December Blog: Site update and anniversaries
Sunday 8 December 2024
December 2, 1954 - US Senate condemned McCarthy for misconduct over communist investigations; one of several key anniversaries this month.
Site update
We have now completed Option A, and added Paper 1 writing tasks to all pages.
Please get in touch if you have decided to cover this option - we would love to hear how you are finding the course. As previously mentioned, we have both taught Option A and have enjoyed covering topics outside of 20th Century for this age group.
Student e-book: Core Option A
Option A covers key themes and events of the 19th Century across range of continents.
Anniversaries
Historical anniversaries provide great opportunities to discuss and review events with history students and/or create displays in the classroom.
Perhaps the most relevant anniversary this month for IG students is the 70 year anniversary of the censure of McCarthy by the US Senate for misconduct over communist investigations. This links with Option B, Cold War topic. Understanding the impact of the Red Scare and McCarthyism is key for understanding the fear of Communism that became embedded in the US and which continued to influence US foreign policy - even after the censure of McCarthy.
Here are some useful sites for reviewing this topic:
McCarthyism and the Red Scare | Miller Center (Miller Center)
The paranoia about the internal Communist threat—what we call the Red Scare—reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954, when Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin, a right-wing Republican, launched a series of highly publicized probes. Journalists, intellectuals, and even many of Eisenhower’s friends and close advisers agonized over what they saw as Ike’s timid approach to McCarthyism.
A very good video which examines the impact of the Red Scare in the US and the influence of McCarthy, with excellent interviews, is Episode 6, Reds, from the CNN Cold War Series (the first 25 minutes).
Other interesting anniversaries this month - less relevant to the IGCSE course - but which could be the basis of a research lesson include the following:
- 30 years ago - December 1, 1994 the Head of the UN Commission on Rwanda estimated 500,000 deaths had resulted from genocide
- 30 years ago - December 9, 1994 - Sinn Fein had first formal talks with Britain in over 70 years.
- 30 years ago - December 11, 1994 - Russia sent tanks and troops into Chechnya to end the rebel territory's three-year drive for independence.
Best History books of 2024
It is the time of year when the 'best of ...' lists appear and it is always interesting to see the different choices for the best history books of the year. See below for some of these (very varied) lists:
The Ten Best History Books of 2024 (Smithsonian Magazine)
Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and examine how the United States ended up where it is today
The Best History Books of 2024: The Wolfson History Prize (Five Books)
To win the Wolfson History Prize, a book must be both original and accessible to the general reader. British historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, one of the prize's judges, talks us through the six books that made the 2024 shortlist, from the voyage of an English diplomat to Mughal India to the intimacy of a South African marriage, from the barbarity of the slave trade in the 18th century to the history of an institution that provides free health care to all.