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.
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 Dickinsonin
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.
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".
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.
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.
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 Dickinsonin
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.
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".
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 warwith 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!
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.
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.
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.
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 Dickinsonin
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.
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".
This
is the question you would answer if you studied the Cold War option at
the end of 3rd Year. There are three different events that you learn
about in that chapter (case studies), so you must pick a leader
associated with one of them. Of the three (the Berlin Blockade, the
Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis), the easiest to write about is
one of the leaders during the Cuban Missile Crisis - US President John F. Kennedy.
Like
other people you learn about in 3rd Year, you probably knew a few
things about Kennedy already, such as that he is the most recent US
President to have been assassinated. His brother Robert ran for
President in 1968, but was also assassinated before the election. His
other brother Ted became a Senator, which he remained until his own
death in 2009. Kennedy was the first Catholic to become US President,
and his visit to Ireland in the summer of 1963 was a huge event for the
Irish people. His assassination in Dallas, Texas on 23 November 1963
shocked the world, and has been the subject of conspiracy theories ever
since.
None of that is important to this answer,
however, because it specifically asks you to talk about a crisis in the
Cold War. In Kennedy's case, that's Cuba, so let's start.
Name the leader and the crisis you're talking about. You must make this clear first of all.
Give a brief explanation of Cuba and Castro: when did he come to power? What kind of state did he make Cuba into? Why was this a problem for America?
What did Kennedy try to do about Cuba first? Explain the Bay of Pigs.
After that, he sent U-2 spy planes. For what reason? What did one find in 1962?
The Russian fleet was heading towards Cuba. What did Kennedy do?
What would have been the consequences if one side had attacked the other?
Khrushchev backs down. What did Kennedy do next?
So, in short...
Name the leader and the crisis.
Explain Cuba and Castro (briefly).
Bay of Pigs
U-2 spy planes.
The Russian fleet and the Blockade.
The consequences of an attack.
Khrushchev backs down.
Don't...
mention anything about Kennedy that isn't related to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Don't talk about his assassination.
get confused between this crisis and either of the other two you study.
A cartoon from the early 1960s showing Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and US President John F. Kennedy.
What are they doing? What kind of message do you think this cartoon is trying to give?
With
most of Europe in ruins after the war, and the big European empires
breaking up in the decades that followed, there were two new contenders
for the "most powerful nation the world" title. The United States and
the Soviet Union both emerged from World War II much more influential
than ever before. America had unleashed a destructive new weapon, and
had helped an isolated Britain and a conquered France to resist the
Nazis. The Soviet Union repelled Hitler's invasion and pushed back all
the way to Berlin itself, while Britain, France and America had taken
western Germany. America and the Soviet Union became known as the
"superpowers". They were now the strongest and the most influential. But
there was a problem. After the war ended, they began to fall out.
An American comic book from 1960.
Is this propaganda? Why do you think so?
The Soviet Union was a communist state, which
means that the state owned all businesses and industries and private
property was not allowed. Within the Soviet Union (aka the USSR), the
Communist Party was the only legal political party, and its leaders
ruled as dictators. The USSR held on to the land it had taken from
Germany in eastern Europe, so that even though Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and other countries were re-made, they fell under communist
influence. Germany itself was split in two - West Germany and East
Germany. East Germany was communist, West Germany became a democracy.
Separately, China became a communist state in 1949.
American
leaders were fearful of the spread of communism throughout the rest of
Europe and elsewhere in the world, so they followed a policy of containment,
meaning they would try to "contain" communism where it already was and
not let it spread. The conflict between the USA and USSR that followed
is called the "Cold War", as the two nations never fought each other
like in a typical (or "hot") war but they still tried to strengthen
themselves while weakening the other. The fact that both nations now had
nuclear weapons meant that people were even more scared of a war than
ever before. Now that nuclear weapons existed, it was possible for a war
to destroy the whole world in a matter of hours.
In this section, you'll learn about three flashpoints in the Cold War which almost brought the two superpowers to a full war.
History.com: The Cold War
History.com
also has an overview, but it might be a bit more detailed in some
places. There are a lot of videos however, and features on aspects of
the Cold War such as the Space Race.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990
became a symbol of the end of the Cold War.
The BBC focus on the Korean War, the Cuban Missile
Crisis, weapons used in the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991. The Cold War Museum
Based
in Virginia, the Cold War museum keeps a timeline of events during the
Cold War, and also has features on different aspects of it.
British National Archives on the Cold War
The
British National Archives site has a page especially for students
showing questions about the Cold War. Click on them to learn the answer.
There's information about the relationship between Stalin and the other
Allied leaders during WWII, the weapons used in the Cold War and
questions about Vietnam. There are also primary sources viewable on the
site.
The Berlin Airlift: Story of a Great Achievement (YouTube)
A
video from 1949 about the airlift, made by the British government. Look
out for propaganda. Videos like this were common at the time so that
governments could show people how bad the other side was.
The Korean War Project
This site is full of information, details, sources and resources dedicated to the Korean War.You might not know this about it, but that war is technically still ongoing, as the peace declared in 1953 was just a truce.
US Navy: The Korean War
The US Navy site has its own overview of the war, with selected images...
BBC: The Korean War
...and so does the BBC. War or Peace? American newsreel from 1950 (YouTube)
This
American newsreel covers the outbreak of the Korean War as well as
other tensions between communist countries and non-communist countries.
There's quite a lot of propaganda here, just like in the Berlin Airlift
video.
Thirteen Days in October
The
JFK Library has a much more detailed and interactive site on every day
of the crisis, with photos, declassified letters, and recordings of
conversations President Kennedy had with other leaders about the crisis.
If you're interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis, this site is highly
recommended.
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.
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 Dickinsonin 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)
The author Frank O'Connor was born in Cork
on this day in 1903.
September 17th
1630
The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1787:
The US Constitution is signed into law in Philadelphia.
1930: The Irish Free State is elected to the Council of the League of Nations. 1939:
The Soviet Union invades the other side of Poland two weeks after the German invasion began. (World War II) 1976:
The first space shuttle, the Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.
1980: The Polish "Solidarity" trade union is established.
