2024-2025 Regional Finals Study Guide - History

2024-2025 Regional Finals Study Guide - Beta Question Set

• This study guide provides facts for the 2024-2025 academic year's International History Bee and Bowl.
• The facts are from the preliminary rounds.
• The guide is for new players and teams.
• Review past questions on ihbbeurope.com, iacompetitionsasia.com, or ihbbcanada.com and the Nationals Capitals Study Guide.
• Questions are short paragraphs about topics. Learn more about each topic independently.
• Memorizing dates and birth/death years is not important—context is.
• Read the introductions of Wikipedia pages for context.
• Divide the topics among team members, assigning one person per topic.
• Participants in the Bee (individual competition) should also learn all the topics.
• Good luck!

African History

• Jomo Kenyatta: founding father of Kenya, first president (1964-1978).
• Second Boer War: (1899-1902) conflict in South Africa between the British and Dutch-speaking settlers.
• Nubian language: a language of Christian Sudan, whose speakers were displaced by the Aswan High Dam.

Ancient History

• First Punic War: (264-241 BCE) conflict between Rome and Carthage.
• Battle of Marathon: (490 BCE) Greek victory over Persia.
• Jade: vibrant green gemstone used in ancient Chinese artifacts.
• Olmec: the earliest known Mesoamerican civilization (present-day Mexico).
• Ancient Egyptians: used hieroglyphics, a formal writing system.

Asian History

• Kim Il Sung: (1912-1994) first leader of North Korea, deified by the state.
• Mauritius: an island nation with Port Louis as its capital, had the Dodo driven to extinction in the late 1600s.
• Indira Gandhi: (1917-1984) daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, first female Prime Minister of India.
• Pol Pot: (1925-1998) Communist leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (1975-1979).
• Forbidden City: complex in Beijing, inhabited by emperors for over 500 years (Yongle Emperor 1360-1424).
• Sri Lanka: faced Tamil rebellion in the late 1900s/2000s (led by Tamil Tigers).
• Shang Dynasty: (c. 1600 BCE) first known Chinese dynasty, followed the semi-legendary Xia dynasty.
• Rohingya: Muslim-majority ethnic group in Myanmar.
• Korea's Joseon Dynasty: longest-lived dynasty (1392-1897).
• Singapore: founded in 1819 by Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), British East India Company official.

European History

• Rothschilds: German-Jewish banking family, targets of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
• Baltic States: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia declared independence in 1990 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
• Roald Amundsen: (1872-1928) Norwegian leader of the first successful expedition to the South Pole.
• Battle of Waterloo: (1815) unified forces under the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Warsaw: capital city of Poland, site of a pact equivalent to NATO.
• Claude Debussy: (1862-1918) French composer known for Impressionist piano pieces.
• Benjamin Disraeli: (1804-1881) Conservative Prime Minister of the U.K., rivaled William Gladstone.
• Nikita Khrushchev: (1894-1971) Soviet leader known for de-Stalinization.
• Vladimir Putin: current President of the Russian Federation (2000s-present).
• Margaret Thatcher: (1925-2013) Conservative Prime Minister of the U.K. (1979-1990), "Iron Lady".
• Catherine of Aragon: (1485-1536) first wife of Henry VIII, her inability to produce a male heir sparked the English Reformation.
• Hanseatic League: medieval confederation of market towns and trade guilds, notable economic power.
• Fyodor Dostoevsky: (1821-1881) Russian author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.
• Karl Donitz: (1891-1980) German admiral, second and final Führer of the Third Reich for a week.
• Notre-Dame: Paris cathedral, site of Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation.
• Joan of Arc: (1412-1431) French military leader during the Hundred Years' War, Saint.
• English Anarchy: a 12th-century civil war.
• Oliver Cromwell: military leader and de facto dictator of England (1653-1658).
• Reichstag fire: (1933) arson of the German parliament building, aided Adolf Hitler's power grab.
• Catherine the Great: Empress of Russia (1762-1796).

Latin American and Caribbean History

• Inca Empire: founded in modern Peru, historical center at Cusco, conquered by Francisco Pizzaro (1478-1541).

U.S. History

• Wounded Knee massacre: (1890) massacre of Lakota people by U.S. Army soldiers.
• Herman Melville: (1819-1891) his whaling experience influenced Moby-Dick.
• Battle of the Bulge: (1944) final German offensive in World War II.
• Augusto Pinochet: (1915-2006) dictator of Chile (1973-1990), overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973 coup.
• Simon Bolivar: (1783-1830), Venezuelan soldier who led six South American nations to independence.
• Benito Juárez: (1806-1872) first Mexican president of indigenous ancestry (1858-1872).
• Patagonia: historical region in southern Argentina and Chile, including the Strait of Magellan and Drake Passage.
• Hugo Chávez: (1954-2013) President of Venezuela (2002-2013).
• Belize: English is the official language, British colony for nearly 200 years.
• Cuba: ruled by Fidel Castro (1959-present).