| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Several years after taking office as this capital’s first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie launched a failed rebellion. After U.S. forces pillaged this capital during the War of 1812, the British burned Washington, D.C. in retaliation. Previously known as York, this is, for ten points, what capital of the colony of Upper Canada, as well as the province of Ontario? | Toronto (accept York before mentioned) |
| Hannibal claimed that this man was the second greatest commander in history behind Alexander the Great. This man is best known for a set of engagements at Heraclea and Asculum that led to the deaths of over 10,000 of his own troops. A 280 to 275 BCE war was fought between Rome and, for ten points, what king of Epirus, who lends his name to a costly victories? | Pyrrhus of Epirus (accept Pýrrhos; accept Pyrrhic Victory) |
| King Endubis was among the earliest rulers of this empire to mint his own coins, and this empire reached its greatest extent in the 6th century under King Kaleb. Encroachment from the Rashidun Caliphate into the southern Red Sea region may have led to the decline of this empire. For ten points, what ancient and medieval trading kingdom controlled much of Yemen, Eritrea, and modern-day Ethiopia? | Kingdom of Axum (or Kingdom of Aksum; or Aksumite Empire; or Axumite Empire; prompt on "Ethiopia" or "Abyssinia") |
| The shootout that killed this man also claimed the lives of Samuel Cowley and Herman Hollis. The jewelry of Big Bill Thompson's wife was stolen by this man, who was killed in the Battle of Barrington in Chicago. Like Charles Arthur Floyd, this man, born Lester Gillis, was known by a nickname inspired by his young appearance. For ten points, identify this American criminal, who was nicknamed "Baby Face." | Baby Face Nelson (accept George Nelson; accept Lester Joseph Gillis before mentioned) |
| Operation Mincemeat aimed to disguise this event, which resulted in a diversion of troops from the Kursk offensive. The Armistice of Cassibile [[kah-sih-BEE-leh]] resulted from this campaign, in which an American landing at the Gulf of Gela was advocated for by Bernard Montgomery. The Strait of Messina was the site of evacuations during, for ten points, what 1943 Allied campaign that resulted in the capture of Palermo? | Allied Invasion of Sicily (accept Operation Husky; accept Battle of Sicily; accept descriptive answers including the word "Sicily" or "Sicilia") |
| The Talpur Dynasty constructed Manora Fort in this city, which may have been the site of a city with the Ancient Greek name Barbarikon. In the 1850s, the British established the namesake port of this capital city of the Sindh province, within which the Wazir Mansion was the birthplace of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The site of the ancient port of Krokola, for ten points, what is this modern-day largest city in Pakistan? | Karachi |
| This man wrote the successful appellant brief in Smith v. Allwright, which changed how primaries were conducted. This man victoriously argued a case involving buses, Morgan v. Virginia, and he opposed former Democratic presidential nominee John W. Davis in a case in which he cited the doll research of Kenneth and Mamie Clark. For ten points, name this NAACP lawyer who successfully argued the Brown v. Board case before joining the Supreme Court in 1967. | Thurgood Marshall |
| The earliest Europeans to view these objects were led by Jacob Roggeveen. A set of civil wars led to the fall of a group of these objects at Ahu Tongariki. Rano Raraku was the primary quarry for these objects, which allegedly moved at the command of a king named Makemake [[MAH-keh-MAH-keh]]. In the early second millennium, these objects were carved by the Rapa Nui. With a name meaning "statue," these are, for ten points, what monolithic human figures that were created on Easter Island? | Moai (or Mo'ai) (prompt on “Easter Island statues” or equivalents) |
| One of this civilization’s creation myths recounts four previous ages as part of the Five Suns and states that the world was created from the body of a crocodile god called Cipactli. These people sought to appease their gods through the Flower Wars, which gathered subjects for human sacrifice. For ten points, identify these people who likely did not actually mistake Hernan Cortes for their feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl [[KET-zul-KWOH-tuhl]]. | Aztec (or the Nahuatl; accept Mexica People) |
| The massacre of members of one ethnicity in this city was known as the September Days. Stepan Shahumyan led the namesake commune of this city, which was the site of the world’s first offshore oil platform. An estimated ten to 30,000 inhabitants of Armenian descent were killed in a 1918 massacre in, for ten points, what city on the Caspian Sea, the capital of Azerbaijan? | Baku (or Bakı) |
