64 AD: There's no truth to the rumor the Nero fiddled through this fire, since the instrument hadn't been invented yet.
1212: Called the Great Fire of Southwark, many of the ~3000 deaths occurred on the city's famous bridge.
1452: The second great fire of this city, part of one of the largest empires of the time, demolished 3/4 of the city's structures, ushering in the end of traditional wooden houses
1547: Tsar Ivan IV's grandmother was accused of sorcery for allegedly starting this fire that cost 3000 lives.
1657: Some 100,000 deaths made the fire mythically deadly for the time, not to mention the myth that it started with the cremation of a cursed Kimono.
1666: Only six were killed in this famously massive fire, which actually helped to sterilize plague-ridden sections of the city.
1728: Leveling half of the medieval sections of the city, this fire was blamed on a candle allegedly knocked over by a 7-year-old boy (though historians now blame his parents)
1776: Revolutionaries and red coats each blamed each other for the fire that demolished 25% of this city.
1788: Because it was Good Friday, church bells were not rung in alarm as 78% of the city burned, including the remaining French architecture in the 'French' Quarter.
1812: Burned as either an accident (Tolstoy suggests) or a successful ploy to harass Napoleon, some 12,000 bodies were found in the ashes when citizens returned.
1864: The wartime obliteration of 89-92% of this city's buildings served as opening ceremony for Sherman's March to the Sea.
1871: Famously, and falsely, reported as the fault of a footloose cow.
1872: One of the most expensive fires in history, it was worsened by locked fire alarms (to prevent false alerts), low water pressure, and non-standardized hydrants.
1906: Historians estimate that firefighter's dynamite may have caused up to half of the buildings destroyed by fire in this earthquake-induced disaster.
1911: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire killed 146 workers, mostly immigrant women and girls, and sparked a worker's rights revolution.
1917: The largest accidental man-made explosion in history flung pieces of a former ammunition cargo ship over miles and started a devastating fire.
1923: Along with the earthquake that caused it, this fire ended an estimated 142,000 lives and left a mind-boggling 1.9 million homeless.
1938: The intentional fire to prevent capture by the Japanese proved unnecessary as the defenders held what was left of the city until 1944, when it was no longer relevant.
1945: Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 describes the firebombing of this city as 'carnage unfathomable'.
1947: In addition to sparking a massive fire, the explosion of a cargo ship carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer could be felt over 250 miles away.
Quiz Playlist
Details
Clickable: Select answers by clicking on text or image buttons
In order to create a playlist on Sporcle, you need to verify the email address you used during registration. Go to your Sporcle Settings to finish the process.
Comments