Guess the Decade! Can You Ace This Historical Events Quiz?
Written by Susanna Henke
Last updated · 7 min play time
All of us took history or social studies, but how much do we actually remember? Take this fun quiz and find out what you retained . . . if anything!
History Matters
Some now-centric folks dismiss the value of anything that happened in the past. American industrialist Henry Ford once articulated this misguided attitude: “History is more or less bunk [nonsense] . . . the only history worth a damn is the history we make today." Hopefully you reading this far means that you already know the truth: that knowledge of history is vital. Seeing current events through the lens of history reveals the timelessness of certain themes and issues with which humankind has grappled from the start. Same problems, different day.
Dates Give History a Bad Name
BOR-ing!! Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up how a lot of students feel about history and social studies. The reason is that in far too many history classrooms, rote memorization of facts and dates (the wheres and whens) is prioritized over exploring concepts and connections (the hows and whys). The result is that students experience the subject as soul-sapping drudgery — and miss out on discovering history's everlasting relevance to the present.
Facts and dates mean nothing in a vacuum. That said, some knowledge of when things occurred in time is essential to understanding history. A grasp of the historical timeline of events allows us to track the evolution of ideas and societies through the ages, up to and including the current moment.
This history quiz isn't about knowing the specific years of obscure events. It tests your knowledge of the general time frame (just the decade!) of some of the big stuff: the inventions, revolutions, and key chapters in history (both inspirational and shameful).
Ready to go? Come on in and prove what you know!
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Whether you're an avid historian or just think some stuff in the past is cool, be sure to check out the rest of our engaging and informative history quizzes!
Quiz written by
Susanna Henke
Comments (3)
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@keny8s Thanks for your comment! Of course you’re right, this was the first moon landing and moonwalk. But it was not the first spacewalk. Spacewalks had been happening since 1965 - on these missions, the junior astronaut was the first/only one to go out.
I didn't know that televisions were available for purchase in the 1940s - the one I missed- but this is how we learn! :)
The reasoning behind the decision to allow Armstrong to be the first to step on the Moon does not compute. This was the FIRST time this had ever been done in eternity, yet somehow this was a break in protocol?