| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| A building in Montreal built for one of these events is nicknamed “The Big O.” A park named for Queen Elizabeth in London was built to host one of these events and includes the ArcelorMittal Orbit statue. A stadium commonly called the Bird’s Nest in Beijing was built for one of these events in 2008. For the point, name these international sporting events that occur every four years. | Summer Olympics |
| Inspired by Francois Marius Granet, this artist created the painting House of Representatives in 1825. This Nativist quoted the Book of Numbers by saying “What hath God wrought?” while telecommunicating to Baltimore from DC. This man’s namesake code represented the English letters through dots and dashes. For the point, name this American inventor of the single wire telegraph. | Samuel Morse |
| The most recent holder of this position performed the Daijo Tenno, which is a ritual abdication of this position. The first of these people, a descendant of the sun god, was placed on the Chrysanthemum Throne by his grandmother. Another of these people won the Boshin War, defeating the pro-Tokugawa forces. For the point, name this imperial position held by men like Meiji and Hirohito. | Emperor of Japan |
| Joseph de Maistre wrote a critique of this event, which focused on “abstract” rights to food and medicine. Thomas Paine defended this event in his pamphlet “Rights of Man”. Edmund Burke criticized this event in a book titled Reflections on this event, which defended monarchies. Abbe Sieyes helped kick this event off with his tract “What is the Third Estate.” For the point, name this violent overthrow of Louis XVI. | French Revolution (or Revolution in France) |
| One colony in this state was where a governor promised freedom to any slave that fought for the British. In addition to Lord Dunmore, another colony in this state was saved by Baron De La Warr from the “Starving Time.” Pocahontas married a man from a colony in this state named John Rolfe. Jamestown was located in, for the point, what US state once governed by Thomas Jefferson from Richmond? | Virginia |
| In order to help Christian missionaries convert Muslims and Jews, this philosopher wrote Summa contra Gentiles. This philosopher expanded Augustine’s arguments for just war by creating three prerequisites such as good purpose and institutional backing. This philosopher’s most notable work included the quinque viae, or the five proofs of God’s existence. For the point, name this student of Albertus Magnus, a scholastic philosopher and the author of Summa Theologica | St. Thomas Aquinas (prompt on St. Thomas) |
| This man flew around the title island waiting for President Truman to land first during the Wake Island Conference. Herbert Hoover tasked this general with breaking up a group of disgruntled WWI veterans known as the Bonus Army. This man promised “I Shall Return” after escaping Corregidor for Australia. For the point, name this Commander of US troops in the Pacific during WWII. | Douglas MacArthur |
| British polymath Michael Polanyi argued that an event named for this scientist had removed humanity from its central position in the universe. That event named for this scientist is a paradigm shift first outlined by Immanuel Kant. This scientist’s namesake “revolution” replaced the Ptolemaic system. For the point, name this Polish astronomer who advanced the heliocentric model. | Nicolas Copernicus |
| Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Army successfully started a guerilla war in this nation’s Luwero Triangle. Israeli Commandos had to free hostages from an airport in this nation during the Entebbe [en-TEBB-ay] Incident. The dictator during that time in this nation was toppled by an invasion by neighboring Tanzania led by Julius Nyrere [nyeh-Ray-ray]. For the point, name this nation once ruled by Idi Amin until the capture of Kampala. | Republic of Uganda |
| After one of these events, Kanye West controversially said that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” The deadliest one of these events in American history nearly wiped out Galveston, Texas in 1900. Levee failures during one of these events in 2005 caused 80 percent of New Orleans to be flooded. For the point, name these tropical cyclones, one of which was Katrina. | hurricanes |
| The First Republic of this nation collapsed during a civil war where the Engelbert Dollfuss-led fascists outlawed the Social Democrats. The SS assisted in the assassination of Dollfuss in this nation’s July Putsch, leading to the rise of Kurt Schuschnigg. Nazi Germany annexed this German speaking nation in the 1938 Anschluss. For the point, name this Alpine country centered on Vienna. | Republic of Austria |
| This man assigned George Atzerodt to carry out an attack at the Kirkwood House, but Atzerodt lost his nerve and went drinking instead. Boston Corbett shot and killed this man who was hiding in a burning barn. During a performance of Our American Cousin, this man jumped from a balcony and shouted “Sic Semper Tyrannis.” For the point, name this man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. | John Wilkes Booth |
| Histiaeus, supported by soldiers from Lesobos and the people of Chios, was the last resistance force against this empire during the ill-fated Ionian Revolt. After the conquest of Phrygia, this empire’s monarch established the Royal Road from Susa to Sardis. Two failed invasions of Greece were undertaken by this empire’s kings Darius and his son Xerxes. For the point, name this empire that began in modern Iran founded by Cyrus the Great. | Persian Empire [Accept Achaemenid Empire] |
