kqa history quiz seek under porus 2012, prelims with answers

SeeK under Porus

4th Edition of KQA History Quiz

THE PRELIMS - ANSWERS

1

In February 2012, it was reported that United States Marine Corps scout snipers had been using this device to symbolize their function since at least the 1980s. It was adopted from the indigenous Germanic character which originally symbolized the sun. This simple but striking device consisted of two letters side by side like lightning bolts. This device became so popular in Nazi Germany that typewriters had an extra key so that one can print this character with one key stroke instead of two. What?

The Answer is….

2

One of the major changes in the Indian army post independence was the dropping of a term which is derived from a Persian word meaning army for a Persian word meaning young. The first term is preferred by the British historians to denote an event in Indian History while India historians generally don't use it. What was the change?

The Answer is….

• Sepoys came to be referred to as Jawans

3*

His father Umar Sheikh Mirza died in a freak accident. An avid pigeon flyer, he lost his life when his dovecot built on the edge of a ravine in the corner of the castle tumbled down into the depths below in a landslide carrying him along with it. "Umar Sheikh Mirza, flew with his pigeons and their house and became a falcon" wrote his son in his memoir, considered the first of it’s kind in the Islamic World. Who?

The Answer is….

• Babur writing about his father in Baburnama

4

Which war fought in the period of 1917-23 had the belligerents grouped as white, green, red and black?

The Answer is….

• Russian Civil War

5

This ancient Sumerian city is now within an American Air Base in Iraq. In 1999, Saddam Hussein denied Pope John Paul II access to the site, which is supposedly the birthplace of Abraham. Which City also famous for this massive structure?

The Answer is….

• Ur, the picture is of Ziggurat of Ur

6

In 2010 this comic journalist visited India to do a long form feature on rural poverty. The community he chose to study was the musahars, the traditional rat catchers of North India. He went to a historical town in UP to do the research and named the resulting work after it. Name the comic and also explain the town’s historical relevance. Pic

The Answer is….

Joe Sacco named his comic, Kushinagar which also the place where Buddha attained Parinirvana

7

It was this Tamizh scholar who collected and published Tamizh Sangam era classics. Thus starting with Jeevaka Chintamani in 1887, he printed and published Manimekalai (1888), Silappathikaram (1889), Paththupaattu (1889) and Purananooru (1894), all appended with scholarly commentaries. Who? What nickname did he get because of these efforts? <pic>

The Answer is….

• U. V. Swaminatha Iyer• He was called affectionately called

the Tamizh Thatha

8

Excerpt from a 1924 article titled "Shall We All Commit Suicide?" : " …..Could not explosives even of the existing type be guided automatically in flying machines by wireless or other rays, without a human pilot, in ceaseless procession over a hostile city, arsenal, camp or dockyard?" Words of someone who claimed that he could pass an examination on H.G. Wells's works. Who and what present day menace did he imagine at that time?

The answer is…

• Churchill on Drone Warfare

9

In USSR the term "vrag naroda" was used to at various times applied, in particular, to Tsar Nicholas II and the Imperial family, aristocrats, the bourgeoisie, clerics, businessmen, anarchists, kulaks, monarchists, Mensheviks, Bundists, Trotskyists, Bukharinists etc. What similar term was in vogue in the States during 1930's?

The answer is….

• Public Enemy, vrag naroda means enemy of the state in Russian

10

It was described as, "The pearl in the necklace of the forts of Hind". This place is also famous for the last stand of Rani Lakshmibhai. The discovery of a tablet recording the establishment of a small 9th century Hindu temple in the fort generated a lot of interest as it was the oldest recorded evidence of something. Id the fort and also What did they find here?

• The answer is …

• The Gwalior Fort• The oldest record of 0 for which a

date can be assigned was found in that tablet

11

The Central Institute of Psychiatry in Ranchi is probably the oldest lunatic asylum in Asia. Two inmates of this hospital were released as a goodwill gesture in 2003. This was right after when PM Atal Behari Vajpayee visited a neighboring country. They have been inmates of this institution under special status for 42 years. One of these inmates suffered briefly from schizophrenia but otherwise both of them were healthy. Who are these people?

• The answer is ….

The inmates were Yang Chen and Shih Liang, two PRC soldiers who were held as POWs in India. Vajpayee had gone to China and had met Wen Jiabao.

