October Blog: 80th Anniversary of the UN

November Examination session

Good luck to those of you who have DP exams approaching in November.

Don't forget that we have revision tips on the site for students, as well as revision summary pages and multiple-choice quizzes and flash cards.

80th Anniversary of the United Nations

This month marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations which was set up to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war' and 'foster international co-operation grounded in international law and the UN Charter.'

Over the last 80 years the UN has grown from 51 to 193 members. Its mission has also steadily expanded, evolving into areas such as creating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and bringing together countries annually to tackle climate change. Its peacekeepers have increasingly been involved in not only peace keeping but also large-scale programs for public health - such as the eradication of smallpox.

The United Nations features in many of the history topics of the DP History course  - for example Cold War, Africa and the Middle East, events in Indochina after 1975 - and this anniversary provides an opportunity to discuss the work and achievements of the UN with students since 1945.

It is also an apt time for students to discuss the current role of the UN because this 80th Anniversary comes at a time when its very existence is being questioned. As Martin Griffiths  (former UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs) writes in this Guardian article: The UN is in crisis. With the geopolitical picture at its most fractured in decades this great institution is desperately short of funding and, more importantly, relevance. Across the critical conflicts of the modern world – Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan and others – the UN still plays a vital humanitarian role, but is relegating itself to an increasingly marginal place in primary peacemaking.

So will there even be a UN by the time we get to its 100th Anniversary? Or is it still indispensable for global peace? 

The following video sets out clearly the importance of the UN's goals and an overview of how these have changed over time; it highlights some of its successes as well as the problems it now faces.

But overall it stresses the importance of the UN to provide an organisation which connects people and countries and gives the opportunity to make the world a safer place.

New Curriculum

Site update

We are continuing to update existing pages and sections on our History site with new content and resources. We have just added more content and activities to the page on Brezhnev for Paper 3, Europe, Topic 16 and have also added another practice Paper 1 to PS 3 - Move to Global War.

Historical Association

The UK's Historical Association is now running short online courses on different historical periods, which may be of interest to those of you who want to get familiar with a new topic such as the French Revolution or the Crusades. The lectures are led by different academics and you also get access to a wide range of resources on the topic: