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?
Readings, committees, delegated powers and the machinery that turns a proposal into law.
A bill becomes an act at which point?
Standards of proof, eyewitness memory, confessions and how wrongful convictions come to light.
In a criminal trial, the burden of proof normally rests with whom?
Traces, impressions, insects and the limits of what physical evidence can actually prove.
Locard's exchange principle states what?
Rationing, evacuation, codebreaking and the inventions the Second World War pushed forward.
Which country house north of London was the centre of Allied codebreaking work?
Carriers, codebreakers and island campaigns across the largest theatre of the Second World War.
Which June 1942 battle cost Japan four fleet carriers and reversed the balance in the Pacific?
From the pact of August 1939 to the fall of Berlin, ten turning points in the European war.
Which agreement of August 1939 committed Germany and the Soviet Union to non-aggression days…
Ten questions on the alliances, campaigns and decisions that shaped the war of 1914 to 1918.
Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire fought the war as which grouping?
Ten ordinary words and names that turn out to be carrying a god, a Titan or a doomed hero around with them.
The word "panic" comes from which Greek god?
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 article 11 min readYou obeyed about forty laws before breakfast without noticing one of them. They came from judges, legislatures, constitutions…
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.