History Help

Welcome!

The best and brightest of the Renaissance are here to welcome you. The others will be along shortly.

Welcome to the History Blog! This site is designed to help you with your study of Junior Cert and Leaving Cert History. To the left, you'll see links for each year. Click on your year and you will find a list of all the topics you will study. Each topic page has information, tips and links to pictures, games and other useful websites.

How does this site work?

A note for parents and teachers.

As well as the topics you study in school, the In the News, Things to Watch Out For and On This Day sections below give you information on other things that happened in history, from the Stone Age as far as yesterday.

The trailer for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" has been released. The film is set to cover Abraham Lincoln's time as President of the United States, his efforts to abolish slavery, and the civil war that followed.

Have you studied Emily Dickinson in English? The Emily Dickinson museum in her home town of Amherst, Massachusetts has revealed what is thought to be only the second known photograph of her. (full story here)

Archaeologists in Britain have excavated a skeleton they believe might belong to King Richard III, who doesn't appear in the History course but is famous for fighting and dying at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. (full story here)

September 20th

Statue of Robert Emmet in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.

1519:
Ferdinand Magellan begins his voyage to travel around the whole world.

1803:
Robert Emmet is executed in Dublin for his part in trying to stage a rebellion.

1881:
Chester A. Arthur becomes US President after the assassination of James Garfield.

1909:
The UK Parliament creates the colony of South Africa by merging four smaller colonies.

1920:
Kevin Barry is captured by British forces.

1967:
The Queen Elizabeth II liner is launched.

1977:
Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.

2001:
In a speech to Congress, US President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror".

coming soon

3rd Year: Option 3: African and Asian Nationalism

Patrice Lumumba, a Congolese independence leader.

Main Page: International Relations in the 20th Century

Over the last three years, your study of History has been centrered around three particular places:

Ireland, because that's where you live;
Europe, because Ireland is a part of it; and
America, which has become one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian independence leader.

Two huge parts of the world which tend to get left out are Africa and Asia. If you go on to study History in Leaving Cert, you'll learn more about African and Asian history (e.g. decolonisation, the Vietnam war) but for now, the third and final option you can study at the end of the Junior Cert course is African and Asian nationalism.

Whether you do Africa or Asia depends on your textbook - most feature only Asia - and there are different countries and figures you can focus on, again depending on the textbooks.

If you're interested in learning more, visit the European Retreat from the Empire and the Aftermath, 1945-1990 page from the Leaving Cert part of the site.

This is one of three option topics you can study. The other two options are The Rise of the Superpowers and Moves Toward European Unity.

Click to go back to Third Year.

Background: who had colonised the country?

Origin of the independence movement.

The independence movement's aims and actions.

Negotiations between the colonising power and the movement.

Problems and difficulties encountered.

Independence declared: When? Where? How?

Results.

People celebrating Congolese independence in 1960.

Click here for exam questions you can be asked about this topic. (Higher and Ordinary)

PEOPLE IN HISTORY (HL and OL)

A named leader in the struggle for African or Asian independence after 1945. (2010 HL)

BBC: From Empire to Independence

The front page of the Times of India, 15 August 1947

The BBC takes a look at Indian history as a British colony, right up to Indian independence and beyond.

India's Independence Day, 1947 (YouTube)
This British newsreel film shows the celebrations in India and in Pakistan (which became independent at the same time) as independence became a reality.

Independence Day in India
Learn more about how India celebrates its independence here.

BBC: Mahatma Gandhi
Biography of the Indian independence leader.

Mahatma Gandhi
A slightly easier to read biography from HLS.

The End of the Belgian Congo
Learn the background to the Congolese independence movement here.

Patrice Lumumba
A short biography of the Congolese independence leader.

People in History: A named leader in the struggle for African or Asian independence

Main Page: African and Asian Independence

Mahatma Gandhi outside 10 Downing Street,
London in 1931.

By now, you should be well practised at answering People in History questions! The named leader of an independence struggle that you pick will depend on what African or Asian country you learned about, if you did this option. For this example, we'll go with Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

Introduce the country you are talking about. In India's case, talk about who colonised it, and how India was as a colony (the "jewel in the crown").

Next, talk about the calls for independence. This is where you name your leader. What were Gandhi's aims? What was he a member of?

What actions did he and his movement take? (strikes, visiting Downing St., etc)

What did the British offer? Why was Home Rule turned down? What happened to Gandhi during WWII?

After the war: What was the Labour government's concern? Who did they appoint to India?

What solution did the government and Gandhi reach?

After independence, Gandhi tried to stop the sectarian violence that was breaking about between Hindus and Muslims. What happened to him?

So, in short...

