prelims of seek under porus 2014, the 6th edition of kqa history quiz

Seek Under PorusThe Prelims of KQA History Quiz

Rules• Eight teams make it to the finals• Some questions have multiple parts, part points for each part• Questions 10 to 20 are starred and will be used to break ties

1.

This series of four paintings by William Hogarth was made in 1755. The series was titled “Humors of an ____”. What entertaining activity is depicted here?

• Answer…

• Humours of an Election.• The first three paintings, An Election Entertainment, Canvassing for

Votes and The Polling, demonstrate the corruption endemic in parliamentary elections in the 18th century, before the Great Reform Act. The last painting, Chairing the Member, shows the celebrations of the victorious Tory candidates and their supporters.

2What is the subject of this book, published in early 2013?

• Answer…

The reference is to Bhutto’s famous vow.

3.

In 2013, a lady named Toosje Kupers discovered these items in her attic and offered them to a museum. Kupers had been asked to keep them safe and she had kept her promise. Later, she forgot all about this little treasure until her chance discovery last year. What was significant about this collection?

• Answer…

• Anne Frank’s marble collection.• She had given it to Kupers for safe keeping before her capture.

4.

Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows:"(...) I myself create it,edit it,censor it,publish it,distribute it, and ...get imprisoned for it. (...)"

What type of literature? Be specific.

• Answer…

• Samizdat

5.In war, in the event of the imminent capture of a city, the government/military structure of the nation that controls the city will sometimes declare it an ____ ____, thus announcing that they have abandoned all defensive efforts.The attacking armies of the opposing military will then be expected not to bomb or otherwise attack the city, but simply to march in. The concept aims at protecting the historic landmarks and civilians who dwell in the city from an unnecessary battle.

One of the most famous instances of this happening was on Aug 14, 1943 when X was declared a ___ ____. This is mostly remembered today, thanks to the title of a classic 1945 movie.

What concept?

• Answer…

• Open City.• The movie being “Rome, Open City” by Rossellini.

6In 1792, the French Revolution had started and a local contingent of revolutionaries in this French town was called up to Paris. They needed some protective covering for their wagon of weapons and decided to raid the local cathedral. A local commissary of police named Lambert Leonard-Leforestier was informed of the matter at the last minute and he rushed to the location. He stopped the wagon and thus saved the ____ from destruction. What?

• Answer…

The Bayeux Tapestry

7.The gentleman in the picture was a prominent archeologist as well as a Chief of Staff of his country’s military.He was sometimes forced to deal with the theft of important artifacts, occasionally by prominent figures. In one instance, where the thefts were commonly attributed to ______, he remarked: "I know who did it, and I am not going to say who it is, but if I catch him, I'll poke out his other eye too.“Name the archeologist and the alleged “thief” that he was referring to.

• Answer…

• Yigal Yadin who led excavations at Qumran caves, Masada etc.• He was referring to the one-eyed General, Moshe Dayan.

8

The NSA called it "one of the 20th century's great achievements of military engineering." The 18-foot-wide and 1,800 miles long trail was detrimental to the US war effort and they authorized a covert operation to render it useless. What supply line?The US Air Force dumped tons of a mixture created by Dows Chemicals on it. The mixture contained chemicals Trisodium Nitrilotriacetic acid and Sodium Triphosphate which are commonly found in a household product.What effect were the Americans hoping to achieve?

• Answer…

• These chemicals are commonly found in detergents and are used to soften hard water. The US military was hoping the chemical will create mud and will render the Ho Chi Minh trail useless.

9.Depictions of this annual/biannual event usually show exhibits displayed floor-to-ceiling and on every available inch of space. First started in 1725, it went on to be the greatest event in its field between 1748 and 1890. Which event?

• Answer…

• Salon de Paris (Paris Salon).

10'We didn't realise what a fuss that photo would make.Of course, we didn't need to use a bullock cart. We have padded, air-conditioned transport lorries, but the metal was throwing off reflections which were affecting the _____. Then somebody hit on the idea of a bullock cart, which is made of wood. It worked perfectly.’What exactly did the bullock cart transport? Again specific answer needed for full points.

• Answer…

• APPLE• S Krishnamurthi, a spokesman for ISRO explaining this famous

photo.

11.

