| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This country’s national language was transcribed by the Sorabe alphabet, which was inspired by Arabic and probably developed through contact with Omani traders. Jean Laborde served as an engineer for a monarch of this country, Ranavalona I, by building modern foundries for the Merina Kingdom. Malagasy is spoken in, for the point, what former French colony governed from Antananarivo, an island off the southeast coast of Africa? | Madagascar |
| In one work, a young woman from this country moves to the United States to reunite with Obinze, but instead becomes a real estate mogul. That book, Americanah, is a sequel to Half of a Yellow Sun, which takes place during this country’s Biafran War. Another author from this country attacked the “thoroughgoing racist” Joseph Conrad in An Image of Africa. For the point, name this home country of the author of Things Fall Apart, Igbo writer Chinua Achebe [ah-chay-bay]. | Republic of Nigeria |
| During this war, the 1st Infantry Division used bulldozers to bury defending soldiers hiding in trenches. The losing side in this war burned over 700 oil wells as it retreated. The invading side in this war was led by Norman Schwarzkopf, who secured victory in less than 5 days. Operation Desert Storm was a part of, for the point, what 1991 conflict started by coalition forces to expel Iraq from Kuwait? | First Persian Gulf War (accept Operation Desert Storm before it is read) |
| In an opera set in this country, the namesake courtesan murders Dr. Ludwig Schon, flees to London, and is murdered herself by Jack the Ripper. That opera, Lulu, was composed by Alban Berg, a 20th century composer from this country who worked with 12-tone pioneer Arnold Schoenberg in the “Second” musical school named for its capital. For the point, name this country where Johann Strauss composed the “Blue Danube” waltz and “Tales from the Vienna Woods.” | Austria (accept Austria-Hungary; do not accept or prompt on Hungary alone) |
| This man inadvertently introduced invasive hippos to Latin America after acquiring them for his private zoo. This man escaped an army encirclement by simply walking out the back gate of La Catedral. While in hiding, this man burned $2 million to keep his daughter warm. This criminal, labeled the “King of Cocaine,” operated out of the city of Medellin. For the point, name this notorious Colombian drug lord. | Pablo Escobar |
| While on a state visit to Turkey, this politician was criticized by Volker Kauder for saying that “Islam is a part” of that country. Vladimir Putin exploited this leader’s fear of dogs by bringing his Labrador to multiple meetings. In 2018, this politician was succeeded as her party’s leader by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. For the point, name this long-time leader of the Christian Democrats, the current Chancellor of Germany. | Angela Merkel |
| A president of this nation worked in conjunction with the US in Project Sapphire, allowing this nation to dismantle nuclear arms. Nikita Khrushchev’s Virgin Lands Reforms hoped to turn pastoral lands in this modern-day nation into wheat producing lands. This former Soviet republic is the site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is leased by neighboring Russia. For the point, name this Central Asian nation that, in 2019, honored former president Nursultan Nazarbayev by renaming its capital to Nur-Sultan from Astana. | Kazakhstan |
| Belisarius routed the forces of these people at Ad Decimum after deploying his heavily armored cataphracts. A king of these people, Genseric, was supposedly influenced into sparing the city of Rome by Pope Leo the Great after he was offered a lucrative bounty. These people conquered Roman North Africa, but Justinian the Great annexed it a century later. For the point, name this tribe of 5th century barbarians who inspire a modern term for destruction or defacing of artwork. | Vandals |
| One version of this game has three tracks, with Music C simply being Bach’s French Suite Number 3 in B minor. A 1993 photo of First Lady Hillary Clinton shows her playing this game on Air Force One. Alexey Pajitnov was initially not able to monetize this game because he lived in the USSR, but Russia reverted royalty rights to him in 1996. This game was bundled with the original Game Boy, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. For the point, name this classic puzzle game in which four-square blocks fall from the top of the screen. | Tetris |
| This politician told his wife “I am ashamed to say, who is Wheeler?” shortly before William Wheeler was nominated as his running mate. In support of the gold standard, this President vetoed the Bland-Allison Act. This President agreed to the Compromise of 1877, in which Reconstruction was ended in exchange for support against Samuel Tilden. For the point, name this Ohio Republican who succeeded Ulysses S. Grant as President. | Rutherford B. Hayes |