| In 1983, this non-European country's Labour party gained an unopposed victory, prolonging Edward Seaga’s tenure as Prime Minister. This country, whose first leader was Alexander Bustamante, was the site of the Maroon slave revolt in the 1730s. This Caribbean country was the home of Marcus Garvey, who promoted Black emigration to Liberia. For ten points, name this country where members of the African diaspora worship Haile Selassie as part of the Rastafari movement. | Jamaica (or Jumieka) |
| Along with Jamaica, another major country of the former British West Indies is this country, where the Jamaat al Muslimeen attempted a 1990 coup. A plurality of this country’s population descends from South Asian indentured workers brought over by the British. | Republic of Trinidad and Tobago |
| Ferrand Martinez targeted many of these people during the Massacre of 1391. Members of this group were targeted in the 1066 Granada massacre, during which Joseph ibn Naghrela was killed. A "Golden Age" among these people took place during the reign of Abd al-Rahman the Third and included influential figures such as Samuel ha-Levi and Moses Maimonides [[migh-MON-id-eez]]. For ten points, name this religious group in Iberia whose innovations included analysis of the Torah. | Jews (or Jewish people; or Yehudim; accept Spanish Jews; or Iberian Jews; or Sephardic Jews; or Sephardim; or Hispanic Jews; accept translations like Yahadut Sefarad; or Djudíos Sefardíes) |
| The Jews were officially expelled from Spain following the conquest of Granada in a "Decree" named for what Andalusian fortress and palace complex? | Alhambra (accept Alhambra Decree) |
| According to the FBI, this film “represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type.’” Based on a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern called "The Greatest Gift," this film's popularity was revived thanks to a lapsed copyright and syndication during the holiday season. Featuring a man who is shown flashbacks of his life by a guardian angel, for ten points, what is this Frank Capra Christmas film starring Jimmy Stewart? | It’s a Wonderful Life |
| This 1939 Jimmy Stewart film, which won the Academy Award for Best Writing, depicts an idealistic youth leader appointed to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |
| Six of this country's senators are elected by graduates of specific universities. This country uses single transferable voting to elect its Dáil, or lower house, and this country's two major center-right parties are led by Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar, who served as this country's first mixed-race Taoiseach [[TAY-shuh]]. For ten points, name this island country whose left-wing opposition party is the Sinn Féin [[shin FAYN]]. | Republic of Ireland (or Éire accept Poblacht na hÉireann) |
| Sinn Féin campaigns for the return to Ireland of six of these historical administrative entities on the island's north. 26 of these entities, comparable to English shires, are currently controlled by independent Ireland. | County (accept Counties; accept Contaetha) |
| At this location, Peter “Big Pete” Aubrey organized a group of “Regulators” to capture a group of their peers known as the “Raiders”. John Ransom, when describing this place, remarked that he had never seen “such misery,” and the captain who commanded this location wrote shortly after the U.S. Civil War that “no man can or will justly blame me for things that happened here.” Henry Wirz commanded, for ten points, what Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in Georgia? | Andersonville Prison (accept Camp Sumter) |
| Near the end of the US Civil War, Andersonville prisoners who had been transported to Savannah, Georgia were returned to the prison following this general’s “March to the Sea.” | William Tecumseh Sherman |
| This scientist fled his home country with his Jewish wife Laura Capon before working on a project tested at Stagg Field. This scientist proposed a namesake paradox about how extraterrestrial life has not been observed. Before his opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb, this man led a team at the University of Chicago to create the Chicago Pile-1, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. For ten points, name this Italian physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. | Enrico Fermi |
| Fermi worked with this Hungarian-born physicist on the Chicago Pile-1. He wrote a letter to Albert Einstein advising the U.S. to begin an atomic bomb program. | Leo Szilard [[SIH-lard, but be lenient]] (or Szilárd Leó) |
| The Republican vice-presidential nominee during this election year suffered injuries to both of his arms during World War Two. Senator Frank Church and Governor Jerry Brown spearheaded an "ABC" movement during this election year in opposition to the eventual Democratic nominee, whose vice presidential candidate was Walter Mondale. For ten points, identify this election year in which Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated Republican Gerald Ford. | Election of 1976 |