The picture shows the roofless remains of an old Cathedral, which was destroyed . A new Cathedral was built alongside this one to replace it, but the remains of the old one was retained as a memorial. The name of the city where this structure is located, has contributed words to two European languages. The word means “to destroy or reduce to rubble”. Name the city/word.

• Answer…

“Coventrate” in English and “Coventrieren” in German are both derived from Coventry, destroyed in the Blitz during WWII.The image shows the Coventry Cathedral.

12.

In 1902 she was called "the most dangerous woman in America" for her success in organizing mine workers and their families against the mine owners. In 1903, upset about the lax enforcement of the child labor laws in the Pennsylvania mines and silk mills, she organized a Children's March from Philadelphia to the home of then president Theodore Roosevelt in New York.

Which magazine that started publication in 1970, takes its name from this firebrand labor leader?

• Answer…

• “Mother Jones” magazine is named after Mary Harris “Mother” Jones.

13.What is happening in the image on the next slide? It is based on a story from 1871?

• Answer…

• Mrs. O’Leary and her cow, who supposedly caused the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871.• The story goes that the lady was milking the cow

when it kicked a kerosene lamp and started the fire.

14

She was the only woman commander on either side at the battle of Salamis. She is believed to have advised Xerxes against engaging the Greeks in a naval battle. Having witnessed her military skills, Xerxes is said to have remarked - “My men have become women and my women, men.“ Name.

• Answer…

• Artemisia of Caria.

15

It is a period in Ottoman history from the Treaty of Passarowitz on 21 July 1718 to the Patrona Halil Revolt on 28 September 1730. This was a relatively peaceful period, during which the Ottoman Empire can be said to have enjoyed an intellectual Renaissance inspired by foreign trends and started opening up to the non-Islamic world intellectually. However, this was not a period of westernization. The name of the period derives from a craze for an item among the Ottoman court society. This item was also praised in poetry and motifs used in paintings. To this day in modern Turkey, it is still considered the embodiment of perfection and beauty. Turkish Airlines decorates its planes with a painting of a the item on its fuselage. What item?

• Answer…

16

It is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. When Portuguese reached there in 1516 they came up with a name for the place; they borrowed the first part from a Malay word for Vietnam and appended it with another country's name. The suffix was added to distinguish the area from a princely state in India, where Portuguese had major holdings. Which place?

• Answer…

• Cochin China

17

They were divided according to their positions, “thranitai” was placed on the top and had demanding job which required lots of strength and synchronization. The “zygitai” came in the middle and were named after the beams on which they sat and finally the “thalamitai”, whose position was certainly the most uncomfortable, being underneath their colleagues and also being exposed to the water. They enjoyed long practice in peacetime, becoming skilled professionals and ensuring their city state's supremacy. What were these people doing? What myth regarding these people have been propagated by certain movies?

• Answer…

• These were the rowers of the Greek Triremes. • The ancient navies generally relied on free men to do the

rowing job as it was a highly skilled job. There is no evidence that ancient navies ever made use of condemned criminals as oarsmen, despite the popular image from movies such as Ben Hur.

18

This battle fought on 2nd August 216 BC represents archetypal battle of annihilation and had a profound influence on German military theorists. The Chief of the German General Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen, was inspired by it to formulate the Schlieffen Plan. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II, had this to say about it: "Every ground commander seeks the battle of annihilation; so far as conditions permit, he tries to duplicate in modern war the classic example of _____" Which battle?

• Answer…

• Battle of Cannae

19

Even decades after the Second World War, his country remained a Third World nation and was reliant on US aid. In 1956 he had the legislature amend the constitution to allow the incumbent president —himself— to run for an unlimited number of terms. In 1960 when he won his fourth term, the opposition claimed the election was rigged and the ensuing protests led to his resignation. On April 28 Central Intelligence Agency flew him and his Austrian wife out of his country as protesters converged on the presidential residence. Who was this leader whose counterpart across the border ruled till the end of his life?

• Answer…

Syngman Rhee, the first President of Korea

20

It was built between 70 and 65 BC by two prominent magistrates and benefactors of the city and was the first one to have been built of stone; previously, they had been built out of wood. Contemporarily, it was known as a spectacula rather than the term which we use for structures like these. Adrian Maben was a film maker who while walking around the deserted structure in 1971 thought that the silence and natural ambient sounds present there would make a good backdrop for the music. What?

