‘‘...there is no doubt that the
old history, traditional history, is hard. Hard – but
exciting precisely because it is hard."
Gertrude Himmelfarb
What you are learning to do in
IB History Paper 1, to analyse and evaluate sources is not easy.
In learning to write essays in Papers 2&3, to structure a
coherent account about the past that is persuasive and well
supported by the facts, is intellectually challenging.
That the
IB expects the Extended Essays and Internal Assessments to be
fully referenced with sources acknowledged is a highly time
consuming process. You may not be a historian, but you are
beginning to replicate the skills that historians use.
Real history is hard going: it
is a methodical, sometimes lonely existence of reading, checking
and double checking, of immersing yourself in the past and
trying to empathise with the dead, of writing-up carefully and
reaching qualified judgements scrupulously, whilst providing
explicit, accurate references for everything you write. As the
French author Flaubert once said, ‘Writing history is like
drinking an ocean and pissing a cupful’. I know I could not do
it, but I admire those who can.
TOK
Prescribed Essay Title
Examine the
ways empirical evidence should be used to
make progress in different areas of
knowledge.
November 2009 - May 2010
The
American historian William Dunning discovered through
careful archival research and comparison of handwriting
that Andrew Jackson’s (left) first message to Congress
had in fact been drafted by George Bancroft. How much
time must this comparison have taken? How many samples
of handwriting had Dunning reviewed? The end result is
relatively trivial but it is also central to the
historical process because ‘it is not only new it is
also true.’
The uncovering of new truths is a significant part of what
history does. It is a cumulative process and over time we
come to know more about the past than we once did.
It is far easier not to
bother with monotonous archival research or to write about the
past as if the people of the past were just like us. It is far
easier not to provide detailed footnotes or to just select the
lessons of the past because they suit our present needs. When
those in positions of political power or economic influence tell
stories about the past to justify their actions, it is only the
professionally trained historian who has the real authority to
challenge them.
TOK
Prescribed Essay Title
Discuss the
ways in which value judgments should and
should not be used in different Areas of
Knowledge.
November 2007 - May 2007
It is something else that can make history hard,
that historians play the role of professional sceptics, often
charged with being unpatriotic or disloyal. For those in power
and defending the status quo, history can be a dangerous subject
that teaches that the world hasn’t always been like this, that
change has happened and by implication can happen again.
Student activity – Tony Blair and Iraq –
Learning the lessons of history
'In a comparison likely to inflame the
anti-war camp, he [British Prime Minister Tony
Blair] said that appeasers in the 1930s had been
decent people but had turned out to be wrong...
"When people decided not to confront fascism,
they were doing the popular thing, they were
doing it for good reasons, and they were good
people ... but they made the wrong decision...
I've never claimed to have a monopoly of wisdom,
but one thing I've learned in this job is you
should always try to do the right thing, not the
easy thing. Let the day-to-day judgments come
and go: be prepared to be judged by history."'
• Was Tony Blair justified in comparing his
decision to go to war in Iraq with the policy of
appeasing dictators in 1930s Europe?
• What do think Blair meant when he said that he
will be ‘judged by history?’
