If you could experience one historical event firsthand, which would it be and why?

I don't know how much of an"historical event" it is now, but if I showed up to Steven Hawking's "Time Traveller party" I imagine it would become one.

Plot twist: show up one day after

I guess I might say King John signing the Magna Carta at Runnymede, because it was the foundation for the rule of law in the West. But it was just a bunch of smelly dudes in a marsh. A lot of historical events are important, but not that spectacular to see.

So if I'm honest, it'd be Queen at Live Aid.

Queen at Live Aid.

That's a great call.
aaaaayyyyyyyy ooohhhhhhhhhhh!
For sure, some events would not be as spectacular to watch. They're still fascinating to think about though.

Standing at Runnymede imagining how it might have happened, and then considering the legacy and impact it had in bringing me back to the spot hundreds of years later.

Hard to say for sure but some things might actually be more fun just to ponder over.

Seeing the first person to spell subtle with a b

It didn't use to, the b was added back in cause the Latin word has one and making words look like Latin was all the rage at one point.
- At least "subtle" is ultimately from Latin, and the Latin word (subtilis) does have a /b/.
  
  There are worse cases - like the "s" in "island". It was never pronounced.
English got fucked... hard... because so many of the spellings came from people that had weird goals.

Consider phial. Why do we spell it that way? Because some jackass decided that english needed to be more latiny and ph is more latiny than v. (or maybe it was greek? I don't remember the exact etymology)
- Anglish is an attempt to reverse that, and remove Latin, Greek, and French words from English.

If I can experience it without dying, I’d say the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs.

I also vote for the asteroid but with zero caveats.
- Username checks out
- Lol. You at least want to survive long enough to see the explosion.
- Would you rather be on the astroid as it comes to Earth or would you rather hang around the impact zone and wait for it to hit?

Jan 6, so i can blast benny hill music.

i wanna visit that one Christmas in world war one where they all got over their shit for a day and had snowball fights and stuff. play in the snow with some of the most damaged and traumatized people in history.

I thought they played football.
- shit IDK, either way. that's where i want to go.
If you wanna get depressed, look up what happened to these soldiers afterwards

My great grandfather was aboard the USS Missouri when the Japanese came aboard to surrender. He always said that it was one of the biggest moments of his life, and he always regretted that he didn't have a camera during that visit. I think that I would like to go back in time to that event, and bring a camera with me.

When hitler killed himself in the bunker. I would have been fascinated to witness how a guy responsible for millions of deaths somehow considered himself the victim and was forced to commit suicide. He was an evil bastard and a coward unwilling to face the consequences of his actions.

Take his bullets and poison away. Let the Russians deal with him.
- I'd actually prefer to witness a fair trial. Just because I'd actually like to know how he'd try to defend and explain what he did. It might have given us the chance to study him and what led to him becoming that way.
  
  I'm pro studying people like psychopaths and sociopaths to better understand what it takes to be or become one to prevent horrible outcomes.
  
  We should spend way more time on studying and understanding murderers and the source of their actions.

I've always wished I could have taken part in the Menlo Park Homebrew Computer Club from 75 to 86.

The first meeting of the club was held on March 5, 1975, in French's garage in Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, on the occasion of the arrival in the area of the first Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer, a unit sent for review by People's Computer Company. Steve Wozniak credits that first meeting as the inspiration to design the Apple I.

So I guess I would use the incredible advancement of time travel to go back a few years before I was born to hang out in some dude's garage.

This is a great answer. Wozniak's autobiography is a good read.

The surrender at Appomattox, so I could tell the Union generals to keep burning until every plantation and its owners were ash

The problem with most major historical events is that they're not fun. I would choose Field of the Cloth of Gold because it was just a big festival for weeks.

Apollo moon landing

Julius Caesar declaring himself an emperor, the celebration and seeing the man that essentially turned rome from a powerful republic to the most powerful empire with a military that dominated majority of europe.

The extinction of the dinosaurs. Or the big bang.

Either of those sound like a blast.

The Battle of Agincourt. It would be interesting to confirm how effective the English longbows really were compared to the theory that the mud was really the deciding factor against the French.

Also the battle of Hastings. To see how a shield wall worked.

(Putting aside if the Bible's stories are real or not for a moment...)

Moses talking to God (aka 'The Burning Bush').

I'm not religious, but I'd love to witness God actually speaking to somebody.

Brutus stabbing some little king wannabe.

Would you take a turn like everyone else?
- Probably not. Just watch from a safe distance, and perhaps add fuel to the fire screaming "sic semper tyrannis!".

I'd cross the Alps with Hannibal. I can't imagine, living right now right where he went straight through, what it looked like at he time.

Just try to write to Botswana's prime minister that you take the elephants he offered Germany. Then you can do it today.
Before or after he eats you?

Mine would be witnessing the first nuclear explosion at the trinity test site.

Like…up close??
- As close as possible

I'd love to be in the room when George Lucas first screens Star Wars to Spielberg and pals. The version before Marcia Lucas saved it with her editing prowess.

Crucifixion of Jesus. Also the resurrection if staying there for a few days is allowed.

Does Woodstock count?

Why shouldn't it count?
- Because it wasn't that long ago.

The big bang, to see how it all started.

Spoiler: It was banging.

Hmm. I want to say something mysterious, like what happened to some sailing ship that disappeared, or something like that to know what happened.

Or there's some guy that buried a treasure in Missouri and left the location in a cryptogram that hasn't been solved to this day.

But I think it would be most fun to witness Apollo 11's first space walk. Niel be talking about "one small step for man" and I just walk up applauding. And then ask for a lift home.

"Sorry Neil, there's only room for him. Stand by and we're sending you home on the next one"

Ksp players: yeah sure

1893's World's Columbian Exposition.

I honestly can’t think of any historically significant event that doesn’t involve or depend upon major suffering of some sort -even the happy moments are only happy because of an end of horrible things- so I’ll just pass entirely. History sucks because humans suck.

But If we assume that time can flow in both ways, I’ll choose to go somewhere in the future-past. Maybe the day we put boots on ground in another solar system, or put an end to scarcity, if either of those ever even happen..

Gettysburg Address

The moment that life on earth began.

Hope you bring your microscope

Franz Ferdinand.

Me too, I used to live there.

Human extinction. Be it a massive, catastrophic event or a whimper of a thing, it would be fun to witness the end of our run through time.

You are in real time. Imagine some eerie music
- Rod Serling approaches

Last time this was asked, someone said the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and I don't think they meant for the historical insights...

Charles I getting a little off the top.

Pretty grim choice.

Assuming I was in some kind of protective bubble, the big bang, to see how it actually looked like.

Not a major event, but there's a number of football ⚽ matches I wish I could have been at, not least the 1961 and 1968 Scottish Cup finals.

1968 European Cup Final for me.

It'd have to be the construction of The Sphinx or the Giza pyramids for me.

I'd be kind of interested to see the gathering where the Dutch killed and ate their prime minister.

Assuming I have to be a passive observer, the moment when humans learned to create fire.

Hard question. Something that had to be amazing was Times Square on V-J day. Had to been a hell of a party and a feeling knowing that mess was over.

Bring back the USSR

Probably the christians arriving in Jerusalem and killing everyone.

Which time?

Drpends. If i was allowed to live past it, the extinction of the dinosaurs