History is filled with intriguing stories, legendary figures, and world-changing events. For centuries, people have been fascinated by the mysteries and questions surrounding history. Riddles allow us to approach history from a fun and thought-provoking angle. Below are 71 riddles about major historical events, people, and places. Read on and test your knowledge of the past!
Ancient History Riddles
1. Who was the Trojan prince that was killed by Achilles?
Answer: Hector
2. Which ancient civilization built Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains?
Answer: The Incas
3. Name the mythological creature that had the head of a human and the body of a lion.
Answer: The Sphinx
4. Which Egyptian pharaoh had a famous burial tomb filled with golden treasures?
Answer: King Tutankhamun
5. Which ancient Roman city was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius?
Answer: Pompeii
6. Who was the Athenian lawmaker and poet that established democracy in ancient Greece?
Answer: Solon
7. What was the earliest and largest civilization located in Mesopotamia?
Answer: Sumerians
8. Which ambitious Macedonian king spread Greek culture and language by conquering much of the known world?
Answer: Alexander the Great
9. What was the earliest writing system developed around 3200 BC by the Sumerians?
Answer: Cuneiform script
10. Which Roman politician, general, and dictator famously claimed, “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Answer: Julius Caesar
Medieval History Riddles
11. What was the name of King Arthur’s legendary sword?
Answer: Excalibur
12. Which English king was known as the “Lionheart” for his bravery in the Third Crusade?
Answer: Richard I
13. What was the name of the bubonic plague that devastated medieval Europe in the 1300s?
Answer: The Black Death
14. Who led the revolt that freed Switzerland from Austrian rule in the 1200s?
Answer: William Tell
15. Which Gothic Cathedral in Paris featured ornate stained glass windows and flying buttresses?
Answer: Notre Dame
16. Which Italian explorer traveled to China and India in the 13th century?
Answer: Marco Polo
17. What was the most common language used by scholars and elites in the Middle Ages?
Answer: Latin
18. Which Spanish warrior led the Reconquista to drive Muslim Moors from the Iberian Peninsula?
Answer: El Cid
19. What French saint led troops against the English during the Hundred Years War?
Answer: Joan of Arc
20. Which English king issued the Magna Carta in 1215?
Answer: King John
Renaissance and Reformation Riddles
21. Which Florentine family included prominent bankers, politicians, and patrons of the arts?
Answer: The Medicis
22. Who wrote the utopian novel Utopia in 1516?
Answer: Thomas More
23. Which Dutch humanist and priest criticized abuses by the Catholic Church and began the Protestant Reformation?
Answer: Erasmus
24. Who was the first woman to rule England in her own right from 1553 to 1558?
Answer: Queen Mary I
25. What Portuguese explorer was the first European to sail directly from Europe to India?
Answer: Vasco da Gama
26. Which genius polymath painted the Mona Lisa and drew plans for early flying machines?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci
