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1914: The Coming of the First World War
Classic Pamphlet
This pamphlet argues that the outbreak of the First World War represented not so much the culmination of a long process started by Bismarck and his successors, as the relatively sudden breakdown of a system that had in fact preserved the peace and contained the dangerous Eastern Question for over...
1914: The Coming of the First World War
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Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
Historian article
When the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in Mexico during the early sixteenth century there were many repercussions for the indigenous people. Their conversion to Christianity and the sacking of their temples are two of the most well known examples. However, it is often forgotten that the Aztecs had only a pictorial...
Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
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British Women in the Nineteenth Century
Classic Pamphlet
A short pamphlet surveying the historical record of rather more than half the population of Britain over a period of a hundred years must of necessity be sketchy and incomplete. The great interest in history of women which has arisen in the last few decades has produced a great deal...
British Women in the Nineteenth Century
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The Jesuits and the Catholic Reformation
Classic Pamphlet
The society of Jesus, formally approved by Pope Paul III in his bull Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae of September 1540, was one of many new religious orders of men and women - such as Barnabites, Capuchins, Oratorians, Piarists and Vincentians among the male orders, and Daughters and Sisters of Charity, Ursulines,...
The Jesuits and the Catholic Reformation
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Triumphs Show 139: Whodunnit? The Felling mining disaster of 1812
Teaching History feature
Whodunnit? The Felling mining disaster, 1812
The room buzzes as pathologists swap stories about injuries on the latest bodies. Some have virtually all limbs missing, others have been crushed by rockfall. Others have been found seemingly asleep with not a mark on their bodies.
You have stepped into a Year...
Triumphs Show 139: Whodunnit? The Felling mining disaster of 1812
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Why history matters? Round Table discussion podcast
Podcasts
Podcast of the round table discussion available here!The History Matters Annual Conference in May saw the best turnout we've had for some time with a healthy and representative mix of HA members. Our thanks to all those who contributed their time and energy in delivering workshops and lectures. Our afternoon...
Why history matters? Round Table discussion podcast
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Living Museums and Victorian Britain
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on ways of portraying life in Victorian Britain.
While factual knowledge of aspects of Victorian life in Britain are a vital component of the unit, the main focus is on exploring the way living museums present the period,...
Living Museums and Victorian Britain
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Myths and War Evacuees
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on the evacuation of children during the second world war. While the factual knowledge of evacuation is an essential component of the unit, the main focus is on exploring the varied feelings and experiences of children sent to...
Myths and War Evacuees
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The Miraculous Crusade: The Role of the Mystical and Miraculous in the Morale and Motivation of the First Crusade
Historian article
The First Crusade may be considered the only really successful crusade in that it achieved its stated goal, but it demanded great courage and stamina of its participants in their journey to the Holy City of Jerusalem, fighting their way through an unforgiving hostile territory. But courage and stamina by...
The Miraculous Crusade: The Role of the Mystical and Miraculous in the Morale and Motivation of the First Crusade
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History's secret weapon: the enquiry of a disciplined mind
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
As a local authority adviser, Andrew Wrenn's advice has often been sought by history departments, both those seeking to resist ill-conceived and potentially damaging cross-curricular initiatives and those keen to exploit new opportunities for meaningful...
History's secret weapon: the enquiry of a disciplined mind
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Podcast Series: Modern China
Multipage Article
An HA Podcasted History of Modern China featuring Dr Yangwen Zeng of the University of Manchester, Professor Rana Mitter and Professor Patricia Thornton of the University of Oxford and Professor Arne Westad of the London School of Economics.
Podcast Series: Modern China
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Having 'Great Expectations' of Year 9
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What scope does studying a classic novel in both English and history provide for meaningful cross-curricular work and how might engaging with historical fiction help pupils engage more effectively with the realities of the past?...
Having 'Great Expectations' of Year 9
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Polychronicon 138: The Civil Rights Movement
Teaching History feature
"He was The One, The Hero, The One Fearless Person for whom we had waited. I hadn't even realized before that we had been waiting for Martin Luther King, Jr, but we had."
So spoke the novelist Alice Walker in 1972, looking back on her teenage years. And so wrote...