| Instead of Nelson Rockefeller, Ford chose to run with this Kansan senator who, twenty years later, would lose to Bill Clinton in the election of 1996. | Bob Dole (or Robert Joseph Dole) |
| Lanfranc, the first Norman holder of this position, signed the Accord of Winchester, giving him primacy over a northern successor of the same rank based in York. Holders of this position preside over the Lambeth Conference. One holder of this position annulled a marriage in defiance of Clement the Seventh and published the Book of Common Prayer. Thomas Cranmer once held, for ten points, what position held by the primate of the Church of England? | Archbishop of Canterbury |
| This saint wrote theological works like Cur Deus Homo while Archbishop of Canterbury. He is best known for articulating the earliest Christian ontological argument for the existence of God. | Anselm of Canterbury (or Saint Anselm; accept Anselm of Aosta; or Anselm of Bec) |
| City that has become the so-called “Gambling capital of the world." | Las Vegas |
| Western explorer who names Nevada's capital. | Kit Carson (or Christopher Houston Carson; accept Carson City) |
| Hydroelectric project on the Colorado River that created Lake Mead. | Hoover Dam (or Boulder Dam) |
| US Air Force facility known both for testing the U-2 spy plane and for UFO conspiracy theories. | Area 51 (or Homey Airport; or KXTA; or Groom Lake. Prompt on Nellis Air Force Base) |
| Nickname that refers to its admission to the Union during the Civil War. | Battle Born State |
| Large deposit of silver ore in the Virginia Range which caused a silver rush in 1859. | Comstock Lode |
| Semi-autobiographical book in which Mark Twain described his time in the Nevada territory. | Roughing It |
| Sponsor of the 1945 Federal Airport Act and former namesake of Nevada’s busiest airport whose career was marred by antisemitism. | Pat McCarran (or Patrick Anthony McCarran) |
| Current German capital split by West and East German claims. | Berlin |
| Three countries whose postwar occupation zones made up West Germany. | United States, United Kingdom, & France (accept obvious equivalents for any underlined country) |
| Defensive alliance it joined in 1955. | NATO (or North Atlantic Treaty Organization) |
| City on the Rhine that served as capital throughout its history. | Bonn |
| Founder of the Christian Democratic Union who served as Chancellor from 1949 to 1963. | Konrad Adenauer [[ah-deh-NOW-ehr]] (or Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer) |
| Former mayor of West Berlin and first SPD chancellor who resigned after an aide was exposed as a Stasi [[SHTAH-zee]] agent. | Willy Brandt (or Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm) |
| CDU chancellor who led reunified Germany until 1998. | Helmut Kohl (or Helmut Josef Michael Kohl) |
| Far left urban guerrillas, led by Andreas Baader, who committed kidnappings, bombings, and police killings throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. | Red Army Faction (or RAF; accept Baader-Meinhof Gang; accept Group in place of Gang; prompt on partial answers) |
| Capital of Iran in which the Big Three first met and planned Operation Overlord. | Tehran (or Tehran Conference) |
| Sea on the shores of which Churchill, FDR, and Stalin made plans in Yalta. | Black Sea |
| Labour prime minister who defeated Churchill and joined Stalin and Truman in Potsdam. | Clement Attlee (or Clement Richard Attlee; or 1st Earl Attlee) |
| New Hampshire city that hosted a major meeting to form the IMF and the future World Bank. | Bretton Woods (or Bretton Woods Conference) |
| 1942 conference at which top Nazis formulated the "Final Solution" in a Berlin suburb. | Wannsee [[VAHN-see]] Conference (or Wannseekonferenz) |
| City on the Congo River in which Free French leaders affirmed colonial support against the Axis. | Brazzaville (or Brazzaville Conference) |
| City in which Chiang Kai-shek met with Western leaders to discuss a response to the Burma Campaign. | Cairo (or Cairo Conference) |
| Conference convened to lay the foundations for the United Nations, held in a Georgetown estate. | Dumbarton Oaks Conference (or Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization; prompt on “Washington” or “Washington Conference”) |
| One member of this family used oil money to found the Anaconda Copper Company. It’s not the Vanderbilts or Lehmans, but a member of this family directed the Mutual Alliance Trust Company. A Diego (+) Rivera fresco depicting Vladimir Lenin was destroyed by orders of a member of this family, and that fresco was located in a plaza named for this family that also contains the headquarters of (*) NBC. Winthrop and Nelson were members of, for ten points, what family that earned its fortune from Standard Oil? | Rockefeller (accept Winthrop Rockefeller; accept Rockefeller Plaza; accept Nelson Rockefeller; accept 30 Rockefeller Plaza) |