27. What revolutionary English monarch broke from the Catholic Church and married six wives?
Answer: King Henry VIII
28. Who wrote the 95 Theses criticizing Church practices and launched the Protestant Reformation?
Answer: Martin Luther
29. Which Italian explorer crossed the Atlantic and discovered the Americas for Europe in 1492?
Answer: Christopher Columbus
30. Which philosopher presented the geocentric model of the universe with Earth at the center?
Answer: Ptolemy
Early Modern History Riddles
31. Which Russian Tsar brutally reformed Russia and founded St. Petersburg in the early 1700s?
Answer: Peter the Great
32. What was the name of the 1605 Catholic plot to blow up the English Parliament and kill King James I?
Answer: The Gunpowder Plot
33. Which French monarch built the grand Palace of Versailles outside Paris in the 1600s?
Answer: Louis XIV
34. Who wrote the philosophical treatise Leviathan advocating absolute sovereignty in 1651?
Answer: Thomas Hobbes
35. What was the name of the bloody 1789 revolution that toppled the French monarchy?
Answer: The French Revolution
36. Which German monk challenged Church doctrine and began the Protestant Reformation in 1517?
Answer: Martin Luther
37. Who wrote the classic novels Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders?
Answer: Daniel Defoe
38. What war lasted from 1756 to 1763 between Prussia and Austria versus France, Russia, Sweden, and Spain?
Answer: The Seven Years War
39. Which English nurse pioneered modern nursing during the Crimean War in the 1850s?
Answer: Florence Nightingale
40. Who invented the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove?
Answer: Benjamin Franklin
19th Century History Riddles
41. What famous ship sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean?
Answer: RMS Titanic
42. Which French emperor conquered much of Europe in the early 1800s but was finally defeated at Waterloo?
Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte
43. Who was the Stoic president that led the Union through the American Civil War?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln
44. What dangerous sweatshops employed child laborers during the Industrial Revolution?
Answer: Cotton mills
45. Which naturalist proposed the theory of evolution through natural selection?
Answer: Charles Darwin
46. What dynamic European empire crumbled after losing the First World War?
Answer: Ottoman Empire
47. Who was the British nurse who treated wounded soldiers during the Crimean War?
Answer: Florence Nightingale
48. Which idealistic Brazilian abolitionist was executed in the late 1800s?
Answer: Chico Mendes
49. What bloody conflict between Britain and the Boers took place from 1899-1902?
Answer: The Boer War
50. Who led the March on Washington for civil rights in 1963?
Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.
20th Century History Riddles
51. Which aristocratic family ruled Russia until the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution?
Answer: The Romanovs
52. What was the name of the deadly global flu pandemic from 1918-1920?
Answer: The Spanish flu
53. Who developed the theory of relativity and the famous equation E=mc2?
Answer: Albert Einstein
54. Which charismatic fascist dictator ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943?
Answer: Benito Mussolini
55. What was the name of the WWII naval base bombed by Japan, drawing the U.S. into the war?
Answer: Pearl Harbor
56. Who was the Communist revolutionary that led China’s nationalist revolution in the 1940s?
Answer: Mao Zedong
57. Which Soviet leader initiated de-Stalinization and the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Answer: Nikita Khrushchev
58. What divided the East and West sectors of Berlin from 1961 to 1989?
Answer: Berlin Wall
59. Who was the famous suffragette that fought for women’s right to vote in the early 1900s?
Answer: Susan B. Anthony
60. Which Civil Rights leader delivered the “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963?
Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.
World History Riddles
61. Which present-day country was once home to the ancient Olmec, Mayan and Aztec civilizations?
Answer: Mexico
62. What explorer reached India by sea in 1498, establishing trade routes for the Portuguese?
Answer: Vasco da Gama
63. Which Canadian doctor discovered insulin and transformed diabetes treatment in the 1920s?
Answer: Frederick Banting
64. Who was the famous Polish scientist that advanced heliocentrism in the 16th century?
Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus
65. What native tribe in the Amazon fought to protect the rainforest and their land rights?
Answer: The Kayapo
66. Which Argentinian first lady championed human rights and stood up to dictatorship in the 1970s?
Answer: Eva Perón
67. Who led the nonviolent Salt March to protest British rule in colonial India?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi
68. What courageous Pakistani girl survived an assassination attempt and championed education rights?
Answer: Malala Yousafzai
69. Which famous physicist fled Nazi Germany and worked on the Manhattan Project?
Answer: Albert Einstein
70. Who was the influential Chinese philosopher that founded Taoism in the 6th century BC?
Answer: Lao Tzu
Conclusion
From ancient mythology to pivotal moments that shaped civilization, history provides an endless source of fascinating stories and mysteries. These riddles offer a playful way to engage with different eras and test your knowledge of the past. How many were you able to answer correctly? Learning about history expands our perspectives and allows us to learn from both triumphs and mistakes. Keep exploring the captivating riddles that the past provides!
