| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| George Washington borrowed a bible from a member of this organization to take his inaugural oath of office. Benjamin Franklin was a founding member of the first lodge for this organization in the U.S. The abduction of William Morgan caused Solomon Southwick to create the first third-party in U.S. history to oppose this organization. For ten points, identify this secretive and fraternal organization that traces its roots to stoneworkers. | Freemasons (accept Freemasonry) |
| Mark Atkins played a 1994 concerto for this instrument for over 50 minutes straight, using a technique called circular breathing. Another material used for constructing this musical instrument was discovered in Botany Bay on one of James Cook’s voyages. For ten points, name this Aboriginal instrument known for its droning sound. | Didgeridoo |
| This signer of the Treaty of Heiligen wielded the golden sword Joyeuse and married Fastrada after she fought against him with Widukind's Saxons. Einhard recounted how this figure was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Leo the Third on Christmas Day, earning him the nickname “Father of Europe.” For ten points, name this son of Pepin the Short and father of Louis the Pious, the eighth and ninth-century founder of the Carolingian Empire. | Charlemagne (or Charles the Great; or Carolus Magnus; or Karl der Grosse) |
| George Gershwin championed this composer, who declined to give Gershwin lessons. This composer’s Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand was written for a pianist who lost his right arm during World War One. One of this composer's most famous works features an approximately seventeen-minute- long ostinato and was inspired by a request to transcribe a group of Iberian piano pieces. For ten points, identify this French composer of Boléro. | Maurice Ravel (or Joseph Maurice Ravel) |
| A pair of jealous sisters claim that this god was secretly a winged serpent who was going to eat his wife and their child. This god was woken up when his curious wife spilled oil on him from a lamp. In a story from The Golden Ass, this god is the husband of the mortal woman Psyche [[SY-kee]], and this god is sometimes called the son of Aphrodite. For ten points, name this Greco-Roman god of love, depicted in popular culture as a cherub. | Cupid (accept Eros) |
| A fire set by the FAI slowed progress on the construction of this landmark, which was declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict the Sixteenth. This landmark was designed by the leading architect in the Catalan Modernist movement, and that man was killed by a bus during the early stages of this landmark’s construction. For ten points, identify this unfinished Catholic church located in Barcelona, the magnum opus of architect Antoni Gaudí. | Sagrada Família (or Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família) |
| Wild stories about the behavior of legislators during this period were repopularized in a trilogy of books by white supremacist Thomas Dixon. The Dunning School’s negative view of this period was challenged by W.E.B. DuBois [[doo-BOYS]], and this period was formally ended by the Compromise of 1877. Congressional “Radical Republicans” pushed, for ten points, what attempt to implement racial equality in the South and repair damage caused during the U.S. Civil War? | Reconstruction |
| This country’s ProTell gun-lobby reports that 200,000 people annually show up to the largest rifle- shooting competition in the world. In part because of the regions of Grisons and Valais [[VAH-lays]], this country embraced shooting as a pastime after its post-Napoleonic return to a Confederation. For ten points, identify this country whose cantons regulate the sale of automatic weapons in places like Bern and Zurich. | Switzerland |
| At one of these events, Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed the raised-fist Black Power salute, resulting in their expulsion by Avery Brundage. During the 1972 iteration of these events, eleven members of the Israeli team were killed by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 iteration of these events in Tokyo was postponed to 2021. For ten points, name these athletic competitions that take place every four years, usually in July or August. | Summer Olympic Games (prompt on "Olympics" or "Olympic Games"; accept 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics; accept 1972 Munich Summer Olympics) |
| The most recent Olympics to be held in the Southern Hemisphere took place in this city, where Simone Biles and Usain Bolt both won multiple gold medals. | Rio de Janeiro |
| The author of one of these reference works was called “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history” by the ODNB. One of these works, "de l'Académie francaise" [[deh-LAH-kah-deh- MEE frahn-SEHS]], has been published regularly since 1694. Ambrose Bierce published a Devil’s [example of these works] in 1911. A common version of these works still used today was originally compiled by an American man who was confined to a mental institution. For ten points, name this type of book, one of the most common versions of which is Webster's. | Dictionary (accept A Dictionary of the English Language; accept Dictionnaire de l'Académie française; accept The Devil's Dictionary; accept Webster's Dictionary) |
| In Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary, this animal, considered sacred in Ancient Egypt, is defined as “a soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle.” | Cat |
