Which “war” did Australia wage unsuccessfully against large flightless birds in 1932?
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Emu War
Soldiers with machine guns lost to the emus.
💡 Did you know? The birds were ravaging wheat fields.
All questions with answers
What is the shortest war in history (1896), lasting about 40 minutes, called?
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Anglo-Zanzibar War
It lasted 38 to 45 minutes.
💡 Did you know? Zanzibar surrendered almost at once.
What is the 17th-century Dutch bubble in which one flower cost a fortune called?
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Tulip mania
A single bulb could cost as much as a house.
💡 Did you know? It is seen as the first documented speculative bubble.
Which sticky disaster flooded Boston's streets with a brown wave in 1919?
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Boston Molasses Flood
A tank burst, releasing millions of litres of syrup.
💡 Did you know? The wave was metres high and killed 21 people.
In which mishap was Napoleon, by legend, “attacked” by a horde of tame animals?
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Napoleon's rabbit hunt
Rabbits released for the hunt charged at him instead.
💡 Did you know? They were tame and saw humans as food-bringers.
Over which everyday object did the Italian cities Modena and Bologna go to war in 1325?
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A bucket
Modenese soldiers had seized the bucket.
💡 Did you know? The bucket is still kept in Modena today.
What is 1816, when a volcanic eruption caused worldwide cold and crop failure, called?
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Year Without a Summer
The cause was the eruption of Mount Tambora.
💡 Did you know? In that gloom, “Frankenstein” was written.
What is the 1518 phenomenon in which people in Strasbourg danced uncontrollably for days called?
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Dancing plague
Some supposedly danced themselves to death.
💡 Did you know? The cause remains unexplained.
What is the stench that paralysed London's Parliament in 1858 due to the polluted Thames called?
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The Great Stink
It led to building London's sewer system.
💡 Did you know? MPs fled the chamber.
Which unusual U.S. plan around 1910 proposed importing large animals for meat into Louisiana?
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The hippo plan
Hippos were to be farmed in swamps for meat.
💡 Did you know? The bill narrowly failed.
What is the 897 trial in which a dead pope was exhumed and put on trial called?
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Cadaver Synod
The corpse of Pope Formosus was put on trial.
💡 Did you know? It was dressed in robes and “questioned”.
Which sweet cream pastry did the Swedish king Adolf Frederick reportedly eat himself to death on in 1771?
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Semla
King Adolf Frederick supposedly ate 14 of them.
💡 Did you know? He is called “the king who ate himself to death”.
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