| One of these animals named Whistlejacket is the subject of a George Stubbs painting in the National Gallery. Anthony van Dyck’s painting Charles I at the Hunt shows the British king resting to the left of one of these animals. Theodore Gericault showed several of these animals in a painting of an annual event held at Epsom. For the point, name these animals featured in paintings of the Derby and in equestrian portraits. | horses |
| The Lushan Conference was called to discuss the progress of this program and resulted in the political purge of the Minister of Defense. The formulator of this program called for citizens to create backyard furnaces. As part of this program, sparrows were declared “public animals of capitalism” and chased around with sticks until they died of exhaustion. For the point, name this program created by Mao Zedong meant to catapult China’s agricultural sector. | Great Leap Forward (accept Da Yuejin) |
| According to legend, at this event, Joseph Stalin found the proto-meme “Kilroy Was Here” graffitied in a bathroom. At this event, Stalin requested to be given the Kuril Islands and promised that he would invade Japan three months after the fall of Germany. The Allies agreed to split Germany into four occupation zones at, for the point, what conference of Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, held in February 1945 at a Crimean resort town? | Yalta Conference |
| A leader of this empire altered the khutba daily prayer and was temporarily supplanted by Jahander Shah. The Maratha Confederacy seized its independence from this empire in 1674. The founder of this empire defeated Ibrahim Lodi at First Battle of Panipat. A leader of this empire constructed the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife. Babur, Akbar, and Shah Jahan were leaders of, for the point, what Indian empire? | Mughal Empire (accept Mogul Empire) |
| This thinker formulated a now controversial idea that inferior peoples were destined for “Natural Slavery.” Thomas Aquinas was so influenced by the principles of this thinker that he simply referred to him as “the Philosopher.” This author of the eight-book volume Politics was hired by Philip II to tutor his son, Alexander the Great. For the point, name this Greek student of Plato, often dubbed the “father of Western philosophy.” | Aristotle |
| This leader supposedly infiltrated an enemy camp at Chippenham by dressing up as a minstrel. According to legend, this king was scolded by a woman who had trusted him to watch her wheat cakes. Guthrum was forced to convert to Christianity after being defeated by this king at the Battle of Edington. Aethelred I was succeeded by, for the point, what 9th century King of Wessex who, after conquering London, declared himself King of the Anglo-Saxons? | Alfred the Great |
| The northeastern part of this state was originally part of the Connecticut Western Reserve. In this state, Mad Anthony Wayne defeated a Shawnee-Miami alliance at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers. This state fought its northern neighbor in the largely bloodless Toledo War. During the War of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a British fleet off the coast of this state at the Battle of Lake Erie. For the point, name this Midwestern state explored by Moses Cleveland. | Ohio |
| With Pierre-Etienne Flandin and Ramsay MacDonald, this man reaffirmed the Locarno Treaties in the Stresa Front. After being rescued in the Gran Sasso raid, this man was made leader of the Republic of Salo. This man and his mistress were murdered by partisans and hanged upside down at an Esso gas station. In 1922, this man, supported by the Blackshirts, led a March on Rome. For the point, name this dictator who led Italy through World War II. | Benito Mussolini |
| Prospector William Dickey named a geographic feature after this politician to garner support for one of his campaigns. This man supposedly won a campaign delivering speeches only from the front porch of his house in Canton, Ohio. In 2015, Barack Obama officially gave an Athabaskan name meaning “the high one” to a mountain formerly named for this man. For the point, name this US president who was once the namesake of Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. | William McKinley (accept Mount McKinley) |
| This country signed the Haavara Agreement which allowed Jews to emigrate to Mandatory Palestine. In this country, insurance companies paid the government instead of afflicted parties after a series of attacks on homes and businesses called the Night of Broken Glass. This country was the site of the Wannsee Conference, where politicians discussed the Final Solution to the Jewish question. For the point, name this European country that was led by the Nazi party. | Nazi Germany |
| After being tipped off by Mosby Shepherd, this politician stopped Gabriel Prosser from carrying out his planned slave revolt. During this man’s presidency, Maine joined the Union as a free state as part of the Missouri Compromise. This president’s Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, drafted a doctrine that opposed European intervention in the Americas. The “Era of Good Feelings” was ushered in by, for the point, what fifth President of the United States? | James Monroe |
