A lot of people, including teachers, say date memorization isn't important in history. Dates definitely give a sense of context and continuity that are indispensable.
i suppose the point is that it's not very useful to memorise exact dates down to the year, compared to having a general sense of what sort of period things happened in compared to one another. i don't imagine many people benefit from knowing that queen victoria ascended the throne in exactly 1837 (ie if they thought it was 1836 it would probably make no difference to them), but knowing she was around for most of the 1800s is very useful information to contextualise other historical events, you're right.
I agree. It isn't important to know the exact years of US Grant's presidency if you know know he followed Lincoln and Johnson, and oversaw Reconstruction while cleaning up Johnson's mess.
Agree. On the other hand, many people are trying to paper over their own ignorance with a strawman argument. No one is claiming that it's important to know the exact dates of most historical events. But an educated person should be able to place major figures and events on an approximate place on the historical timeline.
Yeah, I agree with pretty much everything in this comment section here.
Dates are unquestionably important in a historical profession, as chronology is indeed one of a historian's most indispensable tools to measure how events led up to one another and how they correlate with each other.
Heck, not knowing chronology for even one specific country, or even subdivision within a country, greatly worsens your understanding of world history.
For instance, my knowledge of European history is worse compared to my knowledge of American history, so I'm much less well-informed of the political tensions and historical changes throughout the continent.
So yeah, dates are important. And so is chronology. You don't need to know every single detail, but general trends and having a great understanding of when events happened are far more significant in giving you a strong worldview of where we stand today.
Absolutely. Of course, history is way, way more than just dates, but the dates are still incredibly important. From their significance throughout history and popular consciousness (Remember, remember, the fifth of November...) to just having a grasp on chronology, you gotta know your dates.
I have an MA in History and was often challenged by myself or my classmates to write papers or exams without a date. As long as I could keep sequence and causation in the right order dates were unimportant.
Excellent quiz. It works well for both those with specific knowledge, as well as for those able to make general educated guesses. I'd love to see a series of these, including B.C. dates.
Fun quiz! I did not realize that the Wars of the Roses between ye olde Lancaster and York wasn't too far off from when Columbus arrived in the Americas. My brain is still comprehending that fact. :)
Think of the Battle of Bosworth Field, along with the discovery of the Americas and the conquest of Granada, as the beginning of the early modern period in Europe.
I thought the same because I remembered that the Great Fire of London happened in 1666 and was believed to have stopped the spread of the ongoing Great Plague of London.
Apparently, the earlier Black Death was a pandemic which recurred regularly and often, and the 1666 London version was an epidemic. Every day's a school day.
A few of the answers don't really make sense grammatically. "Name any year when during World War II?" "Name any year when the Three Kingdoms period in China?" These are sentence fragments
Great quiz! I got 13/18. It was really fun to think of how each answer related to each other in history, it kind of helped me. Somehow I thought Charlemagne lived around 900-1000 but I was two centuries off!
This was a very enjoyable quiz, I was 14/18 and close on a couple of others.
Dates are critical to history both for context and chronology. It's no good being unaware that the English Civil War took place in the mid 1640s yet wondering why the Restoration of the monarchy was an event that took place by the early 1660s....
If the clue said Jesus, i'm pretty sure everyone would know that we are talking about Jesus Christ and not Jesus Franco, the Spanish composer. This is pedantic for the sake of pedantry.
ok, I suck at history haha. Only knew the first for sure. Other two roughly so got those in 1 attempt. For the rest it was mainly educated guesses. somehow managed to get 11. I missed the following ones.
Charlemagne (guessed 1000 thought it was slighlty later)
war of the roses, no idea but somewhere between 1200 and 1850)
Black death somewhere between 1200 and 1500
Bluebeard, no clue, but couldn't too old so somewhere after 1600
China No idea I know their dynasties go way back.
Lincoln, somewhere after 1800 and before 1900
Muhammed early.
I probably will forget the answers in 2 minutes haha
Dates are unquestionably important in a historical profession, as chronology is indeed one of a historian's most indispensable tools to measure how events led up to one another and how they correlate with each other.
Heck, not knowing chronology for even one specific country, or even subdivision within a country, greatly worsens your understanding of world history.
For instance, my knowledge of European history is worse compared to my knowledge of American history, so I'm much less well-informed of the political tensions and historical changes throughout the continent.
So yeah, dates are important. And so is chronology. You don't need to know every single detail, but general trends and having a great understanding of when events happened are far more significant in giving you a strong worldview of where we stand today.
Apparently, the earlier Black Death was a pandemic which recurred regularly and often, and the 1666 London version was an epidemic. Every day's a school day.
Dates are critical to history both for context and chronology. It's no good being unaware that the English Civil War took place in the mid 1640s yet wondering why the Restoration of the monarchy was an event that took place by the early 1660s....
Charlemagne (guessed 1000 thought it was slighlty later)
war of the roses, no idea but somewhere between 1200 and 1850)
Black death somewhere between 1200 and 1500
Bluebeard, no clue, but couldn't too old so somewhere after 1600
China No idea I know their dynasties go way back.
Lincoln, somewhere after 1800 and before 1900
Muhammed early.
I probably will forget the answers in 2 minutes haha