| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| In 1908, this commander's ship, the USS Decatur, ran aground, leading to this man being found guilty of dereliction of duty. This man served as the signing representative of the U.S. aboard the Missouri during the unconditional surrender of another country. In 1945, this man succeeded his superior Ernest King as Chief of Naval Operations after commanding forces against Japan. For ten points, name this U.S. fleet admiral who was the commander- in-chief of the Unites States' Pacific Fleet during World War Two. | Chester W (illiam) Nimitz |
| This ruler personally met with Richard Cobden, convincing him to sign the Cobden- Chevalier [[sheh-vahl-YAY]] agreement, which sparked the "golden age" of free trade treaties. This ruler personally led the victorious army at the Battle of Magenta before directly defeating Franz Joseph I at the Battle of Solferino. Though he narrowly avoided war during the Luxembourg Crisis, this monarch openly wandered the battlefield before being captured by invading Germans at Sedan. For ten points, name this president-turned- emperor, the last monarch of France. | Napoleon III (or Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; prompt on partial answer) |
| The ascetic Saint Simeon sat on a pillar near this settlement for nearly four decades. This western terminus of the Silk Road once served as the capital of the Ayyubid Dynasty until its sacking by the Mongols. A four-year battle between Kurdish militia called the YPG and the independent FSA dislodged pro-Assad forces from this city in 2016. For ten points, name this second-largest city in Syria, which Libertarian Gary Johnson was curiously unaware of during the 2016 presidential election. | Aleppo (or Ḥalab) |
| While being investigated by the Lytton Commission, this noble recorded that he hoped to ask the namesake official for asylum in interwar Britain but instead was cowed by Seishirō Itagaki. Yuan Shikai [[SHEE-KYE]] succeeded this royal after his regent, Empress Dowager Longyu, issued the abdication edict in 1912. Imperial Japan placed this monarch on the throne of their puppet state, Manchukuo [[mahn-CHOO-kwoh]]. The last monarch of China was, for ten points, which child-ruler known as the Xuantong Emperor? | Puyi (or Yaozhi; accept Xuantong Emperor before mentioned) |
| Aeneas and Anchises [[ahn-KYE-ses]] collected ritual statues found in these places, which they called "our holy symbols," shortly before fleeing Troy in the Aeneid. They're not temples, but statues of the trimorphic goddess Hecate [[heh-KAH-teh]] were often placed at these sites. The lararium was an altar or niche in these places meant for gods known as the Lares Familiares, or family deities. The Domus was a Roman variety of, for ten points, what type of locale used as human residences? | Homes (or Houses; accept Domicile; accept Residence before mentioned; or other synonyms; accept Domus before mentioned) |
| The geographer Strabo uses this ruler's name to refer to a region in the Armenian highlands and Caucasian Albania. According to Herodotus, this ruler's 50,000-strong army disappeared in a desert sandstorm en route to destroy the Siwa Oasis. Shortly after his death by a self-inflicted stab wound, a civil war between the usurper Bardiya and the future Darius the Great broke out. The conquest of Egypt was completed by, for ten points, which Persian ruler and son of Cyrus the Great? | Cambyses II (accept Cambysene) |
| Despite the written support of Dowager Queen Sophie, this man was exiled due to his known support of the followers of Philip Melanchthon. This man built an early observatory known as the Castle of Urania with funding from Frederick II of the House of Oldenburg. In a duel with Manderup Parsburg, this man lost part of his nose at age twenty and wore a brass prosthetic for the rest of his life. The astronomer Johannes [[yoh-HAHN- ness]] Kepler served as the assistant of, for ten points, which Danish astronomer of the 16th century? | Tycho Brache (or Tyge Ottesen Brahe) |
| During the second of these wars, public opinion was outraged by rumors that bloodhounds imported from Cuba were being used to mutilate opponents. Wiley Thompson attempted to depose several chiefs, including Micanopy [[me-kah-NOH-pee]], during these wars. The first of these wars was ended by the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, and the third was ignited in 1855 by Billy Bowlegs. The physical copy of the Treaty of Payne's Landing was stabbed by Osceola at the start of one of these wars. For ten points, name this series of three wars in which all but 500 of the namesake Native Americans were removed from Florida. | Seminole Wars (prompt on "Florida War (s)) |
| This man's only wound during a war was a bayonet to the posterior while investigating a trench he constructed during the Siege of Ninety-Six. This man emigrated to the U.S. following his capture at the Battle of Maciejowice [[mah-cheh-yoh-WIT-seh]] and the subsequent partition of his homeland. This man, who strengthened the defenses of West Point, served as an advisor to Nathaniel Greene during his Southern campaign. For ten points, name this military engineer who led the 1794 Polish rebellion and also served as a fortifications expert during the American Revolution. | Tadeusz Kościuszko (or Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko; accept Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko) |
