Modern+World+Historiography

ABOUT HISTORIANS AND HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS

The never-ending development of historical interpretation is familiar to historians and teachers of history. New generations often reinterpret evidence in light of recent events and regularly reevaluate the thinking of previous generations. Historians also constantly discover new evidence, and often historiographical change comes with an increased emphasis on this new information. One example of this process is the limited opening of archives in the former Soviet Union to Western historians, which has resulted in substantial changes in historical views of the Cold War. In addition, historians often emphasize certain aspects of historical events differently, either because they study particular figures or topics, or because they undergird their theses with different documents, policies, or demographic clues. The result is a constant process of reinterpretation and considerable debate among historians.(1)

__**Liberal historians **__

Working predominantly in the parliamentary democracies of the western world, such writers are likely to explain historical changes primarily in terms of the development of individual freedoms. In particular, they will regard the development of free capitalism and parliamentary representation as the major products of recent history. Such interpretations have gained considerable strength since the end of the 'Cold War' and the collapse of the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. (2)

__**Marxists historians **__

Such historians have based their study of the subject upon the teaching of Karl Marx that 'the history of all society is the history of class struggle'. All historical events must be seen, therefore, in the context of the economic struggle between the governing classes, with their desire to exploit and to control the working classes, and the working classes with their corresponding desire to achieve their freedom through class struggle. All other issues of causation will be regarded as secondary, or as attempts by the governing classes to disguise the reality of class struggle.(2)

__**Socialist historians **__

Although sharing some common ground with Marxist historians, 'socialist' historians are less likely to be directly attached to the teaching of Karl Marx. They are less likely than 'liberal' historians to view the development of capitalism as a natural and desirable product of history, and are more likely to stress the importance of studying 'history from below'. They are less likely to be concerned with major political developments at governmental levels, than to study the processes whereby these have been channelled towards social and economic reform.(2)

MODERN WORLD HISTORY DEBATES

Tsarist Russia
 * Alexander II... 'Tsar Liberator'?
 * How stable was Russian regime on the eve of the First World War?

Soviet Revolution and Stalin's Russia
 * October 1917: class struggle and popular support
 * Lenin's contributions to Soviet State
 * Stalin's rise to power

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Hitler and Nazi Germany


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Hitler's rise to power
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Debates on the Holocaust

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">World Wars and International Diplomacy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Causes of World War One
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Was the Treaty of Versailles a fair treaty?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Causes of World War Two

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Cold War
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Causes of Cold War

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">__**BIBLIOGRAPHY**__

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">(1) Hibbeln, Paul. //Introducing Students to Historiography in the AP European History Classroom//, at: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">(2) Morris, T. & Murphy, D. //Europe 1870-1991.// HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., London, 2007, page 13.