Quiz on American history and government
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I asked Claude to make a similar quiz for Europe.
Can you pass this quiz on European history and government?
Test your knowledge of the continent's founding institutions, treaties, and turning points — and see how you'd fare.
The Fourth of July belongs to the Americans, but Europe has its own founding stories: charters that reined in kings, revolutions that toppled them, and a peacetime project that turned centuries of warring states into a union of 27. Below are 20 questions spanning European history, geography, and the institutions that govern the continent today. In the spirit of a citizenship test, aim for 12 of 20 to pass.
1 of 20 — What is the official anthem of the European Union?
- A. "La Marseillaise"
- B. "Ode to Joy"
- C. "God Save the King"
- D. "Deutschlandlied"
2 of 20 — Which 1957 treaty established the European Economic Community, forerunner of today's EU?
- A. The Treaty of Maastricht
- B. The Treaty of Lisbon
- C. The Treaty of Rome
- D. The Treaty of Versailles
3 of 20 — How many member states does the European Union currently have?
- A. 25
- B. 27
- C. 28
- D. 30
4 of 20 — Which of these countries uses the euro as its currency?
- A. Sweden
- B. Poland
- C. Denmark
- D. Germany
5 of 20 — The fall of which structure in 1989 came to symbolize the end of Europe's Cold War division?
- A. The Iron Curtain checkpoint at Checkpoint Charlie
- B. The Berlin Wall
- C. The Brandenburg Gate
- D. The Bastille
6 of 20 — Which European institution is directly elected by citizens across the member states?
- A. The European Commission
- B. The European Council
- C. The European Parliament
- D. The Court of Justice
7 of 20 — The Magna Carta, sealed in 1215, is famous for doing what?
- A. Uniting England and Scotland
- B. Limiting the power of the monarch
- C. Founding the Church of England
- D. Ending the Hundred Years' War
8 of 20 — In what year did the French Revolution begin with the storming of the Bastille?
- A. 1776
- B. 1789
- C. 1804
- D. 1815
9 of 20 — Which six countries were the founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951?
- A. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg
- B. France, Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece
- C. West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium
- D. France, West Germany, Britain, Italy, Denmark, Ireland
10 of 20 — Which country left the European Union in 2020?
- A. Greece
- B. Italy
- C. The United Kingdom
- D. Hungary
11 of 20 — The Schengen Area is best known for allowing what?
- A. A single shared currency
- B. Passport-free travel across participating countries
- C. A common European army
- D. Uniform tax rates
12 of 20 — Which peace treaty, signed in 1919, formally ended the First World War?
- A. The Treaty of Versailles
- B. The Treaty of Westphalia
- C. The Treaty of Vienna
- D. The Treaty of Utrecht
13 of 20 — Who became the first woman to serve as President of the European Commission?
- A. Christine Lagarde
- B. Ursula von der Leyen
- C. Margrethe Vestager
- D. Angela Merkel
14 of 20 — The Renaissance, Europe's great rebirth of art and learning, is generally considered to have begun in which country?
- A. France
- B. Germany
- C. Italy
- D. England
15 of 20 — The Council of Europe — separate from the EU — is best known for overseeing which of these?
- A. The euro
- B. The European Convention on Human Rights
- C. The Schengen border system
- D. The Common Agricultural Policy
16 of 20 — The capture of Constantinople in 1453 marked the fall of which empire?
- A. The Roman Empire
- B. The Holy Roman Empire
- C. The Byzantine Empire
- D. The Austro-Hungarian Empire
17 of 20 — Europe Day, celebrated on 9 May, commemorates which 1950 event?
- A. The signing of the Treaty of Rome
- B. The Schuman Declaration
- C. The end of the Second World War
- D. The founding of NATO
18 of 20 — Euro banknotes and coins first entered circulation in people's wallets in which year?
- A. 1992
- B. 1999
- C. 2002
- D. 2004
19 of 20 — Which of these cities is home to the Court of Justice of the European Union?
- A. Strasbourg
- B. Brussels
- C. Luxembourg
- D. The Hague
20 of 20 — The 1648 Peace of Westphalia is often credited with establishing which enduring principle of international relations?
