"Trivia Quiz - Tough Stuff for the Waterloo-Buff" Topic

Let's see… (smile)

link

Amicalement
Armand

25/25 A fortunate guess at 51 years of age.

Chris

I didn't like…

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on land that is now part of Belgium. On whose side were the "Belgians" (the inhabitants of what now is Belgium)?

… it is sort of a trick question.

The government of the "Belgians" were on the Allies' side.

All the "Belgian" regiments were on the Allies' side.

There were still some people who were born in Belgium fighting on the French side but I wouldn't call them "inhabitants of what now is Belgium" as they didn't inhabit Belgium at that time.

On the other hand some of the inhabitants of Brussels seemed very likly to welsome the French if the won.

What do you think?

Since when did the french flee when the prussians showed up?
If that was the case, the battle would have ended about 4 in the afternoon

Glup!… but… how many points did you?… (smile)

Good average C M DODSON !… congrats…(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

There were some questions that were ambiguous and others that had the incorrect answer.

Scored 2096, Sir! Twenty-three out of twenty-five, Sir, tripped up by those demn'd Dutchies, so I was, beggin' your Lordship's pardon. Learnt anything, Sir? No, sorry to report I'm just as ignorant as before, but smart enough to realise that the way to get through a Timed Quiz quickly is to skip the explanations (and just read the last sentence of some questions, too). What's that, Sir? True for you, Milord, "Scum of the Earth" at your service. And… "enlisted for drink….."

There are some terrible answers recommended. The "Belgians" fought for both sides. The battlefield was hilly agrarian land as opposed to hilly meadow land…the distinction is lost on me and let us face it, on the day, the field was not far off a marsh land. Narrow bridges correct; high temperatures wrong? Everything tells us how oppressive was the heat after QB and Ligny. I have never read of narrow bridges being a significant problem.

As Brechtel said +1

23/25 but pure chance.

agree with you, keithbarker – I knew as soon as I read the question about the Belgians that the correct answer would be "wrong"!

'Decoster' ? i.e what the heck? Otherwise, not to boast, but my guesses were excellent.

@Lord Hill +1

2372. I went for the obvious wrong one, as it had been "Syllinnit dahn" as they like to say around here. Heat was a problem a couple of days before though, but this question only related to Waterloo. I suppose the defile at Genappes and the bridges on the Dyle etc would go on to have an effect though?

There is no such thing as a hilly meadow. You can have hill pasture, but that is not the same as a meadow. Meadows are alluvial ie. usually flat land adjacent to a watercourse.

The Belgian question was a little clumsy, but I suppose the author was tryin to define what he meant by a "Belgian" in modern terms. Technically, there were no Belgian government or Belgians, this was the South Netherlands. There were plenty of Belgians in the Dutch Chevau-legers and other regiments though, remember the French cavalry calling out to their former comrades at Quatre Bras.

All good multiple choice questions have the "distractor" answers that are close but incorrect to trap the unwary, but that does not make them ambiguous though. It pays to RTFQ.

I would be interested if anybody thought them out and out "Wrong". Please share.

I just love RTFQ. Never heard that before, will use that again and recommend its use to my lad working for an academic career at University (good luck to him, these days).

MCQs are tricky to compose. I recall whole panels trying to devise these for our end-of-training surgical exams. Days spent, producing just a very few that all could agree on.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I got 23 also, and yes I answered the Belgian question wrong. I guessed the "popular history" answer of Napoleon's army size viz. Wellington's. The two armies were almost identical in size, but Siborne omitted the officers, which the French and Prussians didn't.