Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Thursday Quiz LXI

The Thursday Quiz!

This season, the Thursday Quiz is a sequence game. Arrange the ten items in the proper sequence! The highly rational scoring system is described here.

Remember always the Fundamental Rules of the Thursday Quiz:

1. The Thursday Quiz is a POP quiz. No research, Googling, Wikiing, or use of reference books. Violators will lose their internet privileges. All of them. Permanently.
2. As long as you made it this far, you might as well play. It's not all about winning, you know. It's about using your knowledge and reason and making an educated guess. C'mon! It'll be fun!
Great Events of Mid-Century

All of the events below happened in the '40s and '50s.... but of ten different centuries! Put them in chronological order.

A: African Independence: The African countries of Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Ghana, and Tunisia all become independent.

B: Cape Town: Cape Town is founded by the Dutch East India Company near the southern tip of Africa.

C: The Crimean War: The Crimean War is fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire.

D: The Great Schism: Pope Leo IX and Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, excommunicate each other. This seals the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

E: Japan and the West: Japan and Europe encounter each other for the first time, with the Portuguese being the first Westerners to contact the Japanese.

F: The Mongols: As the Mongols continue their rapid expansion all over Eurasia, the Hulagu Khan's armies sack Baghdad. The leading center of Islamic culture is utterly destroyed, and as many as 800,000 citizens are killed.

G: The Plague: Bubonic Plague kills as much as a third of Europe's population -- estimates vary widely, but suffice to say a hell of a lot of people -- within four or five years.

H: The Printing Press: The first European moveable-type printing presses enter widespread use.

I: The Second Crusade: European Crusaders are soundly defeated by the Suljuk Turks in the Eastern Mediterranean, but on the Iberian Peninsula they manage to capture Lisbon from Muslims.

J: The Seven Years' War: The Seven Years' War is fought between an alliance of Great Britain, Hanover, and Austria; and an alliance of Austria, France, Imperial Russia, Saxony, and Sweden.

Post your answers in the comments.

27 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Shmistory. Okay, here goes:

F
I
G
D
H
J
B
E
C
A

I think this lands me squarely in negative territory, but it's an interesting game.

margaret said...

I Second Crusade
D Great Schism
F Mongols
H printing press
E Japan and the West
J Seven Years' War
G plague
B Cape Town
C Crimean War
A African Independence -- yay Ghana!

fingerstothebone said...

Mmm, just as I thought.

D
I
F
G
J
H
E
B
C
A.

Jennifer said...

F
D
I
G
H
E
B
J
C
A

My only consolation is that I know the limits of my knowledge here.

Cartophiliac said...

D
I
F
G
H
E
B
J
C
A

MJ said...

F
I
G
D
J
E
H
B
C
A

I think i like this new format, guessing is fun :)

Christine M. said...

Hoo boy. I'm so bad at dates. Ok, here we go:

I, D, G, F, H, B, J, C, E, A

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, must not list second crusade before first crusade....

F I G D H E J B C A

Jenners said...

I think I will distinguish myself in your quiz by sucking more than anyone in the history of sucking. (must credit Kung Fu Panda for some of that). here goes nothing

F
E
D
G
C
J
I
B
H
A

d said...

criminey

the mongols
japan and the west
crimean war
the great schism
the second crusade
cape town
the seven years' war
the printing press
the plague
african independence

d's head explodes

Rex Parker said...

Mongols = 11c
Second Crusade = 12c
Great Schism = 13c
Bubonic Plague = 14c
Printing Press = 15c
Japan and the West = 16c
Cape Town = 17c
Seven Years' War = 18c
Crimean War = 19c
African Independence = 20c

rp

Dan Nolan said...

F
G
I
E
H
D
J
C
B
A

Anonymous said...

F. Mongols
D. Great Schism
I. 2nd Crusade
G. Plague
H. Printing Press
E. Japan and West
B. Cape Town
J. Seven Years War
C. Crimean War
A. Various African nations become independent.

Anonymous said...

F mongols
G plague
I crusade
D schism
H printing
B Cape Town
E Japan
J 7 years
C Crimea
A Africa
ten is a lot! especially in a weak suit. I had to work in reverse order, so it would be a little easier if you handed out dittoes and we could cross things off.

Ben said...

1. F
2. I
3. D
4. G
5. B
6. H
7. E
8. C
9. J
10. A

Kritkrat said...

Geez, I like the sports quiz a lot better. Ok:
F
G
I
H
D
B
E
J
C
A

Anonymous said...

i
f
g
d
h
j
b
e
c
a

Fool for paper said...

Argh. I feel like I'm drowning in history soup.
F, D, I, G, E, J, H, B, C, A

Morgan said...

1. G
2. H
3. F
4. E
5. D
6. B
7. C
8. I
9. J
10. A

Anonymous said...

F
D
I
G
H
J
E
C
B
A

Oh mah gah. I am teh suck.

Michael5000 said...

Well, you can imagine my relief this morning when I saw that there were actual responses to this, the first new-style TQ. Despite that it was conceivably kind of hard. I was impressed by how all y'all did, though.

Here's the answers....

1054 - D: The Great Schism

1145-47 - I: The Second Crusade

1258 - F: The Mongols

c. 1350 - G: The Plague

1440s - H: The Printing Press

1542 - E: Japan and the West

1650s - Cape Town

1756-63 - J: The Seven Years' War

1854-56 - C: The Crimean War

1950s - A: African Independence

Michael5000 said...

There was one perfect score in the batch, as Cartophiliac brought home his eighth Gold Star. With fourteen total Stars, he's at 6th place on the overall all time leaderboard, but he is running away from the pack in the Gold category.

A nice second place finish for Serendipity, her first win under that name. This Silver Star joins a Green Star won under an earlier alias.

Rex Parker takes home his third Star in four outings, claiming his seventh Blue. That puts him in the lead in that category, and he remains easily atop the all-time leaderboard with twenty-four total Stars.

Sandy, meanwhile, grabs her fourth Green Star, and her sixth overall. As she is known to be sweet on Rex, this is the first known couples finish in a Thursday Quiz since the same two took Blue and Green way back in TQXII.

Kudos also to Fingers and MJ, who were right at their heels.

Well done, everyone!

Anonymous said...

Oh. I thought you said "put them in sequins". My bad.

Michael5000 said...

@Elizabeth: Shmistory is Shmunk.

@fingers: Yes, you called it. Well done.

@Serendipity: I'm glad you are consoled by the limits of your knowledge. And hey! Nice Silver Star you've got there!

@Jenners: I regret to inform you that you did not suck it up in a truly memorable fashion. Perhaps if you try less hard you will be able to suck more next time.

@d: Sorry about the head. It's always a risk with these Quizzes.

@Mrs.5000: The problem with the dittoes idea is, with most of these folks I don't see them on Thursday morning like I do you.

@Fool: Mmmmm.... History soup....

@Boo: I regret to inform you that you are not, in fact, teh suck. I encourage you to forget a bunch of stuff and try again.

Michael5000 said...

@Karma: On the other hand, I don't think the Quiz was anything but enhanced by your sparkly, sparkly answers!

Jennifer said...

Ooh, shiny!

I didn't realize I'd made the mistake of getting a star before. I was thinking of myself as uncorrupted by success. . .

Rex Parker said...

!@#$@ing schismongols! I was sure I was perfect. Some medievalist I turned out to be.

rp