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Test your knowledge of history's most legendary rivalries with our comprehensive free 98-question trivia quiz with answers. From sports rivalries that captivated millions to historical feuds that shaped nations, this quiz covers iconic conflicts across multiple domains. Can you answer all the questions correctly?
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Q 01Which two heavyweight boxers' rivalry included three iconic fights in the 1970s?
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier's Manila fight ended when Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch stopped it after the 14th round; Ali took the series 2-1 but said it was the closest he had come to dying.
Q 02What name covers the three wars Rome fought against Carthage between 264 and 146 BC?
Punic Wars
Punic Wars take their name from Punicus, the Latin word for the Phoenician-descended Carthaginians; the three wars added up to 43 years of fighting.
Q 03Which two inventors were the central figures in the 'War of Currents'?
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla: Edison's DC faced Westinghouse's AC from 1886, Westinghouse licensed Tesla's motor patents in 1888, and Edison's camp electrocuted animals to argue AC was deadlier.
Q 04Who is often depicted as the intellectual arch-nemesis of detective Sherlock Holmes?
Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty appears in only two of Doyle's stories; the 'Napoleon of crime' tag was borrowed from a Scotland Yard inspector describing the real thief Adam Worth.
Q 05In Greek mythology, which Titan was overthrown by his son Zeus?
Cronus
Cronus, the leader of the first generation of Titans, was famously overthrown by his son, Zeus, in a conflict known as the Titanomachy.
Q 06Which two beverage giants have spent decades in a marketing war over their flagship soft drinks?
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo's feud has run since the blind-taste 'Pepsi Challenge' of 1975, and it pushed Coke into the 1985 New Coke reformulation, reversed within months.
Q 07Which two rivals' five-set 2008 Wimbledon final, finished in near darkness, is widely called the greatest tennis match ever played?
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's 2008 Wimbledon final ran five sets and ended in near darkness; Nadal owns their head-to-head, largely on clay, while Federer led on grass.
Q 08Whom did sitting Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wound in an 1804 duel at Weehawken, New Jersey?
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary, died the day after the July 11, 1804 duel.
Q 09Which two NHL teams, the league's two oldest clubs, went from 1980 to 2020 without meeting in the playoffs?
Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, founded in 1917 and 1909, won 19 of the 25 Original Six-era Stanley Cups between them, yet did not meet in the playoffs between 1979 and 2021.
Q 10Which late-1990s NHL rivalry was sparked by a hit on Kris Draper in the 1996 playoffs?
Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings
Claude Lemieux's hit from behind left Draper with a broken jaw and shattered cheek and orbital bones. The feud boiled over the next March in a Detroit game remembered simply as 'the brawl'.
Q 11Which two McLaren teammates of 1988 and 1989 together won seven of the nine Formula 1 drivers' titles from 1985 to 1993?
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost
As McLaren teammates Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won 25 of 32 races, including the first 11 of 1988 in a row, and finished 1-2 in the championship both years.
Q 12Which reigning world chess champion was famously defeated by IBM's Deep Blue computer in a 1997 rematch?
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov had beaten Deep Blue in 1996, then lost the 1997 rematch and accused IBM of cheating; IBM retired the machine rather than play again.
Q 13Which two 17th-century mathematicians fought a bitter priority dispute over who had first invented calculus?
Q 21Celtic and Rangers, the 'Old Firm' of Scottish football, are both based in which city?
Glasgow
Celtic and Rangers are both Glasgow clubs, Celtic at Parkhead in the east end and Rangers at Ibrox south of the Clyde; they first met in May 1888, Celtic's first ever match.
Q 22The Superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate is played in which city?
Buenos Aires
Both clubs were founded in La Boca, Buenos Aires's dockland barrio; River Plate later moved north to Núñez, while Boca Juniors stayed put at La Bombonera.
Q 23The Derby della Madonnina between Inter and AC is named for a statue on top of what?
