May Blog: Anniversaries and competing narratives

80th Anniversary of VE Day

8th May is the Anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe’ Day -  the day which 80 years ago brought an end to nearly six years of a war that had cost the lives of millions; had destroyed homes, families, and cities; and had brought huge suffering and privations to the populations of entire countries.

This significant anniversary provides a good opportunity for discussing with students the war and how it ended; and there are plenty of resources on the internet to help teachers to do this:

This anniversary is also significant for its timing in terms of current events, coinciding with ‘an end of an era’; Europeans are now realising that, given President's Trump’s rhetoric and actions, they can no longer rely on the US for their security. While in Europe's east, the Soviet Union's former sphere of influence, people fear that President Trump's attitude to Ukraine will only embolden Putin in his expansionist drive:

One victory, multiple narratives…

Meanwhile, DP History students may also be interested in the competing narratives of this anniversary.

Trump announced on social media that he would rename Victory in Europe Day to  “Victory Day for World War Two”, to recognize that “we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II….we won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance'. 

This seems to downplay the role of Europe and has been criticised in some sections of the European press; it also misses the point that VE Day is about victory in Europe and not Asia where the war against Japan continued until August 1945.

Russia has always viewed VE Day differently to Western Europe. There, it is also known as Victory Day and there is a military parade on 9th May of the Russian Armed Forces on Moscow's Red Square.

This video explains how this anniversary is important for Putin in his propaganda, reinforcing narratives about Russia's strength and victory over fascism (as opposed to the efforts of other countries and nationalities in fighting the Nazis, or indeed Stalin's miscalculations before 1941). For Putin, the anniversary is now also about linking Soviet victory in the Second World War to the current war in Ukraine and to the defeat of Ukrainians (whom he still calls Nazis).

Putin is also using the anniversary to declare a 3-day ceasefire in the war against Ukraine, for "humanitarian" considerations; however this is seen by his critics as more of a PR exercise and also because of the need to ensure that the military parade, which will be attended by important foreign dignitaries, will not be the focus of a Ukrainian attack.

So plenty to discuss regarding this anniversary with students!

Curriculum Review Update

Site update

We have now added another Case Study to Paper 1, Topic 10 on Authoritarian States - Franco's rule from 1939 to 1975 in Spain.

In addition, you will find some new multiple choice quizzes under Cold War, Paper 2: Superpower tensions and rivalries, focusing on the era of Détente as well as Soviet/China relations and US/China relations.

A new Netflix series on Vietnam: more competing narratives

In our last Blog for April, we highlighted the 50th Anniversary of the US withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1975. 

To coincide with this, Netflix have just launched a new series on Vietnam called ‘Turning Point: The Vietnam War’.

The series aims to show the competing narratives of the Vietnam War and includes interviews with key players and eyewitnesses, including many Vietnamese from all aspects of the conflict. 

It also (as the trailer here shows) links the Vietnam War to events today; in the words of director Brian Knappenberger. “That new America that emerged from this conflict contained the roots of a lot of what plagues our society today – widespread alienation, deep cynicism, profound distrust in government, a breakdown of our civic institutions.”

From a history student's point of view, the first episode is very useful for putting the Vietnam War in the context of the Cold War; the first episode makes it very clear the impact of events in Europe and elsewhere in Asia on perceptions in the US  - the fear that Soviet Communism was aiming for world domination and the concept of the Domino Theory - and the impact that such perceptions had on the thinking and actions of US Presidents in Vietnam.

In addition, the last episode is fascinating on the peace process and the extent to which Nixon was prepared to manipulate the terms and timing of the Peace to ensure he won the 1973 election; this is revealed through analysis of the tape recordings that were made of meetings in the White House.

Highly recommended!

(Also see this review from The Guardian.)