The History Department at Haileybury

There are a large number of interesting websites covering 20th century India and China. Some of these are fascinating, and definitely worth a look; especially so if you are studying the Modern History A Level course.

http://www.psywarrior.com/AxisPropIndia.html - a site containing examples of Allied and Axis propaganda, directed at Indian troops during World War II

http://www.oldindianphotos.in/ - an exhaustive collection of photographs on India, categorised by date and event

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5LZAIg4yRQ&feature=endscreen&NR=1 - an excellent documentary on Puyi, the last Emperor of China

http://chineseposters.net/index.php - a site exploring various examples of Chinese propaganda

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ - a transcript of Mao’s Little Red Book

Spending a little time looking through these will certainly enrich your understanding of the two countries.

“Clearly Mary’s reign is never likely to be seen as a great period of History”

E. Towne, in ‘The Tudor Years’ (ed. J. Lotherington), 1994

Discussion point:

‘The only benefit Elizabeth gained from Mary I’s reign was that, upon her succession, people were simply glad that she wasn’t Mary’.

Do you agree?

Add your comments below.

During our visit to Thiepval recently, we left behind a scrapbook containing individual pieces of research that the pupils had carried out into Old Boys of the school whose names were recorded on the memorial:

 A couple of weeks after our return, I received the message below. It was lovely to know that people have been looking at the research our pupils carried out, and that it had enriched the experience of this visitor at least, and hopefully many more besides:

My husband and I recently visited the “Memorial for the Missing “designed by Lutyens in Thiepval, France.It was a very moving experience as I was there to find the name of my great uncle, one of over 73,000 names on the memorial. The highlight for me was finding a substantial book left there by your school. In there, was research carried out by your pupils about some of the names on the memorial. I would be very grateful if you could pass on to the pupils and the staff how impressed we were by their efforts and also how pleased we were to know that the dead would not at least be forgotten by your pupils. I also read the blog written by one of your pupils and was touched by how moved he was by his visit to the memorial. Your pupils are very lucky to have the opportunity to visit France and see the huge range of memorials to both World Wars. Best wishes, Judith.

Use the comment boxes below to post your questions – and the responses to them.

I am looking forward to hearing what you manage to uncover!

I recently stumbled across a slightly less well-known aspect of the Google Empire. Known as ‘Google World Wonders’, it enables you to ‘visit’ (or should that be ‘e-visit’) sites of historical interest from around the world. Combining its own mapping tools with other photographs and pieces of information, it is a great way to explore some of the most important sites and buildings in the world. 

Below is a screenshot from the site, of Scott’s cabin in Antartica, to give you an idea of what you can expect. But there are many, many other locations; from the Palace of Versailles in France to the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima. It is certainly worth a look – maybe to enrich your understanding of a certain place or time, or perhaps just to see somewhere that you would not otherwise get a chance to explore.

Click here to go to the site: Google World Wonders

The BBC produced a fantastic radio programme last week looking at the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China. Certainly worth a listen, especially for those students of China at AS Level.

 The Fall of the Qing Dynasty – Radio 3

Earlier this week, the BBC aired a fantastic programme called “Hitler’s Children”. While the title is a little misleading (Hitler didn’t have any children – as far as we know…) it was a fascinating insight into what it is like to be descended directly from leading Nazis. Containing interviews with the children and grandchildren of people such as Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hoess, it was certainly an eye-opening programme. Catch it while it is still on the iPlayer…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01j10j3/Hitlers_Children/

After returning from the Battlefields, we asked all pupils to create a project inspired by their visit. Other than this, the brief was left completely open.

When the pupils returned after Easter, it is fair to say that we were stunned by the quality of the work. The projects were hugely varied – A2 posters, papier mache models, scrapbooks… even an edible cemetery model made out of icing! But the thought and care that had gone into the projects was staggering, and also humbling. It was clear that for many of the pupils, the trip had been an eye-opening experience, and one that had really given them food for thought.

Below are photos of just some of the projects. Unfortunately it is not possible to display all of them here, but we will be displaying a selection around the school – both in the History Department and also in the Registry – so please do take the time to come and take a look. I am sure you will be as impressed as we were.

Below, Lachlan Okoye (Kipling) records his experiences of the 2012 Battlefields Trip. If you would like to add anything further, please feel free to, using the comments box beneath the article.

The full article – complete with photos – can be found here.

“On Saturday 17^th of March, the Removes set out for the Battlefields of Belgium and Northern France. We drove to the shuttle, crossed the borders and eventually arrived at the Youth Hostel relatively late. The next day we first travelled to Vimy Ridge. The site really helped to bring home the bravery of the men who died. It showed us how close the trenches of the enemies and the allies were together – around 25 metres at their closest – and also it gave us a vision of No Man’s Land. We also went to the Vimy memorial, which commemorates many of the Canadians who died in the war It was a very impressive memorial, especially with its size and stature. However, the place that amazed me the most on the first day was definitely the Thiepval Memorial. This is a huge memorial monument, containing the names of 72,000 soldiers who died on The Somme and whose bodies were never found. It was truly a remarkable place, with so many names – including 37 Old Haileyburians. Here we left a wreath of poppies and held a one minute’s silence to remember the sacrifice of those recorded there. We also left a booklet containing information on the Haileybury Old Boys whose names were up there, which had been created by the pupils to help visitors to the memorial learn more about the former pupils who went out to France and never came home. Our last trip of the day was to the Fricourt German cemetery, which included a big mass grave with over 12,000 bodies in. It was interesting to see the dark black crosses and to contrast them with the brilliant white at Thiepval and Vimy. After a well-earned rest, we began our final day in Belgium. We first visited the  Langemark (German) and Tyne Cot (Allied) cemeteries, which were again very different from each other. After that we went to Essex farm, which is where John McCrae wrote his famous ‘In Flanders Fields’ poem, which is the reason we wear poppies on Remembrance Day. Essex Farm also includes a cemetery which is the location of the youngest soldier killed during the war; Valentine Strudwick. He was 15 years old. Finally, we went into the main town of Ypres; scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the entire war. Here we visited the Menin Gate, another memorial to the British Commonwealth soldiers who were missing, and which includes the names of 40 Old Haileyburians. Here we laid a wreath and a memorial card in memory of Walter Lyon who was an Old Boy of the school and who was killed on the Western Front. I really appreciated the opportunity to visit a very interesting place like that and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.”

The BBC have just started a 5 programme series looking at the British Empire, hosted by the venerable Jeremy Paxman. The series can be viewed in iPlayer through the link below:

BBC iPlayer: ‘Empire, with Jeremy Paxman’

One of the enquiries we teach in Lower School is based on the question ‘Should we be ashamed of the British Empire?’. It is an increasingly contentious question, fuelled in recent years by the contributions of such eminent Historians as Niall Fergusson, and anyone interested in the History of our nation – or indeed what it really means to be ‘British’ – would be well advised to have a look.