The 10 quiz questions
Question 1 : What major Parisian infrastructure was inaugurated on July 19, 1900?
Possible answers:
- The Eiffel Tower
- The Grand Palais
- The first Paris metro line
- The Alexander III Bridge
Explanation: The 1st line of the Paris metro connected Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot. It was inaugurated on the occasion of the Paris Universal Exhibition, and carried more than 6 million passengers in its 1st year.
Question 2 : Which famous French Impressionist painter was born on July 19, 1834?
Possible answers:
- Claude Monet
- Edgar Degas
- Auguste Renoir
- Paul Cézanne
Explanation: Edgar Degas is particularly well known for his depictions of ballet dancers and scenes of Parisian life. Although associated with Impressionism, he himself preferred the term "realist" or "independent" to describe his work.
Question 3 : Which battle on 19 July 711 precipitated the fall of the Visigothic kingdom and opened the way for the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula?
Possible answers:
- The Battle of Poitiers
- The Battle of Alarcos
- The Battle of Covadonga
- The Battle of Guadalete
Explanation: The Battle of Guadalete pitted the troops of the Umayyad caliph of Damascus, led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, against the Visigothic king Roderic. This defeat sealed the end of the Visigothic kingdom in less than 2 years, and marked the beginning of the Muslim presence in Spain, which lasted nearly 8 centuries.
Question 4 : What major World War II event took place on July 19, 1940, outside of France?
Possible answers:
- The fall of Paris
- The Allied victory at the Battle of Cape Spada
- The landing in Sicily
- The signing of the Franco-Italian armistice
Explanation: The Battle of Cape Spada took place off the coast of Crete and pitted British and Australian destroyers against Italian cruisers. The Allies sank the cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, winning an important symbolic naval victory in the Mediterranean.
Question 5 : Aung San, assassinated on July 19, 1947, is particularly known for being the father of a famous political figure. Who is it?
Possible answers:
- Aung San Suu Kyi
- Malala Yousafzai
- Wangari Maathai
- Benazir Bhutto
Explanation: Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San, became one of the most iconic figures in the struggle for democracy in Burma. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while she was under house arrest by the Burmese military junta.
Question 6 : Which British musician, member of a legendary rock band, was born on July 19, 1947?
Possible answers:
- Mick Jagger
- Brian May
- Pete Townshend
- Roger Waters
Explanation: Brian May, guitarist of Queen, is also an astrophysicist and defended his doctoral thesis in 2007, several decades after starting it. He is also known for his commitment to animal protection and his opposition to fox hunting.
Question 7 : In what year did the Sandinistas take power in Nicaragua, an event that took place on July 19?
Possible answers:
- 1975
- 1979
- 1981
- 1983
Explanation: The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) overthrew the Somoza family dictatorship on July 19, 1979, which had been in power since the 1930s. This revolution was supported by Cuba and sparked fierce opposition from the United States, which funded the contras throughout the 1980s.
Question 8 : Samuel Colt, born on July 19, 1814, is mainly known for what invention?
Possible answers:
- Dynamite
- The Gatling gun
- The modern bayonet rifle
- The revolver
Explanation: Samuel Colt patented the revolver in 1836, a firearm that allowed firing multiple shots without reloading. He founded Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, whose weapons were widely used by American soldiers during the Civil War.
Question 9 : What Nazi exhibition, inaugurated in Munich on July 19, 1937, aimed to ridicule modern artworks considered contrary to the regime's values?
Possible answers:
- The exhibition of Bolshevik art
- The exhibition of decadent art
- The Degenerate Art exhibition
- The exhibition of enemy art
Explanation: The Degenerate Art exhibition (Entartete Kunst) brought together more than 650 works confiscated from German museums, including Expressionist, Dadaist and Cubist works. Paradoxically, it attracted more than two million visitors in four months, far more than the official Nazi art exhibition organized alongside it.
Question 10 : Which famous poet and humanist of the Renaissance, who died on July 19, 1374, is considered the father of humanism in Europe?
Possible answers:
- Dante Alighieri
- Giovanni Boccaccio
- Petrarch
- Erasmus of Rotterdam
Explanation: Petrarch, whose real name was Francesco Petrarca, was the first to use the term 'Middle Ages' to describe the period between Antiquity and his own time. His love for Laura de Noves, celebrated in his Canzoniere, profoundly influenced Western lyric poetry for centuries.
