Riddle of Ages: Travelling Through History

Milarqui

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Joined
Dec 31, 2005
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Granada, Andalucía, España, Europa
Here is my idea. Hope that you like it.

Someone posts a riddle here about a historical event (has to be something that is internatonally known, so nothing about local or regional events, and that happened in just one place, which immediately eliminates wars or things that happened in several places at the same time) and the others have to guess where and when that happened. Whoever guesses it the first has the chance to do the next riddle.

Example:
Twice it rang, bringing red to both of them.
She should have not died, he said.
The lights turned off, and more red was brought.


Solution:
The assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, 28th June 1914, which was the casus belli for the start of WWI. Gavrilo Princip shot twice against the motorcade where the Archduke and his wife were travelling, killing them both. Princip later said that he did not want to kill Sophie, but Governor Oskar Potiorek. When WWI started, a British politician (don't remember who) said that the lights were being turned off. WWI became one of the bloodiest conflicts ever.

Get it? Cool, now, the first one.

Where blue and green raced
When revolt of victory turned into defeat
And defeat turned into bloody victory


EDIT: This is going to be the list of the people who have won, and what they guessed.

strijder20: Nika Riots
Milarqui: Agincourt
taillesskangaru: First Carlist War
Lighthearter: Japan's invasion of Korea
mayor: The First Crusade
Milarqui: Capture of Brielle
Terrance888: Berlin Blockade and Airlift
electric926: Boxer Rebellion
mayor: Operation Mincemeat
west india man: Vietcong (Sonereal: Khmer Rouge ex-aequo)
NedimNapoleon: Battle of Berlin
Sonereal: Flagstaff War
mayor: Juan Sebastián Elcano
Milarqui: The 10,000 Spartans
west india man: End of Tsubodai's push into the west
mayor: The Charge of the Polish Hussars in the Siege of Vienna
Sonereal: Penobscot Expedition
mayor: Fall of Constantinople
Buddhafish: Battle of Midway
mayor: Nelson Mandela
strijder20: Battle of Alesia
Caragus: Aztecs
Buddhafish: Restoration of Charles II
 
I like riddles! If only I could do them...
 
Blue... green...
Was the colour of the confederates blue or light grey?
I can't think of any other 'green' in history.
 
Blue... green...
Was the colour of the confederates blue or light grey?
I can't think of any other 'green' in history.

The union is blue, confederates were (light) gray. :p

Um, green is traditionally the color of Russia, and blue could be Prussia. Victory turning into defeat might refer to the Battle of the Ice, where the Teutonic Order (located in Prussia) was winning against Novgorod (located in Russia) until the lake they fought over broke, killing most of the former.

So that's my guess.
 
No idea, but subbed
 
"revolt of victory turned into defeat"

i want say the Cromwell's rebellion .. but green ?
 
Roma, Roma...

It does not longer exist. Let's list some candidates. Long live Civ for inspiring me, by the way.

Ancient Greece
Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
Split off of HRE
Muslim Iberia
Babylonia
Sumeria
Persia
Phoenician city-states, including Carthage
Ottoman Empire
Inca-land
Aztecia
Maya-land
Frankish Empire
 
You are getting near, strijder20.

Last clue. If, by this time tomorrow, no one has solved it, I'll give the solution and put a new riddle.

The leader and the nation appear in one of the expansions for Civilization IV.
 
Ah, expansions.
*Wanders off to Civilopedia*
By the way, is the country one of the ones I listed?
 
Got it. Byzantium. Two rival racing chariot teams, the blues and the greens, cause a civil war, but Justinian wins it, after having fled the city.
 
yeah! Strijder whens your riddle coming?
 
Seems that my explanation of the verses got lost.

Huh.

Well, here it is:
  • Where blue and green raced: as strijder said, this is because the main part of the Nika riots happened in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. The main teams were the Blues and the Greens.
  • When revolt of victory turned into defeat: Nika means Victory in Greek (at least, the Greek that was spoken in Constantinople at the time) and nearly kicked Justinian out of Constantinople, having named someone else as Emperor.
  • And defeat turned into bloody victory: in the end, Justinian stayed in Constantinople and sent the army into the hippodrome, where the soldiers massacred all the people in there (bloody, geddit?).
I'm looking forward to what strijder can cook up for his turn.
 
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