As you may long have suspected – perhaps everything that I have taught you is incorrect. See what you think about the latest revision of the causes of the Black Death.
This human lice argument would certainly seem to address that old question of how the Bubonic Plague reached parts of the British Isles (such as the Scottish islands) where we know it was too cold for the black rats.
See what you think.
Mr Kydd.
A nice bit of enrichment for those of you studying the Russia course. The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg travelled across Russia to find out what Russians today think about the October Revolution.
See what you think.
Mr Kydd.
All,
Following on from today’s tutor time, there is some very helpful stuff in the following links, and I thought it might be good to have them all in one place. Have a look and see what helps you.
Mr Kydd.
https://university.which.co.uk/advice/student-life/i-ve-messed-up-my-mocks-what-do-i-do
https://university.which.co.uk/advice/ucas-application/revision-exams-making-the-grade
https://university.which.co.uk/advice/student-life/10-tweets-to-survive-exam-day
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/apr/19/students-revise-exams-revision-science
http://www.reading.ac.uk/library/study-advice/lib-sa-guides.aspx
If you click you here you will get to the front page for Tate Modern’s Red Star over Russia exhibition. It opens tomorrow and is explained as follows…
“Rebellion brought hope, chaos, heroism and tragedy as the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union, endured revolutions, civil war, famine, dictatorship and Nazi invasion. A new visual culture arose and transformed the fabric of everyday life.
The core of this exhibition comes from the extraordinary collection of photographer and graphic designer David King (1943–2016). He started his collection of over 250,000 items relating to this period while working for The Sunday Times Magazine in the 1970s. The collection was acquired by Tate in 2016.
This show is an opportunity to see the rare propaganda posters, prints and photographs collected by King – some bearing traces of state censorship. Including work by El Lissitzky, Gustav Klutsis, Dmitri Moor, Aleksandr Deineka, Nina Vatolina and Yevgeny Khaldei, it is a thrilling journey through a momentous period in world history.”
It would make an excellent afternoon out during the Christmas holidays. The Independent’s review can be found by following the link.
Mr Kydd.
A couple of nice enrichment articles from the BBC to mark the centenary of the October Revolution.
If you click here you will get to the Evening Standard’s summary of the recent release of the 2,800 new Kennedy documents. If you click here you will get the BBC’s analysis. Of course, they do not settle the conspiracy debate either way (see the two videos below) – but perhaps they are most useful to us as they reflect paranoia and fear of the post-Cuban Missile Crisis Cold War. Both sides seemed to fear that the assassination was a precursor to a nuclear attack from the other side.
Have a read / watch and see what you think.
Mr Kydd.
The first of the four part series aired tonight. You can watch them here. Please do – it is excellent enrichment for our course. The trailer below gives you a taste.
The full program can be found below.
If you want more from the BBC’s Tudor season David Starkey’s contribution be found below.
Mr Kydd.
One for History Society.
If you click here you will get to The Independent’s account of the jailing of Ursula Haverbeck for Holocaust denial. This is a criminal offence in Germany, carrying a sentence of up to five years in jail.
“Ursula Haverbeck, who has been branded the “Nazi grandma” by German press, was sentenced by a Berlin court on Monday for denying the holocast at an event in Berlin back in January 2016.
She claimed the Holocaust did not take place and there were no gas chambers at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp. Auschwitz is the largest mass murder site in human history and an estimated 1.1 million people died there.
Ms Haverbeck, who once declared the Holocaust was “the biggest and most sustainable lie in history” in a TV interview, has never spent time in prison before despite having several previous convictions for holocaust denial.”
It does of course raise the classic debating question of free speech Vs the well being of the state. Whilst we historians think of this in terms of the collapse of Weimar Germany, the rise of the far right AfD in Germany’s recent elections perhaps make this a more modern political issue.
Have a read and see what you think.
Mr Kydd.
If you click here you will get to the Greenwich Maritime Museum page on the famous Armada Portrait. Recently saved for the nation, this iconic portrait of Elizabeth I commemorates the most famous conflict of her reign – the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada in summer 1588. The Armada Portrait is currently off display for essential conservation work, to preserve its fragile painted surfaces which are over 400 years old. The work is expected to take until the autumn.
The follow three minute clips explains the restoration work.
The Armada Portrait is an outstanding historical document, summarizing the hopes and aspirations of the state as an imperial power, at a watershed moment in history. But the Armada Portrait transcends this specific moment in time. Scholars have described it as a definitive representation of the English Renaissance, encapsulating the creativity, ideals and ambitions of the Elizabethan ‘Golden Age’.
Why not go an visit when it is back on display.
Mr Kydd.
If you click here you will get to a lovely obituary for the great Denis Mack Smith in the Oxford Mail by .
“He challenged some of the myths that had built up around the Risorgimento, in part due to fellow historian George Macaulay Trevelyan. Mr Trevelyan celebrated the Risorgimento as an example of liberal idealism and patriotism coming together. Prof Mack Smith, however, viewed the Risorgimento in a very different light, claiming it was the result of strong political and personal rivalries in the nation. Other notable works Mr Mack Smith published during his lifetime include Italy: A Modern History, first penned in 1958, revised in 1986, and finally completely revised and reprinted as Modern Italy: A Political History in 1997.”
It is well worth a read.
In truth, I am a little disappointed that the passing of the great man (albeit at a very respectable 97!) has received so little press. He was an original thinker, and he wrote with a beautiful and lucid style. Any A level historian could do a lot worse than read Mack Smith if they want to learn how to structure an argument with clarity and without pretension.
Perhaps Mack Smith’s most important work was Cavour and Garibaldi As Jonathan Steinbeck commented he “told many Italians what they did not want to hear, but told them at a special point in their history when they had no choice but to listen. Denis Mack Smith became and has remained one of the most important historians of Italy. His confrontations with Renzo De Felice over their respective interpretations of Mussolini have taken place before huge audiences of Italian television watchers and his books are widely available everywhere in Italy”.
Mr Kydd
