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1850s Decade Quiz

Do you have what it takes to guess these facts about the 1850s?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 4, 2020
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First submittedMarch 16, 2017
Times taken33,517
Average score65.0%
Rating4.40
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Answer
City that installed thousands of gas lamp – earning the moniker "City of Light"
Paris
What abolitionists sought to abolish
Slavery
The most populous city in the world during this decade
London
Author of "On the Origin of Species"
Charles Darwin
War which Russia fought against the the British, French, and Ottomans
Crimean War
Profession founded by war volunteer Florence Nightingale
Nursing
British poet who wrote "Charge of the Light Brigade"
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Machine introduced by Isaac Singer
Sewing Machine
Author of "The Scarlet Letter"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Close relative of Homo sapiens which was discovered in a cave in Germany
Neanderthals
Glass hall built to house London's Great Exhibition
Crystal Palace
Disease studied by John Snow - who traced an outbreak to a single well in London
Cholera
Political party founded in the United States in 1854
Republican Party
Country forcibly opened to foreign trade by the "black ships" of Commodore Perry
Japan
Ruler who was crowned emperor of the French in 1852
Napoleon III
Country where soldiers revolted after it was rumored that gun cartridges
were coated in beef or pork fat
India
Simple device built to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth
Foucault's Pendulum
Country created by the union of Moldavia and Wallachia
Romania
Bell atop Westminster Palace which rang for the first time
Big Ben
Drug that caused a second war between European powers and China
Opium
40 Comments
+2
Level 21
Mar 16, 2017
Good quiz!
+1
Level 77
Aug 25, 2017
That's an interesting way of asking about the Taiping Rebellion. I had forgotten about that.
+2
Level 43
Mar 17, 2017
'Neanderthal' not accepted? Did I really just need to type an 's'?
+1
Level 65
Mar 17, 2017
+1 *sigh*
+9
Level ∞
Mar 17, 2017
-1. Neanderthal would have worked! *inverse sigh*
+4
Level 82
Oct 8, 2020
Would that be a gasp?
+2
Level 59
Mar 17, 2017
Should be Commodore Perry not Admiral Perry...
+6
Level ∞
Mar 17, 2017
Fixed! Fun fact, the U.S. didn't have the rank of admiral at the time.
+1
Level 44
Jan 15, 2025
RIP Matthew Perry
+3
Level 65
Mar 17, 2017
I can't believe Tennyson is the least well-known answer! :O
+10
Level 62
Aug 25, 2017
For whatever reason, most American education includes almost nothing about the outside world.
+8
Level 81
Aug 25, 2017
false
+16
Level 67
Aug 25, 2017
For whatever reason, people from places outside the US love to make ignorant comments about American culture, and then in the same breath comment that Americans are ignorant about other cultures.
+13
Level 83
Feb 26, 2018
I think historical education in most countries rejects a good deal of foreign history in favour of their own.
+3
Level 79
Oct 8, 2020
I guess that outside world = the UK, plus possibly Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia?
+1
Level 82
Oct 8, 2020
But if they watched the Fresh Prince (yes dating myself) they could definitely quote part of it :)
+9
Level 88
Oct 9, 2020
Interesting. I vividly recall being taught about the Crimean War in my schoolroom in the United States. Must be a false memory since I'm sure you're right in your assumption.
+1
Level 44
Oct 9, 2020
for some reason my mind has been blanking on names all evening. I was so mad at myself that I couldn't remember the name. I couldn't remember Hawthorne's name either, and I own The Scarlet Letter.

hangs head in shame.

+1
Level 59
Jan 15, 2025
Because these days his works are not that impactful. Much like how eventually authors like Dickenson and dahl will fade into obscurity. Think how many kids these days are taught Chaucer or any of Shakespeare's contemporaries outside of the UK. Twain is virtually an unknown these days outside of the US and possibly Canada. Few schools teach aseops fables or platos republic. It is the simple march of time newer authors will replace older ones. Harry Potter has already become an actual subject in universities.
+1
Level 66
Mar 17, 2017
I love these quizzes. Always do really well on them.
+7
Level 62
Aug 25, 2017
You know quite a lot, John Snow.
+5
Level 66
Aug 25, 2017
The French emperor answer should require more--the Roman numerals, to be precise. Otherwise you let those who don't know the difference between the two to get an undeserved freebie.
+2
Level 67
Aug 25, 2017
I knew Napoleon Bonaparte was long dead by 1852...but I typed it anyway just because I had no idea who else it could be. Lucky me.
+4
Level 70
Nov 11, 2017
And we must not at any cost let a jetpunker get an underserved freebie....... how sad
+1
Level 82
Oct 8, 2020
France had had so many emperors, you see.
+2
Level 58
Jan 15, 2025
Yes, two emperors, the second of which was called Napoleon III. I'm sure it made sense to someone at the time
+1
Level 91
Apr 7, 2020
Why is Alfred Tennyson the only person to have a comma in the middle of his name?
+6
Level 67
Oct 8, 2020
Him and Tyler, the Creator. Birds of a feather.
+1
Level 56
Apr 10, 2022
Not the only person. See

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/240339/why-is-lord-alfred-tennyson-often-written-as-alfred-lord-tennyson

+1
Level 60
Oct 8, 2020
One of the most magnificent decade to live in
+5
Level 91
Oct 8, 2020
Yeah unless you're African-American.
+8
Level 67
Oct 8, 2020
Or like to watch TV.
+5
Level 50
Jan 15, 2025
or play internet quizzes
+4
Level 62
Oct 8, 2020
I'm not sure just "Napoleon" should be acceptable, given that that always refers to a different individual.
+1
Level 25
Jun 24, 2022
got 14/20 and im actually pretty proud of myself ngl
+1
Level 74
Feb 20, 2023
Ah right forgot about India
+1
Level 74
Feb 20, 2023
You know nothing Jon Snow
+2
Level 59
Jan 15, 2025
Nightingale didnt invent nursing, the practices we commonly associate with nursing were already in use, usually by orderlies in the British armed forces, and in some hospitals.

More over another woman by the name of Mary Seacole was doing the same thing as Nightingale.

Nighting gale did effectivly push woman increasingly into the role of nurses, whilst orderlies which largely remained a male position became overtime a lesser role.

+1
Level 68
Jan 15, 2025
Nightingales hospital in the crimea was also actually a bit of a catastrophe. The water ended up getting contaminated by a cesspool, not her fault but still a disaster. Her reputation was largely made because of internal british politics. She was a middle class, peaceful hero to contrast with the military officers lionized by the other side like the light brigade with whom great liberties were also taken.
+2
Level 63
Jan 15, 2025
Great quiz!

Some nits picked:

I'm pretty sure Paris installed gas lamps (plural) not thousands of gas lamp (singular).

Also, I know the Republican Party technically wasn't known as the GOP in the 1850s, but could it be added as a valid answer to this quiz anyways?