| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This work’s background features black, patterned curtains that are drawn to indicate a sense of mourning. The title of this painting references the style of window in the background, which was seemingly out of place in rural Iowa. The Art Institute of Chicago displays, for the point, what Grant Wood painting of a woman and a pitchfork-holding farmer standing in front of a farmhouse? | American Gothic |
| This project’s completion festivities included Samuel Wilkinson performing the “Wedding of the Waters” aboard the Seneca Chief. DeWitt Clinton was the driving force behind this infrastructure project leading it to be called his “ditch.” This project used a lock system to navigate the Niagara Escarpment thus linking Albany with Buffalo. For the point, name this waterway that connects New York to a namesake Great Lake. | Erie Canal (prompt on Clinton’s Ditch before it is read; prompt on Clinton’s Folly before it is read) |
| This man was stabbed to death by Franc¸ois Ravaillac [rah-vah-YAK], leaving his wife, Marie de Medici, in charge of his country. The Edict of Nantes was passed by this king which provided religious freedoms to the Huguenots. This ruler was forced to convert to Catholicism to secure the throne which may have caused him to say that “Paris is well worth a mass.” For the point, name this French king from Navarre. | Henry IV of France (accept Henry III of Navarre; prompt on Henry) |
| This country was home to Chao Ponhea Yat high school which was transformed into the horrifying S-21. In this country’s civil war, Lon Nol was defeated by communist forces. In the aftermath of that war, anyone connected to the losing side was murdered and thrown into a Killing Field. Pol Pot established the Khmer Rouge in this country. For the point, name this country which contains Angkor Wat and is ruled from Phnom Penh. | Cambodia (accept Khmer before it is read) |
| This man calmed riots in Cleveland after the death of Martin Luther King with a speech “on the mindless menace of violence.” After defeating Eugene McCarthy in the California primary, this frontrunner for the 1968 Democratic nomination was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan. For the point, name this Massachusetts attorney general and brother of the 35th president of the United States. | Robert Kennedy (accept RFK; prompt on Kennedy) |
| This country’s citizens defended a post office in the Free City of Danzig but were defeated and executed as illegal combatants. Forces from this country led a cavalry charge at Krojanty leading to the myth that they attacked tanks with horses. This country was invaded on September 1st, 1939 setting off World War II. For the point, name this country whose government fled to the United Kingdom after the fall of Warsaw. | Poland |
| This man suffered his only known defeat at Kernstown during the Shenandoah Valley campaign. Barnard Bee praised this man’s firm defense of Henry House Hill leading to his most famous nickname. Upon the death of this man, Robert E. Lee claimed he had lost his right hand. For the point, name this Confederate general who was killed by friendly fire at Chancellorsville and nicknamed Stonewall. | Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (prompt on Stonewall before it is read) |
| This event caused Pope John XXIII to urge the opposing sides not to “remain deaf to this cry of humanity.” Vasili Arkhipov prevented an escalation of this event. A hotline connecting Washington and Moscow was established following this event which occurred after Nikita Khrushchev tried to arm Fidel Castro. For the point, name this 1962 crisis in which a Caribbean country was given nuclear missiles. | Cuban Missile Crisis (accept any answer having to do with Cuba receiving Missiles) |
| This religion’s title Arhat is given to a person who has followed the Eightfold Path in this religion’s Theravada sect. This religion’s Middle Way and Four Noble Truths were described by its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, who meditated under a bodhi tree to escape samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. For the point, name this Indian religion focused on attaining enlightenment. | Buddhism (accept Theravada Buddhism before it is read) |
| This country was the site of Operation Red Dawn which captured an enemy leader hiding in a spiderhole. In his “Mission Accomplished” speech, George W. Bush said “we have difficult work to do” in this country. Operation Enduring Freedom targeted this country due to the belief it housed weapons of mass destruction. For the point, name this Middle Eastern country that was led by Saddam Hussein until 2003. | Iraq |
| This man absorbed 22 competing companies in the “Cleveland Massacre” including one owned by his early rival, Charles Pratt. Ida Tarbell exposed this man’s shady business practices in the “Secret History” of his company. The Sherman Antitrust act broke up this man’s company into pieces such as Shell and Exxon. For the point, name this richest American of all time, the founder of Standard Oil. | John D. Rockefeller |
| This body of water contains the port of Dieppe which was raided by Canadian forces in 1942. Operation Sealion was a planned invasion across this body of water. Allied forces retreated across this body of water while fleeing from Dunkirk. In 1994, a tunnel running through this body of water connected France and its northern neighbor. For the point, name this channel which separates the United Kingdom and Europe. | English Channel (accept Sea of Brittany; accept British Sea; accept English alone after channel is read) |
| This substance was believed, according to a 1953 paper by Robert Corey and Linus Pauling, to form a triple helix structure. X-ray crystallography done by Rosalind Franklin was used by two other scientists to determine this molecule’s double helix structure. The Human Genome Project sequenced, for the point, what molecule that contains the genetic information within living cells? | deoxyribonucleic acid (or DNA) |
