History Quiz III (with rules)

[naervod]

Dang, I used to know this one. Time to start cracking open those books.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Gamal Abdel Naser? - no, that would be Germany & USSR.

 

[metalhead]

Eddie Chapman?

 

[aneeshm]

Sorry that I couldn't post . I was off CFC for a few days .

 

[polymath]

Ok we need more questions as no-one's got this - I had a root around and I think it's Mitterrand (I cheated by searching for the answer and this seems to be it).

 

[metalhead]

Well, I'm pretty sure my answer is right, so I'll ask a question. What 2 men were tossed out the window at the Defenestration of Prague?

 

[jack merchant]

Both were Austrian Habsburg governors of Prague, IIRC. I *think* one was thrown out during the Hussite rebellion and the other in 1618 - indirectly causing the Thirty Years' War.

Interestingly, one survived because he landed on a soft surface - a garbage heap. The Catholics said it was divine intervention that he survived. The Protestants said yeah, it was divine inspiration that he ended on the garbage heap

 

[YNCS]

Originally posted by YNCS
Since nobody's asked a question in over three days, here's one. Who was the only person in WW2 who was decorated by both sides (Germany and Britain) for the same action?

Sorry, I had to go away for a week.

Here's the answer to my question: Juan Pujol, aka "Garbo" and "Tricycle."

Pujol was a Spaniard who was recruited by the Abwehr (German Intelligence Service) to be a spy in England. When he got to England, he turned himself in to MI6 (the British counterintelligence agency) and, after some thrashing around, was accepted as a double agent by the British. He ran a fictious spy network in Britain until the end of the war, feeding false information to the Abwehr. He was a key part of Operation Fortitude, the deception plan for the Normandy Invasion. He gave the Germans information about the Allied invasion of the Pas de Calais in France. Even after Normandy was invaded, Pujol explained to the Abwehr that real invasion was to be at the Pas de Calais and that Normandy was a large scale diversion to draw German troops away from the Pas de Calais. This worked so well that even ten days after Normandy, none of the German divisions in the Pas de Calais were moved to Normandy.

Pujol was awarded the Iron Cross First Class in June 1944 for his excellent intelligence work. At the end of the war, he was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services rendered to Britain. Thus, he was decorated by both sides for the same action. After the war, he moved to Peru, where he died in 1992.

For further details, see Sir John Masterman's The Double-Cross and Anthony Cave Brown's A Bodyguard of Lies.

 

[Pangur Bán]

I don't know whether or not the history forum really is dying a slow death, but this thread is. Here's a question:

On what day, in what month, in what year was the Roman army defeated by the Goths at Adrianople?

 

[Peri]

doesnt marcellinus say 9/8/378?

 

[Pangur Bán]

Correct, although I don't know if Marcellinus actually states it.

Your turn...

 

[Peri]

Ill be honest and say I had to look it up in Marcellinus for the month and day so I dont know if I qualify for a go Calgacus.

If I do my question is..

Who was co consul with Caesar in 59BC?

 

[jack merchant]

Marcus Bibulus (forgot his nomen, I'm afraid - was it Calpurnius ? )

 

[Peri]

Bibulus is correct so your go Jack

 

[jack merchant]

Another Roman question, then:

The army of Marcus Licinius Crassus was annihilated by the Parthians at Carrhae in 54 BC. Who commanded the Parthian army ?

 

[Peri]

the Parthian king?

 

[jack merchant]

I'm afraid not. Historians are divided as to what he was known as was his name or his title. In any event, he later got executed by the Parthian king on trumped-up charges. Too much success can kill you !

 

[Peri]

I found out one name from Plutarch's life of Crassus but nobody believes him
Surena?

 

[Porphyrogenitos]

Peri, Suren wasn't actually the name of a person but rather a title. Suren means first lord of the nobility or chief archon. The commanding general's name has never come down to us, no doubt because the Romans did their best to hide this fact away. It was one thing to admit to a military failure but a totally different ball game all together to admit that a Parthian general was superior to the Roman one around at the time (some of the biggest names no less).

Later, Persian-Iranian tradition links this name up with Eran Spahbodh Rustaham Suren-Pahlav (who the West knew as Rustam a hero in the traditions of Dede Korkut and Digenes Akritas) but this claim is disputed by modern scholarship.

In any case, Peri is correct in my opinion so I presume we are awaiting his question?

 

[jack merchant]

You presume correctly, Porphyrogenitos
Thanks for the clarification !

Your question, Peri