| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This battle began when Joseph Gallieni managed to block orders to evacuate. The winning side in this battle had turned to fight after a lengthy retreat from the Battle of the Frontiers. Taxicabs were used to bring Allied troops to the front during this battle, which spelled the end of the Schlieffen Plan. For the point, name this 1914 battle for a French river that prevented the German capture of Paris. | First Battle of the Marne |
| This act was written by Dorman Eaton, who would go on to be the first chairman of a commission it created. This act was the crowning achievement of the Half-Breed faction. Under this act, the spoils system was brought to an end. For the point, name this 1883 act that established the United States Civil Service Commission and mandated that merit be used as a basis for government jobs. | Pendleton Civil Service Act (accept Civil Service Act of 1883 before 1883 is read; prompt on Civil Service Act, Bill, or Law) |
| This country was the site of a failed February 2018 coup against Abdulla Yameen that led former 30-year leader Maumoon Gayoom to be jailed. Under Mohamed Nasheed, this country hosted the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the danger that it could be submerged by 2100. Composed of 26 atolls, for the point, name this Indian Ocean island country whose capital is Male. | Maldives |
| This battle’s survivors were escorted to Pakistani Stadium by Malaysian UN troops. After a failed attempt to capture Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Super Six Four and Super Six One were downed during this battle. This battle helped end Bill Clinton’s humanitarian aid program in Africa. Called the Day of the Rangers, for the point, name this battle in the Somali capital where two Black Hawks were destroyed. | Battle of Mogadishu (accept the Day of the Rangers before mentioned; prompt on descriptions of Black Hawk Down before “Black Hawks” is read) |
| This man claimed that “man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity” was the answer to the title question of his essay “What is Enlightenment?” This man spoke of binding ethical obligations as he described the existence of a categorical imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. For the point, name this Prussian Enlightenment philosopher who wrote the Critique of Pure Reason. | Immanuel Kant |
| This conflict was supported by the Mingo Creek Association, whose followers launched the battle of Bower Hill in an attack on the home of tax collector John Neville. This conflict forced the deployment of the Watermelon Army under Light Horse Harry Lee. In order to stop this rebellion, George Washington was forced to personally lead troops again. For the point, name this 1794 rebellion over a tax on liquor. | Whiskey Rebellion |
| This painting, possibly a follow-up to The Dream and Lie of Franco, is currently held in the Reina Sofia. A flower is shown growing out of a hand holding a broken sword in this painting which also shows a screaming woman holding her dead child. A 1937 attack by Nazi warplanes inspired, for the point, what Pablo Picasso painting that depicts the aftermath of a bombing in the Spanish Civil War? | Guernica |
| This event was supported by Operation Woodrose, which suppressed student protests by arresting leaders of the Akali Dal. During this event, supporters of the Anandpur Resolution took control of a religious site to fight for an independent Khalistan before they were attacked by the military. Titled Operation Blue Star, for the point, name this 1984 Indian army operation on Sikhism’s holiest site. | the raid on the Golden Temple of Amritsar (or the raid on Amritsar; accept Operation Blue Star before mentioned) |
| This woman was struck with a brick as a child which may have led her to develop temporal lobe epilepsy. This woman stated she asked God to kill Edward Brodess but regretted her actions when he died a week later. William Lloyd Garrison nicknamed this woman “Moses” due to her numerous trips to the South. For the point, name this escaped slave who led many people to freedom through the Underground Railroad. | Harriet Tubman (accept Araminta Ross) |
| These locations were the site of an uprising when the arrest of Lavrenty Beria prompted a rebellion at Vorkuta. A “chain of islands” was likened to these locations when they were chronicled by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in a book about an “archipelago.” Solovki was the first of these locations, where the NKVD would incarcerate political enemies. For the point, name these forced labor camps of Joseph Stalin. | gulags (accept Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagerej) |
| This man complained about his troops’ uniforms at the Battle of Chippawa where he defeated a force led by Phineas Riall. In the aftermath of the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, this man missed the Niagara Campaign after suffering serious injuries. This man created a plan to blockade the South during the Civil War. The Anaconda Plan was developed by, for the point, what general known as “Old Fuss and Feathers?” | Winfield Scott (prompt on Old Fuss and Feathers before mentioned) |
| This city was described as not being worth the bones of “one British grenadier” when Arthur Harris was accused of committing a “mere act of terror” by Winston Churchill. This capital of Saxony was destroyed in a firestorm that killed 20,000, an event that is recounted in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five. For the point, name this German city that was controversially bombed by Allied planes in 1945. | Dresden |
| This group was abandoned by the “Forlorn Hope” party after reaching Truckee Lake. This group was waylaid in the Great Salt Lake Desert after an ill-advised move to travel through the Hastings Cutoff. During the harsh winter of 1846, this group became trapped in the Sierra Nevada on their way to California. For the point, name this group of American pioneers who resorted to cannibalism. | Donner Party |
| This man ascended to the throne after his predecessor disappeared while trying to find the ends of the Atlantic Ocean. The architect Al-Sahili was hired by this man, whose reign featured the construction of the Djingareyber Mosque and Sankore University in Timbuktu. This man allegedly devalued gold while on his travels in North Africa. For the point, name this Mali king who performed a lavish hajj. | Mansa Musa (accept Musa I) |
