Lesson Y9-U03-L05

Y9-U03-L05 The Somme Lions Led by Donkeys Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 16

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y9-U03-L05, The Somme Lions Led by Donkeys: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 16: Year 9: WW1 Warfare, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. On what date did the Battle of the Somme begin?

    • 1 July 1916
    • 1 August 1914
    • 11 November 1918
    • 15 September 1916

  2. Why did Britain attack along the Somme in 1916?

    • To capture the port of Calais from the German navy
    • To take control of Paris before the autumn weather arrived
    • To free the Belgian king from a prison camp near Ypres in the north
    • To relieve the French under pressure at Verdun

  3. How long did the opening bombardment on the Somme last?

    • Seven weeks
    • Seven hours
    • Seven days
    • Seven months

  4. Roughly how many shells did the opening bombardment fire?

    • About 150 million
    • About 15,000 tonnes of gold
    • About 15,000
    • About 1.5 million

  5. Why did the bombardment on the Somme fail to destroy the German defences?

    • The bombardment was fired only at empty fields in the rear
    • The German army had moved all its troops to the coast
    • Many shells were duds, and the deep German bunkers survived
    • The British guns ran out of ammunition on the first morning

  6. Roughly how many British casualties were there on the first day of the Somme?

    • About 5,700
    • About 570,000
    • About 2,000
    • About 57,000

  7. Roughly how many of the first day's British casualties were killed?

    • About 1,900
    • About 190,000
    • About 19,000
    • About 900

  8. Who popularised the phrase 'lions led by donkeys' in his 1961 book 'The Donkeys'?

    • Erich von Falkenhayn
    • Lloyd George
    • Alan Clark
    • Douglas Haig

  9. Which 1989 TV comedy helped fix the 'idiot generals' image for millions of viewers?

    • The Great War Explained
    • All Quiet on the Western Front
    • Oh! What a Lovely War
    • Blackadder Goes Forth

  10. Which 1960s stage show and film mocked the war and its generals?

    • Blackadder Goes Forth
    • Mary Poppins
    • The Sound of Music
    • Oh! What a Lovely War

  11. What is an 'interpretation' in history?

    • A later view of the past, built from evidence
    • A list of the dates and places of every battle fought in the war
    • A record of events made at the time by an eyewitness
    • A government order given to soldiers before a battle began

  12. How long did the Battle of the Somme last?

    • Only until the end of July 1916
    • Until 18 November 1916
    • Only one week in total
    • Until the Armistice in November 1918

  13. How much ground did Haig's attacks gain over more than four months?

    • About 700 yards
    • About 700 miles
    • About 70 miles
    • About 7 miles

  14. Roughly how many German troops were killed or wounded at the Somme?

    • About 600,000
    • About 60,000
    • About 6 million
    • About 6,000

  15. Which tactical improvement did Haig's later attacks use?

    • A longer bombardment before dawn
    • Cavalry charges across open ground
    • Gas attacks fired from the front trenches
    • A creeping barrage

  16. Why did Haig often not know what was happening at the front line?

    • He had no telephone link to the front line
    • He refused to read reports sent by his officers
    • He was in Paris for most of the battle
    • He was in hospital for most of the battle

  17. Why does Source A praise Haig?

    • It is a newspaper cartoon mocking him for losing the battle in the summer
    • A tribute written in 1928 after his death, honouring a hero
    • It was written by Haig himself to justify his own orders to the government
    • It was a secret report written by a German spy in 1916 on the Somme front

  18. Which factor helps explain why Alan Clark's 1961 view of Haig was so harsh?

    • The rise of the Nazi party in the 1930s
    • The Treaty of Versailles of 1919
    • The invention of the tank in 1916
    • The anti-war mood of the 1960s

  19. What does judging the past with today's knowledge risk?

    • Hindsight, judging decisions by facts unknown at the time
    • Ignoring every source written in the twentieth century about the war
    • Forgetting the names of the soldiers who fought and died in the battle
    • Making the battle seem smaller than it really was for the men who fought

  20. Which British commander led the forces on the Western Front from 1915?

    • Winston Churchill
    • Lloyd George
    • Sir Douglas Haig
    • Lord Kitchener

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