2024-2025 Regional Finals Study Guide

2024-2025 Regional Finals Study Guide - Beta Question Set

• This study guide provides key facts for the International History Bee and Bowl tournament.
• Facts are found in the preliminary rounds of the Beta Set.
• The guide is designed to help new players prepare, not necessarily to predict the winner.
• Review past questions available on websites (ihbbeurope.com, iacompetitionsasia.com, ihbbcanada.com).
• Use resources like the Nationals Capitals Study Guide.
• Study topical paragraphs, rather than memorizing dates and details.
• Wikipedia introductions help gain historical context about topics.
• Divide study tasks among team members for the History Bowl.
• Individual players need to be prepared for the History Bee.

African History

• Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's founding father, served from 1964 to 1978.
• The Second Boer War (1899-1902) was a conflict in South Africa between the British and Dutch-speaking settlers.
• Nubian language speakers in Sudan were affected by the Aswan High Dam.

Ancient History

• The First Punic War (264-241 BCE) was a conflict between Rome and Carthage.
• The Battle of Marathon (490 BCE) was a Greek victory over Persia.
• Jade was a significant material in ancient Chinese artifacts.
• The Olmecs were an early Mesoamerican civilization.
• Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics as their writing system.

Asian History

• Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) was North Korea's first leader.
• Mauritius lost its Dodo population in the late 1600's.
• Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) was India's first female Prime Minister.
• Pol Pot (1925-1998) led the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
• The Forbidden City was the Chinese emperors' residence.
• Sri Lanka faced Tamil rebellions in the late 1900s and 2000s.
• The Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BCE) was an early Chinese dynasty.
• Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar.
• The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) was Korea's longest ruling dynasty.
• Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819.

European History

• The Rothschild banking family faced anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
• The Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) declared independence in 1990.
• Roald Amundsen led the first successful expedition to the South Pole.
• The Battle of Waterloo (1815) was Napoleon's final defeat.
• Warsaw is Poland's capital.
• Claude Debussy was a famous French composer.
• Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone were notable British prime ministers.
• Nikita Khrushchev was a Soviet leader known for de-Stalinization.
• Vladimir Putin is the current President of the Russian Federation.
• Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was a British Prime Minister.
• Catherine of Aragon was Henry VIII's first wife.
• The Hanseatic League was a medieval trading group.
• Fyodor Dostoevsky was a renowned Russian author.
• Karl Donitz was a WWII German admiral.
• Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris was the site of Napoleon's coronation.
• Joan of Arc was a French military leader in the Hundred Years' War.
• Oliver Cromwell was a British military leader and Lord Protector.
• The Reichstag fire (1933) in Germany helped Hitler gain power.
• Catherine the Great was a Russian Empress (1762-1796).

Latin American and Caribbean History

• The Inca Empire was centered in Cusco in Peru.
• Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990.
• Simón Bolívar led several South American nations to independence.
• Benito Juárez was Mexico's first indigenous president.
• Patagonia is a region in southern Argentina and Chile.
• Hugo Chávez (1954-2013) was a Venezuelan president.
• Belize is a Central American country with English as its official language.
• Fidel Castro led Cuba from 1959.

U.S. History

• The Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) involved Lakota people.
• Herman Melville's Moby-Dick was influenced by his whaling experiences.
• The Battle of the Bulge (1944) was a WWII German offensive.