• Answer…

• The Amphitheatre at Pompeii, Maben was the film director who shot Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii.

21

He was a German pastor, an anti-communist who supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, he became disillusioned and became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. In 1937 he was arrested and eventually confined in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He became a voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His statement, sometimes presented as a poem, is well-known popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy. What?

• Answer…

This was Martin Niemoller and his famous statement/poem was:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me”

22

Abu'l Fazl considered them to be of terrestrial origin and says that they are created by the action of solar light on the elements of the earth. The particles burnt by the solar rays become extremely light and get mixed in the atmosphere and ascend. These dispersed particles are called dukhan (smoke or vapour). This viscous smoke on reaching the higher layers of the atmosphere is mixed with fire and set alight and then it descends to the earth. He then goes on differentiate them according to their shape into Zuzuaba (literally possessed of forelocks) is the one like hair spread out and Zuzanab, the tailed one. What?

• Answer…

• Comets

23

When the EIC drove away the Peshwa rulers and conquered the region, the Company officials were visited by a delegation of priests from this temple. According to them, the temple oracle had decreed that it was the desire of the deity that the temple be controlled by the company. The company obliged and the priests and all others in the service of the Lord began to receive salaries from the company. This arrangement was quite lucrative for the company as it made lots of money from the Pilgrim tax. This temple is also famous for regulating the entrance to famous people. For instance it closed doors on princess Maha Cha kri Sir i ndhorn of Thailand in 2005. Which temple?

• Answer…

The Jagannath Temple in Puri

24

It was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly on December 8, 1953. Through the speech Eisenhower was attempting to convey a spirit of comfort to a terrified world. The United States then launched a program (named after the speech) that supplied equipment and information to schools, hospitals, and research institutions within the U.S. and throughout the world. What ironically named program through which the first nuclear reactors in Iran and Pakistan were built under the program by American Machine and Foundry.Hipsters will know the term as the name of a supergroup formed in 2009 involving some rock legends.

• Answer…

Atoms for Peace

25

This counter culture movement was centered around Hamburg and Berlin was comprised of teenagers who were disillusioned with the Hitler Youth and admired the British and American The movement got it's name from the music these fellows were listening to at that time. This sort of music was labeled degenerate art by the authorities because of it's association with Black and Jewish musicians. A pun involving the genre and “Seig Heil” was quite popular among these people. Identify this movement which got it's name from an early form of Jazz which was popular in the US during the 30's.

• Answer…

The Swing Kids

26

He abetted the 1952 Nasserist Coup in Egypt and was the mastermind of the 1953 countercoup in Iran. His father was the one of the few Americans to fight in the Middle East during World War 1. He was grandson to a US president and a distant cousin of another. Who?

• Answer…

• Kermit Roosevelt Jr.

27

It was a naval battle in the Russo-Japanese War and the first naval battle in which wireless telegraphy played an important role. Historians have hailed it as the greatest and the most important naval event since Trafalgar. The battle was a devastating humiliation for Russia which lost all its battleships and most of its cruisers and destroyers. Russia's loss destabilized the balance of power in Europe, it emboldened the Central Powers and contributed to their decision to go to war in 1914. The immediate effect however was an event which was celebrated in film. Which battle, what event?

• Answer…

• Battle of Tsushima and Mutiny on Battleship Potemkin

28

The Eight-Nation Alliance, also known as the Eight Power Expedition, was a rare alliance of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in 1900. For what end did was this alliance forged?

• Answer…

• To relieve the siege of diplomatic legations in Peking and put down the Boxer Rebellion

29

If you have seen episodes of Shyam Benegal's Samvaad, you would have noticed that the anchor of the show Swara Bhaskar uses this term to describe the Constitution in Urdu. The term is also part of the name of a detailed 16th century document recording the administration of an emperor. What word?

• Answer…

• Ain

30

It is often considered to have been the first multinational corporation in the world and it was the first company to issue stock. It was also arguably the first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies. It's success also led to the foundation of the precursor to, if not the first true central bank. Which Company?

• Answer…

Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) or the Dutch East India Company

End of PrelimsQuestions and Research: Manjith K and Praveen VRMail us at: kmanjith@gmail.com,praveen.vr@gmail.com