| By the time of his accession to his highest position, this figure had earned the titles "Lord of Men" and "Person from the House of Darts." This monarch widened the divide between commoners and the pipiltin noble class, resulting in his eventual abandonment and death by stoning. This ruler was succeeded by the brief reign of Cuitláhuac [[kweet-LAH- hwak]], and all his sons were killed by the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan. Spanish forces under Hernan Cortes captured, for ten points, which last Emperor of the Aztecs? | Montezuma II (accept Moctezuma II; or Motecuhzomatzin) |
| A state named for this body of water was founded at the site where a mouse deer was seen outwitting a dog by Parameswara [[pah-rah-mes-WAH-rah]], and employed the Orang Laut people as a militia. Afonso de Albuquerque built the A Famosa fortress to establish Portuguese rule over this waterway, whose narrowing at the Phillip Channel may be relieved by a canal through the Isthmus of Kra. A spike in piracy in the early 2000s plagued, for ten points, what strait through which cargo ships pass between the Indian and Pacific Oceans? | Strait (s) of Malacca |
| Which Java-based thalassocratic empire controlled the Straits of Malacca and was the last major Hindu power in the region before the rise of the Demak Sultanate? | Majapahit Empire (or Kerajaan Majapahit) |
| In 2021 this country pardoned three women who received 30-year sentences after undergoing medically necessary abortions. This country, which receives major law enforcement funding from the U.S. under the Territorial Control Plan, attempted to depose its Attorney General and five supreme court justices in May 2021. The New Ideas party of Nayib Bukele [[boo-KEH-leh]] won large 2021 electoral victories in, for ten points, what country which has recently decreased its notorious murder rate driven by the MS-13 gang? | Republic of El Salvador (or Republica de El Salvador) |
| In 2021 El Salvador, which has not printed its own money since 2001, rolled out the government-run "Chivo" service to support the introduction of which currency as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar? | Bitcoin |
| This attorney charged that Reuben Crandall's publications instigated slaves to rebel in the leadup to the Snow Riot. This man served as a defense lawyer for Sam Houston after he caned William Stanbery. This man was detained aboard the HMS Tonnant to negotiate the release of William Beanes, during which time he wrote a poem that mentions "the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep." For ten points, name this lawyer, who wrote a poem about the shelling of Fort McHenry that would later become "The Star-Spangled Banner." | Francis Scott Key |
| Key led which "Society" which facilitated the passage of Free Black people to settlements predominantly in West Africa? | American Colonization Society |
| This monarch dubbed the politicians Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier [[dah-lah-DYEH]] "two fools who sleep," and he was escorted by James Bond author Ian Fleming into exile following a 1939 Axis takeover. This royal, who supposedly smoked 200 cigarettes a day, instituted a namesake salute where one put their hand over their heart with palm facing downward. Born into a beylik family, this man was his country's youngest ever prime minister before becoming its king. For ten points, name this Albanian King deposed by Fascist Italy's invasion. | King Zog I (or Naltmadhnija e tij Zogu I, Mbreti i Shqiptarëve; accept Ahmet Zogu) |
| King Zog claimed to be a descendent of what Albanian feudal lord who led a 25-year long resistance effort against Ottoman rule. | Skanderbeg (or Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu; accept Iskender bey; or Lord Alexander) |
| A shepherd of this name raised the young Cyrus the Great after a steward of Astyages [[ah-STY-ah-gees]] was tasked with killing the child. A war with this name began after a king orchestrated the Asiatic Vespers, a genocide of Romans in Asia Minor. Pompey the Great defeated a king of this name in the Battle of the Lycus, forcing him to flee to Crimea and commit suicide. The Kingdom of Pontus was ruled by six rulers with, for ten points, which name of Persian origin, derived from that of a sun god? | Mithridates (accept Mithridatic War; accept Mithridates VI Eupator; prompt on "Mithra") |
| The first Mithridatic War occurred simultaneously to which period of domestic unrest caused by allied city-states agitating for Roman citizenship? | Social War (accept Marsic War) |
| The private Joint Church Aid launched an airlift to relieve mass starvation using the island of São Tomé as a base during this war. Chinua Achebe formally joined a breakaway state as a propagandist until his home city of Aba fell during this war. Pogroms of the Igbo [[EE-boh]] people in the mid-1960s prompted military officer Emeka Ojukwu [[oh-"JUKE"- woo]] to declare independence from a West African state, which led to this war. For ten points, give this 20th-century civil war named for a breakaway state in Southeastern Nigeria. | Biafran Civil War (accept Nigerian Civil War before mentioned) |