Polychronicon 138: The Civil Rights Movement
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Occult and Witches
Historian article
Occult and Witches: Some Dramatic and Real Practitioners of the Occult in the Elizabethan and Jacobean Periods
One purpose of this paper is to show a correspondence between real-life Elizabethan and Jacobean practitioners of the occult and the depiction of their theatrical counterparts, with particular reference to perceived differences between,...
Occult and Witches
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Men's Beards and Women's Backsides
Historian article
Since the late Middle Ages periods in which it was fashionable for men to be clean-shaven have alternated in Europe with periods in which it was fashionable for men to wear beards. In some periods clean-shavenness went together with long hair, at others beards went together with short hair, and...
Men's Beards and Women's Backsides
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Designing learning activities to stimulate domain-specific thinking
Article
Active Historical Thinking: designing learning activities to stimulate domain-specific thinking.
‘Thinking Skills' have been much discussed in England since, at least, the revision of the National Curriculum in 2000 and have recently morphed, with the 2008 revisions to the curriculum, into ‘Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills'. Often, however, such ‘skills'...
Designing learning activities to stimulate domain-specific thinking
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Developing multiperspectivity through cartoon analysis
Teaching History article
Studying cartoons can be an engaging experience for students but it can also present students with considerable difficulties. Cartoons are typically highly complex texts that are often very hard to interpret and students need to develop appropriate reading strategies to interpret cartoons effectively. In this article Ulrich Schnakenberg explores ways...
Developing multiperspectivity through cartoon analysis
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Triumphs Show 138: a kinaesthetic interpretation of Dover castle
Teaching History feature
Licking the stones: a kinaesthetic interpretation of Dover castle in 360 degrees
This is the story of one history department that, in collaboration with a local historical site, embarked on a ‘curriculum co-development project' with the art department. The aim was to use learning experiences outside the classroom to bring...
Triumphs Show 138: a kinaesthetic interpretation of Dover castle
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Deconstructing lazy analogies in Year 9
Teaching History article
Reflecting on the continuing problem of students holding an impoverished understanding of the value or ‘uses' of history, Steve Rollett turned his attention to the question of analogy. He took the axiom to which students make common appeal (‘we can learn from mistakes in the past') and set about trying...
Deconstructing lazy analogies in Year 9
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Engaging Year 9 with Victorian debates about 'progress'
Teaching History article
Jonathan White wanted to fill a gap in his students' knowledge of the history of ideas. Despite the appearance of Marx, Smith, Darwin and Malthus in the department's workscheme for Year 9, his Year 13 students appeared to lack any meaningful grasp of these nineteenth-century intellectual reference points. White therefore...
Engaging Year 9 with Victorian debates about 'progress'
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From human-scale to abstract analysis: Year 7. Henry II & Becket
Teaching History article
Tim Jenner was working on a causation enquiry with his Year 7 students when he noticed that weak conceptions of change were limiting their ability to produce powerful and period-sensitive arguments. He therefore decided to digress into a temporary but explicit focus on analysing historical change. He created a deceptively...
From human-scale to abstract analysis: Year 7. Henry II & Becket
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History in Schools: What is the Future?
History Debate Podcast
The Future of history in our schools
Whether you have children or not, whether you're a teacher or not, if you have a love of History this debate matters to you.
History in Schools: What is the Future?
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Podcast Series: The Crusades
Multipage Article
An HA Podcasted History of the Crusades featuring Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, Professor Jonathan Phillips of Royal Holloway, University of London and Dr Tom Asbridge of Queen Mary, University of London.
Podcast Series: The Crusades
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The Establishment of English Protestantism 1558-1608
Classic Pamphlet
The Reformation which Queen Elizabeth and her ministers created was a series of acts of state, but if we consider it only at the level of official hopes and pronouncements, we will paint a picture of hopeless unreality. For the Reformation to success, the government needed to follow up its...
The Establishment of English Protestantism 1558-1608
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A Local History Toolkit
Article
IntroductionIn this short paper you will discover some of the tools for ‘doing' local history. They are based on where I live: you can get similar types of sources from where you live, work or teach. Your main source will be a local library or record office, but there is...
A Local History Toolkit