CHA3UB- EUROPEAN HISTORY
Welcome
Mr. R. Bergman
• richard.bergman@tldsb.on.ca
• http://rbergman.weebly.com
• Office: 223
• Prep: Period 4
• CHC2DB and CHY4U
European History
• 1815- 1914- relative
• The French Revolution- why?
• Effect of the revolution on Europe (and the world)
• Politics, Economics, Society, Culture, etc…
• Sprinkle of Enlightenment, dash of Liberalism, another
dash of conservatism and a good ¼ cup of Nationalism
• But what exactly are those ‘isms’ above?
The IB Curriculum
• Unification of Italy(1815- 1861)
• - Revolutions in Italy (and all of Europe)
• - Piedmont-Sardinia
• - Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour
• - Austria
• Unification of Germany (1815- 1890)
• - Revolutions in Prussia and the German States
• - Economics/Zollverein
• - Crimean War, Austro-Prussian War, Franco-Prussian War
• - Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm I, II
• - Bismarck…yep again
The IB Curriculum
• Imperial Russia 1853- 1924 (hmmmm…more like 1815-
1894- I’ll will tell you why, just not now, because I don’t
want to)
- Russia- European? Asian? Or other?
- Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III
- Serfs, Serfs and more Serfs
- Crimean War
- Mir
- Assassination
The Course Breakdown
A. Units of Study- previous slide, plus:
Europe Pre -1815 (Revolutionary Europe, Napoleonic
Wars, Congress of Vienna)
B. Content
Lecture driven, supported by readings, applied through
seminars- make sense?
Knowledge is essential
The Course Breakdown
C. Assignments
1.
Reading Questions/Assessments- completion and analysis
2.
Essays- one per unit, argumentative, supported by research (secondary)
3.
Historical Investigation- within the context of this course- independent, process
4.
Final Exam- essentially a practice for next years IB exam
5.
Unit Tests- structured similar to IB papers 1, 2, and 3
6.
*Participation
Not your typical high school class- assignments are rather consistent with very
specific expectations
The Course Breakdown
Communicate constantly
Read everything- take notes
Pay attention during lectures- TAKE NOTES- and then
review the daily work as often as you have time for
Make sure you are aware of the expectations of
assignments- got some questions…ask
European History
• Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France
• Reaction to Revolution- security in post-Napoleonic
Europe
• The Congress of Vienna
• Liberal and Nationalist reaction
Where to begin?
What history is and is not
• ‘history’ and ‘the past’- we must learn to use them
differently
• History is a narrative text, written in the present, about the
subject of the past, using evidence that the past has left
behind
• All history is an interpretation of the past and never the
same thing as the past
• Significance to some, insignificance to others
So Now What?
If History is accessible to the masses on any level it is
when asking controversial question….and using LISTS!
Get together- The Top Ten Most SIGNIFICANT historical
moments of all time
Be prepared to defend your selections….
What history is and is not
• A process and a product- anyone can tell stories about
the past that appear historical, but if the process used
(methodology) is not historical then it is not history
• http://www.crushable.com/2014/05/02/entertainment/most
-historically-inaccurate-movies-ever-list/
• History is made by historians- you are not one, neither am
I- what is my purpose? What is yours? It is important to
give historians the respect they deserve
• History is plural…and needed
Historical Problems
• The epistemological (theory of knowledge) problems of
history- there are 3
• 1. Finding the raw material (the sources)
• 2. Interpreting the evidence (the method)
• 3. Writing the history of text (the product)
Problem 1: the Sources
• The memory of the world is not a bright, shining crystal,
but a heap of broken fragments, a few fine flashes of light
that break through the darkness (H. Butterfield)
• Social scientists observe participants- historians must
deal with the inadequacies of the raw materials
• “heap of broken fragments”
• Most people who have ever lived and most events that
have ever happened left no record (yikes…kind of
existential)
Problem 1: the Sources
• The records that do exist are often atypical or accidental
• Some are left on purpose and therefore not representative
• Some are source types that were never meant for future
interpretation, accidental by-products of past events
(remember tank man)
• Evidence only speaks to historians indirectly
• Therefore, sources will be interpreted in various ways…
The Napoleonic Wars
or War of 1812
• European Theatre- Napoleonic Wars
• North American Theatre- USA, Britain, France,
• The impact on North America of the war between France
and Britain should be understated
• American won the war…So Did Britain…so why was there
fighting in North America when the war was in Europe?