UK History and Politics

The Twentieth Century

24 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

Practise The Twentieth Century now

Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 24 questions

  1. Which Labour Prime Minister won a landslide in 1945 and created the NHS?
  2. What was the Suez Crisis of 1956?
  3. Which Prime Minister won three consecutive general election victories from 1997 for Labour?
  4. In which year did all women over 21 gain equal voting rights with men?
  5. Which Prime Minister, in office from 1979 to 1990, was nicknamed the Iron Lady?
  6. Which politician, who became prime minister after the 1964 general election, famously referred to the 'white heat of technology'?
  7. In which year did the Second World War in Europe end with the surrender of Germany?
  8. In which year did Queen Elizabeth II come to the throne?
  9. What was the three-day week introduced in Britain in 1974?
  10. Who was Chancellor of the Exchequer for ten years from 1997 and made the Bank of England independent?
  11. In which year did the General Strike take place in Britain?
  12. What was 'Black Wednesday' in September 1992?
  13. Which Prime Minister signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 and claimed it brought 'peace for our time'?
  14. Which wartime scheme moved children from British cities to safer rural areas?
  15. Which Prime Minister successfully negotiated British entry into the EEC, which took effect on 1 January 1973?
  16. What was the Winter of Discontent?
  17. Which tragedy of 1912 saw a British liner hit an iceberg and sink on her first voyage?
  18. Which treaty of 1992 created the European Union, with the UK negotiating opt-outs?
  19. What was the Battle of Britain in 1940?
  20. Which 1942 report by William Beveridge was influential in founding the welfare state?
  21. Which 1982 conflict followed Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic?
  22. In which year did Hong Kong return to Chinese sovereignty, ending 156 years of British rule?
  23. Which women-only militant organisation, founded in 1903 and controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, campaigned for women's suffrage?
  24. On what date was the formal surrender of Nazi Germany's armed forces celebrated as VE Day?

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