| This man, who succeeded Benjamin Harrison as ambassador to Haiti, fled to Canada after John Brown’s raid of Harper’s Ferry to avoid being charged as a co-conspirator. This man published his newspaper The North Star from the basement of a church in Rochester. For the point, name this abolitionist who wrote the book My Bondage and My Freedom and a Narrative of his life as a slave. | Frederick Douglass |
| This vehicle was modeled in the 1870s with a steam engine-based design by Enrico Forlanini. Paul Cornu designed an open-framed variety of this vehicle, whose R-4 version was the first production model sold by the company of Igor Sikorsky. An early design of one of these by Leonardo da Vinci was called an aerial screw. For the point, name these flying vehicles that rely on rotors. | helicopters (prompt on generic terms like “flying machine,” but do not prompt on airplane or specific non-helicopter examples) |
| This battle involved a gun built by Orban to breach a series of defenses that included a chain rolled across a series of logs in the Golden Horn. The house of Palaiologos fell as a result of this battle, during which Constantine XI failed to keep out the army of Mehmed II. For the point, name this 1453 in which the Ottomans destroyed the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital. | 1453 siege (or battle, fall, etc.) of Constantinople |
| This event triggered history’s largest ever landslide, which covered Spirit Lake. Photographer Reid Blackburn died during this event, whose side effects include the death of 12 million salmon fish and a few inches of ash fall on Spokane and Yakima. A large crater now graces the northern face of the mountain where this event took place. For the point, name this 1980 eruption of a peak in Washington. | eruption of Mount St. Helens (prompt on partial answers like “volcanic eruption”) |
| This event in 2015 involved a tragic stampede in Mina that killed over 2,000 people. This action’s first day involves drinking from the Zamzam well, while the third day involves throwing stones at walls to symbolize the stoning of the Devil. This part of the Five Pillars must be undertaken at least once by its religion’s adherents. For the point, name this annual pilgrimage in which Muslims travel to Mecca. | hajj (prompt on descriptive equivalents of a pilgrimage to Mecca before mentioned) |
| This man worked under the command of Edmund Allenby in a campaign where this man crossed the Nefud desert and successfully captured Aqaba. This man worked with Faisal of Iraq to launch a revolt in the Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire, an experience that this man recounted in the memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom. For the point, name this British officer who led the Arab Revolt in World War I. | Thomas Edward “T.E.” Lawrence (or Lawrence of Arabia) |
| This conflict began when Richard Henle was murdered in the Juye Incident, prompting the Eight Nation Alliance to launch a military intervention. The modernizing Hundred Days Reform was resisted by the instigators of this conflict, who received the support of Dowager Cixi in targeting Christian missionaries. For the point, name this 1899 uprising in Qing-era China by the Harmonious Fists. | Boxer Rebellion (or Uprising, etc.; accept Yihetuan movement; accept Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, with the adjectives in either order) |
| This modern-day country held the capital of Hulagu Khan’s Ilkhanate. This nation was ruled by Zand dynasty, which was eventually replaced by the Qajar Dynasty when Reza Khan overthrew it, leading to the rise of the Pahlavi Dynasty to power. For the point, name this nation which saw the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini during a 1979 revolution. | Iran (accept Persia) |
| This president’s policies were subject to the “sick chicken” case, Schechter Poultry Corp. v. US. Owen Roberts joined the liberal Three Musketeers in a move known as the “switch in time that saved nine,” a reference to this man’s court-packing scheme. This man thwarted Wendell Wilkie and Alf Landon in his re-election bids. For the point, name this President who oversaw the New Deal and US entry into World War II. | Franklin Delano Roosevelt (or FDR; prompt on Roosevelt) |
| This territory is home to Devil’s Tower Road, which intersects Winston Churchill Avenue, which intersects the only runway of its only airport. Along with the island of Minorca, the Treaty of Utrecht ensured that Spain gave up this location to Great Britain, which controls it to this day. Separated from Morocco by the Mediterranean Sea, for the point, name this British possession on Spain’s southern tip. | Gibraltar |
| This event led to the wounding of major Henry Rathbone as he attempted to stop it. George Atzerodt was hung for his role in this event, even though he lost his nerve and did not try to kill Andrew Johnson. This event’s perpetrator shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” before leaping down from a private box. For the point, name this event in which John Wilkes Booth killed the sitting president. | assassination (or murder, shooting, etc.) of Abraham Lincoln Extra Tossups |
| This man was appointed by Ulysses Grant to serve as Collector of the Port of New York prior to his highest elected office. This politician received that post due to his unwavering support for Roscoe Conkling’s political machine. This man signed into law the Pendleton Act. Charles Guiteau’s assassination of James Garfield led to, for the point, the accession of which politician to the presidency in 1881? | Chester Alan Arthur |
| This man integrated capitalism into his New Economic Policy to fulfill the promise of “land, peace, and bread” that fueled his support. This man secured power after prevailing over the White Army with the aid of Leon Trotsky, founder of the Red Army. Earlier, this man had begun the October Revolutions to force Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. For the point, name the founder of the Soviet Union. | Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (accept Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) |