| Which Israeli intelligence agency that captured Adolf Eichmann secretly sold arms to the Biafrans through neutral Switzerland? | Mossad (or The Institute; accept HaMossad leModiʿin uleTafkidim Meyuḥadim; or The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations) |
| This candidate was dubiously endorsed by British ambassador Lionel Sackville- West in the Murchison Letter, which resulted in this man losing New York. Four years earlier, this man benefitted from another swing in Irish votes when Samuel Burchard denounced him as the candidate of "rum, Romanism, and rebellion." This candidate defeated James G. Blaine before splitting two elections with Benjamin Harrison. For ten points, name this only Democratic president of the Gilded Age, who served two non- consecutive terms. | Grover Cleveland (or Stephen Grover Cleveland) |
| In the 1884 election against Blaine, Cleveland also benefitted from the defection of this Republican faction led by Carl Schurz and Richard Henry Dana III that opposed corruption in the civil service system. | Mugwumps |
| This author ascribes the invention of metallurgy to the namesake smelters in the Idaean Dactyls [[ee-DAY-ehn DAHK-tils]]. The overthrow of Uranus by Cronus and then Cronus by his son Zeus are retold in this writer's compendium, Theogony [[thee-AH-juh- nee]]. This man asserted that human history had experienced a Golden and Silver Age, as well as a "Heroic Age" that witnessed the Trojan War. "The Myth of Five Ages" and agrarian life in Ancient Greece is expounded in, for ten points, which writer's Works and Days? | Hesiod (or Hesiodos) |
| Hesiod claimed to have been raised in the shadow of what sacred Greek mountain, which historically possessed several shrines to the muses? | Mount Helicon |
| Republican president of the 1950s and early 60s who defeated Stevenson twice in back to back landslide victories. | Dwight D (avid) Eisenhower |
| Midwestern state which Stevenson governed. | Illinois |
| Future Attorney General and victim of Sirhan Sirhan who served as an aide for Stevenson on the 1956 presidential campaign. | Robert F (itzgerald) Kennedy (prompt on partial answers; accept RFK) |
| Attempted overthrow of the Castro regime by Cuban exiles which nearly led to Adlai Stevenson resigning as Ambassador to the UN. | Bay of Pigs Incident (accept Playa Giron) |
| Anti-communist period pushed by Joseph McCarthy that coincided with Stevenson's stint as governor. | Second Red Scare |
| U.S. government official who was accused of Communism and spying by Whittaker Chambers and who was defended by Stevenson in a private deposition. | Alger Hiss |
| Tennessee politician who served as Stevenson's running mate in the 1956 election. | (Carey) Estes Kefauver |
| Derisive nickname of Stevenson later embraced by him on the 1952 campaign trail which poked fun at his baldness and intellectual air. | Egghead |
| Faith founded by Muhammad which John of Damascus called a heresy in an 8th- century text. | Islam (accept Muslim faith) |
| Roman emperor who called for the 325 C.E. Council of Nicaea [[nee-KAY-ah]] to stamp out Christian heresies. | Constantine the Great (or Constantine I; accept Flavius Valerius Constantinus) |
| Modern nation whose region of Languedoc [[lahng-DOHK]] was targeted by the Albigensian Crusade, home of the Cathar heresy. | France |
| Dualistic belief system, which comes from the Greek word for "knowledge," known for its influence on early Christians. | Gnosticism (accept Gnosis) |
| Popular heresy that considered Jesus wholly human, named for a Christian ascetic from Cyrene. | Arianism (accept Arrius) |
| Mesopotamian faith practiced by St. Augustine before his conversion. | Manichaeism (or Āyīn-e Mānī) |
| "Little Brethren" who condemned the opulence of the Church and wanted to return to the poverty exemplified by St. Francis of Assisi. | Fraticellis (accept Spiritual Franciscans; prompt on "Franciscan (s)") |
| Group named for a merchant from Lyon, who were deemed heretics for rejecting the authority of bishops. | Waldensians (or Walldenses; accept Valdesi; or Vallenses; or Vaudois) |
| Capital city of Colombia, which was secured following the Battle of Boyacá. | Bogota |
| Central American state which broke away from Colombia in 1903 with U.S. backing. | Republic of Panama (or República de Panamá) |
| "Liberator" of South America who became the first president of Gran Colombia. | Simón Bolívar (or Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y Blanco) |
| 1980s head of the Medellin [[meh-deh-YEEN]] cartel known as the "King of Cocaine." | Pablo Escobar |
| Former Marxist-Leninist insurgent group in Colombia which utilized kidnapping and ransom. | FARC (accept Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; accept Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) |
| Spanish viceroyalty which included modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago. | Viceroyalty of New Granada (accept Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada) |
| Colombian president from 2002 to 2010 who allied with the Bush administration to fight the War on Drugs in "Plan Colombia." | Álvaro Uribe Vélez |
| Indigenous people of the Colombian altiplano that formed a namesake Confederation before being conquered by the Spanish. | Muisca (accept Muisca Confederation; accept Chibcha) |
