History Quiz

[Imabear]

Today my daughter's history teacher asked to kids to answer a few questions.  Here are the questions as she (my daughter) has them written:

1.  Who won the Battle of Tours?

2.  What was the first battle of the Civil War called?

3.  Why was the Civil War fought?

4.  Who was the most important leader in WWII?

5.  List the three most important events in history.  Explain.

6.  Why do we study history?

I always HATED history.  It was my least favorite class.  I was pretty much an "A" student, but nearly failed my history class.  Boring!!!  (sorry)  (I was a math/science type-of-girl)

My initial answers.
1.  What?  Huh? 
2.  I don't remember.  I think it was near DC though.
3.  That depends on who you ask.  Abolition of slavery.  (I think there could have been a better way.) 
4.  Some guy from England.. his name starts with Ch... my daughter reminds me, "Churchill?" (Hint: Wrong answer)
5.  Hummm.  My daughter told me her answer, I'd like to see what you all think.
6.  So we can learn from it and hopefully not repeat the mistakes.

Okay, Now I let you know how clueless I am.  I'd like to see your answers.  I'll provide the "correct" answers in a couple of days.  btw, the history teacher grew up in New England, and graduated from Harding a couple of years back.

[marc]

My answers:

1. Clark Griswald.

2. Depends on what you call a battle.  The first shots were at Fort Sumter near Charleston, SC.  The first land action was in West Virginia, at Phillipi  and marked Gen. McClellan as an up-and-comer.  The first major land battle (what you're thinking of) was Bull Run/Mannasses.

3. Southern states seceeded when Lincoln was elected because (according to their official documents) he didn't want to allow them to take their slaves into the west, and they thought this was the first step on ther road to abolition.  Lincoln fought their secession to hold the Union together, not, initially, to abolish slavery (that became a goal after the Emancipation Proclamation).

4. Hitler.  Without him there would have been no war.

5. (from a secular pov) The development of writing, the invention of the printing press, and the invention of gunpowder.

6. For fun and profit? 

[Mere Nick]

Today my daughter's history teacher asked to kids to answer a few questions.  Here are the questions as she (my daughter) has them written:

1.  Who won the Battle of Tours?

Charles Martel, The Hammer

2.  What was the first battle of the Civil War called?

Cain vs. Abel?  Ft. Sumter

3.  Why was the Civil War fought?

Sounded more fun than working at the time, but they got carried away.

4.  Who was the most important leader in WWII?

Stalin

5.  List the three most important events in history.  Explain.

resurrection of Christ
invention of Islam
sliced bread

6.  Why do we study history?

to try to gain understanding of why things are as they are today

[Imabear]

Hint for #5.  It is a Christian school.  She has the same teacher for Bible and History. One of Nick's answers is "right".

[marc]

sliced bread?

[Imabear]

:D
My daughter thought that one was better than the one her group in class came up with. 
Her group decided that cookie monster eating veggies over cookies should rate as one of the three.

I think the reason that I did so poorly in History is I have a terrible time recalling names of people and places.  That's primarily what History was about for us.   Yuck. :)

Actually Marc you did very well. 
As you guessed the "correct" answer comes down to perspective.
#1 Nick is at least partially right.  My daughter had that same name written down. But there were some other possible answers. 
#2, 3, and 4 Marc you nailed it.  My daughter liked Nick's reference to Cain and Abel, referring to East of Eden, which she chose to read for literature class over the summer, I guess it fits somehow.   
#5 a) Creation
      b) The Fall (The teacher didn't think the student's would come up with this one.)
      c)  The Resurrection.  (My daughter's answer included the whole life of Christ.)
#6 Well yeah.  I think memorizing names and dates is pointless.  I hope they've changed the way they teach history since the 70's.
 

[UnhandledException]

... It is a Christian school....

I originally missed this part of your post.

When I read her answers in your last post, I nearly fell over.  I said to myself, "She actually answered like that and wasn't thrown out of school?"

If she had answered like that in a public school, you, your husband and her would be going to sensitivity training along with a suspension.

[Wycliffes_Shillelagh]

6.  Why do we study history?

In school, we study history because the state feels that there is a need to load us up with their propaganda so that we will be loyal to them.

Those who choose to study history on their own primarily do so in order to find out just how much horse-doodoo they've been fed in school.

[Arkstfan]

Some random contributions.