Introduce the country and briefly give its background.
Talk about the calls for independence, introduce Gandhi and his aims.
What actions did he and his movement take?
What did the British offer? What happened during WWII?
What was the situation after the war?
What solution was found?
Finish with sectarian violence and what happened to Gandhi.

Don't...

write about a country or independence movement you don't know about.
write anything irrelevant.

Welcome!

The best and brightest of the Renaissance are here to welcome you. The others will be along shortly.

September 20th

Statue of Robert Emmet in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.

coming soon

People in History: A named leader in the movement for European unity between 1945 - 1992

Main Page: Moves Toward European Unity

Robert Schuman on the cover of
Time magazine (1 March 1948)

Today on the news you might hear the names Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Mario Draghi or Jose Manuel Barosso. Each of these figures - and many more - are currently involved in the European Union in some way. In the European Unity topic that you study, you learn about the figures who worked together to create a union in the first place.

If you find yourself asked to write about a named leader in the European unity movement, an easy person to write about is Robert Schuman, the former Prime Minister of France who created the Schuman Plan in 1950.

So, how would you approach this?

Name him and give a brief background. (Robert Schuman was born in Luxembourg in 1886...)

Talk about his upbringing in Europe. Schuman grew up in France and took great pride in that country, but he lived in Alsace, which was a part of Germany at the time.

Talk about his involvement in WWII. He was elected to the French parliament after World War I and was taken prisoner during World War II. What did he do? Who did he work with?

Next, talk about his career after World War II. What was his new role? What did he fear? How did he think this fear could be removed?

The answer to that last question can be summed up with the Schuman Plan. When did he announce it? What was it about?

Now, his role in achieving European unity. Who did he persuade to support the ECSC? What did he hope to achieve?

Finally, talk about his later career. What was he elected President of in 1958? You can end with his death in 1963.

So, in short...

Name him and give some brief background.
Talk about his upbringing and nationality.
His involvement in World War II.
His career after WWII.
The Schuman Plan.
Actions taken to achieve European unity.
His later career.

Don't...

get confused between Schuman and any of the other figures you learn about.
write anything irrelevant.

Welcome!

The best and brightest of the Renaissance are here to welcome you. The others will be along shortly.

September 20th

Statue of Robert Emmet in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.

coming soon

3rd Year: Option 2: Moves Towards European Unity

The European Union today.

Main Page: International Relations in the 20th Century

You know from CSPE that Ireland is a member of the European Union, along with 26 other countries. Have you ever wondered where the European Union came from? You've learned how European ended up at war with each other twice in forty years, and you've learned how destructive that second war was. Europe was in ruins in 1945 and had to rebuild. Nobody wanted a war like that again, but what could be done to prevent it? The League of Nations had failed to prevent World War II, how could anything established now do any different?

In the years after World War II, the idea of European unity began to be talked about. A united Europe would see the different European countries co-operating instead of fighting, and would get rid of the desire for revenge that certain countries (particularly France and Germany) felt towards each other.

If you study this topic, you'll learn how Europe began to unite after the war years to create what we now call the European Union. Or, if you want to look at it another way, the story of why we use euros!

This is one of three option topics you can study. The other two options are The Rise of the Superpowers and African & Asian Nationalism.

Reasons for European unity.

Steps towards European Unity:

Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.
Council of Europe.
European Coal and Steel Community.
Schumann Plan and the Treaty of Rome.

People in History: Robert Schuman

The European Economic Community.

Enlarging the EEC.

Policies, achievements and problems.

The flag of the European Union.
The 12 stars do not represent anything in particular, they were chosen
because the number 12 is supposed to symbolise perfection.

Click here for exam questions you can be asked about this topic. (Higher and Ordinary)

PEOPLE IN HISTORY (HL and OL)

A named leader in the movement for European unity between 1945 - 1992
(2010 HL)

The European Union: History

The signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

The EU's own website takes a look at the history of the European unity movement, as well as featuring biographies of many important figures from the early days of that movement such as Schumann, Adenauer and Spaak.

The Telegraph: Timeline of the EU
The Telegraph website gives a brief, concise timeline of the development of the EU up as far as the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

About the European Union
About.com also has an overview of the EU's history.

BBC On This Day: Britain Joins the EEC
The BBC news report of the day the UK joined the European Economic Community.

Ireland Joins the EEC
The EU website talks about Ireland's entry to the community (which you learned about before).

The first meeting of the EEC Council, 1958 (silent video)
Silent footage of the first meeting of the Council of the EEC in 1958.

Robert Schuman
A brief biography and primary source material on Robert Schuman.

Welcome!

The best and brightest of the Renaissance are here to welcome you. The others will be along shortly.

September 20th

Statue of Robert Emmet in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.

coming soon