| In this modern-day country, the Japanese trained the “Thirty Comrades” to fight against colonial rule. The Allies used a “road” in this country to deliver supplies to the Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1942, a Japanese invasion of this country forced British troops to retreat to neighboring India after the fall of Rangoon. For the point, name this Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma. | Myanmar (accept Burma before it is read) |
| Settlements along this body of water included York Factory, a trading post built in 1684. The namesake of this body of water was set adrift and presumed dead following a mutiny that occurred after he spent the winter of 1610 in nearby James Bay. This body of water lends its name to a fur trading company that today survives as a department store. For the point, name this large bay in northern Canada named for an English explorer. | Hudson Bay |
| This ruler sent Alex Laxman to negotiate a trade deal with the Japanese, but the Tokugawa Shogunate kicked him out. This ruler’s adviser, Nikita Panin, organized the Northern Accord to oppose the strength of the Bourbon-Habsburg League. The Bar Confederation opposed this ruler, who organized a coup to overthrow her Prussian-loving husband Peter III in 1762. For the point, name this “Great” Empress of Russia. | Catherine the Great (accept Catherine II) |
| In the aftermath of this case, the Supreme Court was forced to reaffirm judicial supremacy in Cooper v. Aaron. The Gray Commission discovered that the orders handed down in this case had not been carried out. Thurgood Marshall represented the plaintiffs in this case, who had been unable to register their daughter for the school closest to their home. Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned by, for the point, what 1954 Supreme Court case that desegregated public schools? | Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al |
| Herodotus describes a festival to a goddess of these animals that was held annually at Bubastis. In Norse mythology, Freya’s chariot was pulled by two of these animals. Bast was commonly depicted as one of these animals, which were often mummified in order to protect the Pharaoh. Medieval Europeans associated the black variety of these animals with Satan. For the point, name these household animals revered by ancient Egyptians. | cats |
| During this man’s Presidency, Oakes Ames was caught overcharging the Union Pacific Railroad as part of the Credit Mobilier scandal. This man’s Vice President, Schuyler Colfax, resigned due to scandal, causing him to be replaced by Henry Wilson. Orville Babcock, this man’s personal secretary, was complicit in the tax-evading Whiskey Ring. For the point, name this 18th President of the United States, a former Civil War general. | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Antonio Egas Moniz won a controversial Nobel Prize for his study of this organ. The ancient technique of trepanation was performed to relieve pressure in this organ. The function of different parts of this organ were discovered after an injury to Phineas Gage. Parts of this organ, such as the frontal lobe, were removed during a procedure that fell out of favor after the mid 20th century, the lobotomy. For the point, name this organ, that with the spinal cord, makes up the central nervous system. | brain |
| During this conflict, the Lenape were given one thousand pesos in exchange for land in New Jersey as part of the Treaty of Easton. One side in this war launched the disastrous Braddock expedition, which failed to capture Fort Duquesne [doo-CANE]. James Wolfe died at the Plains of Abraham during this war while attempting to capture Quebec. For the point, name this North American extension of the Seven Years” War, fought between Britain and its European rival. | French and Indian War (prompt on Seven Years” War before it is read) |
| In the build-up to this conflict, a force led by Peter the Hermit was disastrously defeated at the Battle of Civetot. Godfrey of Bouillon [bwee-YONE] defeated a Fatimid army in this conflict at the Battle of Ascalon. The pleas of Alexios I Komnenos sparked this conflict which was called for by Urban II at the Council of Clermont. For the point, name this first attempt by European Christians to reclaim the Holy Land. | First Crusade (prompt on “Crusade (s)” alone until “first” is read, then accept it) |
| This government’s navy was permanently crippled after an attack on its fleet at Mers-el- Kebir. Citizens under this government were targeted in the Vel d’Hiv [vell deev] roundup, which transported them to the Winter Velodrome under the orders of Pierre Laval. In order to garner support, this government appointed the hero of Verdun, Philippe Petain, as its Prime Minister. For the point, name this puppet government of France that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. | Vichy France |