| This presidential election year saw the election of the first person with non- European heritage to vice president, who was the incumbent Senate Majority Leader. In this election year, the Democrats became the first party to nominate a (+) Catholic for president; that man ran alongside Joseph T. Robinson. Charles Curtis became vice president in this election year, which saw the defeat of the "Happy Warrior," (*) Al Smith, by the former Secretary of Commerce. For ten points, name this U.S. election year won by Republican Herbert Hoover. | 1928 United States presidential election |
| Sergei Eisenstein used this historical figure in his 1938 film as an allegory to the deteriorating relationship between Nazi Germany and his native USSR. After being sent into exile by the boyars, (+) this man returned to lead native forces against the invading Livonian Order at the behest of Novgorod. During that campaign, this general, supported by the Pskov Republic, defeated the Teutonic Knights on the frozen Lake Peipus [[PIE-puhs]] during the Battle on the (*) Ice. For ten points, name this Russian folk hero of the 13th century, a Grand Prince of Kiev. | Alexander Nevsky (or Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky) |
| The man at the center of this event noted that he would rather have "live vermin on my back than the tongue of" those trying to ruin his reputation. During this event, some people thought that a drunkard named John B. Timberlake had taken his own life as a result of a love affair. A group of women led by (+) Floride [["Florida"]] Calhoun tried to socially ostracize the Secretary of War and his wife during this event, facilitating Martin Van Buren's rise to the presidency. (*) For ten points, name this "affair" in which Andrew Jackson's Cabinet members resigned after targeting Peggy Eaton. | Petticoat Affair (accept Eaton Affair before mentioned) |
| This unit hacked through the Pecheneg nomads' laager formation, which proved vital in John II's victory at the Battle of Beroia [[beh-roh-EE-ah]]. The capture and ransom of Romanos (+) IV Diogenes led these people to organize a palace coup upon his return to the capital. By the rule of Alexios Komnenos, this force was heavily composed of Anglo-Saxon (*) refugees from Norman England. For ten points, name this elite guard of the Byzantine Empire originally made up of Norsemen. | Varangian Guard (or Varyags; accept Tágma tōn Varángōn) |
| In his Epigrams, the writer Martial records how this man banned male castration despite having the eunuch Earinus as a lover. Before being called back by this emperor to fight in the Dacian [[dah-KEE-ehn]] war, the governor Gnaeus Julius (+) Agricola led a failed conquest of Caledonia after conquering modern Wales. The courtier Parthinus likely led the 96 AD plot to assassinate this emperor, who was succeeded by the elder statesman (*) Nerva. The last emperor of the Flavian dynasty was, for ten points, which authoritarian emperor? | Domitian (or Domitianus) |
| This politician controversially blamed the debut album of rapper Tupac Shakur, 2pocalypse Now, for directly causing brutality against the police in a 1990s case in Texas. This man faced public embarrassment after erroneously telling a school child to add an (+) "e" to the end of word "Potato" during a mock spelling bee. Lloyd Bentsen said to this man "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" during the 1988 Vice Presidential debate. The running mate of George H.W. (*) Bush was, for ten points, which Indiana politician? | Dan Quayle (or James Danforth Quayle) |
| This man wrote on the common misconceptions and poor arguments primarily used by MPs in the British Parliament in his work The Book of Fallacies. Per his will, this man was made into an (+) "auto-icon," basically a preserved corpse, which is still on display at the University College-London. This man theorized a (*) prison where a single guard can see every interned prisoner at once. For ten points, name this formulator of the Panopticon, the father of utilitarianism. | Jeremy Bentham |
| This man's father, Celtillus, was put to death for attempting to rule all of his homeland, and this man's main efforts were preceded by the revolt of Ambiorix. This Arverni nobleman successfully provided misinformation to the (+) Aedui tribe, resulting in their cavalry being attacked by the allied Roman legion at Gergovia. This man was ritually strangled at the Temple of Jupiter after his imprisonment following a loss at the Siege of (*) Alesia. For ten points, name this leader of the confederation that was defeated by Julius Caesar during the Roman conquest of Gaul. | Vercingetorix [[vehr-sin-GEH-toh-riks]] |
| Coral ruins dot this nation's Suakin Island, which in 2018 was leased to Turkey with plans to restore the port. A religious uprising under Muhammad Ahmad in this country saw the death of General (+) "Chinese" Gordon in its capital. The Mahdist War occurred in this country, where the pyramids of Nuri were constructed by Taharqa, king of (*) Kush. For ten points, name this African nation that was controlled for over twenty-five years by Omar al-Bashir from Khartoum. | Republic of Sudan (or Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān) |
| Henry VI [[the Sixth]] was captured at what battle that traditionally marks the beginning of the Wars of the Roses? | (First) Battle of St. Albans) |