Public Enemies
Ancient Not Aliens
viva revolution
Mid-century Modern
racism
100
He's history's most famous pirate because he loved drama and lit his hat on fire to intimidate enemies. Mx. Xia is obsessed with him because he lived and died in North Carolina.
Who is Blackbeard (Edward Teach)?
100
This Egyptian child pharaoh's tomb was "discovered" by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 and is the subject of the alleged "curse of the pharaoh" tomb curse popularized by Hollywood. He was on the throne from age 9 to his death at age 19.
Who is King Tut?
100
She never actually said "let them eat cake." She was the last queen of France and one of history's most famous guillotine victims.
Who is Marie Antoinette?
100
This major global historical conflict of the mid-20th century marks several major global shifts in power. Most notably, the US and the USSR emerged from this as the world's first superpowers.
What is WWII?
100
This famously short and infamously racist French dictator was the primary antagonist of the Haitian Revolution.
Who is Napoleon Bonaparte?
200
He was the leader of Al-Qaeda and orchestrated the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which started the US invasion of Afghanistan and the War on Terror. He was killed by US special ops in 2011 at his compound.
Who is Osama Bin Laden?
200
This island in the Aegean Sea was the home of the Ancient Greek poet and famous O.G. lesbian Sappho.
What is Lesbos?
200
According to disco group Boney M, he was Russia's greatest love machine. According to the Russian press, he was immortal and had magic powers. This mystic and self-proclaimed holy man became a controversial figure in the late imperial Russian court, and his reputation is sometimes credited with contributing to the discrediting and overthrow of the Romanov Dynasty.
Who is Rasputin?
200
This art movement, which incorporates images from popular culture into fine art, took off in the mid-century and is associated with famous figures like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Roy Lichtenstein.
What is pop art?
200
The main purpose of this meeting of European countries in 1884-85 was to divide the countries of Africa up between themselves, starting the so-called "scramble for Africa."
What is the Berlin Conference?
(Also accept: Congo Conference, West Africa Conference)
300
This street artist achieved fame for his spray paint stencil art typically featuring political and social commentary. He also directed the mockumentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop."
Who is Banksy?
300
The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes conquered and razed the great Aztec "floating city" of Tenochtitlan to the ground and built this present-day Latin American city on its ruins.
What is Mexico City?
300
This radical Jacobin leader and voice of the sans culottes was famously assassinated by one of history's few famous female assassins, Charlotte Corday. He died in his bathtub while taking a medicinal bath for his debilitating skin condition.
Who is Jean-Paul Marat?
300
The geopolitical theory that the US used to justify political intervention throughout Southeast Asia during the Cold War. It was popularized by Eisenhower in the 1950s and continued to drive US foreign policy through the 80s.
What is Domino Theory?
300
This successful 1915 silent film is credited with directly leading to the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century.
What is Birth of a Nation?
400
This Roman emperor was declared hostis publicus by the Senate, literally "public enemy," making him the first person in recorded history to hold the title. He was rumored to have started the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE, though he probably didn't actually fiddle while Rome burned.
Who is Nero?
400
It's considered the first official Chinese dynasty by Chinese historians, but western historians consider it "semi-mythical." This ancient Chinese dynasty, which also happens to be your teacher's favorite dynasty, preceded the Shang Dynasty.
What is the Xia dynasty?
400
He was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first Emperor of an independent Haiti. He is also controversially remembered for ordering the 1804 massacre against French and French Creole people remaining in Haiti after the Haitian Revolution, which resulted in 3,000-5,000 deaths.
Who is Jean-Jacques Dessalines?
400
The name of the series of post-war trials of former Nazis, and the namesake of the legal fallacy still used by cops claiming they were "just following orders."
What are the Nuremberg Trials?
400
The privately owned Congo Free State was ruled by this Belgian monarch, who committed mass atrocities against the native population in the pursuit of rubber production.
Who is Leopold II?
500
American gangster Al Capone gained the official title of America's first "Public Enemy No. 1" in the press after a gang fight and massacre on this major holiday in 1929.
What is Valentines Day?
500
This ancient "cradle of civilization" located around modern-day Pakistan is known for having the world's earliest known urban sanitation and plumbing systems, but it's still the ancient river valley civilization that historians know the least about due to our inability to read their written script.
What is the Indus Valley (Harappan) civilization?
500
During the Cultural Revolution, she was the only female member of the group of Communist Party officials known as the "Gang of Four," all of whom were later charged with treason shortly after the death of Mao Zedong.
Who is Jiang Qing?
(Also accept: Mao Zedong's wife, First Lady, etc)
500
The international conference and corresponding accords that dismantled former French Indochina into North and South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
What is the Geneva Conference/Geneva Accords?
500
This Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former U.S. Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford was controversially awarded the Nobel despite being what many have called a war criminal.
Who is Henry Kissinger?