president?

  64. 64Which Mongol leader founded the empire that became the largest contiguous land empire in history?

  65. 65What was the ancient network of trade routes linking China with the Mediterranean called?

  66. 66What was the medieval system in which lords granted land to vassals in return for military service called?

  67. 67Who was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in the year 800?

  68. 68In what year was the Battle of Hastings fought?

  69. 69Which Norman duke became king of England after winning at Hastings?

  70. 70Which document limiting royal power did King John of England agree to and seal in 1215?

  71. 71The Hundred Years' War was fought between which two kingdoms?

  72. 72At which 1415 battle did Henry V's English longbowmen defeat a much larger French army?

  73. 73In what year did the Black Death reach Europe, carried on ships to Sicily?

  74. 74Which royal house took the English throne after Henry VII won the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485?

  75. 75Which Muslim-ruled city fell to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, completing the Reconquista?

  76. 76Which Mali emperor made a famously lavish pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, giving away huge amounts of gold?

  77. 77Which West African city was a famed center of Islamic scholarship under the Mali and Songhai empires?

  78. 78Which German goldsmith's invention of a movable-type printing press around 1440 revolutionized the spread of information?

  79. 79In which Italian city did the Medici family's patronage help launch the Renaissance?

  80. 80In what year did Christopher Columbus first reach the Americas?

  81. 81Which 1494 treaty divided newly claimed lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal?

  82. 82What was the name of the Aztec capital, built on an island in Lake Texcoco?

  83. 83Which Aztec emperor was ruling when Hernán Cortés arrived in 1519?

  84. 84Which Spanish king sent the Armada against England in 1588?

  85. 85What was the long war that devastated Central Europe from 1618 to 1648?

  86. 86Which 1648 treaties ended the Thirty Years' War?

  87. 87Which warlord won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and founded Japan's last shogunate?

  88. 88What title was held by the military rulers who governed Japan for centuries in the emperor's name?

  89. 89Who became Russia's first crowned tsar in 1547?

  90. 90Which Russian ruler founded St. Petersburg in 1703?

  91. 91Who was the first woman to rule the Russian Empire in her own right, as empress from 1725 to 1727?

  92. 92Which German-born empress ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796 and annexed Crimea?

  93. 93Which revolution began in France in 1789?

  94. 94In which country did the Industrial Revolution begin?

  95. 95Which 19th-century invention allowed near-instant communication over long distances using electrical signals?

  96. 96Which former slave led the Haitian Revolution that began in 1791?

  97. 97From which country did Brazil declare independence in 1822?

  98. 98Which 1814-15 gathering of European powers redrew the map of Europe after Napoleon?

  99. 99Which British nurse became known as 'the Lady with the Lamp' during the Crimean War?

  100. 100Which Russian tsar freed the serfs in 1861?

  101. 101Which general led the 'Redshirts' in the fight to unify Italy?

  102. 102Which Prussian chancellor engineered the unification of Germany in 1871?

  103. 103The Meiji Restoration of 1868 began the rapid modernization of which country?

  104. 104Which 1884-85 conference set the rules for European powers dividing Africa?

  105. 105At the Battle of Adwa in 1896, which African country defeated an invading Italian army?

  106. 106In 1893, which self-governing country became the first to give women the vote in national elections?

  107. 107Which 1904-05 war ended in Japan's victory over a European great power?

  108. 108Who was the last tsar of Russia, executed with his family in 1918?

  109. 109Which event in Sarajevo in June 1914 triggered World War I?

  110. 110Which 1916 battle on a river in northern France saw about 57,000 British casualties on its first day alone?

  111. 111In which 1915-16 campaign in Turkey did Australian and New Zealand troops suffer heavy losses?

  112. 112Which 1917 British statement backed 'a national home for the Jewish people' in Palestine?

  113. 113Who led the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia in 1917?

  114. 114In what year was the Treaty of Versailles signed, formally ending World War I?

  115. 115Which deadly flu pandemic of 1918-1920 killed tens of millions worldwide?

  116. 116Which international body, created after World War I, was the forerunner of the United Nations?

  117. 117Which Italian dictator founded the Fascist movement and ruled Italy from 1922?

  118. 118Which general's Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39?

  119. 119Which 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union secretly divided Eastern Europe?

  120. 120Germany's invasion of which country on September 1, 1939, began World War II in Europe?

  121. 121What German word for 'lightning war' describes the rapid attacks used early in World War II?

  122. 122Who led the Soviet Union during World War II?

  123. 123At which February 1945 conference in Crimea did Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin plan postwar Europe?

  124. 124Which global conflict ended in 1945?

  125. 125What was the official name of the Marshall Plan, the U.S. aid program that rebuilt Western Europe?

  126. 126What defensive alliance did the United States, Canada and ten Western European nations form in 1949?

  127. 127In what year was the State of Israel proclaimed?

  128. 128Which war, fought on a peninsula from 1950 to 1953, ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty?

  129. 129Which Egyptian president nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956?

  130. 130Which 1954 battle ended French colonial rule in Indochina?

  131. 131Which country launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, in 1957?

  132. 132Who led the Cuban Revolution and took power in 1959?

  133. 133Which Soviet cosmonaut became the first woman in space, in 1963?

  134. 134In 1960, who became the world's first female prime minister, in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)?

  135. 135Who became the first woman to serve as prime minister of India, in 1966?

  136. 136Who was Israel's first female prime minister, taking office in 1969?

  137. 137Who became the first woman to serve as prime minister of the United Kingdom, in 1979?

  138. 138Which radical communist movement, led by Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979?

  139. 139Which Polish trade union, led by Lech Wałęsa, challenged communist rule in the 1980s?

