Quiz Category: History Quiz | 10 Latest Historic Questions

On Feb. 6, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to reign for seven decades. Festivities marking the anniversary will peek in a four-day weekend beginning on Thursday, June 2, with the annual military parade that marks the queen’s 70th coronation anniversary, also known as her “official birthday.” The queen celebrated her 96th birthday.

Cincinnatus was the early Roman military leader who gave up power and returned to his farm to live in peace.

Which political leader recalled Cincinnatus in 2022?

Photo: 首相官邸ホームページ, CC BY 4.0

When Prime Minister Boris Johnson left his Downing Street office for the last time on Sept. 6, 2022, he said, "Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plow. And I will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support."

Ferdinand Marcos was the 10th president of the Philippines, ruling as a kleptocrat dictator from 1965 to 1986 when he fled with his family to Hawaii. He and his wife, Imelda Marcos, currently hold the Guinness World Record for "Greatest Robbery of a Government."

Is Ferdinand Marcos the president of the Philippines in 2022?

Photo: Avito C. Dalan for the Philippine News Agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

While Marcos Sr. died in 1989, his son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., was elected governor, congressman, and in 2010, a senator in the Philippines. He won the 2022 presidential race alongside his VP Sara Duterte, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, who worked to aid a Marcos comeback during his years in power. Marcos's sister is a senator and a former governor, and his mother, Imelda Marcos, was elected to Congress for four terms.

Catherine the Great was the last reigning Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796—the country's longest-ruling female leader. The period of Catherine the Great's rule is considered a Golden Age of Russia.

Was Catherine the Great a Pro-Vaxxer?

In a letter sold at MacDougall's auction house in London on December 1, 2021, dated April 20, 1787, the Russian empress instructed a governor-general to ensure that a precursor of the smallpox vaccine, called variolation, was readily available in his province for widespread access. The letter was sold along with a portrait of the Empress by Dmitry Levitsky for $1.3 Million.

Glasnost (meaning "openness") and perestroika ("reconstruction") were policy reforms associated with the 1980s General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev, that eventually led to the Soviet Union's disintegration. Gorbachev, also credited with ending the Cold War, died on Aug. 30, 2022,  at a Moscow hospital at 91.

Sweden has avoided military alliances since the end of the Napoleonic Wars and kept its policy of neutrality during World War II and the Cold War. Thus, approximately 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated and placed with families in Sweden during the Second World War, and nearly all of Denmark's Jewish population.

Is Sweden ending its neutrality?

After being firmly against NATO membership for decades, public opinion in Sweden and Finland shifted following Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Sweden decided on May 16, 2022, to seek NATO membership. The country's governing Social Democratic party endorsed a plan for the country to join the trans-Atlantic alliance one day after Finland's government announced a similar move.

Jikji, a collection of Confucian teachings, was printed by a group of Korean monks in the ancient city of Cheongju in 1377. Jikji is the world's oldest surviving book printed with movable metal type, predating the earliest Gutenberg Bible by 78 years. The only known copy of Jikji is in France, after being purchased in 1877 and eventually donated to France's national library. It has not been on display for over 50 years.

Construction of the Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) cathedral began in 1163 and was largely completed by 1260 - in the 12th and 13th centuries. In March 2022, archaeologists found an ancient lead sarcophagus in the lower levels of the building, which is currently under reconstruction after a devastating fire in 2019. The lead casket probably belonged to a high dignitary and could date back to the 14th century.

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, was dedicated on May 30, 2022, to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (born in 1809 and assassinated in 1865). A segregated audience of 50,000 was present during the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day) weekend. President Warren G. Harding addressed the crowd, as did other dignitaries.

What is the Lincoln Memorial Centennial Exhibition?

An art exhibit featuring over 50 multimedia works and artifacts inspired by the iconic seated Lincoln sculpture opened on May 7, 2022, at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. The exhibit runs in Stockbridge until Sept. 5 before moving to the Concord Museum from Sept. 22 until Feb. 26, 2023. Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French’s studio, Chesterwood, is located in the same Massachusetts town.

Brazil declared the country's independence from Portugal on Sept. 7, 1822. Portugal officially recognized Brazilian independence three years later, after a long independence war.

How did Brazil celebrate its bicentennial?

Brazil's bicentennial was celebrated less than a month before the country's 2022 presidential elections. Far-right nationalist President Jair Bolsonaro has urged Brazilians to flood the streets of Brasilia, Sao Paulo, and his hometown of Rio de Janeiro in a show of strength.