Milan Cathedral
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz both got there, but Leibniz published first and his notation is the one still used; the 1712 Royal Society report siding with Newton was largely written by Newton himself.
Q 14Which two 16th-century queens were cousins who never met face to face?
Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots were first cousins once removed; Mary spent eighteen and a half years as Elizabeth's prisoner before her beheading at Fotheringhay in 1587.
Q 15Which two tennis players contested three consecutive Wimbledon men's singles finals from 1988 to 1990?
Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg
Roger Federer said watching the Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg finals was what made him choose tennis over soccer; Edberg won in 1988 and 1990, Becker in 1989.
Q 16Which long-time rival invested $150 million in a struggling Apple in August 1997, to boos from the Macworld crowd?
Microsoft
Microsoft's $150 million, announced by Bill Gates on a giant screen at Macworld Boston, came with a five-year pledge to keep making Office for the Mac and to make Internet Explorer the Mac's default browser.
Q 17Which two comic-book publishers have been rivals since at least the 1950s?
Marvel Comics and DC Comics
In the 1950s Marvel's predecessor Atlas had to beg distribution from its rival's own arm, Independent News, which capped it at eight titles a month. Marvel only followed DC into revived superheroes in the early 1960s.
Q 18In the Trojan War, which Greek warrior killed the Trojan prince Hector and dragged his body behind a chariot?
Achilles
After Hector killed Patroclus, Achilles chased him three times around the walls of Troy before killing him, then dragged the body for days until King Priam came to ransom it.
Q 19Larry Bird led which school to the 1979 NCAA final against Magic Johnson?
Indiana State
Larry Bird's Indiana State went into the 1979 final unbeaten at 33-0 but lost 75-64 to Magic Johnson's Michigan State; the two men later met in three NBA Finals.
Q 20In which city did Ali and George Foreman fight the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle'?
Kinshasa
Kinshasa's 20th of May Stadium hosted the October 30, 1974 fight in what was then Zaire; Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round after soaking up punches on the ropes.
The Madonnina is the gilded statue of the Virgin on the Duomo's highest spire; in April 2024 Inter clinched a league title by beating Milan in the derby for the first time.
Q 24In which year did Army and Navy first meet in their annual college football game?
1890
Army and Navy first met on November 29, 1890 at West Point, a 24-0 Navy win; the first four games alternated between the academies before the series moved to neutral sites in 1899.
Q 25The Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race runs from Putney to which finish on the Thames?
Mortlake
The Championship Course runs 4.2 miles from Putney to Mortlake, passing under Hammersmith and Barnes bridges; the men's race was first rowed in 1829.
Q 26In 2000, ESPN ranked which college football rivalry the greatest North American sports rivalry ever?
Michigan–Ohio State
Michigan–Ohio State, known simply as 'The Game', topped ESPN's 2000 ranking; it has often decided the Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth, and in 2006 pitted No. 1 against No. 2.
Q 27What nickname is given to the annual Alabama–Auburn college football game?
Iron Bowl
The Iron Bowl is named for Birmingham's iron and steel industry; the game was played at the city's Legion Field for decades, and Auburn first hosted it on campus in 1989.
Q 28Roughly how far apart by road are the campuses of basketball rivals Duke and North Carolina?
10 miles
Duke in Durham and North Carolina in Chapel Hill sit about 10 miles apart by road along U.S. 15-501, roughly eight miles as the crow flies; the teams first met in 1920.
Q 29How many times did Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova play each other on tour?
80
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova met 80 times between 1973 and 1988, 60 of them in finals, with Navratilova finishing ahead 43-37.
Q 30What was the score of the epic fourth-set tiebreak McEnroe won over Borg at Wimbledon 1980?
18–16
McEnroe took the tiebreak 18-16 after about 22 minutes, saving five championship points in it, but Borg won the fifth set 8-6 for his fifth straight Wimbledon title.