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70 free Iraq War trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Iraq War trivia quiz covers the 2003-2011 conflict from the run-up (the Iraq Liberation Act, Resolution 1441, Hans Blix, Colin Powell and 'Curveball', the largest protests in history) through the invasion itself: shock and awe, the Dora Farms strike, Nasiriyah and Jessica Lynch, the fall of Baghdad on 9 April 2003 and the Firdos Square statue, and the 'Mission Accomplished' speech aboard USS Abraham Lincoln. It then follows the occupation and insurgency: Paul Bremer and CPA Order 1, the deaths of Uday and Qusay, Saddam's capture in a spider hole and his execution, Abu Ghraib, the two battles of Fallujah, Zarqawi and al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Samarra shrine bombing and civil war, the Anbar Awakening, Petraeus and the 2007 surge, Blackwater at Nisour Square, Muntadhar al-Zaidi's shoes, and the withdrawal completed under Obama in December 2011. There are also questions on the Chilcot Report, casualties and costs, and the rise of the Islamic State. Some questions any news-watcher of the 2000s will remember; others are for serious students of the war. Every answer has been checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on the war and its major events, and each explanation adds one further detail. For the 1991 conflict, try our Gulf War quiz.
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Q 01On what date did the Iraq War begin with the 'shock and awe' bombing campaign?
March 20, 2003
The US was joined by the UK, Australia and Poland; there was no declaration of war.
Q 02What was the US code name for the 2003 invasion of Iraq?
Operation Iraqi Freedom
The British called it Operation Telic and the Australians Operation Falconer.
Q 03Which US general led the 2003 invasion as commander of Central Command?
Tommy Franks
He listed eight objectives, beginning with ending Saddam's regime and eliminating WMD.
Q 04Which 1998 US law made removing the Iraqi government official American policy?
Iraq Liberation Act
It provided $97 million for Iraqi opposition groups; Operation Desert Fox followed a month later.
Q 05In his 2002 State of the Union, Bush grouped Iraq with which two other countries in an 'Axis of Evil'?
Iran and North Korea
He said the US 'will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons'.
Q 06Which 2002 UN Security Council resolution resumed weapons inspections and promised 'serious consequences'?
1441
France and Russia insisted it did not authorize force; Saddam accepted it on 13 November.
Q 07Who chaired UNMOVIC, the UN inspection commission that returned to Iraq in late 2002?
Hans Blix
ElBaradei ran the IAEA, which found no sign of a revived nuclear program.
Q 08Colin Powell's 5 February 2003 UN presentation relied on an Iraqi defector in Germany with what codename?
Curveball
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi later admitted his claims were false; German and British intelligence had warned he was untrustworthy.
Q 09How long did Bush give Saddam and his sons to leave Iraq in his address three days before the invasion?
48 hours
The invasion began at 5:34 am Baghdad time on 20 March.
Q 10The UK House of Commons approved going to war two days before the invasion by what vote?
412 to 149
The Labour rebellion was the largest against a government since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846; Robin Cook resigned in protest.
Q 11Which German foreign minister told Rumsfeld in Munich in 2003, 'Excuse me, I am not convinced!'?
Joschka Fischer
He warned Americans they would 'have to occupy Iraq for years and years'.
Q 12Roughly how many people worldwide protested in the months around the invasion, per Dominique Reynié?
36 million
The demonstrations of 15 February 2003 were the largest.
Q 13Which US Army chief of staff told the Senate securing Iraq would take 'several hundred thousand soldiers'?
Eric Shinseki
Paul Wolfowitz called the estimate 'way off the mark'.
Q 21What slowed the coalition advance toward Najaf and Karbala in the first weeks of the invasion?
A severe sandstorm
After a halt to secure supply lines, US forces poured through the Karbala Gap toward Baghdad.
Q 22On what date did Baghdad fall, ending Saddam's 24-year rule?
9 April 2003
Tikrit, Saddam's home town, fell to Task Force Tripoli six days later to close the invasion phase.
Q 23In which Baghdad plaza was the giant statue of Saddam pulled down as the city fell?
Firdos
Marines of 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines arrived after Iraqi civilians began attacking it, near the Palestine Hotel where journalists were staying.
Q 14Which former ambassador's op-ed on the Niger uranium claim led to the outing of his CIA-officer wife?
Joseph C. Wilson
Scooter Libby was convicted of perjury in the Valerie Plame affair, and Bush commuted his sentence.
Q 15Which UN secretary-general said in 2004 that the invasion 'was not in conformity with the UN Charter'?
Kofi Annan
The 2016 Chilcot Report in Britain later concluded the war was unnecessary.
Q 16Which Kurdish force did CIA and JSOC teams organize as the northern front of the invasion?
Peshmerga
Together they defeated Ansar al-Islam and uncovered a chemical weapons facility at Sargat.
Q 17How many US soldiers took part in the invasion, alongside 45,000 British and 2,000 Australians?
248,000
Poland sent 194 special forces soldiers from GROM, and Kurdish militia added upwards of 70,000.
Q 18Which Iraqi port did the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Polish GROM attack in the opening days?
Umm Qasr
British 16 Air Assault Brigade meanwhile secured the southern oil fields.
Q 19Which US formation fought through the city where Jessica Lynch was captured to seize its junction?
1st Marine Division
The 3rd Infantry Division took Talil Airfield and then drove for the Karbala Gap.
Q 20Jessica Lynch was captured after her unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was ambushed in which battle?
Nasiriyah
The convoy had missed a turn and driven into Iraqi-held territory on 23 March 2003.
Q 24The Pentagon says 250,000 of Iraq's 650,000 short tons of ordnance were looted after the regime fell. What share?
About 40 percent
It became a major source of ammunition for the insurgency.
Q 25Aboard which aircraft carrier did Bush deliver his 'Mission Accomplished' speech on 1 May 2003?
USS Abraham Lincoln
The ship was a few miles west of San Diego, and he declared an end to major combat operations.
Q 26Who headed the Coalition Provisional Authority from May 2003 until it dissolved in June 2004?
Paul Bremer
His CPA Order 1, issued on his first day, banned Ba'ath Party members from the new government.
Q 27What did CPA Order 1, issued on 16 May 2003, do?
Excluded Ba'ath Party members from government
Ayad Allawi later criticized the hasty de-Baathification as destabilizing.
Q 28A raid by the 101st Airborne on 22 July 2003 killed which two men?
Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay
One of Saddam's grandsons died with them.
Q 29Which UN envoy was killed in the August 2003 bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad?
Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Twenty-one other UN staff died in the attack.
Q 30What was the code name of the mission that captured Saddam Hussein on 13 December 2003?
Red Dawn
It was named after the 1984 film; the search sites were called Wolverine 1 and 2.