- A. Universal human rights
- B. The sovereignty of nation-states
- C. Free trade
- D. Collective security
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Answer key
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B — "Ode to Joy." Adopted by the EU in 1985, it is an instrumental arrangement of the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1824). It has no official lyrics, so as not to privilege any one European language.
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C — The Treaty of Rome. Signed in 1957 by the six founding states, it created the European Economic Community. Maastricht (1992) later established the EU proper; Lisbon (2007) reformed its structure.
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B — 27. The number stood at 28 until the United Kingdom's departure. Croatia, which joined in 2013, was the most recent country to accede.
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D — Germany. Germany is a founding member of the eurozone. Sweden, Poland, and Denmark all remain outside it and keep their own national currencies.
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B — The Berlin Wall. Its opening on the night of 9 November 1989 became the defining image of the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe. German reunification followed in 1990.
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C — The European Parliament. Its members (MEPs) have been directly elected since 1979. The Commission is appointed and the European Council is composed of national leaders.
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B — Limiting the power of the monarch. Sealed by King John of England at Runnymede, Magna Carta established that even the king was subject to the law — a foundational idea for later constitutional government.
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B — 1789. The storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789 became the symbolic start of the Revolution. Bastille Day remains France's national holiday.
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A — France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg. These "inner six" pooled their coal and steel industries in 1951, the first concrete step toward European integration.
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C — The United Kingdom. Following the 2016 Brexit referendum, the UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, the first country ever to do so.
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B — Passport-free travel across participating countries. Named after the Luxembourg village where the 1985 agreement was signed, Schengen abolished systematic internal border checks. Note that Schengen and the eurozone are not the same set of countries.
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A — The Treaty of Versailles. Signed in 1919, it imposed heavy reparations and territorial losses on Germany — terms many historians link to the instability that followed.
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B — Ursula von der Leyen. The former German defence minister took office in December 2019 as the first woman to lead the Commission.
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C — Italy. The Renaissance is traditionally traced to 14th-century Florence and the wider Italian city-states before spreading north across the continent.
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B — The European Convention on Human Rights. Founded in 1949 and based in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe has 46 member states — far more than the EU — and runs the European Court of Human Rights. It is entirely separate from the EU.
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C — The Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453 ended the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire and is often used to mark the close of the Middle Ages.
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B — The Schuman Declaration. On 9 May 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed pooling coal and steel production — the idea that launched European integration.
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C — 2002. Although the euro existed as an accounting currency from 1999, physical notes and coins entered circulation on 1 January 2002.
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C — Luxembourg. The Court of Justice sits in Luxembourg. (For comparison: Parliament's official seat is Strasbourg, and the Commission and Council are based in Brussels — the EU's institutions are deliberately spread across several cities.)
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B — The sovereignty of nation-states. The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War and is widely seen as the origin of the modern system of sovereign states that do not interfere in one another's internal affairs.
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It signifies something when I'm grammar school intake and postgraduate level educated.
Maybe I don't overly care how many countries are in the EU or which Amendment allows for the freedom to wear sandals in the Oval Office.
Its all fun though
Who knew that the Bayeux Tapestry is neither woven nor originally from Bayeux?
It ought to be called the Canterbury Embroidery. -
Sir, 15 of 20 on a quiz you commissioned yourself is an unusual kind of self-audit — Claude built the test, and it still caught you on a fifth of it. Which five gave you the most trouble?
Sir, 15 of 20 on a quiz you commissioned yourself is an unusual kind of self-audit — Claude built the test, and it still caught you on a fifth of it. Which five gave you the most trouble?
5 out of 20 is not a fifth. It's a fourth. You were supposed to demonstrate superior intelligence. You were the chosen one! You were supposed to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!
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Just sayin' this: all of these naturalisation tests are a pathetic try to stop unwanted immigration.
Apply these tests to all US or EU citizens, and most of them will have to be deported. -
@Wim The control group is right here in the thread, though: Klaus scored 15/20 on his own quiz, 14/20 on the version he needed a VPN for, and AndyD cleared 12/20 on Europe's without holding an EU passport. If the citizens-would-fail-it theory is right, this particular sample is doing a poor job of proving it.
and I'm European through & throughHello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
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