3.  Why was the Civil War fought?
Multi-faceted. The likelihood of not being able to expand slavery coupled with a growing state's rights movement in the north (ie. choosing in some places to refuse to comply with the fugitive slave act) collided with demands of protectionism in trade (ie. the north favored a tariff system to back-up their Buy American campaign rather than the south's preference for cheaper imported goods). Bonus historical note, the transcontinental railroad likely would have been delayed for decades if not for the Civil War. Congress was hung up in fighting over the southern route advocated by one Jefferson Davis (later the Southern Pacific route to New Orleans) and the Union Pacific line that was built first. When the southern Congressional delegations left DC, the railroad act was passed a year later.

4.  Who was the most important leader in WWII?
Nick's answer of Stalin is quite good as is the Hitler answer. I lean toward Churchill. He worked his rear off selling FDR on the idea that the US needed to get ready and had others been in power, a truce of some sort with a hobbled England was very possible and would have prevented the Normandy landings and quite likely Italy and the North Africa campaign. You got to like a guy who sent cigars to the Russian ambassador after Hitler attacked Russia because he knew that Russia would bog Germany down long enough to save the UK and really have to like a guy who toasted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with the boast that due to that, the war had been won.

5.  List the three most important events in history.  Explain.
Purely Secular Version
The invention of written language, allowing more knowledge to be passed more accurately from generation to generation.
The Babylonian invention of the basics of algebra which advanced science past the purely geometrical calculations of Egypt, India, Greece and China (handy for building stuff but algebra can be used to build and make non-physical constructs), without algebra we don't get calculus and without calculus we don't get physics.
The development of agriculture. Fewer people required to feed more people. Allowed for the development of greater tools, crafts, and artisanship. Also led to beer and wine.

Spiritual/secular combined
1. Abraham's lack of faith, and the birth of Ishmael. Created a dysfunctional family relationship that continues thousands of years later. The Ishmael descendants mostly kept a faith in the God of Abraham but attempted to do so without endorsing their Jewish cousins.
2.  The resurrection of Jesus, a world changer in spiritual and secular terms.
3. The first exercise of free will.

6.  Why do we study history?
It's required.
Ideally we study it to see that while we are pretty slick at what we do, we are going to be quaint and out-moded soon.

[Huscarl]

1.  Who won the Battle of Tours?

The French, it was where they stopped the invasion of the Moors from Spain into mainland Europe...as much as I hate to attribute such an enormously important victory to the French (can't believe they actually won a battle), they did Western Civilization a great service and deserve credit for it

2.  What was the first battle of the Civil War called?

First Battle of Bull's Run, if I'm not mistaken?

3.  Why was the Civil War fought?

it was fought over the right of a state to secede from the Union, at least that's the official reason.  Bottom line is it was over slavery, because the reason they were seceding to begin with was over fear the Lincoln would attempt to abolish slavery.  Then they attacked the north after they formed the Confederate States of America at Fort Sumter, which started the shooting part of the war.  Unfortunately there was no way around it, the civil was brewing for decades, by 1861 it was inevitable

4.  Who was the most important leader in WWII?

In my opinion it would be Adolf Hitler, because without him the war wouldn't have happened and it was his policies that led to the peace settlement between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies that created the world political landscape we have today (a different war would have invariably been fought at some point, but it wouldn't have taken the course that it did).  In second place I would put Churchill because he kept England from falling apart during its darkest hour and without him the allied war effort would have collapsed in 1940, allowing Germany to throw all of its weight at the Soviet Union in 1941 which could easily resulted in a German victory

5.  List the three most important events in history.  Explain.

Talking strictly secular:
1. Agricultural revolution (allowed civilization to begin)
2. Rise of monotheism (created the social forces that would dominate the world for thousands of years to this day)
3. World War II (an entire world at war and the total restructuring of the world's political climate from the ground up, can't beat that)

6.  Why do we study history?

It allows us to understand our present, without studying history we can't approach the world's complicated problems with any hope of coping with them, let alone solving them (which is unlikely no matter what).  A citizen who knows history I believe is also a better informed voter, many candidates make claims and plans that fly in the face of history *cough*obama*cough* and if people know the origins of the movement and ideas that they espouse and how they have played out in the past they will be better equipped to decide who should lead.  It is also vital because it allows a nation/people to maintain their culture and build upon past achievements to create newer and greater ones.  Without the historical records of the works of men like Isaac Newton, Einstein could never have had the revelations he did about how the world works.  


Hope that wasn't too indulgent there...but I am planning on teaching history, so I should probably think it's important :p

[Arkstfan]

Huscarl, you can't have a World War II without World War I which created the environment for WWII. Without WWI, you don't have the Kaiser sending Marxist exiles back to Russia to undermine the Tsar leading to his overthrow and the rise of Communists.

You don't get the Armistice that came before Germany was so obviously beaten that the military and much of the public believed it had been betrayed. You don't get the Treaty of Versailles which set terms you would have only expected had Germany been beaten into total submission but by the time it was adopted Germany was too disarmed to do anything about it other than resent it. The sanctions wrecked a weak economy in Germany making it easier for Hitler to rise.