  140. 140Which Soviet leader introduced the reforms known as glasnost and perestroika?

  141. 141In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?

  142. 142What was South Africa's system of legal racial segregation from 1948 to the early 1990s called?

  143. 143Which 1992 treaty created the European Union?

  144. 144In what year did Britain hand Hong Kong back to China?

  145. 145In what year was the Panama Canal opened?

  146. 146Who discovered penicillin in 1928?

  147. 147Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in 1911?

  148. 148In 1909, who became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

  149. 149In 1953, who became the first woman elected president of the United Nations General Assembly?

  150. 150Who became Ireland's first female president in 1990?

Answer Key

  1. 1. Sumerians
  2. 2. Hammurabi
  3. 3. Gilgamesh
  4. 4. Assyrian Empire
  5. 5. Indus Valley Civilization
  6. 6. Ramses II
  7. 7. Hatshepsut
  8. 8. Phoenicians
  9. 9. Homer
  10. 10. Military strength
  11. 11. Pericles
  12. 12. Aristotle
  13. 13. 490 BC
  14. 14. 480 BC
  15. 15. Themistocles
  16. 16. Sparta
  17. 17. Carthage
  18. 18. Hannibal Barca
  19. 19. Cleopatra VII
  20. 20. Mark Antony
  21. 21. Mount Vesuvius
  22. 22. Denarius
  23. 23. Latin
  24. 24. Constantine the Great
  25. 25. Theodosius I
  26. 26. Attila
  27. 27. Odoacer
  28. 28. Greek
  29. 29. Constantinople
  30. 30. Confucius
  31. 31. King Wu of Zhou
  32. 32. Liu Bang
  33. 33. Emperor Wen of Sui
  34. 34. Emperor Gaozu of Tang
  35. 35. Emperor Taizu of Song
  36. 36. Kublai Khan
  37. 37. Hongwu Emperor
  38. 38. Zheng He
  39. 39. Qing dynasty
  40. 40. China
  41. 41. Boxer Rebellion
  42. 42. Sun Yat-sen
  43. 43. Long March
  44. 44. Mao Zedong
  45. 45. Cultural Revolution
  46. 46. Chandragupta Maurya
  47. 47. Ashoka
  48. 48. Brahmagupta
  49. 49. Babur
  50. 50. Akbar
  51. 51. East India Company
  52. 52. Salt March
  53. 53. Mahatma Gandhi
  54. 54. Jawaharlal Nehru
  55. 55. Rajendra Prasad
  56. 56. Pakistan
  57. 57. Prophet Muhammad
  58. 58. Abbasid Caliphate
  59. 59. Al-Khwarizmi
  60. 60. Saladin
  61. 61. Suleiman I
  62. 62. Siege of Vienna
  63. 63. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
  64. 64. Genghis Khan
  65. 65. Silk Road
  66. 66. Feudalism
  67. 67. Charlemagne
  68. 68. 1066
  69. 69. William the Conqueror
  70. 70. Magna Carta
  71. 71. England and France
  72. 72. Battle of Agincourt
  73. 73. 1347
  74. 74. Tudors
  75. 75. Granada
  76. 76. Mansa Musa
  77. 77. Timbuktu
  78. 78. Johannes Gutenberg
  79. 79. Florence
  80. 80. 1492
  81. 81. Treaty of Tordesillas
  82. 82. Tenochtitlán
  83. 83. Moctezuma II
  84. 84. Philip II
  85. 85. Thirty Years' War
  86. 86. Peace of Westphalia
  87. 87. Tokugawa Ieyasu
  88. 88. Shogun
  89. 89. Ivan the Terrible
  90. 90. Peter the Great
  91. 91. Catherine I
  92. 92. Catherine the Great
  93. 93. The French Revolution
  94. 94. Great Britain
  95. 95. The telegraph
  96. 96. Toussaint Louverture
  97. 97. Portugal
  98. 98. Congress of Vienna
  99. 99. Florence Nightingale
  100. 100. Alexander II
  101. 101. Giuseppe Garibaldi
  102. 102. Otto von Bismarck
  103. 103. Japan
  104. 104. Berlin Conference
  105. 105. Ethiopia
  106. 106. New Zealand
  107. 107. Russo-Japanese War
  108. 108. Nicholas II
  109. 109. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
  110. 110. Battle of the Somme
  111. 111. Gallipoli
  112. 112. Balfour Declaration
  113. 113. Vladimir Lenin
  114. 114. 1919
  115. 115. Spanish flu
  116. 116. League of Nations
  117. 117. Benito Mussolini
  118. 118. Francisco Franco
  119. 119. Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
  120. 120. Poland
  121. 121. Blitzkrieg
  122. 122. Joseph Stalin
  123. 123. Yalta Conference
  124. 124. World War II
  125. 125. European Recovery Program
  126. 126. NATO
  127. 127. 1948
  128. 128. Korean War
  129. 129. Gamal Abdel Nasser
  130. 130. Dien Bien Phu
  131. 131. Soviet Union
  132. 132. Fidel Castro
  133. 133. Valentina Tereshkova
  134. 134. Sirimavo Bandaranaike
  135. 135. Indira Gandhi
  136. 136. Golda Meir
  137. 137. Margaret Thatcher
  138. 138. Khmer Rouge
  139. 139. Solidarity
  140. 140. Mikhail Gorbachev
  141. 141. 1989
  142. 142. Apartheid
  143. 143. Maastricht Treaty
  144. 144. 1997
  145. 145. 1914
  146. 146. Alexander Fleming
  147. 147. Marie Curie
  148. 148. Selma Lagerlöf
  149. 149. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
  150. 150. Mary Robinson

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