ie: Name 1 thing about the 2010s, then 2 things about the 2000s, then 3 things about the 1990s until you reach a decade you can’t complete. Aim to only list out facts that you can recall off the top of your head. If you’re really uncertain about an item, it’s acceptable to google it to confirm that it happened in the year you thought it did but restrict research to just items you’re already fairly sure about.
For me:
2010s
Barack Obama was president
2000s
9/11 happened
George Bush was president
1990s
JNCO jeans
Grunge took off
WTO riots
1980s
Michael Jackson was big
Apple came out with their first computers
Ronald Reagan was president
Microsoft founded
1970s
Disco was huge
Stagflation
Jimmy Carter was president
Watergate scandal
Vietnam war ended
1960s
Hippy revolution
Summer of Love in San Francisco
Man on the moon
Kennedy was president
Bay of Pigs invasion
Beatles came to America
1950s
Eisenhower was president
Mao was chairman of China
Cold war started
Soviets developed their first nuclear weapons
Korean war
Rationing ended in the UK
Elvis Presley was big
1940s
WWII
Hitler was ruler of Germany
FDR was president in the US
Churchill was PM of England
US developed the atomic bomb
Communists take over China
Battle of Britain
George Orwell publishes 1984
1930s
Great depression in the US
Prohibition in the US
Grapes of Wrath published
Jazz age in Paris
Al Capone ruled Chicago mob scene
I don’t know if I can come up with 4 more things I know about the 1930s. I can’t remember who was president during the 30s, I don’t know of any famous wars that happened in the 30s, I don’t know who were the famous singers or authors of the 30s and what they published. I feel like I could have muddled through the 1920s and the 1910s would have been a gimme due to WWI but I’m almost certain I wouldn’t be able to complete 1900s. I have almost no idea what occurred between 1900 and 1910, it’s a complete blank spot in history for me.
1970s
[ol]
[li]Disco[/li][li]Jimmy Carter Administration[/li][li]Sandinista Revolution[/li][li]Nixon Resigns[/li][li]Oil Crises[/li][/ol]
1960s
[ol]
[li]Vietnam War[/li][li]British Rock Invasion[/li][li]Space Race[/li][li]the 4 assasinations (JFK, Malcolm X, MLK, RFK)[/li][li]Biafra[/li][li]Star Trek on TV[/li][/ol]
1950s
[ol]
[li]Elvis[/li][li]Everest summited[/li][li]I Love Lucy[/li][li]Howl published[/li][li]I Like Ike[/li][li]DH Comet[/li][li]Army/McCarthy hearings[/li][/ol]
1940s
[ol]
[li]Manhattan Project[/li][li]D-Day[/li][li]X-1 breaks sound barrier[/li][li]Palestine partition/Israel independence[/li][li]Red China[/li][li]rise of the Peróns[/li][li]The Spruce Goose[/li][li]Churchill[/li][/ol]
1930s
[ol]
[li]Great Depression[/li][li]Abdication of Edward VIII[/li][li]New Deal[/li][li]Spanish Civil War[/li][li]Stalin’s purges[/li][li]Rise of the Nazis[/li][li]War of the Worlds broadcast[/li][li]The Hindenburg[/li][li]Amelia Earhart missing[/li][/ol]
1920’s
[ol]
[li]Prohibition[/li][li]Harlem Renaissance[/li][li]Talkies introduced in film[/li][li]Fascists take over Italy[/li][li]Lindbergh’s flight[/li][li]Stock market crash[/li][li]Trotsky exiled[/li][li]Silent Calvin Coolidge[/li][/ol] That’s it for ‘easily off the top of my head’ – a couple more 20s things came up after some paused thought (Ataturk founds Republic of Turkey; Vatican City-State recognized by Italy) to make it 10 there
1900-1910 you need 12 items. I got 7 off the top of my head:
Wright Brothers’ first Flight
Death of Victoria, reign of Edward VII
Launch of the Ford Model T
President Teddy Roosevelt
Independence of Panama
First World Series
Admission of Oklahoma as a state