History Quiz

[Hairy-Joe]

Joseph Stalin?

Yep. It was a bit too easy....

[Riffmongous]

Ah I thought the name was Georgian, I should have guessed

[quodec]

This is a real teaser!
What is so unusual about the adult life of Miss Jennie Hodgers (1843-1915) from Clogherhead, Co Louth, who emigrated to America in 1859?
Possible clues to follow!

[Riffmongous]

This is a real teaser!
What is so unusual about the adult life of Miss Jennie Hodgers (1843-1915) from Clogherhead, Co Louth, who emigrated to America in 1859?
Possible clues to follow!

Something to do with Presidents?

[quodec]

Something to do with Presidents?

No Riff. This is a tough one though. Her story was featured in the media a couple of years ago. Someone on the site might recall it.

[Hairy-Joe]

Impersonate a man to qualify as a Doctor or Engineer?

[quodec]

Impersonate a man to qualify as a Doctor or Engineer?

You know Hairy-Joe, I'm going to give it to you. You're very close. Its a fascinating story and I've tagged an Irish Times article below, but basically she fought in the American Civil War as a man (aka Albert Cashier) and even got a military pension. Her true identity was only discovered in later years!

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/when ... -1.3456012

[Hairy-Joe]

You know Hairy-Joe, I'm going to give it to you. You're very close. Its a fascinating story and I've tagged an Irish Times article below, but basically she fought in the American Civil War as a man (aka Albert Cashier) and even got a military pension. Her true identity was only discovered in later years!

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/when ... -1.3456012

That was a pure guess. There was a few women at that time doing the male impersonation to get ahead in life so I just threw that out.

Taking my last one a bit further, who was Saloth Sar better known as? I'll take either of the two names.....

[Uncle Frank]

Ivan the Terrible?

[Hairy-Joe]

Nope. Ivan the Terrible was Ivan IV.

[Uncle Frank]

Not Vlad The Impaler?

[Hairy-Joe]

Not Vlad The Impaler?

Nope.

A little help. Think last century.....

[Hairy-Joe]

Not Vlad The Impaler?

Would you believe I was in the prison cell he was being held in! That prison cell is under Buda castle......

[Mikewest]

Saloth Sar, probably the most evil man of the 20th century and that is saying something. If you wore glasses therefore you were an intellectual and due for re-education or death and 2 million of the people of his country died. If you were a farmer who owned enough land to feed your family you were a member of the bourgeoisie and needed re-education, even if you were one of his supporters you weren't safe, the film "The killing fields" captured a tiny bit of the insanity. The world (both east and west) wouldn't raise a finger to help the people and even supported him after the Vietnamese invaded and stopped the slaughter. Pol Pot leader of the khmer rouge.

[Hairy-Joe]

Saloth Sar, probably the most evil man of the 20th century and that is saying something. If you wore glasses therefore you were an intellectual and due for re-education or death and 2 million of the people of his country died. If you were a farmer who owned enough land to feed your family you were a member of the bourgeoisie and needed re-education, even if you were one of his supporters you weren't safe, the film "The killing fields" captured a tiny bit of the insanity. The world (both east and west) wouldn't raise a finger to help the people and even supported him after the Vietnamese invaded and stopped the slaughter. Pol Pot leader of the khmer rouge.

Yep, that's it. Brother Number One was another name he went by. A truly horrid, sick man.

You're up next!

[Mikewest]

Why is Patillo Higgins significant to the history of Texas in particular and more generally to the USA?

[Hairy-Joe]

Something to do with the Alamo maybe?

The edit was that I couldn't spell Alamo......

[Hairy-Joe]

Well, I have to confess that after posting the above, I gave in and Googled. Well, I'm fair wrong and I even had the gender wrong!

As I "cheated", I won't be in on this round.

[Mikewest]

Sorry for the delay, yesterday was overly busy.

Nothing to do with The Alamo, wars or politics and is to do one of the things Texas is famous for.

[quodec]

Discovered the first oil well?

[Mikewest]

Discovered the first oil well?

Close enough at this stage. He identified Spindletop near Beaumont Texas as an anticline (geologic structure that retains oil or gas) which nobody believed as there was supposedly almost no oil in Texas! He spent years developing a drill to get the oil and gas out of the sandy ground of Spindletop. Developed the now standard way of drilling for oil with "mud" and thus indirectly caused the breakup of J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil which lead to the formation of Exxon, Chevron etc. His first gusher -which he managed to swindle himself out of- produced 100,000 barrels per day. His work lead to the creation of the entire Texas oil business (or near as dammit). I learned about him at an Interstate rest stop in Texas. They sometimes have fantastic historical displays.

[quodec]

Ok, my turn again!

Oliver Cromwell is well known in Ireland for his attacks on various towns throughout 1649/50. Most surrendered relatively quickly but one town proved a tough nut to break and cost over 2000 of his men, with the defenders even managing to slip away the day before the surrender. What was the name of this Irish town?

[Riffmongous]

Ok, my turn again!

Oliver Cromwell is well known in Ireland for his attacks on various towns throughout 1649/50. Most surrendered relatively quickly but one town proved a tough nut to break and cost over 2000 of his men, with the defenders even managing to slip away the day before the surrender. What was the name of this Irish town?

Clonmel! One of the O'Neills led the defence I think

[quodec]

Clonmel is right. Well done!

[Del.Monte]

Charmed Enniscorthy dodged a bullet (or a lot of them) when Cromwell came calling as the town narrowly did again in 1916.