12

It states that if equilateral triangles are constructed on the sides of any triangle, either all outward, or all inward, the centres of those equilateral triangles themselves form an equilateral triangle. What theorem? <pic>

• The answer is…

• Napoleon Bonaparte was a amateur mathematician and this sort of a geometric construction is called a Napoleon Triangle and the statement is called Napoleon’s theorem.

13

During the World War Two, it is believed that there was an informal agreement between the Germans and the Allies that the Allies won’t bomb the German towns of Göttingen and Heidelberg in return for sparing two English towns. One strong evidence pointing in this direction is the unearthing of some German plans to make one of these cities the capital of Occupied England. Name Hitler’s English capital.

The answer is…

Oxford

14

The library of the Archeological Department of the Delhi is named after the man who commissioned it. It was his Persian translation of Upanishads that attracted Sir William Jones, the father of Indology, to Upanishads. His life has inspired many works of fiction one of the most popular is shown below. Many historians consider his failure as a great “if moment” in India’s history. Who? <pic>

The answer is…

Dara Shikoh. The heir apparent to Shahjahan, it was by defeating him that Aurangazeb ascended the throne of Delhi.

15

ID this band named after the key witness in District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi's prosecution of Manson and his followers for the Tate-LaBianca murders

The answer is…

• Kasabian named after Linda Kasabian

16 Connect

All of these animals are named after A.O. Hume

• Hume’s Warbler• The Manipur Bush Rat (Hadromys

humei) • Hume’s Argali

17

The painting depicts the quaestor of Sicily discovering a famous tomb. The quaestor (sort of a Roman consul), had heard the locals speak of this tomb, but none of them knew the exact location. Name both the quaestor (a famous man in his own right) and the man who’s tomb was discovered. <pic>

The answer is…

• Cicero discovering Archemedes’ grave.

• The tomb has the famous sphere inscribed within a cylinder.

18*

Located in modern day Poland, the Malbrok Castle (or Marienburg Castle) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is said to be the largest castle in the world by surface area. It was built by a particular group after their conquest of Old Prussia in the 13th century. Name the specific group that built it.

• The answer is…

• The Teutonic Knights (The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem).

19* This Jesuit priest was

the confessor of Louis XIV. In 1804, the city of Paris bought a plot of land where he had once lived. The plot was converted into something that bears his name. Today it is the largest of its kind within the city and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. What ?

• The answer is …

• The confessor was Pere Francois de La Chaise.

• The Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris is named after him.

20

“My client is not in a hurry” – Famous response by a man when asked about the duration of his celebrated project. He had worked on it from 1883 to 1926 and left it unfinished at his death. What was he talking about ?

The answer is …

Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia.

21

He had attended the AICC meeting in 1928. Thirty years later, he visited India again. He describes a meeting thus: “Dark, cold eyes looked at me without feeling. Thirty years before, he and his father had been introduced to me at a huge rally for independence. I mentioned this to him, but it produced no change in his face. He replied in monosyllables to everything I said, scrutinizing me with his steady, cold eyes.”

Who about whom?

The answer is …

Neruda about Nehru

22

“They salute with both hands now”

What specific incident was the subject of this cartoon ?

• The answer is…

• “Night of the Long Knives” (Hitler’s purge of the SA / “Roehm Putsch”).

23.

• Who is being commemorated in this stamp ?

• The answer is…

• Casey Jones, a railroad engineer, who was the only casualty of the “Cannonball express” collision.

24*

When the Athenians were voting on whom to ostracize, to send into exile for ten years, by writing names on potsherds, an illiterate farmer who did not know ___ asked him to write a name down for him on his piece of pottery. _____ asked him what name to write, and the farmer replied “_____". He dutifully wrote his own name, and then asked the farmer what harm _____ had ever done him. "None at all," came the reply, "but I'm sick and tired of hearing him being called 'the Just' all the time. Name this “strategos” of Athens, who was recalled from his exile later and played a key role in the defeat of the Persian invasion.

• The answer is…

• Aristides.

25.

An artist’s re-creation of a famous structure in its ancient glory. Identify the structure.

• The answer is …

• Borobodur, Indonesia.

26.

In August 1943, an 18 year old soldier named Charles Herman Kuhl got diagnosed with a case of psychoneurosis. He had repeatedly returned from the battle front with similar issues and was admitted to the 15th infantry hospital. Although his soldierly career was somewhat unspectacular, he became famous during his illness. In fact, he may well have influenced one of the crucial decisions of the war. Explain.