France who had fought well in WWI and arguably ended the war with most powerful army in the world (clearly had it once Germany and the US demobilized) learned all the wrong lessons from the war was then utterly unprepared for what Hitler would do.

[Huscarl]

I can understand where you're coming from, but I don't see it that way

While WWI had to happen in order for the circumstances that resulted in WWII to come into being, you can't always look at it in terms of "this couldn't happen without this," because then you could just as easily argue that it was Kaiser Wilhelm II's ascendancy that was the most important because it was one of the largest contributing factors that allowed WWI to happen due to his revamping of German foreign policy and emphasis on naval strength which threatened England and drove her to into the arms of France and Russia which created the alliances that resulted in WWI.  Or you could argue the same thing about Germany's industrialization/unification which changed the balance of power in Europe and was integral in creating the circumstances of WWI, equally essential to causing WWI as WWI was in causing WWII.  You could say the same about the Russo-Japanese war which caused Russia to shift its attention back towards Europe putting more pressure on Austria-Hungary due to Russia's interest in the Balkans which resulted in Russia's alliance with France becoming concrete rather than flexible.  I just find looking at it like that tiresome, and I don't think it's comprehensive

I think WWII was the more important of the two conflicts because the changes that it brought about have endured longer and were much more profound.  While WWI did see drastic alterations to Europe, Europe was still the center of world power.  It resulted in the League of Nations, but as a political body it was never meaningful in any way while the U.N. (despite my feelings about the organization) is influential.  WWII brought about the end of Europe as the master of the world and forced its powers to begin dismantling their overseas empires, the affects of this we are feeling strongly today in the middle east and elsewhere.  WWII saw the creation of atomic weapons which have forever altered warfare, and resulted in the Pax Americana. Through the Marshall Plan and the creation of the ECSC it also began the process of European integration, as well as a wave of civil rights movements in a scale never before seen.  The changes brought about because of WWI were indeed profound, but I think ultimately its child (WWII) was the more important

I do enjoy this discussion though!

[turtledove]

1.  Who won the Battle of Tours?

The French, it was where they stopped the invasion of the Moors from Spain into mainland Europe...as much as I hate to attribute such an enormously important victory to the French (can't believe they actually won a battle), they did Western Civilization a great service and deserve credit for it

2.  What was the first battle of the Civil War called?

First Battle of Bull's Run, if I'm not mistaken?

3.  Why was the Civil War fought?

it was fought over the right of a state to secede from the Union, at least that's the official reason.  Bottom line is it was over slavery, because the reason they were seceding to begin with was over fear the Lincoln would attempt to abolish slavery.  Then they attacked the north after they formed the Confederate States of America at Fort Sumter, which started the shooting part of the war.  Unfortunately there was no way around it, the civil was brewing for decades, by 1861 it was inevitable

4.  Who was the most important leader in WWII?

In my opinion it would be Adolf Hitler, because without him the war wouldn't have happened and it was his policies that led to the peace settlement between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies that created the world political landscape we have today (a different war would have invariably been fought at some point, but it wouldn't have taken the course that it did).  In second place I would put Churchill because he kept England from falling apart during its darkest hour and without him the allied war effort would have collapsed in 1940, allowing Germany to throw all of its weight at the Soviet Union in 1941 which could easily resulted in a German victory

5.  List the three most important events in history.  Explain.

Talking strictly secular:
1. Agricultural revolution (allowed civilization to begin)
2. Rise of monotheism (created the social forces that would dominate the world for thousands of years to this day)
3. World War II (an entire world at war and the total restructuring of the world's political climate from the ground up, can't beat that)

6.  Why do we study history?

It allows us to understand our present, without studying history we can't approach the world's complicated problems with any hope of coping with them, let alone solving them (which is unlikely no matter what).  A citizen who knows history I believe is also a better informed voter, many candidates make claims and plans that fly in the face of history *cough*obama*cough* and if people know the origins of the movement and ideas that they espouse and how they have played out in the past they will be better equipped to decide who should lead.  It is also vital because it allows a nation/people to maintain their culture and build upon past achievements to create newer and greater ones.  Without the historical records of the works of men like Isaac Newton, Einstein could never have had the revelations he did about how the world works.  


Hope that wasn't too indulgent there...but I am planning on teaching history, so I should probably think it's important :p

Good job...if you were in my history class I would give you an "A".

turtledove..retired history teacher. 

[OUmillenium]

Excellent discussion on this little quiz.  Thanks for the feedback!  I feel enlightened.