If you click here you will get to an excellent History Today interactive map that attempts to pick out some of the key milestones in the history of that conflict. Like my earlier post on Syria, perhaps its real lesson is to highlight how complex it was.
Have a look an see what you think. If you want to know more, then each map is linked to past History Today articles. I have the school password which will allow access.
Mr Kydd.
All,
As promised the map we were using last lesson. This is more useful than the text book ones because it reflect the collapse of the Ottoman Empire – thus showing how Morocco and the Balkans are two sides of the same problem.
You may like to note also,
STOP PRESS
Callum’s excellent find to “beef up” the defensive war argument can be found here.
You should also really watch the great man in action. Below AJP Taylor convinces the world (for a few weeks) that the First World War started because of the Russian railway timetable. This obviously fits into the war plans argument.
The war is Syria is of course extremely complicated, and is increasingly impacting on us. The following 5 minute video is perhaps a useful summary. We should however of course be aware that different groups will see these events and actions in different ways. Even so, this focuses on the what and the who, and as such is a useful starting point.
Mr Kydd.
Click here to explore the British Museum with Google, it’s claim to have “2 million years of history at your fingertips” is no idle boast. You can find everything from the Rosetta Stone, to the Sutton Hoo helmet to Egyptian mummies.
Hopefully an online journey would encourage you to spend an afternoon there. It is free, and has many special exhibitions.
The main British Museum webpage can be found here
Mr Kydd.
Please click here for an excellent article from the This Week website. It outlines the historical debate well, and then considers which country should take most of the blame.
“The question of which country or countries caused the war is sometimes flipped on its head by scholars who have asked which countries – had they conducted themselves differently – could have prevented it.
On the BBC website, military historian Sir Max Hastings says that while no one nation deserves the blame alone, Germany is more guilty than most, as “it alone had power to halt the descent to disaster at any time in July 1914 by withdrawing its ‘blank cheque’ which offered support to Austria for its invasion of Serbia.”
Sir Richard J Evans, Regius professor of history at the University of Cambridge disagrees, arguing that Serbian nationalism and expansionism were the root cause of the conflict. “Serbia bore the greatest responsibility for the outbreak of WW1,” Evans says, “and Serbian backing for the Black Hand terrorists was extraordinarily irresponsible,”
Other leading scholars believe the blame should be shared equally between all the main players: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Russia, France, the Ottoman empire and Britain. The “fatal mixture of political misjudgement, fear of loss of prestige and stubborn commitments on all sides of a very complicated system of military and political alliances of European states” led to the descent into all-out war.”
Please read and note with care.
Mr Kydd.
Despite claiming to be a historian when I think of Agincourt it is always this speech that I come back to, and if I am honest with some very real pride. However, if you click here you will get a different view in Martin Kettle’s article (this weekend marks the 600th anniversary of the battle) in The Guardian.
He is really making two pints. Firstly he suggests “Agincourt should not be a source of pride or any other emotion. We today are not the victors of Agincourt. As 21st-century Britons we no more own the victory at Agincourt than we have responsibility for the slaughter of the French captives after the battle.”
He then continues by considering Remembrance, stating “at some point in the future, we will begin to let go of these rituals. One day, the head of state will no longer lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in November for the long-distant dead. One day, MPs and TV newsreaders will not feel the press of obligation to wear poppies on all public appearances or else risk charges of being unpatriotic from newspapers owned by tax exiles.”
It is a provocative article, read it and see what you think.
If you want to know more about Agincourt you might like explore the Agincourt 600 website. Below is an excellent documentary on the battle, and in this article Dr Sean McGlynn argues that there were nine medieval battles more significant than it.
Mr Kydd.
Year Thirteen,
As discussed in class, there are two really useful websites for this course. Can you please bookmark (and then use) the following;
If you are unable to attend history society, you may like to watch the following (try to write down the three to four key points).
Mr Kydd.
On August 20th, 1940, Leon Trotsky was attacked at his home in Mexico by a man wielding an ice pick. Trotsky died the following day. Click here for Richard Cavendish’s account in History Today.
Mr Kydd.
If you click here you will get to the excellent Time-Maps website. By now you are probably well aware of my passion for maps, so it is not surprising that I am posting this.
However, what makes Time-Maps so special is that you can explore its interactive pages. In its own words, “the “Time-Map” concept was originally conceived to offer a visual framework for history topics. A map combined with a timeline lets users see where an event is happening, both in time and space. It gives them a panoramic view of change over time, and so allows them to understand causes and effects of historical episodes much more easily. With this aim, the hugely ambitious TimeMap of World History was created which offers the full spectrum of human history, calling in at each civilization, nation and empire.”
Have a look and see what you think.
Mr Kydd.
Something a bit lighter from Alexandra Petri in The Independent. If you click here you will get to her article explaining the history of the world in clickbait headlines.
My favourite –
Johannes Gutenberg Develops Incredible New App
Enjoy,
Mr Kydd.