| While in this city, the Castilian ambassador Ruy González de Clavijo [[klah-VEE- hoh]] documented its construction projects. The Zij-i Sultani was an astronomical table published using observations done in this city. Under Shah Rukh, this city was replaced as the capital by (+) Herat. This city was the site of the Islamic world’s first paper mill after the Battle of Talas, and later became the cultural center of Transoxiana. (*) For ten points, name this Central Asian city along the Silk Road, the capital of Timur’s empire. | Samarkand |
| A book titled for a group of directors known by this term features Brian de Palma, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the latter two of whom met at USC’s film school. Ralph Macchio and Matt Dillon were once mistakenly thought to have been part of the “core” of a group described by this word, which featured (+) Judd Nelson and other actors cast by John Hughes in The Breakfast Club. Emilio Estevez was part of a group of actors in coming-of-age films who were described by this term. (*) For ten points, give this term to describe a “pack” of young 1980s actors. | brats (accept bratpack; accept movie brats) |
| This object is described as depicting nine concentric rings with several constellations, a vineyard, and the first farmer to plow a field. This object inspired an archaic poem attributed to Hesiod about Heracles and Iolaus’s campaign against Cycnus. This object is the subject of the oldest known (+) ekphrasis in Greek literature, appearing in Book 18 of the Iliad. This object was created by Hephaestus at the behest of Thetis after Hector looted the original. (*) For ten points, name this defensive object used by a Greek hero after the death of Patroclus. | Shield of Achilles (prompt on “shield”) |
| In 1991 and again in 2011, a National Integration Rally was held by this party, which was formed in 1980 after dual membership in a now non-existent party was banned. J. P. Nadda is the current president of this party, whose members included a prime minister whose government carried out the (+) Pokhran-II [[“Two”]] nuclear tests. This party is currently led in the Lok Sabha by a man who succeeded (*) Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. Including Narendra Modi among its members, for ten points, what is this ruling political party of India? | Bharatiya Janata Party (accept BJP; accept Indian People's Party) |
| This man holds the record for most times listed on Gallup’s annual U.S. poll of the most admired people. This man wrote in a 1954 piece entitled “Satan’s Religion” that “either communism must die or Christianity must die.” This man faced criticism following the release of a taped conversation with President (+) Richard Nixon in which he referred to Jewish journalists as “the synagogue of Satan.” Never a member of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, this is, (*) for ten points, what evangelical “Pastor to Presidents”? | Billy Graham (or William Franklin Graham, Jr.) |
| This family’s royal line died in 1807 after the death of Cardinal Henry Benedict. Holy Roman Empress Matilda was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of this family, and a monarch in this family ruled during the passage of the Acts of (+) Union. Queen Anne was a member of this family, and another member of this family commissioned a significant translation of the (*) Bible. For ten points, name this family that took the throne after Queen Elizabeth the First, but was ousted by the Glorious Revolution. | House of Stuart |
| Thaddeus Stevens once remarked of this politician, “He is dead of lock-jaw. Nothing remains but a platform and a bloated mass of political putridity.” This Pennsylvanian quipped upon (+) leaving office, “if you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.” An outspoken supporter of the Lecompton Constitution, which would have permitted (*) slavery in Kansas, this man made no effort to prepare the U.S. military for an impending secession crisis. For ten points, name this bachelor president who left office just before the outbreak of the American Civil War. | James Buchanan, Jr. |
| One holder of this position had his tenure marred by Operation Safe Road and issued a notable moratorium on the death penalty in 2000. George Ryan held this position and was succeeded in this role by a man who was impeached, along with Chief of Staff John Harris, after an investigation by Patrick Fitzgerald. (+) That holder of this position attempted to sell the vacated Senate seat of Barack Obama. Rod (*) Blagojevich [[blah-GOY-ah-vitch]] once held, for ten points, what position which has its offices in Springfield? | Governor of Illinois |
| A partnership of Ronald Wayne, Steve Wozniak, and a third founder established which technology company in 1976? | Apple Computer Company (accept Apple Computer Inc.; accept Apple Inc.) |