Page 44 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o The Uruguayan Navy once defended Montevideo by firing Edam cheese cannonballs. o Genghis Khan conquered more land than Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Hitler combined. o Before Louis Philippe became King of France, he was living over a Philadelphia bar. o Printing pioneer Johannes Guttenberg was actually a goldsmith. o The last battle of World War I was fought in what is now Zambia. o Nigeria called a cease fire in its civil war so that Pele could play in Lagos. o Before climbing Mount Everest, Edmund Hillary was a New Zealand beekeeper. o Catherine of Aragon was both a widow and a virgin when she married Henry VIII. o Al Capone was finally convicted, not for murder, but for income tax evasion. o During WWI, Germany offered Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to Mexico to change sides. o In the 1570s, the Spanish were defeated by a Dutch army on skates. o “Good King Wenceslas” actually was a king - of Bohemia. o As the first country to ratify its charter, Nicaragua was the first country to join the U.N. o When Anne Boleyn was beheaded, so was her wolfhound. o Charles Bonaparte, grandnephew of Napoleon, founded the FBI. o The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more people than World War I did. o In 1940, German spy Josef Jacobs became the last person executed in the Tower of London. o In the 1800s, New Zealand had both a gold rush and a jade rush. o The Zulu army that beat the British at Isandhlwana included a regiment in their 60s. o The Boer War was the first time motorcycles and trucks were used in war. o Despite his name, Bernardo O’Higgins was the first President of Chile. o Darius I of Persia connected the Nile to the Red Sea with a canal. o A ziggurat tower called Etemenanki may have inspired the Tower of Babel story. o To free their Emperor, the Incas filled a 23 x 16 room with nine feet of gold. o The original Draconian, Draco of Athens, executed people for stealing cabbage. o The St. Nicholas on whom Santa Claus is based was from modern-day Turkey. o The 1898 book Futility eerily presaged the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. o Confucius was appointed Minister of Crime and wiped out crime in the Lu Province. o There was a New Australia in Paraguay in the 1890s. o The Caribe Indians, for whom the Caribbean is named, now survive mostly in Dominica. o The Parthenon was nearly destroyed in 1687, when it was used to store gun powder. o Now an art gallery, the Louvre used to be a royal palace. o The Three Magi are said to be interred in a cathedral in Cologne, Germany. o Many believe that the real Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia. o Of the 22 people at the opening of King Tut’s sarcophagus, 21 were dead 10 years later. o Stonehenge wasn’t built by Celtic Druids - it’s from 1,000 years before their time. o To prevent warfare with rivals, Ottoman sultans had the right to kill their brothers. o Hemorrhoids may have cost Napoleon victory at Waterloo. He couldn’t ride his horse. o In 1659, England fined people five shillings if they were caught celebrating Christmas. o When Dickens visited the U.S. Senate, he was appalled to see the senators spitting tobacco. o Before it realized he was a Marxist, Wall Street gave Fidel Castro a ticker tape parade. o To ensure an heir, Henry VIII had six wives. But he still ended up with no grandkids. o Until 1399, the first language of English Kings was French. o In the 1920s, Canada’s Director of Military Operations had a plan to invade the U.S. o It took Britain just 38 minutes to defeat Zanzibar in an 1896 war.