| A group of women in this profession was known as the Ninety-Nines. Amy Johnson and Harriet Quimby had this profession, whose first Native American member was Bessie Coleman. Fred Noonan served as an assistant for a woman in this profession, who may have been captured by the Japanese in 1937. That woman in this profession failed to reach Howland Island after leaving New Guinea and mysteriously disappeared. For ten points, name this profession held by Amelia Earhart. | Pilot (accept Aviator; accept Aviatrix) |
| Amelia Earhart was also the first woman to pilot an autogyro, often considered a precursor to what versatile vehicle utilized for med-evac missions in the Korean War. | Helicopter (prompt on “Gyrocopter”) |
| One individual to hold this office, who died in 1899, had previously been the president of the New Jersey state senate. When asked about his duties in this office, another individual said, “I go to funerals. I go to earthquakes.” Shortly after accepting his party’s nomination for this office, Lyndon B. Johnson retorted, “I’m a gamblin’ man, darlin’, and this is the only chance I got.” For ten points, name this second-highest executive officer in the United States. | Vice President of the United States (accept Veep; accept word forms) |
| From 2008 to 2013, Xi Jinping [[SHEE JIN-PING]], the president of the People’s Republic of China, served as the vice president to this man, who held power from 2002 to 2013. | Hu Jintao (accept pronunciation as [[HOO]] or [[HUH]]; prompt on "Jintao") |
| Frederick Jackson Turner wrote a thesis claiming this thing powered American democracy and exceptionalism. This thing was officially declared to be "closed" in the 1890 Census, although others claimed this concept ceased to exist after the Arizona Territory became a state in 1912. The Homestead Acts allowed for the settlement of, for ten points, what area, the focus of Manifest Destiny and the edge of American settled society? | American Frontier (accept the Old West; or Wild West; prompt on “West”) |
| The phrase "New Frontier" was a slogan of the 1960 Democratic Convention in this city, which contains Griffith Observatory and was the site of riots after the police beating of Rodney King | Los Angeles (or LA) |
| The suicide of Gabriela Mistral's lover prompted her to write in this literary form, which she titled [these poems] "of Death." In Canzoniere, Renaissance poet Petrarch wrote many of these works praising his love, Laura de Noves. Another of these specific poems asks, "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?" For ten points, name these "Little Songs," a type of poem of which Shakespeare wrote 154 in a quarto. | Sonnet (accept Soneto; Prompt on "Poetry" before mentioned) |
| This Irish Nobel Prize laureate and poet wrote the Glanmore Sonnet series in his 1975 collection Field Work, though he is more well-known for his lyric narrative poems in Death of a Naturalist. | Seamus Heaney |
| In 1960, this country's first coup d'etat deposed the Democrat Party of Adnan Menderes. In 1980, Kenan Evren took control of this country, governing through its National Security Council, which lost influence during the rule of the AK Party, also known as the Justice and Development Party. This country’s Republican People’s Party was founded by a man whose Six Arrows included secularism and an alphabet reform. For ten points, name this country whose westernization was a focus of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. | Republic of Turkey (accept Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) |
| Turkey joined NATO alongside this other country in 1952. Despite their nominal alliance, Turkey and this country clashed in 1974 over an attempt to unify this country with Cyprus. | Greece (accept Hellenes, Hellenic Republic, Elláda, or Ellinikí Dimokratía) |
| This man, who entered the Republican primaries to prevent Robert A. Taft from becoming a candidate, was the first Supreme Commander of NATO, and rebuked Anglo-French actions in the Suez Crisis. This president, who defeated Adlai Stevenson II twice, approved the desegregation of Little Rock High School. For ten points, name this president nicknamed "Ike” who earlier served as European Allied Supreme Commander during World War Two. | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Eisenhower created this nationwide system of infrastructure during his tenure in office, which includes east-west routes such as I-70 and north-south routes such as I-95 | Interstate Highway System (prompt on partial answers) |
| American president during the crisis who was assassinated the next year. | John F (itzgerald) Kennedy (accept JFK) |
| Soviet counterpart to that leader and successor to Joseph Stalin. | Nikita Khruschev (or Nikita Sergeyevich Khruschev) |
| Naval action taken by the U.S. Navy which intended to search all Soviet ships approaching Cuba. | Blockade (or Quarantine; do not accept or prompt on "embargo") |
| Type of American jet, one of which was shot down during the Crisis, which was used to take pictures of Soviet missile sites. | Lockheed U-2 (accept Dragon Lady) |
| Country, former aided by the Truman Doctrine, where the US resolved to withdraw Jupiter missiles to help diffuse the conflict | Turkey |
| Film starring Kevin Costner about the conflict which was named for its duration. | Thirteen Days |
| City which has been capital since 1596. | Capital City of Warsaw |
| Soviet army with a colored name which entered Poland from the east to drive out the Nazis. | Workers' and Peasants' Red Army |
| Former kingdom that partitioned Poland with Austria and Russia. | Kingdom of Prussia |
| Year in which Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. | |
