Viva La Revolution!

July is when we celebrate Independence Day with a bang. But the American Revolution wasn’t the only occasion people fought against the establishment. From the streets to the stage and screen, test your knowledge of revolutionary events and characters in this month’s Fact Funhouse quiz!

1. Which event is considered the start of the French Revolution?
a. The Storming of the Bastille
b. The Tennis Court Oath
c. The Execution of Louis XVI
d. The Reign of Terror

2. This former lawyer who led a nonviolent opposition to British colonial rule was portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the eponymously titled 1982 motion picture.
a. Mahatma Gandhi
b. Subhas Chandra Bose
c. Jawaharlal Nehru
d. Bhagat Singh

3. The end of a revolutionary war in 1804 led to the creation of this country, the first independent black republic.
a. Nigeria
b. Botswana
c. Haiti
d. Nicaragua

4. This uprising, an attempt to overthrow the French monarchy, became the backdrop for Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, which became a musical theater juggernaut and motion picture.
a. The French Revolution
b. The June Rebellion
c. The Napoleonic Wars
d. The War of 1812

5. This Marxist Argentine physician led anti-American political movements in Latin America, culminating in the Cuban Revolution.
a. Fidel Castro
b. Raul Castro
c. Che Guevara
d. Fulgencio Battista

6. On April 18, 1775, these two observers were appointed by Paul Revere to signal British troop movements from atop Boston’s Old North Church.
a. Robert Newman and Captain John Pulling
b. Myles Standish and John Alden
c. John Laurens and Hercules Mulligan
d. Samuel Adams and James Otis

7. The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1789, marked the end of the American Revolution. Which of the following diplomats did NOT represent the U.S. during the treaty negotiations?
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. John Adams
c. John Jay
d. Thomas Jefferson

8. What French nobleman served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and was instrumental in securing military and financial assistance from King Louis XVI, and who played him in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton?
a. Maximillian Robespierre, played by Jonathan Groff
b. Marquis de Lafayette, played by Daveed Diggs
c. Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Joaquin Phoenix
d. Aaron Burr, played by Leslie Odom Jr.

9. The October 1917 revolution that brought communists to power in Russia was preceded by what event the previous March?
a. The overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II
b. The murder of Rasputin
c. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
d. The abdication of King Constantine

10. Whose famous last words were reported to be, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”?
a. Patrick Henry
b. John Paul Jones
c. Nathan Hale
d. George Washington

ANSWERS:

1. Give yourself credit for either of these answers: On June 20, 1789, in what became known as the Tennis Court Oath, commoners gathered on a tennis court and swore never to disband until a constitution was established, a bold act of defiance against Louis XVI. Less than a month later, on July 14, fears that the king was about to arrest France’s newly constituted National Assembly led to the storming of the Bastille, an old fortress that had been used as a state prison since 1659. The latter date is observed as French Independence Day, or “Bastille Day.”
2. Mohandas K. Gandhi (later known as “Mahatma,” a title given to a venerable person or sage) studied law in London and later spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed the political and ethical views that shaped his key role in India’s campaign for independence from British rule. He was assassinated by Hindu nationalists in January 1948.
3. Haiti was the first sovereign Black nation in the world, declaring its independence from France on January 1, 1804. This occurred after a successful slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
4. The June Rebellion, also known as the Paris Uprising of 1832, was an anti-monarchist insurrection that attempted to overthrow Louis Philippe. The rebellion was crushed, but it became a pivotal moment in French history, inspiring Victor Hugo’s novel.
5. Ernesto “Che” Guevara became a major figure in the Cuban Revolution and was generally regarded as second-in-command to Fidel Castro. Guervara left Cuba in 1965 to pursue a broader revolutionary agenda. He was captured while leading guerrilla insurgents in Bolivia in 1967 and executed. His stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and a global pop culture icon.
6. Robert Newman and Captain John Pulling hung two lanterns from the church steeple after seeing British troops crossing the Charles River, signaling Paul Revere to launch his legendary “midnight ride,” commemorated in verse by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
7. Although named to the five-person delegation, Thomas Jefferson did not attend, owing to his service as governor of Virginia and the fact that his intended trans-Atlantic passage was delayed.
8. A young aristocrat who volunteered to join the Continental Army, Marquis de Lafayette became a trusted aide-de-camp to George Washington. He secured French support for the American cause and later rose to the rank of major general. His character was sung by Daveed Diggs in Hamilton. Diggs also played Thomas Jefferson in the second act.
9. Following the devastation of World War I and widespread economic hardship and discontent, Tsar Nicolas II was overthrown by revolutionaries and a provisional government was established. Months later, in what became known as Red October, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power and ushered in the era of Soviet communism.
10. Nathan Hale, a 21-year-old Yale-educated schoolteacher, is said to have uttered those words before being executed by the British for espionage on September 22, 1776.