| This commander, along with Pedro de Alvarado, was wounded while fleeing a capital city in the La Noche Triste. This man was forced to reimburse his rival Diego Velazquez after burning a fleet of ships to prevent his troops from retreating to Cuba. In his letters to Charles V, this man claimed that enemy soldiers had confused him for Quetzalcoatl. For the point, name this Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire. | Hernan Cortez |
| In this state, Orson Pratt published a variety of religious texts in the Deseret Alphabet. Leland Stanford hit the “Golden Spike” to signify the linking of the Transcontinental Railroad in this state’s town of Promontory. Elders preemptively banned polygamy in this state to push through its 1896 acceptance into statehood. Thousands of Mormons fled to, for the point, what state with capital at Salt Lake City? | Utah |
| This general defeated his sibling and favored successor Ariq Boke [BUH-Keh] in the Toluid Civil War. This man’s expedition to Japan ended with the mythical kamikaze who sunk the Asian fleets. This emperor that destroyed the Jin Dynasty tasked an expedition to deliver Kokochin to Persia to the foreigner Marco Polo. For the point, name this Mongol who established the Yuan dynasty of China. | Kublai Khan |
| The native Puelche [Poo-EL-chay] people use this region’s endemic species of Darwin’s Rhea and their eggs as a primary food source. Finger lakes like Lake Gomez are common in this ecoregion, and Medanos are dunes found in the Mendoza Province in this geographical region. This grain producing region of South America takes its name from the Quechua [CATCH-wah] word for “plain.” For the point, name this geographical region of the Southern Cone of South America, a grassland home to the historical gaucho cowboys. | The Pampas |
| This man defended Irish Republicans from the US who attacked British forts and customs offices in the Fenian Raid. This president denounced and institutionalized a widow he was courting, Maria Halpin, an act that was later used against him by his opponent James G. Blaine. This man later lost the Election of 1890 to Benjamin Harrison. For the point, name this President who served two separate terms in the 19th century. | Grover Cleveland |
| This scientist was accused of plagiarizing ideas from the Micrographia by Robert Hooke. Long before Bertrand Russell this scientist also published major scientific discoveries in a work entitled Principia Mathematica. This scientist discovered calculus independently of Leibniz. For the point, name this English physicist who described the three laws of motion and who apocryphally had an apple fall on his head | Isaac Newton |
| Iowa entered martial law in the 1930s after workers in this profession lynched a judge for signing evictions. The Grange movement, which primarily attracted people in this profession during the 19th century, supported the Populist platform. This profession’s “Tractorcade” was a mass protest of these people that stormed Washington, convincing Jimmy Carter to end foreclosure. For the point, name this profession based on growing crops or raising livestock. | Agriculture [Accept Farming or Farmers; Accept Animal Husbandry] |
| Pavel Pestel and the Decembrists hoped to move an imperial capital from this city to Warsaw. The Road of Life provided food to this city via Lake Ladoga, during World War II. The Bloody Sunday massacre occurred outside this city’s Winter Palace, the home of the Romanovs. For the point, name this one time capital of Imperial Russia founded by Peter the Great. | Saint Petersburg [Accept Sankt-Peterburg; Accept Petrograd and Leningrad] |
| During the Dalit movement, B.R. Ambedkar led a revival of this religion in India. Monasteries of this religion in China were heavily taxed during the Tang Dynasty. In Japan, this religion’s Pure land sect was spread by Honen. This religion was founded by a prince born in modern day Nepal. For the point, name this contemplative religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama. | Buddhism |
| An Olympics in this city featured a Marathon where Fred Lorz used a car to finish the race and the eventual winner, Thomas Hicks, consumed rat poison. Charles Lindbergh named the plane he executed his Trans-Atlantic flight with The Spirit of this city. A 1930s grant funded Eero Saarinen to design this city’s Gateway Arch. For the point, name this largest city in eastern Missouri. | St. Louis |
| Mass eviction of tenants during this event led to retaliations like the shooting of Major Denis Mahon. Souperism was a movement during this event to convert starving families to Protestantism by feeding them. This disaster was heightened by the Lord Russell government continuing to export grain away from one island. For the point, name this 19th century blight of a crop that led to an Irish diaspora. | Irish Potato Famine |
| James Fannin’s troops were unable to join this battle and were massacred at Goliad shortly afterwards. William Travis declared “Victory or Death!” in an open letter he wrote before dying at this battle. The cruelty of Santa Anna’s forces at this battle led to increased support for Texan independence. For the point, name this battle where Mexican soldiers captured a San Antonio mission. | Battle of the Alamo |
| Mark Twain’s travelogue Roughing It begins with Twain accompanying his brother to this state, as Orion Clemons was appointed secretary of it. Near Virginia City in this state was the Comstock Lode, an ore deposit that sparked a silver rush. An associate of John C. Fremont and Civil War hero, Kit Carson, names this state’s capital. For the point, name this state with the hub for US gambling, Las Vegas. | Nevada |