| Europe-wide conflict sparked by the death of Augustus the Strong and ended with Austria losing the throne of Naples. | War of the Polish Succession |
| "Free and Neutral City" in Polish Galicia, annexed by Austria in 1846. | Kraków |
| Modern country which is home to the Inca capital of Cuzco. | Republic of Peru (or Republica del Peru) |
| Structures, types of which include hitches and loops, which the Inca made from strings in their Quipu [[KEE-poo]] recording system. | Knots |
| 15th century citadel, 8000 feet above sea level, known as the "Lost City of the Incas." | Machu Picchu |
| Primary language of the Inca, some version of which is still spoken by nearly ten million people. | Quechuan (or Runasimi) |
| Final Incan Emperor who was deposed by Pizarro. | Atahualpa |
| Sun god who was the national patron of the Inca state. | Inti |
| This nation is the westernmost of the two that has fought at what is considered to be the world’s highest battlefield on the Siachen Glacier. This country’s intelligences service, known as the ISI assisted the CIA (+) in Operation Cyclone to deliver Stinger missiles to the Mujahideen. The site of Operation (*) Neptune Spear, for ten points, name this country in which US forces killed Osama bin Laden in the city of Abbottabad, before burying him in the Arabian Sea. | Pakistan |
| The Zion Mule Corps were used in this campaign to carry water to troops on Cape Helles. This campaign’s cumulative half-million casualties led to the demotion of Winston (+) Churchill, who sought to open access to the Black Sea. Australia and New Zealand celebrate their citizens' participation in this campaign as part of (*) ANZAC Day. Great Britain’s forces were defeated in, for ten points, what World War One attempt to seize the Dardanelles Straits from the Ottoman Empire? | Gallipoli Campaign (or Battle of Gallipoli) |
| This figure proposed an eight-point-plan ignored by Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles Peace Conference, and this man once lived in a cave that he named for Vladimir Lenin. A supply chain (+) named for this figure was used by both sides in a war despite supposed Laotian neutrality, and that route was instrumental to the movement of weapons and the (*) Tet Offensive. For ten points, name this leader of the Viet Minh who led the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. | Hồ Chí Minh |
| Mariano Osorio briefly served as Governor of this country after a Spanish reconquest in 1814. This country’s independence movement was led by Bernardo (+) O’Higgins, whose remains were moved by one dictator to the “Altar of the Motherland.” In this country, Nazi immigrants to Colonia Dignidad were protected during the reign of a man who overthrew Salvador (*) Allende [[‘eye-YEN- deh]]. For ten points, name this country formerly governed by right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet. | Republic of Chile (accept República de Chile) |
| Description acceptable. One of these events was rumored to have occurred in 1993 near Banjawarn in the Australian Outback. That event, which was blamed on Aum Shinrikyo, remains unconfirmed, similar to the (+) Vela incident. Tests of this kind occurred after Indira Gandhi ordered Operation Smiling Buddha in 1974. First occurring in 1945 at the (*) Trinity site, for ten points, what are these experiments in which a fusion or fission device is detonated without a military target? | Nuclear weapon tests (or Atomic weapon tests; accept descriptions of nuclear weapons or bombs being tested or detonated in peacetime) |
| This series of migrations led to the establishment of the Urewe [[oo-REH-weh]] Iron Age culture. This migration, named for a language group including Tswana and Sotho, caused the displacement of the (+) Khoisan hunter-gatherers and the Pygmy forest dwellers. (*) For ten points, name this hypothesized expansion of a namesake ethno-linguistic group throughout most of southern Africa. | Bantu Expansion |
| This conflict was temporarily halted through the Treaty of Troyes [[TWAH]] following the outbreak of the Armagnac– (+) Burgundian Civil War. John of Gaunt led a failed expedition in this conflict alongside the Duke of Brittany. In this war, Edward the "Black Prince” led English Longbowmen to victory at the Battle of (*) Crécy. For ten points, name this succession war between English Plantagenets and the French house of Valois [[vall-WAH]] that lasted for more than a century. | Hundred Years' War (or La guerre de Cent Ans) |
| Jared Ingersoll was this party’s vice-presidential nominee during the only election in which its ticket did not include either Rufus King or a member of the Pinckney family. In that election, DeWitt (+) Clinton was this party’s presidential nominee and lost to James Madison in 1812. Dissolved during the Era of Good Feelings, (*) for ten points, name this party that opposed the Democratic Republicans and counted Alexander Hamilton and John Adams among its members. | Federalist Party |
| This figure defeated the Qays and Jusham at the Battle of Hunayn, at which he only lost four soldiers. This figure supposedly rode his horse, (+) Buraq, to heaven as well as riding him in the “Night Journey.” This man, the center of many Hadiths, was in the Cave of Hira when the angel Jibril revealed a holy (*) text to him. For ten points, name this Mecca-born prophet to whom the Quran was revealed, causing him to found Islam. | Prophet Muhammad |
| In 1875, Matthew Webb became the first to swim across this body of water without artificial aids, swimming from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours. | English Channel (accept British Channel; prompt on "The Channel") |