General Knowledge
Two Truths and a Lie: History Edition
Three historical claims. Two are true. One is a lie. Can you always spot it?
Three historical claims. Two are true. One is a lie. Can you always spot it?
Studies show people correctly identify lies only about 54% of the time — barely better than chance — even when they're confident they can spot them. This quiz applies that challenge to history with 50 rounds of mind-blowing claims where truth is stranger than fiction.
You'll discover historical facts so bizarre they sound invented, common misconceptions that most people believe, and surprising truths about everything from ancient Rome to the Cold War. The hardest part isn't the history — it's accepting that the wildest-sounding claims are often the true ones.
Some of history's most unbelievable truths include: Napoleon really was attacked by rabbits during a hunt, the Great Emu War really did end in an Australian military defeat, and Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid.
Common myths include that medieval people thought the Earth was flat (educated people knew it was round), that Vikings wore horned helmets (they didn't — that was 19th-century opera costuming), and that Napoleon was short (he was average height for his era at about 5'7").
Oxford University (founded ~1096) is older than the Aztec Empire (founded 1428). Woolly mammoths were still alive when the Great Pyramid was built. And the fax machine was invented the same year as the Oregon Trail migration (1843).
Last updated: March 2026