May blog: Thinking about EEs and university applications
Wednesday 25 May 2022
Independence for Ukrainians in 1991
See below for more articles on the history of events in Ukraine since 1991
What is new on the site?
We have now added Britain as an option for the fourth case study in the Inter-War Years topic for Paper 3, Europe region:
9. Britain 1918 to 1939
Britain can be used as your 4th case study for Paper 3, European region, Topic 14 - European states in the Inter-War Years.
And an exemplar essay has been added to Paper 3, Americas region, Topic 11, The Mexican Revolution.
6. Mexican Revolution: Graded student exemplars
Evaluate the success of the Mexican state in dealing with post-revolutionary challenges between 1920 and 1940.
6. Revolución Mexicana: Estudiantes ejemplares graduados
Evalúe el éxito del Estado mexicano a la hora de afrontar los desafíos posrevolucionarios entre 1920 y 1940.
Preparing for university applications: Essay competitions
Some students in the first year diploma programme will now be thinking about applying to study history at university. These students might want to consider entering an essay competition from a prestigious university. This gives them the opportunity to hone their research and essay skills with the added bonus that if they get short listed (or even win!) they can add this achievement to their university application forms.
Here are some History essay competitions with deadlines in next couple of months:
Julia Wood (History) Essay Competition 2022 (St Hugh's College)
Established in 1971, in memory of a St Hugh’s College historian, the Julia Wood Prize is an annual History essay competition open to Sixth Form pupils who have not been in the Sixth Form of any school or college for a period of more than two years. The Prize, worth up to £500, is offered by the Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College for the best historical essay submitted by the closing date.
Essay Prize (Robinson College)
Essay Prize 2022
2022 Essay Competition | johnlockeinstitute (johnlockeinstitute)
The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.
Extended Essays
At this time of year, many first year students are also deciding on their topics for their Extended Essays.
We have some suggestions of how to guide students through the process of choosing a topic and a question on this page:
Linked to this, it might also be worth students looking through the monthly blogs on this site; we aim to publish interesting and recently published books and highlight new areas of research or controversy which can spark some ideas for research topics.
Some new books for this month:
Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire by Caroline Elkins - the brutal truth about Britain's past (the Guardian)
In shocking, meticulous detail, an acclaimed American historian uses lost records from 37 former colonies to reveal the barbarity of the British empire and the hubris that fuelled it
A vital journey to April 1945 with historian Craig Shirley (The Washington Times)
Presidential historian and Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley has a significant new book arriving Tuesday titled “April 1945: The Hinge of History.” It focuses in meticulous detail on the state of America during World War II, and lend insight to the nation’s role in the world.
Watergate: The Scandal That Never Goes Away (www.nytimes.com)
Garrett M. Graff’s “Watergate: A New History” is a thorough account of everything that is known about the epic events of Richard Nixon’s last year in office.
And Eric William's book on slavery has been re-published and is back on the best seller list
Eighty-year-old study of British slave trade is back in the bestsellers list (the Guardian)
Capitalism and Slavery, by the future first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams, argues that the abolition of slavery was motivated by economic, not moral, concerns
History in the news
At the centre of our thoughts at the moment is the war in Ukraine. We linked to articles on this in our March blog. Here are some more; this article puts it in the historical context of events since the end of the Cold War
Was it inevitable? A short history of Russia's war on Ukraine | Keith Gessen (the Guardian)
The long read: To understand the tragedy of this war, it is worth going back beyond the last few weeks and months, and even beyond Vladimir Putin, writes Keith Gessen
This article from National Geographic, puts the events discussed in the article above into a clear timeline
Follow Ukraine’s 30-year struggle for independence with this visual timeline (National Geographic)
Since the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse, Ukraine has had to contend with neighbouring Russia’s tightening grip and expanding power.
On other themes, this article on Haiti looks at the impact of France and the US on Haiti's current situation:
The Morning: Haiti’s burden (messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com)
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, and a new Times investigative series explores why. One stunning detail: France demanded reparations from Haitians it once enslaved. That debt hamstrung Haiti’s economy for decades — and kept it from building even basic social services, like sewage and electricity.
And this podcast puts current inflation in the UK into a historical context:
The Long View - Inflation and the cost of living crisis - BBC Sounds (BBC)
Jonathan Freedland explores today's inflation alongside historic inflation spike
More on the Web
These videos were published last year on the Anniversary of Rosa Luxembourg's birth - they would be great for showing to students who are studying the Weimar Republic.
„R is for Rosa“ (RLS Geneva)
“Why is Rosa Luxemburg still important today?” asks British journalist and filmmaker Paul Mason in the three episodic films he has produced for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation to mark the 150th anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg’s birth. Reform or Revolution (I), Imperialism and War (II) and Order Reigns in Berlin (III) are the themes Mason tackles