Empires, revolutions, laws, beliefs and the arguments still running.
History quizzes usually test dates. These try to test causes, because the date is the least interesting thing about any event.
The section runs from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome through the medieval world to the world wars, and sits alongside the structures people built to live together: governments, laws, religions and the myths that came before written records. Some questions are about famous turning points. Others are about the ordinary machinery — how a dynasty actually passed on power, what a law was really for.
If you want a place to start, the ancient world is the most forgiving: the stories are good, and the explanations fill in the context that school tends to skip.
The classical world and how much of it we kept.
Gods, heroes and the stories cultures told themselves.
Two conflicts that reorganised the modern world.
Pharaohs, pyramids and three thousand years of continuity.
Empires, revolutions and the people who shaped the world.
The science used to investigate, and its real limits.
Rights, courts and the principles underneath them.
How states are organised and who decides what.
The world's major traditions, described plainly.
Ruling houses and how power passed between them.
A thousand years usually described far too simply.
City-states, empire and the inheritance still in daily use.
Which Greek city-state was best known for its military discipline?
From Sumer to the Inca — eight questions for the serious history lover.
Which river was central to the rise of Ancient Egypt?
Enigma, Bletchley, deception operations and the intelligence war behind the fighting.
The Enigma machine was used principally by which country?
The literature, oratory and vocabulary the classical world handed to everyone since.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are attributed to whom?
Where the familiar stories came from, and how much the versions we know were changed.
The Brothers Grimm are best described as what?
The roads and sea lanes that carried goods, ideas and disease between civilisations.
The Silk Road connected China principally with what?
The disasters that reshaped societies, and the changes that followed them.
The Black Death reached Europe in which century?
How different ways of counting the same ballots produce very different chambers.
Under first past the post, a seat is won by whom?
Rome borrowed the alphabet, the poetry, the philosophy and the columns — then put them on a building no Greek would have…
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Read article52 published quizzes across 11 topics, 518 questions in total. Every one is researched, written and checked by hand.
The mix here is 7 easy, 30 medium and 15 hard. Difficulty is about how obscure the answers are, not how fast you have to be — there is no timer on any quiz.
About 7 minutes on average, ranging from 6 to 10. Playing every quiz in this section would take roughly 6 hours.
No. Every quiz is free and playable straight away. An optional free account only saves your scores across devices.
Yes — every question has a short explanation of why the right answer is right, shown the moment you answer, whether you got it or not.