• The answer is ….

• Charles Herman Kuhl was the victim of the infamous “Patton slap”.

• During a visit to the hospital, General Patton was enraged when he found Kuhl, who had no apparent wounds, sitting in the hospital. He accused him of cowardice and slapped him. There was public pressure on Eisenhower to take action. It may have been one of the contributing factors for Patton not receiving a command during the first phase of Normandy landings.

27

The cartoon mocks a 1901 ideology, that was added on as a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. What diplomacy ?

• The answer is …

• Big Stick Diplomacy, as proposed by Theodore Roosevelt.

• “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

28.

• According to the popular story, the idea was born when the Congress leader Kamaraj was at a train intersection near the town of Cheranmahadevi in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. As he was waiting for a train to pass, he noticed young boys tending to their goats and cattle. He asked one small boy, “What are you doing with the cows? Why didn’t you go to school?”. The boy’s response made Kamaraj think, and he went back and started a new program to attract kids like him to school. What did Kamaraj do?

• The answer is …

• started the Mid-day meal scheme.

29.

• During his tenure at the Government mint in Calcutta, he reformed weights and measures, introduced a uniform coinage and devised a balance so delicate as to indicate the three-thousandth part of a grain. A gifted architect, he rebuilt the minaret of Aurangzeb in Benares and improved the drainage system of Calcutta by building a tunnel between the Hooghly river and the Sunderbans mangrove forest. The ghat shown below was erected in his honor by the citizens of Calcutta. Who?

• The answer is…

• James Prinsep, more famous for deciphering the Brahmi script and the rock edicts of Ashoka.

• The Prinsep Ghat in Kolkatta was built in his honour.

30*

This castle in Rotherham, Yorkshire, was built in the 1770s. The Earl who built it named it after a place to show his support to the activists who were protesting against the English. So strong was his opposition to the Government position that he resigned his commission. Quite cheekily, he also banned a particular beverage from parties held at the castle . Name the castle. <pic>

• Boston Castle.• Tea drinking is banned here.

31

• The Society of American Travel Writers conducts the annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition for outstanding print, online and multimedia works and for travel photography. The awards are named after Lowell Thomas, an American writer and broadcaster who had a distinguished career at CBS and NBC radio networks. Thomas traveled all over the world and made interesting broadcasts. But he shot into the limelight through exhibitions of dramatic video footage that he shot over a short period of time in 1917. The subject of his films received world wide fame due to his exhibitions. Who/What are we talking about?

The answer is….

• Lawrence of Arabia.• Lowell Thomas was the man who made

Lawrence of Arabia famous. He made several recordings of Lawrence attired in his Arab dress and engaged in his desert war.

32

• From the 17th century into the 19th century, the area was known to the British as the "Pirate Coast", as raiders based there harassed the shipping industry despite navies patrolling the area. The British often led campaigns against the pirate bases along the coast. Raids continued intermittently until 1835, when the rulers agreed not to engage in hostilities at sea. In 1853, they signed a treaty with the United Kingdom. The independent territories which signed the agreement were called "___", after this treaty. They were declared as British protectorates. In 1971, Britain ended this agreement and the territories joined together to form a single nation. By what name were these protectorates known till 1971?

The answer is….

• The sheikdoms were called “The Trucial States” after an agreement under which they agreed to a "perpetual maritime truce“. In 1971, they became a confederation known as the UAE.

33*

• Identify the person, portrayed on the cover of this book.

• The answer is…

• Roger Casement, the Irish revolutionary who was also a campaigner for human rights in Congo and Peru. The cover is from the Mario Vargas Llosa work “The Dream of the Celt”

34

• X = Hebrew word for German.• Y = Hebrew word for Spanish.• X and Y together form the two main

subcultures of a particular group. What words ?

The answer is….

• X=Ashkenazi• Y=Sephardi.• These are the two main subcultures

of Judaism.

35*

• This building in Tangier, Morocco is the first property acquired abroad by its owners. It is also the only ______ on foreign soil. Name the building or fill in the blanks.

The answer is….

• The American Legation in Tangier is the first property acquired by the United States Government outside the country.

• It is also the only National Historic Landmark on foreign soil.

End of Prelims