| This location was the site of a 1946 conflict in which Bernard Coy seized its gun gallery. Robert Stroud was known as the “birdman” of this location although he was not allowed to have birds. James Lucas attempted to escape this location two years after having stabbed Al Capone in a laundry room. For the point, name this former federal prison located on an island in San Francisco Bay. | Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary |
| This man attempted to stop World War I by exchanging telegrams with his third cousin Wilhelm II. After being relocated to Yekaterinburg, this man and his family were executed although rumors that his daughter Anastasia survived persisted for decades. This man’s wife bonded with the mystic Rasputin who claimed he could cure her son. The February Revolution overthrew, for the point, what last tsar of Russia? | Nicholas II (accept Nikolai II; accept Nicholas the Bloody; prompt on Nicholas) |
| This state was the site of the “stand in the schoolhouse door” in which black students were prevented from attending its flagship university. Police officers from this state attacked protesters as they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge. In this state, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus leading to a massive boycott. For the point, name this state where protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery. | Alabama |
| These animals were countered by Tamerlane who, noticing they were easily startled, sent waves of flaming camels at them. At the Battle of Zama, Scipio Africanus ordered his troops to make gaps in their formation so that these animals could charge through. Hannibal led a group of these animals over the Alps. For the point, name these animals whose large size and sharp tusks made them suited for warfare. | elephants |
| This election year featured the formation of the Constitutional Union party which was spearheaded by John Crittenden. Stephen Douglas was defeated in this year by a man he had previously debated with for an Illinois Senate seat. In the aftermath of this year’s election, 7 states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. For the point, name this year in which Abraham Lincoln won his first term. | |
| This city executed murderers by throwing them off the Tarpeian Rock. The Cloaca Maxima was a massive sewer in this city. The first Etruscan king of this city built the framework for the Circus Maximus. This city was home to a marketplace called the forum which was built to cement an alliance between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills. The Tiber River passes through, for the point, what capital of a namesake Italian empire? | Rome |
| This man created the Yassa law code which, while binding throughout his empire, remained a secret. The Shah of Khwarezmia shaved the heads of two ambassadors sent by this man which resulted in the destruction of his kingdom. This ruler may have ordered the death of his son Jonchi leading to his third son, Ogedei, being his appointed successor. For the point, name this founder of the Mongol Empire. | Genghis Khan (accept Temujin) |
| This man believed the bald eagle was a “bird of bad moral character” instead preferring the wild turkey. The Continental Congress appointed this man the first Postmaster General of the United States. This man founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1740 and had earlier published Poor Richard’s Almanack. Philadelphia was the home of, for the point, what founding father who flew a kite during a lightning storm. | Benjamin Franklin |
| This orator was accused of warmongering due to his Sinews of Peace address which coined the term Iron Curtain. Facing invasion, this politician declared “we shall fight in the fields and in the streets”. This leader claimed never was “so much owed by so many to so few” as the Royal Air Force fought the Battle of Britain. For the point, name this Prime Minister whose speeches bolstered the United Kingdom during World War II. | Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill |
| This politician launched Operation Restore Hope in an attempt to aid Somalia but the operation ended in failure when army rangers engaged in a firefight in Mogadishu. The Defense of Marriage Act was signed by this president who also agreed to NAFTA. An affair with Monica Lewinsky nearly destroyed the career of, for the point, what Democratic president who was impeached in 1998? | William “Bill” Jefferson Clinton (accept William “Bill” Jefferson Blythe III) |
| This war is the setting for a novel in which the epileptic five-year-old Ruth and eleven-year-old Isabel are taken to New York. Laurie Halse Anderson’s novels Chains and Forge are set in this war, as is an Esther Forbes novel about an apprentice silversmith who spies for the Sons of Liberty. Johnny Tremain is set during, for the point, what war that opened with the Battles of Lexington and Concord? | American Revolutionary War |
| These people were countered by Nightingale floors which squeaked when stepped on. The Iga and Koga clans trained members of this profession. In Kabuki theater, these people were disguised as stagehands which led to their stereotypical all-black attire. These people often lived in hidden villages and made use of kunai to scale walls. For the point, name these stealthy Japanese assassins. | ninja (accept shinobi; accept kuonoichi) |
| This event was investigated by the Warren Commission which was aided by the film of Abraham Zapruder. John Connally was injured in this attack which took place as a motorcade drove through Dealey Plaza. The Sixth Floor of the Texas School Book Depository was used by the perpetrator of this event. For the point, name this November 22, 1963 event in which Lee Harvey Oswald killed a president in Dallas. | Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (prompt on Assassination of Kennedy) |
| This country’s Civic Forum party advocated for the end of Communism and sponsored Vaclav Havel in a 1990 election. Alexander Dubcek [DOOB-check] promised “socialism with a human face” during a period of reform in this country which ended with an invasion by the Warsaw Pact. The Velvet Revolution restored democracy in, for the point, what former country where The Prague Spring attempted to usher in reform? | Czechoslovakia |