QUESTION HOUR: THE WORLD HISTORY AND POLITICS QUIZ

RESEARCHED AND CONDUCTED BY KRISHNADEV ROY & RITWIK GHOSH

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SCHOLASTIC CONCLAVE 2015

PRESENTS

ANSWERS TO THE PRELIMS

Question 1This term originated in the first World War and was used to describe the trauma suffered by some soldiers due to the intensity of bombardment around them. Now replaced by ‘combat stress reaction’ in medical lingo, identify this term which has entered into common parlance, albeit in lesser traumatic situations.

AnswerShell shock

Question 2Xs have been used since 1921 to commemorate soldiers who have died in war. Inspired by the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields", after the first public use, and campaign for their use, by Moina Michael, they were initially adopted by the American Legion to commemorate American soldiers killed in that war (1914–1918). Today, they are mainly used in the UK and throughout the Commonwealth. Small artificial _______ are often worn on clothing for a few days,prior to Remembrance Day/Armistice Day (11 November). What is X ?

Answer

Remembrance Poppies

Question 3*Wallis Simpson was a double divorcee, and since her exhusbands were still alive, religious, legal, political and moral objections were raised in the British Commonwealth when X expressed his interest in her.Despite the opposition from the government, X declared that he loved Simpson and intended to marry her whether his governments approved or not. What constitutional crisis did this create in 1936 that changed the British line of succession? Who is X?

AnswerKing Edward VIII abdicating his throne to marrysocialite Wallis Simpson

Question 4Throughout his life, it was doubted if X ever fell in love or got married. A certain Chinese girl named Zeng Xueming did surface, and future Chinese emperor Zhou Enlai’s wife is said to have been awitness to Zeng’s and X’s marriage in 1926. Soon after the marriage, X left Zeng and ran away never to return. Zeng’s attempts to reunite with X were thwarted by the Communist officials who wanted X to remain married only to the people.ID X.

Answer

Ho Chi Minh

Question 5“X: Dark Servant of Destiny” is a biographical 1996 TV film which chronicles the last four years of X’s life during which he acted as a healer of sorts.

Identify X, portrayed by Alan Rickman in the poster in the next slide.

AnswerGrigori Rasputin

Question 6Put Funda

Answer

Alaska Purchase, 1867: The US $7.2 million cheque used to pay for Alaska

Question 7In November 2006, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) notedthat, "an evening that had started with massive securityarrangements in the sombre UN setting, concluded in a festiveatmosphere in the lounge of the UN with diplomats from othertables joining in raising a toast for the film.” Introduced by ShashiTharoor, it was the first Hindi film to be screened at the UN. TaranAdarsh of Bollywood Hungama observed that, "there wasthunderous clapping at the high points of the film... the applauseat the end of the screening was unending.” Boman Irani, who waspresent during the event was quoted saying, “This was one filmabout feeling good and not about making money.” What is the film in question ?

Answer

Question 8X died in January 2014 after being in a coma for eight years.Such was the hatred for him, that for many years a household product was the subject of boycott in many parts of the Middle East, with some groups asking people to shun it because it was supposedly named after him. Who is X ?

AnswerAriel Sharon

Question 92007- Vladimir Putin2008- Nicolas Sarkozy2009- Nursultan Nazarbayev2010- Lee Myung Bak2011- Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono2012- Yingluck Shinawatra2013- Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk2014- Shinzo Abe2015- X

What is this list about? (inexhaustive)

Answer

Chief Guests at India’s Republic Day Paradeat New DelhiX: Barack Obama

Question 10John F. Kennedy said in reference to the photograph, “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.”On 10 June 1963, U.S. correspondents were informed that “something important" would happen the following morning on the road outside the Cambodian embassy in Saigon. Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer Prize for this photograph.What photograph did Browne manage to capture that fiery June Morning of 1963?

AnswerThic Quang Duc protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government

Answer

Countries that celebrate their Independence Day on 15th August

Question 12*

What does Urban Dictionary define as the following ?“The tale of how many different nations, from all across the world, gained their independence from Great Britain.”

Answer

Question 13

In India, if someone were to ask you to produceyour EPIC document, then what exactly do you need to show them?

Answer

Voter ID Card aka Electoral Photo ID Card

Question 14*The 5th episode of Season 16 of The Simpsons has a title that is very pertinent to this quiz.According to Matt Groening, one half of the title is in reference to Bart Simpson and the other half of the title is in reference to Homer Simpson. Beforethe episode first aired, Matt Groening also boughtthe domain www.nuclear-secrets.com but nevercreated a website.What was the episode titled?

Answer

Fat Man and Little Boy

Question 15

In the book Canto General (1950), Pablo Neruda denounced foreign multinational corporatepolitical dominance of Latin American countrieswith the four-stanza poem "La United Fruit Co.“

FITB with a term quite pertinent to Political Science

*Second-stanza excerpts next slide

. . . The Fruit Company, Inc.

Reserved for itself the most succulent,The central coast of my own land,

The delicate waist of the Americas.It rechristened its territoriesAs the “______ _________",And over the sleeping dead,

Over the restless heroesWho brought about the greatness,

The liberty and the flags,

It established a comic opera. . . .

Answer

Banana Republic

Question 16“I had just entered the kitchen when I heard the first shots – there were eight. I knew that it was an Iver Johnson revolver. I knew the caliber of the gun, because I was a hunter, I had been in Vietnam, and had been shot at many times. I was 12 feet behind him. People were going down in front of me. I thought they were diving for cover, they weren’t; they were being shot. The busboy, Juan Romero, was still holding _______, and I took one frame, which was totally out of focus. The second frame, I made sure he was in focus, but Romero was looking down at him. I took the third as quickly as I could, and Romero looked up towards me with a look of “Help me” in his face.”

First person witness account of what?

AnswerRobert F Kennedy’s Death

Question 17*Despite being hugely successful in his own field, X joined theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1984. After his retirement in 2005, X turned to politics and created the United Civil Front, a social movement whose main goal is to "work to preserveelectoral democracy in Russia.” An outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin,X entered the Russian Presidential race, receiving 379 of 498 votes at a congress held in Moscow by The Other Russia. In October 2007, X announced his intention of standing for the Russian presidency as the candidate of the Other Russia coalition and vowed to fight for a "democratic and just Russia“. However, on 12 December 2007, X withdrew his presidential candidacy due to inability to rent a meeting hall where at least 500 of his supporters could assemble to endorse his candidacy, as is legally required. Identify X.

AnswerGarry Kasparov

Question 18

Narendra Modi had contested from two Lok Sabha constituencies during the general elections of 2014. Both cities begin with the same letter.

For full points, name both.

Answer

Varanasi and Vadodara

Question 19After graduating with a BSc degree in Economics, Xattended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA and earned an MSc in Business Management, attained in 2002. X has held the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Minister of State for Finance and Economics Affairs in her home country. X is also a co-owner of a restaurant chain named the ‘Polo Lounge’ in Lahore. In 2015, American magazine Bustle ranked her as the “4th Most Stylish Woman in Politics”. Identify X.

AnswerHina Rabbani Khar

Question 20

What incident from modern Indian history is thissong alluding to in the lines played?

AnswerPokhran-I Nuclear testing

COMING UP NEXT: THE FINALS