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For example: when referring to the Great Depression, which of these would be more correct?

  • That 10 years is known as the Great Depression.
  • Those 10 years are known as the Great Depression.
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    Perhaps the first one should be "That 10 year period is..."
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 19:25

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As Huddleston and Pullum (2002) note, you can (optionally) treat such expressions as singular. They give such examples (§3.4, p. 354) as:

  • That ten days we spent in Florida was fantastic.
  • That two pounds of sugar you bought isn’t going to be enough.

Note that this only works with "measure phrases," and that the noun has to be preceded by a (typically small) cardinal number or by the word "few."

So either is acceptable in this case. That said, given the length of the duration in question, treating the phrase as plural might be preferred; using the plural may also be considered more formal.

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